Learning German in Germany, What Is It Really Like | Munich, Germany

After three years of living in Munich, Germany, we thought we'd let you in on our experiences as foreigners learning German in Germany. Chill with us in our living room as we discuss our cefr levels upon arrival, how we learned German, our continued German language journey, and speaking reveal.
Please check out our travel videos:
/ nearfromhom. .
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Goethe Institut:
www.goethe.de/ins/de/en/ort/m...
Edeltraud:
www.edeltraud-muc.de/en/
Chatterbug:
chatterbug.com/en/
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Follow us on Instagram!
Channel: near.fromhome
Ben: strawbennyjam
Camille: freshspringham
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Check out our blog!
www.nearfromhome.com​
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[@Akkaren79]

Like these couch talks, but wearing shoes inside and putting them on the couch makes my german heart bleed.

[@NearFromHome]

Hahahaha I KNEW someone would comment that. 😘

[@Skurian_krotesk]

I think the moment you are allowed to claim the ability of speaking a language is when others can understand you no matter how broken it sounds like. I was able to understand both of you just fine and i think that is something you can be proud of.

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much! I think both of us really hoped to be much further along at this point, but we will take the compliment! 😍

[@wora1111]

@@NearFromHome Should the two of you ever decide to have children and send them to a German Kita or Kindergarten you will be surprised how fast your usage of German will increase. As will your active vocabulary.

[@wora1111]

I like that kind of definition.

[@Sarah1510]

you just made me realize again how difficult German in fact is to learn.... my respect for your language learning journey!! :)

[@christiankastorf1427]

That is level A1

[@BaluDerBaer933]

So cute how shy Camille is when she speaks German, although she is so gooooood! ;-)

[@NearFromHome]

lol thank you

[@cookiesareakatherinefood]

It's so interesting to hear this and it made me realise how unique my experience was. I was extremely fortunate because I came to Germany (Nordhrein Westfalen) as an exchange student at age 18 and in my first host family, neither of my host parents spoke English. So scary but honestly, the absolute best way I could have done it because I had to learn the basics from the word go just to be able to say hello and good morning, and answer what I wanted for breakfast, etc. Those two wonderful people were my intensive teachers without meaning to be (although I fondly recall the days when my host mother would take me to the supermarket and make me repeat words back to her until I said them properly). My host grandmother at that family actually spoke Plattdeutsch (low German) and I wanted to speak with her too, so I would work to understand her, and she gave me lessons in her way of speaking. (She LOVED me for that, which was probably one of the reasons my host sister and I didn't really get along after a few weeks.) It meant that I had passing familiarity with High and Low German after only a few weeks. After moving to a second host family, they did speak English, but would make me try it in German first. I also found a group of friends who literally refused to speak English with me until I'd tried to speak German. It was hard, but SO rewarding! And after three months, I went on a tour around southern Germany with a whole lot of other exchange students, most of whom had already been in the country for 6 months longer than me, so all the tour guides we had spoke German. I was missing so much as I tried to translate from German to English in my mind that I forced myself to try and think in German. Thankfully now my brain automatically switches to German when I get on the plane to Europe, and German comes out more readily than English over there (unless those around me are speaking English). I will say that a downside of the learning I did means that, while my spoken German is excellent and I have been told that my accent makes me sound like a native, my grammar is appalling. I had to learn to get by day-to-day and couldn't worry about niceties like being correct. So I know my endings are not right, and that I have some errors concreted into my brain as 'right' even though I know they are almost certainly wrong. The conversation you made about not having crazy abstract conversations made me laugh. Last January, I was on the train between Hamburg and Berlin, and ended up in a conversation with a young man in his late 20s/early 30s about Brexit, about Russia, about WWII, about European history, the EU, etc, etc. You name it. In three hours, I think we touched on a thousand topics of conversation. I am proud to say that probably 85-90% of that conversation was in German. (The guy, incidentally, was a tinfoil-hat wearing, right-wing extremist, but you never know these things going into conversations like that.) So yeah, sometimes those conversations come to you... (Maybe I should take up more hiking. Are there fewer of those people out there?)

[@NearFromHome]

Very jealous of you German experience! It's so hard to find scenarios where Germans want to continue speaking German with us lol! I don't know if I would have been able to last in a three hour conversation with a right winger. haha very impressed that you are able to speak about stuff on that level. :O

[@cookiesareakatherinefood]

@@NearFromHomeI hadn't realised how fortunate I was at the time, but I do now!

[@neilfazackerley7758]

My experience is similar. I lived with a German family one Summer and was forced to speak it because they did not. I also have a German partner and we live in much smaller town in NRW where nobody tries to speak English to me and I never speak English outside either. We only watch German TV and films and a lot of friends are German so we only speak German out and about. So many Brits moan about people coming to the UK as immigrants and not speaking English, but they make zero effort to learn and speak any other languages either.

[@LaureninGermany]

I also live in Bavaria and decided to watch some German tv to improve. I chose Babylon Berlin. Now mein Deutsch ist echt jut. Seriously, I watch football documentaries, that really helped. Most of my work involves German, but TV/films made the biggest difference. It’s passive absorption or something.

[@NearFromHome]

Yeah, we watch some WDR Reisen on KZbin. it's very helpful.

[@dlees14]

Just found your channel and this is second video I watched. My dad was German but came to the US at age 16. I came along very late and he never spoke German to us. After finding out that I might qualify to regain German Citizenship I decided to start learning German on my own using apps like Pimsler and taking classes at local College online. I was able to understand probably 90% of Ben, Camille was harder just because she spoke so much faster. I look forward to catching up on your videos.

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks for watching! That's exciting that you might qualify for German citizenship. :)

[@SvenScholz]

For me, "fluent" begins where you don't pre-think the stuff you want to say word for word in your native language and then try to translate it word for word. What helped me a lot to go there with my english was (and still is, i'm not totally there yet) was, when with the DVD and later with streaming platforms the access to movies and tv series in the foreign language with subtitles in that same foreign language (this detail is the important one) became so easy. That's because for me the most helpful thing to get a grasp on english was not the vocabulary and the grammar, these i learned in school, but getting familiar with the sound. In the late 80s and throughout the 90s i tried to watch american and british movies in "Originalton" but had a really hard time to follow and understand them because i couldn't distinguish the words/spaces between the words and some of the accents and the difference between spoken everyday language in contrast to the mostly written language i was used in school didn't help either. Furthermore i was lacking a "natural feel" of sentence construction besides the lack of everyday vocabulary, and of course the interesting subtilities of words and idioms which make or break in the end what i consider "getting" the for me foreign language because i didn't had much opportunies to speak or even just listen to people speaking english in everyday situations - i simply didn't knew any native speaker to have conversations with or even just listen to. Your german is not bad at all, but it is very obvious that you form your sentences in english in your head and try to directly translate them when speaking them, because you are using german vocabulary but with a rather english syntax. In german there's an idiom "ich habe eine Sprache im Ohr", having a language in the ear, that means you have a feeling for what a language really sounds and feels like even syntax wise and what doesn't. I think, i got my "ear" for english since i had the opportunity (and use(d) it a lot) to watch movies in english and could read along the english subtitles. Gradually I noticed that I was less and less dependent on the subtitles to understand what was being said, one day i didn't fully read them along anymore but only glanced at them from time to time. And today i even can listen to youtubers like you without any subtitles. Of course, if we would have an oral conversation in english my english would be significantly slower than yours and with many ähs and öhms between the words because i still don't have many opportunities for having english conversations and therefore it takes me some time to "acclimate" to the language. But when i'm on vacation in England (which i was regulary for years before Covid hit) after three or four days i'm really glad to be able to have really deep conversations with our friends there. So thank you, modern entertainment technology :-)

[@avocado4801]

Great video! I loved hearing about your language learning journey!

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much!

[@Jay-in-the-USA]

Euer Deutsch ist doch sehr gut...vor allem auch die Aussprache 👍 Jetzt heißt es dranbleiben: Übung macht den Meister 😁

[@NearFromHome]

Danke sehr! :)

[@wora1111]

Well explained and easy to understand language immersion only works in simple environments (thrown into an all German school as a student in Bavaria) .

[@NearFromHome]

Absolutely.Unless you are forced to speak and hear German everyday at school or at work, immersion learning isn't really going to happen.

[@highnotes10]

I would love to see you do a progression video on your language learning!

[@NearFromHome]

:)

[@user-ts2ww6to2k]

Really nice to hear you're a programmer. I'm a junior coming to munich for a 6 month internship (and hoping to find a job and stay) and your channel has been a really good way to get to know the city before coming. I would have a lot of questions about the software industry in the city if it were more relevant to your channel haha

[@NearFromHome]

Awesome! Glad to know we have been helpful. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

[@muscledcowboy]

Ihr Beiden seid echt Klasse!

[@NearFromHome]

Danke! :)

[@Cassie670566]

Hallo!!! LOL This was very interesting! I discovered that I’m somewhere in the middle of you both with language! When we were there a few weeks ago, I really surprised myself. My husband said I was answering people who spoke to me on the train in German and I didn’t realize it! I argued that I did not do that but my son said, ‘Yes, you did mom!’

[@NearFromHome]

awww that's so cute. Good luck with your language journey

[@Nikioko]

"I have lived in Munich for three years" - "Ich lebe seit drei Jahren in München." Present perfect ("Ich habe seit drei Jahren gewohnt") is not correct in this case. "Ich habe drei Jahre in München gelebt" would actually be "I lived in Munich for three years. But then I moved." "I lived in the other flat for two years" - "Ich habe in der anderen Wohnung zwei Jahre lang gelebt." Without "für". But you are on your good way to B1. Keep on practising. ;-)

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much! I appreciate your help!

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

I've been studying German for 4.5 years now, and I still suck. I'm getting better at reading though. The tough thing though is I just don't really have the chance to practice speaking here without spending a lot of money for tutoring. Ugh. Oh well. I'm not giving up. I keep studying... just in case... Wow! You guys are doing great! But being immersed probably really helps. Merry Christmas. Frohe Weihnachten. 🌲 (Ich konnte Sie beide verstehen wann Sie Deutsch sprechen. Das war total Geil!)

[@NearFromHome]

Danke!! It’s a life long process! Keep at it. We should really be doing the same

[@neilfazackerley7758]

have you tried getting a Tandem partner? It is free and I ve found plenty of Germans on there who will talk for half an hour with me in German and then I do half an hour in English with them.

[@rosascreativeworks5403]

@@neilfazackerley7758 excellent! I'll have to try that sometime. Thanks for the pointer.

[@BaluDerBaer933]

You should award more hearts in your comments section! ;-)

[@wellerjohnjr]

Was awesome

[@NearFromHome]

Thank you!

[@kennethkendall8530]

You're are doing great.

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much!

[@steffenriedel4752]

Ihr seid beide sehr sympathisch. Frohe Weihnachten !

[@NearFromHome]

danke! :)

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. I'm in love with this ever since I learned about it. (In fact, I wrote the first sentence here before you mentioned it in the video). Although I'm unhappy about C1/C2. C2 is deeper than just knowing language, it's a skill that you have independent of language skill, so if you have that skill, and you reached C1 in a language, you're automatically C2 in that language. IMNSHO.

[@NearFromHome]

Same. I really love how objective and clear the framework is!

[@neilfazackerley7758]

C2 means you can read between the lines in a text, get the subtext of when someone is using irony for example and understand very complex political and technical topics. You have to have pretty good knowledge beyond just the words in a text. You have to be able to discuss complex issues too.

[@nikhilsrl]

I found you guys today and am I glad I did. I have been looking for channels that talk about Germany and life there, but have only been able to find videos with clickbait-y thumbnails, especially ones run by couples which pimp the attractive partner on the thumbnails, that is until today.

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much! I know what you're talking about. We are really trying to be thoughtful/helpful for other foreigners and Germans who might be interested. 😙

[@mikeloughran5196]

I think I followed about half of Ben's, (3 cats... really). Camille, well it was like I was trying to follow a conversation at the table next to me at Donisl.

[@NearFromHome]

hahahah

[@adamkreuz9068]

My career is construction management and I've been toying with the idea of moving to Germany. Holy crap I need to study more!

[@NearFromHome]

You should go for it! We have a couple other videos on the process and how we're feeling about our decision. Feel free to reach out with any questions!

[@markusf6964]

Very interesting to watch. The easiest approach to practice German is start watching TV shows (no soap's, no connected story-line, independent episodes) or movies. There are a lot of crime-investigation shows and cooking shows. This is best way to get used to real time speaking. You can try use some dubbed content like Disney or Star Trek (if you prefer this). There is no other chance to get some friends speaking to you for 2 hours everyday. Once you reach a good listening and acceptable speaking level you can start reading to help your writing. I would start with comic books, fairy-tales or children books. There is no point reading Mann, Günter Grass or Göthe at the beginning. Don't take it the wrong way, but Ben is easier to understand. His speaking flow is more natural and the sentences are a lot easier. Camille's speaking flow is not as fluent, because her sentences are more constructed. I would assume, that Camille thinks more about the sentences before putting them out. You are booth good to understand. Ben sound like a French or Italian guy and Camille has a bit of a Russian accent.

[@NearFromHome]

Hahahaha well I'm glad we don't just sound like Americans trying to speak German! This is very good advice! Thank you!

[@narve7337]

Just stumbled upon your channel and it's funny you talked about reading the Harry Potter books ins a foreign language .. Because actually .. I'm a German learning Russian and when I was in a Russian speaking country for the first time I actually bought all Harry Potter books in Russian for me to read them.. So I can attest: Someone who knows the plot really well can read Harry Potter at B1 level in Russian ;>

[@NearFromHome]

Hahahahthis is such a common thing I hear all the time 😅

[@neilfazackerley7758]

Depends what job you want. To be a teacher in a German school you need C2 and to be a doctor you need C1 with a second test in medical German. I ve got C1 and would say I am almost at C2 but this has taken me years.

[@NearFromHome]

yup!

[@_SpamMe]

dunno what that says about anything, but I'd place Ben as a Dutch foreigner (or possibly Danish/Swedish/...) and Camille anywhere Eastern/Southern European, just listening to you guys talking. "Immersive learning" worked okay for me, staying in the US a short while as a teen, but, one, I had a good grammatical foundation so that wasn't an issue anyway; it was way more about confidence in speaking and just learning casual expressions and so on, and two, basically nobody spoke German, so, yeah. You're going to learn something whether you want to or not. ... thinking about it, people also placed my accent weirdly. Though I suspect that had more to do with American politeness, ha.

[@NearFromHome]

Hahaha I've never had anyone tell us that. Your experience sounds very similar to Camille's plus getting immersion every day for many hours. In my experience, foreign exchange students living for a year in the US end up speaking excellent English. 😙

[@howierfs5471]

Hey guys, Ben your german pronounciation is already good. Her german as well and hers as well. She sounds like coming from eastern states here in europe but never sounds like an american mothertongue. I appreciate to learn our language much even you have realized that learning the language of your guest country is the key for daily life. Unfortunately you are living in an international city and even a german city where still more bavarian slang is spoken than real hochdeutsch.

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much!! All the commenters say Camille sounds eastern European. haha We have no idea why.

[@maxwilli3718]

Sehr schönes Video! Er ist eine Katze, aber er ist ein Kater. Du hast wirklich eine sehr gute Aussprache. Sie hat damit noch Probleme, aber Ihre Grammatik ist schon ziemlich gut. Weiter lernen :-)

[@NearFromHome]

Danke!

[@martinjunghofer3391]

It was very interesting for me to hear how you both still quite often translate the English sentence order and the English words word for word into German; I used to think that only Germans do that when they speak Denglisch! By the way: a vocabulary of 500 words in Germany means "Bild-Zeitung-Neveau", so a lot of Germans are on that level!

[@ingevonschneider5100]

Selten so einen Blödsinn gehört. Im Durchschnitt benutzt ein Muttersprachler oder eine Muttersprachlerin ­etwa 12 000 bis 16 000 Wörter, darunter sind rund 3500 Fremdwörter. ­Verstanden wird aber viel mehr: Mit mindestens 50 000 Wörtern ist der passive Wortschatz um ein Mehrfaches größer. (Duden-Redaktion).

[@martinjunghofer3391]

@@ingevonschneider5100 Durchschnitt mag ja stimmen; aber wo ein Durchschnitt, da eine Standardabweichung: wie groß ist die denn dann nach Dudenredaktion oder sonstiger Quelle? Und dann: Durchschnitt minus 1 Standartabweichung = ? Ist das dann immer noch Blödsinn, was ich geschrieben habe?

[@NearFromHome]

lol!

[@1201suddenturn]

language -> talking about it or teaching the language, that differs the schooling in both countries

[@NearFromHome]

That's a really good way to put it. In the US, the secondary language education is shameful compared to German Gymnasium, and i think that's the biggest pedagogical difference.

[@Brainreaver79]

When i was trying to get my language skills up, i started watching movies in their native langauge. first with subtitles later without. then i started reading books that were initially written in english in english. Thats where i started to run into real problems. most books that are written in stadard english wether Us or British english are relatively easy... but get a welsh irish or scottish author and you quickly run into problems. because they often use words and dialects that make you come to a screeching halt and you have to research what they are talking about... sometimes its really gard to find fitting translations for the sentence. so i stumbled my way through movies, books and youtube till i got to a point where i understood everything. (i stil suck at speaking the language in my opinion) ;) one of my english teachers put it best..."when you stop translating a language in your head while using the language you have reached the most important milestone"

[@NearFromHome]

(Camille here) I also have to use subtitles and look up sayings when i watch media featuring Scottish and Irish actors. hahah

[@michaelgrabner8977]

First of all the German content you both told was understandable and came across and that is what counts..of course there were many grammatical mistakes and also a lot of english sentence structure while you spoke German. My tip according to "der, die, das" is to learn vocabulary = meaning in particular learning nouns from scratch ..memorize them always together with their articel..because they are not 2 seperate words they are one unit and that has to be your mindset about "article+noun"..meaning for instance the word for "house" is "das Haus" and not just "Haus" or the word for "table" is "der Tisch" and not just "Tisch" or for "cat" it is "die Katze" and not just "Katze"..... and by the way a male cat is "der Kater" I just mention it because you (Ben) said "Katze" - while introducing your male cats - but "die Katze" is female. So "Biscuits" and "Truffels" should be better called "Kater" when you talk about them specifically...although "Katze" is also the umbrella term for cats in general so speaking about them "in general" then using "Katze" is totally fine BUT when you talk about them with mentioning their names which by nature also simultanously refers to their gender then "Kater" for male cats would be the accurate right term...just as a sidenote. But back to learning nouns ...when you memorize them with their articel (again those aren´t 2 words those are one unit) then it will be way easier for you to use the right gendered indifinate articels (= eine (female), ein (male/neuter) + their case forms) as well which you heavily mixed up... or for using the right gendered pronouns as well..and that little more effort memorizing always "article+noun" will pay off immensely in the long run while learning German. According to pronunciation Ben did better but that´s just because he is English which makes it way easier for him than for Camille being American. British English has in general way clearer sounding vowels than American English and that difference helps British immense to pronounce German words a bit more accurately ...on the other hand and to be fair Camille was way more eloquent in speaking And that comment isn´t meant as a sort of critic at all....I´m pretty sure I made some mistakes in my english written comment as well....it is just my honest feedback

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much for your feedback and help! Camille here, but I really wish my teacher in middle school, as good as she was, had forced us to memorize verbs in this way. Every time I use an article or an adjective I just know it's probably wrong, and it's very stressful. haha Funny enough, when I was 12 and started learning German formally in school, I have distinct memories of thinking, "well I don't have to bother learning the articles for the nouns, or the pluralizations, or any of the conjugations for 'ihr'" I was such an idiot hahaha

[@o.b.7217]

Die Frau - absolut korrekt. Aber jetzt zu einem Beispielsatz: "Ich habe *der Frau* gesagt, dass sie nicht..." Was sagt der native Englischsprecher also? "Ich habe *die Frau* gesagt, dass sie nicht..." Deutsches Sprach, schweres Sprach. 😉

[@RMBittner]

I’m really enjoying your content. Thanks! Just one technical comment: I find the frequent jump cuts to a *slightly* closer view jarring…and I don’t understand the rationale for doing that. Is the camera doing that as part of an auto-focus thing? Because it’s not like an actual zoom; more like a frequent reframing.

[@NearFromHome]

They hid the jump cuts when we pause and make mistakes. In the more recent at home videos, we’ve toned it down!

[@sarumanork-orphanage5612]

I think you forget, that in Germany, all the other people ride the bull in the different way. I mean you say that you want to perfect your German in Germany and that checks out, lots of Germans walking about, but all the Germans will jump at any opportunity to show off and practice their English. I mean we all watch Game of Thrones in English, the dubbing is okay, but it's by far not as cool as the Orginal Version, but after two months past shool, you realise the first time when you're actually forced to speak English again, because some random doesn't know to order a sandwich (XDD), that you're English sounds rusty af, and even me typng here, in what I consider to be rather advanced English -- I am very proud of it -- if you'd hear me speak, I think you'd noticed that I haven't gotten around to it much. So yeah, we German speakers in Germany will definetly want to speak English whenever an opportunity occurs.

[@NearFromHome]

I totally understand that. haha

[@newbeginnings8566]

I'm checking out leaning centres in Munich.. The Goethe institute didn't get great reviews I noticed..

[@NearFromHome]

I think a lot of German learners end up not going there because it’s so expensive. They’re really great tho. I would recommend Edeltraud if your looking for quality and affordability

[@dieteroffermann3880]

I try, with looking your and other vlogs of expats in Germany, to hold my english propper. When i meet some english speaken people, i try to speak english with them and the most time they try to speak german with me.

[@NearFromHome]

hahah this is what we're talking about 😅

[@rn3074]

Hi Guys! What is it like now in Munich? We are so sad to hear about the closing of all the Christmas markets. :(

[@NearFromHome]

Things are mostly normal, aside from the canceled xmas markets. 😅

[@rn3074]

@@NearFromHome Sorry to bother you guys...but we were supposed to be coming in a couple of weeks. Is it still worth it to visit Bavaria at this time?

You mentioned "if you could take an intensive course with your job". How about you mention that to your employer or superior? Most often, German companies are happy to support their foreign employees to learn German. Maybe a kind of Sabbatical or a month with 50% work (and pay?), whatever you need to pay the bills and be able to do the course at the same time. I am sure together with your company you'll figure something out. :)

[@NearFromHome]

Yeah, I think my employer might pay for an intensive course, but considering my position at work, I'm really not able to. 😰 Right now they're paying for weekly lessons, so that's something!

[@thomasstehmann4277]

Die Aussprache ist doch gut bis sehr gut...Evtl. noch ein wenig am Satzbau und den Zeiten "feilen". Aber ich konnte Euch ansonsten sehr gut verstehen...Weiter so und nur nicht aufhören zu lernen!!! Ich habe schon genug andere "Expats" hier auf KZbin gesehen, die länger in Deutschland leben und nur halb so gut die Deutsche Sprache beherschen. Die Übung macht den Meister. :-)

[@NearFromHome]

Danke!

[@sarumanork-orphanage5612]

I have read Harry Potter I in Spanish as a form of closure with the language, that I've since abandoned, and I'd think I was around B1, B2 But really that was at the height of my Spanish, I was just near B2, I don't think I has a B2 level for a long time if I ever had it. But Harry Potter worked quite well actually.

[@NearFromHome]

Yes definitely. We were mostly referencing people with A1 talking about reading Harry Potter haha

[@Wamboland]

You both sound solid, I dont know my English level ... I think it should be around B1 ... maybe B2. It is just school englisch (~20 years ago ^^) added up with a lot of englisch content (YT, websites - but not many movies, I prefer dubbed versions most of the time *g*). My main problem is, that I dont really know the german grammar on a scientific level and only use it with my guts. And I do the same with englisch - and that is a problem. That causes uncertainty when I have to speak English with native speakers. I had to do an interview with PR representatives from Electronic Arts back in 2007 with no preparation, because the interviewer in our team missed his train and I had about 10mins to went to panic mode and try to calm down. ^^ - I mean, my Englisch was way better than their German, so they were fine with it and we understood each other good enough. On YT I watch 90% English content (Philiph DeFranco, Extra Credit, LTT, TLDR...) and only some German channels. Complex topics are sometimes hard to understand to 100% - i.e. PBS Space Time and a video about Thorium Reactors - or videos about scientific content in general. I would suggest to consume more German content - especially to get a feeling for the language and how it is used. In Bavaria you have the added difficulty of the local accent ... even as a German I cant understand ppl that speak Bayrisch. :P Maybe you try DW Deutsch/DW News - they have a lot of videos in both languages (English/German) so you can check if you understood everything - and learn about current topics in the world on the side :) Ok enough - after over 1 month after the upload, probably no one with will read this anyway ^^

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much! We have similar problems. We also watch all those YT channels as well. hahah We also watch WDR Reisen on YT to practice German.

[@hauzasan3380]

I think its good that you are not bullshitting. To many people on youtube tend to offer workarounds. But there is no workaround for learning another language. Maybe for very few genius people. I also would recommend full immersive 4 to 6 hours a day right at the start. The money is worth it. Only after that you could probably hope to improve by yourself. Never the less I would always recommend to take clases along the way. - The only thing I would add is, that you should look for an environement, where you are the only foreinger. Sportsclub for example. If you are the only foreigner on the table people will talk german and not english. But because of the pandemic this is probably difficult these days

[@NearFromHome]

Thanks so much! These are all great recommendations. Sportsclubs are a great option if you are not forced to learn in a school or work setting.

[@Wha73v3r]

24:12 [EN ]I think everyone is think this about themselves when speaking a foreign language. Me too i feel totaly dumb speaking english tbh. But your german skills are absolutely ok for you level [GER] Ich glaube das denkt jeder von sich selber. Auch ich fühle mich nicht gut wenn ich englisch spreche ^^ Aber euer Deutsch ist für den Skill Bereich absolute ok. I think the best way to learn a language is to force yourself using it all the time. I switched my phone to eng and watching movies/series in english. Watching channels like yours or listinig to eng podcasts. i confronting myself with english almost every day. And if you ask me....meh..i think i have still a lot to learn and my grama oof i won't think about it ^^

[@NearFromHome]

Absolutely true. When you are not forced to speak the language everyday at school or work, you do have to go out of your way to do it yourself. I really enjoy the WDR Reise channel on YT. It's helped me improve.

[@bearenkindercool]

ihr seid so fantastisch. ich als deutscher mann, finde es so grandios.

[@NearFromHome]

danke!

[@bearenkindercool]

@@NearFromHome hab ne frage an dich ben: kürzlich habe ich auf dw (deutsche welle) tv einen bericht gesehen und hätte schwören können, es ist deine stimme. lieg ich falsch?

[@bearenkindercool]

@@NearFromHome wozu danke? ihr seid selbst verantwortlich. sollte man ein perfektes pärchen beschreiben, die nicht deutsch sind, englisch sind, mixed, aber so positiv, dann nur ein absolutes danke an euch beide. so besser kann man es nicht machen. ihr seid einfach nur gut.

[@bearenkindercool]

falsch, nicht gut, perfekt.

[@darpinih]

Did you ever consider the Volkshochschule for German learning?

[@NearFromHome]

We did do a German course, but I actually didn’t find it very helpful. The class size was huge, and the lessons were not very conversational. Maybe we had bad luck. 🤷🏼‍♀️Ben had a lot of luck with Goethe and Camille liked Edeltraud for German lessons.

[@darpinih]

Yes, the class sizes and little opportunity for conversation were a couple of drawbacks. I thought the textbooks they use were good, being based on the CEFR, and I continue to use them as part of my German self-study.

[@NearFromHome]

@@darpinih that's awesome. I also liked the books, and appreciated how the classes lined up with cefr. Glad it worked out for you!

[@hans-jurgenoberfeld343]

In order to practice, you should subtitle your conversations in German.

[@NearFromHome]

I did consider that :)

[@rondotexe]

I want to hear what you think about the apps!

[@NearFromHome]

Then you are in luck! That video will drop in just a few days :) Make sure you are subscribed and what not so you don’t miss it when it’s released.

[@tinoj9661]

its always funny to me that people move to bavaria to learn german. its almost like moving to scotland to learn english. as a test you can listen to Hans Söllner on spotify and see if you understand him. he speaks "german" but most germans have problems understanding him. also... to be a fly one the wall when you realized that there are no active shooter drills in german schools.

[@NearFromHome]

Luckily we haven't encountered much Bavarian, although I have heard that there is a specific Munich accent. There are many things, including safety from mass shootings that we thankful for here in Germany!

[@mariusa.5863]

Ich war an einem Münchner Gymnasium und da spricht so gut wie niemand mehr Mundart - am ehesten noch Lehrer, die aus ländlichen Regionen zugezogen sind. Zum Oktoberfest holen die Schüler vielleicht zwei, drei Bierzeltsprüche auf Bairisch raus, aber das war's dann auch.

[@tinoj9661]

@@mariusa.5863 München ist ja auch nichtmehr wirklich Bayern. Darum auch der SPD Bürgermeister. Aber dann fährt man mal ne Stunde Richtung Südosten und steht in Berchtesgaden und man versteht garnix mehr.

[@peter_meyer]

Hey, ihr zwei, euer deutsch ist doch recht gut. Begebt euch unter Leute und sprecht einfach. Aussprache und Regeln lernt ihr dann viel besser. Viel Erfolg!

[@NearFromHome]

danke!

[@SirShoddrick]

I am about A2 level with grandparents that spoke Deutsch with me over three decades ago, and self learning from KZbin for 4 years, and trying to speak with Deutscher Exchange students here, but they switch to English after the first sentence... So is Deutsch just going to fade out in Germany this century since Germans are beginning to learn English as well as their native language ?

[@karinland8533]

Huh?

[@NearFromHome]

I don't think so. People will always choose/prefer to speak their native language first, no matter how fluent they are at a foreign language. I think Germans will use there excellent English to become even more prominent on the world stage

[@SirShoddrick]

@@NearFromHome nice! Wish we would make two or three languages mandatory, or at least available in our Elementary Schools in the U.S.

[@SirShoddrick]

@@karinland8533 I tried to elaborate on my comment, so that it will make better sense.

[@karinland8533]

@@SirShoddrick if you want to practice you German you need to tell people to stick to German. Usually Germans will switch to English, sometimes even if their English is not as good as your German. They try to make it more comfortable for you. Because they know how hard it is to learn a language and they are able to image how hard it must bet to study German (eg der, die, das). And if young Germans go for an exchange or semester abroad they are usually very well educated, not everyone is able to speak English as well as those people. Oxford English is tought in school quite early but not by nativ speakers. Also it is much easier now to have exposure to English speaking media. But do not get mistaken mother tonge is and will be German and any regional dialects.

[@mariusa.5863]

If you ask me, it is EXTREMELY difficult to really master a language. I've studied English in school for over 9 years and never stopped watching English movies and reading English books since, plus I've been to English speaking countries several times. But I'm still ridiculously selfconscious when I have real conversations that go beyond ordering a sandwich or asking for directions, even if I speak English with other non-natives. The reason for that is, I think, the enormous gap between how I can express myself in German compared to English and I'm painfully aware of it. And that's so frustrating. My English level is (supposedly) between C1 and C2, but I'm still NOWHERE near a competent native speaker. They would absolutely destroy me verbally in a serious impromtu discussion. Therefore, C1/C2 are not precise enough to summarize everyone above B2. Oh my, all that sounds somewhat discouraging ... 😅 But the intended message is: Don't to be too hard on yourself, because what you do is already hard enough. Just keep going: "Ist der Berg auch noch so steil, ein kleines Stück geht allerweil." 😉

[@neilfazackerley7758]

have you heard of Tamdem? Worth a look.

[@martinstubs6203]

It's really strange how two so closely related languages like English and German can be so different. The words may be similar in many cases but all the other aspects are definitely not.

[@NearFromHome]

I think about this a lot too :D It's a little frustrating, because I feel like German should be easier because it's closely related to english, but it's just not. haha

[@bearenkindercool]

letzter kommentar heute: katzen, oh mann.... ich könnte weinen, wenn ich eure sehe und meine so vermisse. the story behind, including my own history, is not worth mentioning. just feel y deep, sad, breath. chessie...

[@NearFromHome]

awwww so süß

[@bearenkindercool]

@@NearFromHome ich liebe euch, einfach....

[@jensschroder8214]

Gut, ich verstehe euch auf deutsch und wir könnten zusammen auf deutsch sprechen. Ich würde sicher genauso gut/schlecht englisch sprechen können, denn mir fehlt die Praxis englisch zu sprechen. Any way I can understand the most in English what I hear and read. But I have very little use to speak English.

[@Baccatube79]

By the way: It is not at all uncommon for Germans to take three foreign languages at school (I myself took English, Latin, and French).

[@NearFromHome]

This is why I feel like an idiot when I speak with Germans. You guys are extremely educated.

[@Baccatube79]

@@NearFromHome yeah, actually, no. We are basically educated. The US system has a way of handing out degrees to people who can throw a ball...

[@butenbremer1965]

The easiest way of learning German? Haut es einfach heraus, sprecht die Sprache einfach.... just speak it - trial and error, that's the (only) key to it, basically. Wir Deutsche sind glücklich, wenn Expats sich Mühe geben, unsere schwere Sprache lernen zu wollen und dabei Erfolg haben.... GO FOR IT ALL, Ihr schafft das!!

[@Nikioko]

Ich habe es bei ausländischen Kollegen immer so gemacht, dass ich sie Englisch reden lassen und auf Deutsch geantwortet habe. Das ist ein gutes System, und die Sprache erst einmal verstehen zu lernen.

[@dextrodus]

Euer Deutsch ist schon ganz gut! Die wichtige Frage ist aber: Bei wie viel Bier seid ihr am Gipfel eurer Deutschfähigkeiten. Ohne Bier denkt man zu viel nach und traut sich kaum was, mit zu viel Bier wird man langsam und dumm. Wo ist der sweetspot?

[@dextrodus]

At 6:40 you say "past C2", and just to be the stereotypical German know-it-all corrector, when I apply at places I usually just write C2 for German, it means that you are as good as an educated native speaker in a language, which you are as a native. There is no "past" C2 in a strict sense.

[@NearFromHome]

Yeah, it's a little confusing, because after C2 there are many levels of speaking the foreign language better and better, I think we were just trying to emphasize the quality. 😅

[@Nikioko]

@@NearFromHome C2 basically means that you understand the language like a native speaker. Which means that you also have a vast knowledge of German idioms and proverbs - which you shouldn't translate literally in most cases. You speak fluently about complex subjects and use the correct grammatical rules. It however doesn't mean that you speak without any accent. Which is fine, since native speakers also have accents which reveal where they are coming from.

[@haroldzentner2663]

Ihr versteht zumindest deutsch und das ist schon viel. Außerdem versucht ihr zu lernen und das machen viele nicht. Gut gemacht 👍

[@NearFromHome]

danke!

[@arminvanbuuren883]

Yeah yáll are definitely B1 and C1 idk what you're talking about, I passed the B2 Goethe Exam with really bad knowledge of german, maybe worse than B1.

[@NearFromHome]

really? Those tests are so hard

[@Kivas_Fajo]

Most articles are die for feminine and plural. So girls and more than one is always die. Der is maskuline and fairly rarer than die and das for neutre is even less common. So start with getting used to die for all the girls stuff and plurals. The rest is then to learn. ;-) Makes it much easier.

[@NearFromHome]

That was actually my approach in the beginning! (me, Camille) Now that I'm more advanced, I've tried to branch out and use the correct articles based on al the gender and case rules

[@marco-monaco]

While you were learning *German* I wonder how you dealt with *Bavarian* language…

[@NearFromHome]

I have only had a handful of interactions with Germans speaking actual Bavarian. I have been told by other Germans, that Münchner speak with a specific Munich accent. I cannot hear it, but I do know, that when I hear hoch Deutsch on the news or in Berlin, I have a much easier time understanding. 😅

[@Nikioko]

@@NearFromHome Munich = Minga ;-)

[@arnodobler1096]

Euer Deutsch ist👍

[@NearFromHome]

Danke 😍

[@HPMTube1991]

Learning a foreign language (or simply any language) as an adult, especially autistic and unsocial one, is indeed very hard. Even if someone has German origins/anchors (grandparents, for generations) A shame!

[@HPMTube1991]

Anyway, your opinion about the residents of Munich and Greater Munich, them speaking fluent English. Most of its residents and other places/sites/government offices, it is completely different from my opinion on the matter. As one who has been spending an average of six months a year year for years (on the Israel-Bavaria axis and especially Munich and the surrounding area) in Munich and Upper Bavaria and Bavaria in general, most of the residents are provincial in linguistic and other contexts. Perhaps this is different for young residents, foreigners, doctors and high-tech people, and other residents and citizens with an international affinity.

[@lamebubblesflysohigh]

The one thing Germany haven't taught you yet, is not wearing shoes at home :)

[@NearFromHome]

🤷🏼‍♀️

[@teongreen5254]

Shoes on the couch? Thats definitely not german behaviour...

[@NearFromHome]

Lol I knew people would comment. I don't ever put my shoes on the couch like this, but it was comfortable for shooting this video. However, wearing shoes in the house is the one American practice I will not give up.

[@ContinuumGaming]

And please... NO Google translate... use deepl. It is so much better...

[@NearFromHome]

Yes, google translate is not great.

[@axelk4921]

These "language level" classifications a1-c3 say nothing at all whether one "understands" or "can" a language, especially the German language that changes behind every hill / mountain if you as a "foreigner" are able to understand the difference between "MOIN" and MOIN MOIN "or the" whole sentence "when a Rhinelander says" Kannsema ?! "then you can speak German .... our language is "TOO Diverse" to be understood as a whole. Even I as a Rhinelander can understand my Dutch neighbors better than my relatives who live in Saxony although "we all speak German" best example : " Mama " ..... and "Mama hinne" ...... one is your mother, the other means in the Rhineland / Ruhrpott that you should hurry up

[@karinland8533]

Um, they only test Hochdeutsch, so the ability to understand dialects is not considered. Otherwise you would also be an non German speaker, because you do not understand the Saxon dialects?

[@TheBhappyboy1986]

funny how the first thing i see is that you are wearing shoes on the inside and even putting them on the couch. that is so anti every german thing inside me.

[@NearFromHome]

Lol I knew I’d get comments. 😅 it was just comfortable for filming 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@allannyholmnielsen5559]

My comment about the two of you talking over each other was not me thinking that I was watching a TED Talk or the like. I am perfectly aware of the dynamic of your couch conversations now. Please excuse my forwardness. I didn't mean to be snarky in my commentary and for that I will take you up on your advice and --don't-- not watch anymore of your videos.

[@NearFromHome]

Well that's a shame, I mean we weren't aiming that note at anyone in particular to be honest, we just saw that comment a few different times in different forms and thought it better to try and state our intentions. That way, if I (Ben) for example, were to continue to get more comments like that then I'd know I need to change something about my presentation style. Some people were a bit ruder than others though, again not calling anyone out, which you know...doesn't exactly feel great when you are both trying your best. I think the flow in this one was better though, and hopefully since people know what we are going for, they can help us achieve it via their comments.

[@ingevonschneider5100]

you will never be fluent in German. I have C2level in English and dont consider my English fluent. B2 is nothing. English is the ligua franca because it is so easy to learn, German is on another level. My English teacher in high school was from Texas and after thirty years she still wasnt fluent, she had an grammar mistake in every sentence. At universtity I had a German literature professor from New York, she was teaching German literature (!) and she wasnt fluent. So forget about that.

[@mariusa.5863]

Dass Englisch leicht sei, ist ein nicht auszurottender Mythos. Wie schwer oder leicht es ist, eine bestimmte Fremdsprache zu lernen, hängt vor allem von der eigenen Muttersprache ab. Deutsche haben mit Englisch natürlich einen Vorteil, da beides germanische Sprachen sind, das gleiche Alphabet verwenden, die Laute einigermaßen ähnlich sind und die Kultur englischsprachiger Länder großen Einfluss ausübt. Man vergleiche diese Ausgangslage einmal mit der eines Chinesen, der ein ganz neues Schriftsystem lernen muss. Ich stimme aber zu, dass die Zuschreibung C2 im Grunde genommen ziemlich lächerlich ist. Ein kompetenter Muttersprachler steckt die meisten Deutschen, denen C2 attestiert wurde, locker in die Tasche. Aber unmöglich ist es auf keinen Fall, wirklich und umfassend "fluent" in einer Fremdsprache zu werden. Ich kenne mehrere Leute mit fremder Muttersprache (u.a. Italienisch, Englisch, Finnisch), die grammatikalisch perfektes Deutsch sprechen und deren Wortschatz nicht kleiner ist als der eines durchschnittlichen deutschen Akademikers. Das kann ich beides berufsbedingt beurteilen und ich bin da sehr pingelig. Klar, die betreffenden Leute leben schon seit Jahren in Deutschland und in einer Deutsch sprechenden Umgebung und es sind natürlich auch nur Einzelbeispiele (wie die angeführte Lehrerin und die Professorin), aber die Aussage, es sei nicht möglich, eine Sprache wirklich fließend zu sprechen, widerlegen sie schon. Was ich aber noch nie erlebt habe, ist, dass jemand, der nach der sensiblen Phase Deutsch lernt, seinen Akzent vollständig ablegt. Aber auch da gibt es sicher Ausnahmen.