I've been trying to write this post for awhile now, so I hope it ended up being semi-organized. Skip to the bottom if you just want tips on improving your German before getting to Germany.
Getting around in the first few weeks isn't an easy task. Being immersed in your second language is exhausting, even for German majors who studied abroad. I do think that I would have had an easier time during the first few weeks if I hadn't taken a year off German and taken French, but either way, hearing and speaking German 24/7 is challenging and often headache inducing.
So, how did my first few weeks go? First, there's one thing that I want to clarify: I whine and moan about my speaking skills not being at the same level as my reading and writing skills, but I am in no way a poor speaker. (Die Leiden der former gymnast: I focus on my weaknesses and the things that aren't quite perfect and lose sight of the general picture. Bonus points if you caught the literary reference.) During the first few weeks, my biggest problem was that my brain was on overdrive from all of the German and wasn't focusing very well.
When I say that I'm a weaker speaker than reader or writer, I'm being honest but overly modest. To put my German level in perspective, I had four years of German in high school, and I scored a 5 on the AP exam. As 11th graders, we had conjugation questions on every vocab quiz, and we were responsible for every possible Zeitform in the German language, including those with modals. (Yes, that includes all of the weird passive modal conjugations.) We also read "Die Verwandlung" in 11th grade. I tested into the 300-level in college, but I really could have tested into the 400-level if that had been allowed. Research paper this, presentation that, blah, blah, blah. Basically, my conversation skills are "weak" for a German major who graduated with a 4.0, a senior award for German, and a Fulbright -- and they're "weak" primarily because I took French instead of German during my last year in college and ended up thinking in some weird version of Freutsch at first.
So, did I have problems at the beginning of the school year?
Mentally, yes. In other people's eyes, eh.
Getting around in the first few weeks isn't an easy task. Being immersed in your second language is exhausting, even for German majors who studied abroad. I do think that I would have had an easier time during the first few weeks if I hadn't taken a year off German and taken French, but either way, hearing and speaking German 24/7 is challenging and often headache inducing.
So, how did my first few weeks go? First, there's one thing that I want to clarify: I whine and moan about my speaking skills not being at the same level as my reading and writing skills, but I am in no way a poor speaker. (Die Leiden der former gymnast: I focus on my weaknesses and the things that aren't quite perfect and lose sight of the general picture. Bonus points if you caught the literary reference.) During the first few weeks, my biggest problem was that my brain was on overdrive from all of the German and wasn't focusing very well.
When I say that I'm a weaker speaker than reader or writer, I'm being honest but overly modest. To put my German level in perspective, I had four years of German in high school, and I scored a 5 on the AP exam. As 11th graders, we had conjugation questions on every vocab quiz, and we were responsible for every possible Zeitform in the German language, including those with modals. (Yes, that includes all of the weird passive modal conjugations.) We also read "Die Verwandlung" in 11th grade. I tested into the 300-level in college, but I really could have tested into the 400-level if that had been allowed. Research paper this, presentation that, blah, blah, blah. Basically, my conversation skills are "weak" for a German major who graduated with a 4.0, a senior award for German, and a Fulbright -- and they're "weak" primarily because I took French instead of German during my last year in college and ended up thinking in some weird version of Freutsch at first.
So, did I have problems at the beginning of the school year?
Mentally, yes. In other people's eyes, eh.
When I opened a bank account, registered, and got my residency permit, I had absolutely no problems with my German. I, um, may have whipped out my own Berliner Schnauze when the person at the Ausländerbehörde told me that they couldn't find my paperwork. Since the person at the desk spoke really poor English, I also translated for a few other English native speakers.
Interviewing for a WG was a little more difficult, but I'm not sure I would have been offered an apartment earlier in the search if my German had been better. When you compete against 30+ people for one room, the chances of you getting the room are really low even if you're German! I ended up in my WG because I was the first person who called, not because I amazed the interviewer with my winning personality. So... yeah. Small talk is obviously more difficult in German, but it's not the biggest barrier to finding a room.
At school, I speak almost exclusively German to teachers. I only use English for comedic purposes (American humor is better untranslated), when an English teacher strikes up a conversation in English, when an English teacher has a grammar question, or when the French teachers want to practice their English. I also hold mock conversations in French with one of the French teachers, but my French is horrible. 99.8% of the time, I can get my point across on the first try (in German, that is). I only remember one time when a teacher looked blankly at me and told me to try again, and there was another time when I cut myself off because I knew I was babbling nonsense. (In the remaining .1% of the time, I'm talking to the Schulleiter, who has a really hard time understanding me, dank meines Akzents.)
For me, the difference between the beginning of the year and the end of the year is that I now have a personality in German. I can get my point across more fluently-- and not just more fluently, but in more stylistically interesting ways. During the first few months, I had to concentrate on every sentence, but by now, I can do some serious plauder-ing in the Lehrerzimmer. I sacrificed a bit of precision in favor of idioms, more complex sentences, and a lot more speed. Unfortunately for everyone else, I now have an American sense of humor in German. (Other Americans and young teachers who have spent a lot of time abroad generally find me amusing. The older teachers, not so much. I guess you have to account for generational differences, too, especially since even the youngest teachers and Referendare are 8-10 years older than I am. It's common to be a certified teacher at 22-23 in the US. In Germany, the average age seems to be closer to 30.)
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So, how can new ETAs can prepare for the upcoming school year? Here's a question for all of you: when was the last time you listened to children speaking German?
Yeah, most of you have only heard adults' voices lately. Figure out how to listen to kids speaking German. You could be a creeper on Youtube, listen to Rulf Zuckowski songs, buy some cartoons, or come up with your own way to get used to children's voices.
Even after 9 months of living with a 7-year-old and working at a Gymnasium, I have trouble understanding the younger students. The kids who enunciate are always easy to understand, but an excited 6th grader with braces? Now that is how you know if you've mastered German.
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