The 3 Myths About Learning a Foreign Language: Learn German the Best Way

Having studied langugages for nearly 20 years, I’ve learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t.  Here are 5 common myths:

Myth 1: It’s impossible to learn a language fast.

Not true at all.  I know many people in adulthood who have picked up a language in amazingly fast time.  And no, they don’t all have IQs of 180!  In fact, most just have a valid reason, such as work advancement.  You just need the right motivation, and you too can learn fast.

For many language learners we have worked with, fluency implies an ease and fluidity of expression in the target language. And you would probably need to add to the mix ease in understanding everything said by others in the target language. Plus everything that you read. Plus perhaps everything you write in the new language too. The list could go on. We would agree that for most mortals it’s not possible to achieve fluency of this kind in a few weeks or months.

You CAN, however, achieve ‘conversational fluency’ in a matter of weeks or months.

Myth 2: It’s much easier to learn a language as a child.

a lot has happened in the last half century, and there’s been a substantial amount of new research that pokes big holes in the ‘critical period’ idea. It has fallen out of favor with psychologists and language specialists alike, which means you can no longer use your adulthood as an excuse not to learn a language. In fact, a number of studies have demonstrated the exact opposite: that when exposure time to a new language is controlled, adults actually learn FASTER than children!

This makes perfect sense. Think about it. Adults have a couple of obvious advantages over children who are learning their first language. Adults know infinitely more about the world; they understand that there are such things as ‘rules’ and ‘conventions’ and that these rules govern the way all languages work.

So don’t let this common myth stop you, whatever your age, from pursuing a new  language.  There are so many reasons TO learn a language–these myths are but a few erroneous reasons not to!

Myth 3: The best way to learn a language is to go to that foreign country and immerse, immerse, immerse…

Immersion is a very fashionable word when it comes to concocting language learning catch-phrases. And for good reason. Surrounding oneself with other native speakers and being forced to communicate in the target language most if not all of the time is a powerful way to learn a second language.

But here’s the thing: you don’t need to go to Germany to immerse yourself in German, Italy to immerse yourself in Italian, Korea to immerse yourself in Korean, and so on. This belief just puts another obstacle in your path, and gives you an all-too-tidy excuse not to take your language learning seriously in the meantime.

There are several reasons that undo the foreign country immersion myth. First of all, there are plenty of ways in which you can recreate – or ‘simulate’ – a productive sense of immersion in the language. That’s because you live in a digital culture where all kinds of resources from all kinds of places are available to you on your personal computer.

Secondly, it’s certainly not a BAD idea to immerse, but who has all the time and money to do this?  Moving to another country takes a lot of time and resources, and requires sacrifice like very few other things: you’re giving up time from your family and friends, time from your job, giving up precious savings…

So, you ask, what IS the best way to learn?

In general, the best courses will be able to combine:

1) the power of multimedia technology;
2) a clear and up-to-date method of instruction; and
3) a sense of enjoyment and play…

The best courses will also provide you with a suggested learning path, but at the
same time be flexible enough to allow you to do things your own way. They will
be invaluable in giving you simulated conversational practice when the real thing
is not within earshot.

For my money, Rocket German, by the fantastic Rocket Languages team, is the best, fastest, and most enjoyable way to learn German.  It covers beginner’s to advanced levels and costs far less than a beginner’s course (you can spend over 0 at most universities just to get the basics!), and about a 25% of the price of JUST Rosetta Stone Level 1 (about 0 just for Beginner’s German!!).

It’s a good deal, and one that any serious learner should jump on.

I hope this helps!  Enjoy whatever path you take, and good luck.

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German is one of the most popular languages in the world. In fact, the Guinness Book of World Records has listed the German language as one of the three languages that are learned the most by people. It is also included in the ten most spoken languages in the world. In the European Union it is the second most known foreign language.German is also one of the agreed upon official languages of the EU and is also chosen, along with English and French, as one of the three working languages used in the European Commission.

German is also considered as a pluricentric language much like English and French. With the wide scope of usage for this language, it would be quite expected to think that a person who knows German would be able to go to any part of Germany and be expected to communicate effortlessly. Unfortunately, this is quite far from the truth. In reality, the German language has many dialects that are spoken in a large part of the country (and even in other countries).

The German dialects are not mutually intelligible to each other. This means that people who only know the different German dialects and not the common German language will not be able to understand each other.

How did the dialects evolve into this? Each dialect has evolved to contain typical words that are not considered as cognates of the words used in standard German this makes it quite difficult to understand in areas where the dialect is not spoken or an area where a different dialect is used.

There is a so-called dialect continuum in countries where German is spoken. During normal situations the dialect that is used by a neighbouring region is understood quite well even if it is also distinctly different from the dialect that is used in the adjacent region.

The so called Low German dialects that are used in the Northern part of Germany are considered mutually intelligible but it still remains not understood in other parts of the country. Of the other remaining dialects, the German dialects used in Switzerland, Southern Bavaria, Austria, and the West Bank of the Rhine are notoriously known for being very hard to understand outside the regions in which these dialects are used. On the other hand, the so called Central and Eastern German dialects are seen to be more understandable in other parts of the country.

Low Germanic dialects are those dialects that were not affected by the High German consonant shift. The Low Germanic dialect is comprised of two subgroups ? Low Franconian and Low German.

The High Germanic dialects are broken down into Central German and Upper German subgroups. The Central German dialects include Ripuarian, Moselle Franconian, Hessian, Thuringian, South Franconian, Lorraine Franconian and Upper Saxon. Upper German dialects include Alemannic, Swabian, East Franconian, Alsatian and Austro-Bavarian. The Upper German dialects are also used in certain parts of the Alsace, as well as in southern Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and in certain parts of Switzerland and Italy where German is spoken.