Language courses in Germany

Hobbitfeet

In Norway if you are married to a Norwegian you can get free language lessons, anyone know if there is a similar scheme in Germany?

keithclancy

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

In Norway if you are married to a Norwegian you can get free language lessons, anyone know if there is a similar scheme in Germany?

Not sure about Norway, but in Germany and the Netherlands its a regional thing (Offered by the City Hall)

Any education you take though is tax deductible.

munchkin_utd

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

In Norway if you are married to a Norwegian you can get free language lessons, anyone know if there is a similar scheme in Germany?

If you are a non EU citizen then there are schemes where its free or very heavily subsidised as part of the integration courses/ process. If you are needing a visa for germany then you can look into it at that stage.

If youre an EU citizen then you can do paid courses in the local Volkshochschule (or whatever it is called in the city/ region) which are very affordable indeed.
The only problem with those courses is that it can be difficult to get on one so you'd possibly need to register months in advance on the first day they open for applications.

Hobbitfeet

Thanks for the advice. I'm Irish so don't qualify for the non eu schemes. My partner is German and we are thinking of moving.

munchkin_utd

Hobbitfeet wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I'm Irish so don't qualify for the non eu schemes. My partner is German and we are thinking of moving.

well, if the other half is german then he/ she is the best tutor you can have and if the pair of ye can speak german rather than English in the evening you'll pick it up in no time.
Its a far handier language to learn to speak that you would think, but thats only after you cop on to the fact that the grammar is indeed inpenatrible and you get on with speaking it in normal situations.
If you can get a feel for the language and a good knowledge of basic core sentences and structures then all you are doing after that is adding more fancy words and grammar.
i.e. learn from the bottom up rather than top down. The textbooks tell you to learn reams of grammar and once your brain is suitably confused then figure how to use all the info, but I'd say youre better to pile on regardless staring with pidgeon (but relatively correct) german and use that as a foundation.

I can see from my daughter that thats the way she is picking up both english and german so why not the same for adults?
I also have the same experience from going to the gaeltacht not being able to speak a word, i.e. no amount of years of classroom lessons can get you talking, and that talking to a basic level can actually be reduced to a small amount of material and building up from a small concrete base you know well is easier than learning dictionaries and distilling all that grammar and vocab into what you might want to say.

anyhow back to the courses, heres an example of what the state offers to foreigners in say Munich.
http://www.aslsprachen.de/integrationskurse/
Its news to me but it does seem possible that EU citizens can take part in the courses so long as you get a permission from the Federal Dept for migration and refugees.

Hobbitfeet

Yes have been trying to pick it up this way and I do understand a bit. We have a 1yr old so now I'm hearing German much more lately. Thanks for all the info and advice

munchkin_utd

The BAMF (federal migrant dept) have a nice overview in english of the subject of spouses joining a partner and the requirement for an integration course, but really thats a (rightly) targeted measure at certain arab type migrants and some even german born of arab decent who import the wife from the homeland and up till recently such women arrived with no german and through accident or design never came to learn german even after many decades in the country.

And when I mean "not learn", I mean that a 12 year old first year secondary school student in Ireland would have more german in their skull come christmas after doing a couple of month of it than a section of female migrants into germany who came to the country to be with their arranged partner.
Its a pity that such draconian measures need to be taken by the german government which prevent a spouse living in the same country as their partner but it really is the only way to ensure that immigrants from certain areas will learn german(/will ever be allowed to by their husband) and be a functioning member of the greater society, and literally not just a kitchen slave whose only interaction outside the family and close friends is shopping in Arab/ Turkish shops.

Anyhow, heres the info in english.
http://www.bamf.de/EN/Migration/EhepartnerFamilie/ehepartnerfamilie-node.html
and even better, heres the info on government sponsored language courses for EU citizens !
http://www.bamf.de/EN/Willkommen/DeutschLernen/Integrationskurse/TeilnahmeKosten/EUBuerger/eubuerger-node.html

if you have a surf about that site theres other stuff that may be of interest.

munchkin_utd

another source of German courses is seemingly the Arbeitsamt, i.e. job office (/social welfare office)
Heres an article about an Italian guy who came to Munich a few months back and has his language course costs subsidised by them
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/wirtschaftsfluechtlinge-aus-italien-gehirne-auf-der-flucht-1.1637236

I did read a while back that the German government had a few hundred million set aside for language courses for economic immigrants (as opposed to refugees or folks looking to be with their partners) and indeed hoping that smart folks from high unemployment lands would come to Germany to fill chronic skills shortages in engineerings and the likes.