Learning German is a great choice for those desiring to learn a foreign language, for many reasons. German is spoken in at least 38 countries, by well over 100 million people. Although most German speakers are naturally to be found in Germany, as well as Austria and Switzerland, you will also find many German speakers in Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as America and South America. Being as Germany is the most powerful nation in European Union, German is 2nd only to English as a business language in Europe. Following are 4 great reasons you should consider learning German

1. Enhance Your Travel Experiences
In addition to the three major European countries where German is a native language, German is a second language for many countries across Eastern Europe. Those planning to travel in Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia or Kazakhstan may find it useful to learn German to communicate in those regions. There are many websites that offer free language lessons to help travelers learn basic German phrases. However, for a more intensive course, travelers could learn German in Berlin or another part of Germany.

2. Experience German Culture In The German Language
German culture is more than beer and lederhosen. Germany has a rich cultural heritage. Many great thinkers, such as Freud and Einstein, were German. Many of the most respected classical composers came from Germany. There is a lot to do in Germany, from exploring towns with a centuries-old history to seeing the wonders of modern engineering technology. Those who study in Germany will find that this gives an inside view of many aspects of German culture.

3. Tourism Industry Employment
With three major language centers and many other German-speaking regions, German is a key language for those seeking to work in the tourist industry. Some German language schools offer courses aimed at professionals in different industries which will also help those in the tourist trade. This is key not just for those planning to work within Germany, but for those planning to work with the millions of German-speaking tourists who travel the globe each year.

4. Business
Germany is the third largest manufacturing nation in the world and one of the largest exporters. Learning German will help business people to improve their prospects of doing business in German-speaking countries. And while it may be true that many Germans speak English as well as, if not better than, many native English speakers, those who learn German will have the advantage of understanding what is said in its original context. Many German language schools offer classes specifically designed to help business people learn German. These include classes dealing with speaking on the telephone, negotiations and presentations.

The Best Ways To Learn German

The single best way to learn German is by immersion, as with any language. Learning German in Germany is not only the most fun way to learn, but also the fastest and most effective. There are many reasonably priced German language schools in Germany, where studies typically run 4 hours a day of intense language training, leaving plenty of time to engage with the culture and practice what you have learned in the classroom; there are programs that including meals will only run around $1000 a month; depending on where you choose to study, the prices may be higher or lower.

There are great German language schools all over Germany, but the some of the best are in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Stuttgart. I studied in both Heidelberg and Munich; though I have traveled throughout Germany, I consider those two cities my favorites. When learning German in Germany, the immersion experience will help you achieve fluency so much faster - and you’ll have a blast doing so too, I promise.

If flying to Germany for 2 weeks to 3 months isn’t an option for you, then using a good interactive German language software package that simulates the immersion experience is a great 2nd choice; programs such as Rocket German can have you reasonably fluent in 8 weeks.  Classroom instruction in another good choice, though most people progress faster with the modern language software. If possible, supplement your studies by practicing with a native speaker; nothing facilitates the growth in language skills then by actually speaking it.

The absolute best way to learn German is to study German in Germany (Austria works as well).  I know this from personal experience; the best time of my life was had in Germany twice; first in the military, then study abroad in my Junior year of college.  I had condensed the first two years of college German into 3 quarters, and compressed the third year of College German into a 10 week immersion program in Munich (München, auf Deutsch).

By the end of that wonderful summer, I was quite fluent, and was completely comfortable striking up conversations with Germans in any situation I happened to find or be in. It was the most fun I have ever had; I would go out with my class mates in the evening, and we would discuss politics with German students in the beer tents all over Munich.  And a great time was had by all!

I am quite excited about returning to Germany to study this summer, and have been doing quite a bit of online research in order to find the most economical German study programs.  I really struck gold in finding these guys; I had no idea one could study German in Germany for 12 weeks, including accommodations, for as little as $2000.00.  EuroLanguages is the name of the company, and they are definitely the most affordable study abroad program available.

The EuroLanguage program represent dozens of schools, in 12 European countries, teaching 12 languages.  Courses range from 1 to 12 weeks, from beginner to advanced, and from casual study to complete immersion including one on one instruction.  Business language programs are available, as well as cultural immersion (including cooking in Italy, surfing in Spain, and just about any option you can think of).  Accommodation choices range from the dirt cheap to the moderately expensive, and include options such as sharing a dorm room, staying in a private citizens home (home stay), or even your own studio apartment; there really are options for every budget.

My main interest of course is in German and Germany, and they work with 6 different schools in six cities, to include Frankfurt, Dresden, Heidelberg, Munich, Cologne and Vienna (Austria).  Prices range from very low (just a few hundred for classes and lodging for two weeks) to moderately expensive; the programs in Frankfurt, Cologne, Dresden and Heidelberg are extremely reasonable ($2000 to $3500 for 12 weeks), while the programs in Munich and Vienna are a bit more expensive, up to $5000-$6000.00 for 12 weeks, which is still less than $2000.00 a month, and that can include half-board if you so desire (breakfast and dinner during the week, all three meals daily on weekends).

I am very excited to have discovered this program, and am pinching my pennies for my next sojourn in Germany.  The last time, I almost didn’t come back, and to be honest, wished I had tried a little harder to find work so I could have stayed.  Now that I have a 15 year work history behind me, this time around, I may just stay.  With the average 12 week program running from $700 to $1200 a month including lodging, with another $400 thrown in for half-board, one could live on very little, study, and work to pay one’s way once one was there.  Check out their German study programs yourself.

“A child taught a second language after the age of 10 or so is unlikely ever to speak it like a native,”  stated Newsweek magazine, in  February 1996.  One of my German professors noted the same thing - your brain and body both begin going through changes after 10 years of age that will prevent you from ever speaking it ”quite” as well as a native; not necessarily in terms of thought, writing, or vocabulary, but mostly just in terms of accent.  The brain and the vocal cords just have a much easier time of it before the age of 10, and children who are immersed and learn it when young will learn it to native proficiency.

It behooves us as parents to begin teaching our children a foreign language now, not later - not only will our children have the gift of being bi-lingual, but multiple studies have proven that children who learn a foreign language actually do better in their own native language, placing higher on standardized tests.  Children immersed in a foreign language not only excel in their native language skills, but place higher across the board - math, science, literature, philosophy, and all others.  This increased proficiency has been proven to translate into higher SAT scores, and these fortunate children go on to outperform all comparison groups and become exceptionally high achievers academically.

The German language learning program we have found our kids respond best to is PowerSpeak - Foreign Language for Kids; the software is designed exclusively for kids, and isn’t just a stripped down version of another program.  Rather, PowerSpeak for Kids is designed with children in mind (K-12) specifically, both in terms of learning style as well as academic proficiency.  It meets all the school standards and requirements, and your children can actually test, certify and get credit by learning with this software.  It’s perfectly adequate for adults, too, and a lot of fun besides (online, interactive, games, puzzles, and prizes - heh).

The study of a foreign language benefits the parents as well as the kids, by exposing a new culture to them, broadening their knowledge and understanding by revealing a completely new world to them.  Children learn to express themselves in new and exciting ways.  The language skills they acquire now will give them an advantage when they are entering the workforce, as being bilingual is a definite asset in many fields of endeavor.

The best way to help your children master a new language is to be actively involved yourself, learning as well as instructing.  Attend cultural events with your children, sampling the music, food, art and dance of the country whose language you are studying.  Study the language yourself, with your children, and speak it with them on a daily basis.  Doing so will go a long way in motivating your children to learn, and it will become a favorite activity! Surround your whole family with books, Cd’s, music and software in the language you are learning.  And if your children are past 10, don’t worry - they (and you) can still achieve native levels of fluency, even if a trace of an accent is there.  Accents sound cool anyways!

I am passionate about the German language, and am excited to be able to share my experiences of learning  German. It’s an incredible experience to be able to speak with others in a different language, and once you do it, you’ll be hooked. I certainly am.

Learning German enables you to enter into a very different culture and is an amazing experience.  Becoming bilingual is a gift -  one that you will enjoy receiving for the rest of your life.

Nothing facilitates learning a new language like an immersion experience.  Obviously the best way to learn is to actually live in a German speaking country, but the next best thing is interactive software that provides an immersion experience.   Rocket German is a German language program that includes software as well as .pdf study materials, and accomplishes an immersion experience better than any other language software I have tried, and for a lot less in terms of price (hundreds less than Rosetta).   German language software of this caliber is the next best thing to being there. 

Teach Yourself German In 8 Weeks - Guaranteed

If you have never practiced the language, the Rocket German software and training program will have you speaking and reading German fluently in 8 weeks.  If you have studied German before, and simply need a refresher course, this will have you back where you were in just a few weeks. I’d say it’s equal to at least two years of college German (even in college, I condensed 3 years of German into less than a year; I’d say you can achieve the same thing with this software in a quarter of the time).

The secret to learning German quickly is to combine several elements at once - spoken, written, audio and visual - and then interact in a manner that exercises what you have learned in an immersive fashion.

You want to learn stuff that is practical, so that you know what to say in any situation you happen to find yourself - in a Restaurant, a Train Station, meeting new friends, etc. Rocket German does well with all these things.

The reason that this learn German software works so well is that it leverages your innate language ability, enabling you to learn German rapidly, effectively, and easily.

Anyone can learn German with this software.  It’s cutting edge design was implemented with the principles of neural-linguistic programming.  What this means in layman’s terms is that the brain is wired in a certain way when it comes to learning new languages.  This software was designed to take advantage of the very structure of the language centers in the brain, so that learning a new language comes as easily as learning your native language.

Free 6-Day German Language Course

Rocket German is currently offering a 6-Day German Course free of charge, to demonstrate how easy it is to learn German with their language program. The free 6-day course has selected audio tracks, lessons and activities from the full premium course. Not having practiced my German for over 10 years, I was pretty amazed at how fast the free course started bringing those skills back. The full course is even better, and I have no doubt that I will be speaking fluent German again by the time I have finished with it.

“Ich bin Hans…und Ich bin Franz; und zuzammen verden wir dich…aufpumpen!” shouted my muscle-bound classmate and myself, clapping our hands just before yelling “aufpumpen” for emphasis. Our junior year college German class was laughing so hard that students were wiping tears from their eyes; at least two ended up on the floor holding their stomach while convulsing on the floor, a danger to themselves and others.

What we had said, in German, was “I am Hanz, and I am Franz, and together we will pump (hand clap) You Up!” My Junior Year German Lit class had broken up into groups of two or three in order to present skits (auf Deutsch, of course). My classmate and I chose to embrace an *authentic* renditioning, in the native German language of our erstwhile heroes, that extremely popular Teutonic Duo of the early nineties, Hans and Franz, Arnold S.’s long lost cousins, wanna-be bodybuilders and Saturday Night Live regulars.

Almost every Saturday they appeared on the SNL stage, beginning or ending their skit with their familiar refrain, “Together, we will pump…you up!”  So while the rest of the class chose to do something from Goethe, or Wagner, or the Nibelegunslied, we went the low-brow route; no Hoch Deutsch culture for us that day! Hans und Franz it was.  They translated so well in German!

The Teutonic Duo, uberpopular in the day, would basically have little adventures that involved flexing their muscles at whatever problem they encountered - or threatening to call in their even larger cousin, “Ahhnulld!”  “Vee Vill sqveeze your head between our muscular thighs until your brrlains come out your ears like tooth-paste!”

We *killed* the class that day, and got an A for our effort, of course. Even our professor had a hard time keeping it together. Our dear 65 year old German professor, the only man I have ever heard speak German with a Texas accent. He drove a Cherry-Red 67 Mustang Fastback as well, though hopefully not after quaffing a German lager or two.

The riot in class that day, and subsequent adventures, is really the whole point of learning a foreign language - it is fun.  Seriously fun. Of course there can be a practical side; travel, employment, enrichment. But the most important thing is to have fun with it. I went a long time without practicing, but have recently taken it up again, using the Rocket German software to regain my fluency (the software is really quite good).  Even after going more than 10 years I can still engage in conversational German adequately; once you gain fluency, you never lose it completely.  But being fluent is a lot more fun than just getting by, and fortunately, it’s coming back quite quickly.

Prost!