Advice please!

*Roisin*

Ich habe nur ein bischen Deutsch so....

I studied German for my first year in college. Circumstances meant that I had to take a year out, but I'm now hoping to go back into second year, and pick up my German again. The only problem being that in the year inbetween I haven't been able to use my german at all, and have forgotten it all. The second year course I'm going to go into is very intensive, and I'll be up against people who've been using their German for the past year.

I was thinking about going to Germany for the summer, but I've nobody to come with me, and I've heard stories about it being hard to pick up a summer job, and I wouldn't have a clue where to go about getting a place to live for the summer and that. I also thought about going over there on a language course, but it just seems sooooo expensive. Can anybody suggest anything that might help? Aupairing might work I suppose. Or how do you go about arranging a student exchange in this day and age, once you're not a secondary student?

Basically just looking for any suggestions on how to immerse myself in German again!

Thanks!

palaver

The cheapest way to get back into German is reading German books and newspapers. Even if you understand only half of it you'll get into the language rhythm again. Keep going, even if you are getting frustrated at times! Or rent German movies to watch on your dvd-player.

For working in Germany: You could try to get a job in an Irish pub. They are always happy to have "original Irish staff". They might even help you to find accommodation.
Just check www.google.de and search for "irish pub" on "Seiten aus Deutschland". Contact them and ask.

I recommend Berlin by the way. It's cheap living, there is a considerable Irish community with people who could help you and it's a young place.

Good luck!

mackerski

Keep in mind that an Irish community (and an Irish pub) can be very effective at keeping your day-to-day English rather than German.

*Roisin*

Yeah, I'm aware that it might just end up with me speaking English out there if I get a job in an Irish pub, but at this stage I'd settle for it!

Really interested in the exchange idea, seems the best way to avoid the major cost of going to a language school out there. Looked alot on the net but can't find anything though.

palaver

In an Irish pub in Germany you usually have German collegues and definitely German customers. And if you go out or organize your private life you certainly have to speak German.

I don't know anything about the exchange thingy, but you could try your college or the student union. There are programmes as far as I know.

Or try these:

Fun in Austria (they speak German, too - sort of ):
http://www.anyworkanywhere.com/jobslist.php?submit_button=Search&c_key=AT&j_key=1

Au pair:
http://www.europa-pages.com/au_pair/german.html

Or be adventureous and just go to some city of your choice, stay in a hostel, look for jobs and a room (there are black boards in colleges), or just walk into a pub and ask.

And you can check out www.irlandforum.de and simply ask if there is someone out there who knows about a summer job with accommodation in Germany.



Good luck!

meowCat

Another "cheap" way of getting back into the language would be to listen to their radio in a life stream. For instance here: swr3. In the upper right corner, the red button "swr3 live einschalten".

There's a lot of English songs (so you won't be too bored listening to it), but listen to what they are talking and the news every half an hour should help to get a feel of what's going on in the country even.

peasant

...or give your sattelite dish a slight knock and revel in the delights of German television ...(yikes!)

*Roisin*

Wow, thanks for all the help! Getting any info out of my college is like pulling teeth. I'm gonna give all these things a go. Was in Dusseldorf n Koln before and really liked them so I might head back out for a week and see what I can pick up!

Micamaca

Have a look at this...

http://www.study-in-germany.de/english/1.277.626.html

I find this radio station great...you can change the language to english if you want, the text anyway.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,265,00.html

if you go to Deutschlandinfos on left hand side, click on deutsch kurse and deutsch lernen, there's some gas exercises there to get you started.

Get Themen Aktuelle Book 1 and workbook to study over the summer. You will need to simply learn ...vocabulary, verbs, grammar too...
I've just finished the second year at college and it wasn't that intensive. If you do some learning every day (doesn't have to be much as it all adds up) then you'll be fine. Enjoy, it's a great language

Sonnenblumen

*Roisin* wrote:

Ich habe nur ein bischen Deutsch so....

I studied German for my first year in college. Circumstances meant that I had to take a year out, but I'm now hoping to go back into second year, and pick up my German again. The only problem being that in the year inbetween I haven't been able to use my german at all, and have forgotten it all. The second year course I'm going to go into is very intensive, and I'll be up against people who've been using their German for the past year.

I was thinking about going to Germany for the summer, but I've nobody to come with me, and I've heard stories about it being hard to pick up a summer job, and I wouldn't have a clue where to go about getting a place to live for the summer and that. I also thought about going over there on a language course, but it just seems sooooo expensive. Can anybody suggest anything that might help? Aupairing might work I suppose. Or how do you go about arranging a student exchange in this day and age, once you're not a secondary student?

Basically just looking for any suggestions on how to immerse myself in German again!

Thanks!

Oder Du kannst einen Job bei einem deutschen Unternehmen hier in Irland aussuchen. Mit meinen Mitarbeitern spreche ich mehr Deutsch als Englisch. Meine Meinung nach arbeiten in einem Irish Pub (auf Alle kosten vermeiden!!) hast Du fast keine Chance Deutsch zu verbessern.