While in Cape Town I completed basic German A1 with the Goethe Institute and I thought woow I could now speak German ..... in my dreams - did you know that German is one of the most difficult languages to learn and even worse when you are an adult.
So Jim comes to Jo'burg thing in this case Jill comes to Germany and the German A1 that I completed in South Africa was not even helping except to say Guten Morgen, Danke, Entschuldigung, Mein Name ist....
So, I decided to go for German lessons as well but the problem was I could not go to classes during the day: because I had a baby to take care of and I wanted to be there for my daughter as well during this "adjustment period". Again if you planning to stay in Germany permanently you are required to learn German up to B1 and the "Auslaender Amt - Immigration Office" does subsidize you for the course. At this point in time I was still not sure whether I was going to stay here in Germany or go back to South Africa.
In September 2013 I decided to go for the evening German classes from 18:00 to 21:15 and every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and my lovely husband took care of the kids.
Did I mention to you that German language is the most difficult language? What was consoling is that in my class we had two ladies who have been in Germany for 20 years and 16 years respectively, they could speak German but one will not be convinced that they have been here that long. How is that possible? My German was bad, okay it is still not good. So I decided to call this course " mind your language "after the English sitcom which I am sure most of you know about and hence I decided to call my blog " mind my language ".
So, I attended or completed level A2 and B1 by October 2014 and we wrote Exam on the 21 November 2014.
On the 23 December 2014 I got my report and I have passed my A2 and B1 levels - next year I am doing my B2 which is more advanced and will be good for me when I join the German Corporate World
This does not mean I speak good German but when i am with my "My your language" classmates I am confident and I can speak German or going to shops I speak German. It's always difficult to have a discussion with fluent German native speakers and it's even worse when you sitting with a group of them and they are speaking German. Who said it was going to be easy relocating to a different country with different language than what you speak. You have your highs and lows i.e. is it worth it or should I just pack my bags and go back to my familiar environment (mainly language).
It is frustrating to be in a new environment and you can't speak or understand the language, you feel "out of place", "loner" and you become "anti-social" not by choice by language limitations. I prefer to be around your "Mind your Language" crew where you are forced to converse but the disadvantage is if there is someone who speaks English you automatically switch to English which is not good for your German language learning process. Luckily, I don't have English speakers in my class.
I am not One of those who quit that easily, if I do that I will consider myself as a failure and by 2018 I will be fluent in this language - I mean fluent to work and write technical German business documents.
2014 has ended on a HIGH for me, I have passed my A1 and B1 German - BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO to me and looking for forward to a fruitful 2015 and more German to be absorbed.
