Looking for somewhere to learn German?

JustHalf

I'm going to do some looking around NUI Maynooth (and perhaps get some people in DCU to do some snooping around there) for places in the College to learn German, if you do not currently study German.

If anyone knows of any place were people can learn German, I'd appreciate it if they posted the information.

I'll also be posting up my impressions of a cassette and book set I bought recently from the Modern Languages shop near Pearse Street train station. It's called "Colloquial German" and I'm using it to get my German back up to scratch.

Cake Fiend

Do they do PC software in ML? I used to have a program when I was studying for the LC, you recorded yourself speaking and it analysed your voice to check how good your accent was, you could hold virtual conversations with AVIs of natives, etc - it was basic enough but I found it much easier to learn with than a tape/book combo. If they have a more advanced version out, or someone else did the same thing, I'd reccommend checking it out (can't remember what developer made the one I used though).

Makaveli

I'd say Linguaphone do cd-roms now.
A good way to learn any language.
Linguaphone

Dun

Originally posted by Makaveli
I'd say Linguaphone do cd-roms now.
A good way to learn any language.
Linguaphone

Is linguaphone worth it? I mean almost €400 for a course seems a bit over the top for a study-at-home course..

Makaveli

Chances are it's just as expensive to do a course.
I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives.
A search on google would probably return a good few results.

Dun

I know there are plenty of Teach Yourself courses and so on (and the Colloquial Course - I did find the German one easy enough to follow, but then I stopped having free time and gave up ), but I am really curious about what is so great about the linguaphone course that it costs that much money for one.

Chaos-Engine

The German Institute is perhaps the best place to learn german in town. Check the phone book for address and number. As far as I know(checked it 2 weeks ago) its on Fitzwilliam square, Dublin 2...Hang on here it is

The Goethe -Institute
German Institute
62 Fitzwilliam Square
Dublin 2
01-6618506

Its an off shoot of the Embassy so it houses the best teachers.

JustHalf

Hmm... I pass by there everyday heading to work... if anyone wants me to drop in and ask some questions some day this week I'd be more than willing.

Dun

I'd take a class there if it wasn't for the five hour commute from Donegal

sanctuary

I'm living in austria and I wanted to learn gaeilge. I found some pages in the web, wich are really intersting. Now I found a friend in new zealand, who was born in Galway and she teaches me gaeilge. Its easier now.
So if you want send me an email, I will send you some informations about german, and if you can, try to write me some words in german!

Greetings from Austria!

JustHalf

These links might help:

Learn German @ German For Travellers.com
http://www.germanfortravellers.com/learn/

BBC "Cultural Notes":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/languages/german/business/cl_index.shtml

German Newspaper, apparently useful for those with basic command of the language (still have to read it)
http://derweg.org/

p.pete

another good site is http://german.about.com that has a lot of lessons and general information.

I think Linguaphone is quite good, although my attention span for it is quite poor. I lent it from the local library, but I guess my attention span would have been heightened had I paid 400 euros for it.

huge

Originally posted by JustHalf
I'm going to do some looking around NUI Maynooth (and perhaps get some people in DCU to do some snooping around there) for places in the College to learn German, if you do not currently study German.

If anyone knows of any place were people can learn German, I'd appreciate it if they posted the information.

I'll also be posting up my impressions of a cassette and book set I bought recently from the Modern Languages shop near Pearse Street train station. It's called "Colloquial German" and I'm using it to get my German back up to scratch.

ya i know a place its called secrondary skool lol

Oral Slang

Yeah, I've been learning German in the Goethe Institute for the past 6 years!!!

Really nice place to learn - a bit on the expensive side.. Every year I say its my last, but then I give in and go back. Its a kind of a social thing now.. Would recommend it to anyone!

JustHalf

Originally posted by huge
ya i know a place its called secrondary skool lol

SHCHLOLS

"huge" banned.

Caoimhe

Oral Slang wrote:

Yeah, I've been learning German in the Goethe Institute for the past 6 years!!!

Really nice place to learn - a bit on the expensive side.. Every year I say its my last, but then I give in and go back. Its a kind of a social thing now.. Would recommend it to anyone!

Goethe Institut is lovely but I do the 6th year course and its not great, most of the people are at a lower standard than me. And I'm not very good at German so thats kind of saying something... I'd love to do a proper course there though.
The best way to learn German is to do some kind of exchange or summer course there, if you have the time and money...

Oral Slang

Yeah its kind of the same in our class. Each year 1 or 2 new people join up and they are usually keen on doing exams and stuff whereas us long term people just go to keep the language going.
I would love to be totally fluent but outside of the class I lack the time & the motivation.
I start books and generally get bored about half way through - that said they are recommended reading books for the exams and are therefore not all that modern.
I think some of the classes are more focused, you just need to know what you want out of it!

dundealgan

have any of you guys done a summer german course at the goethe institute?
i sent them an email asking for info for courses this year(no reply yet) , cos theres nothing on the website about it yet. The only info i have is that summer courses are in July. I want to do a refresher course before i go into my final year in college.
I have no idea of prices, etc.

Any info appreciated! Thank you!

Brenner

has anyone tried a CD set as a course to learn german?

are they any good, I'm looking into Linguaphone, the advantage with the CD set is you can do it over and over & at yer own pace...

Gotta find a good/affordable CD course, I'm going over there to meet my girlfriends mum! AAArrgh!

esperanza

Hallo Dun,

I will write in German, I hope you understand... If you can't understand, I will translate for you.

Wenn du deine Deutschkenntnisse wirklich verbessern möchtest, wäre es eine gute Idee einen Deutschmuttersprachler zu finden. Gibt es Deutsche, die in Donegal wohnen? Sie können dir Privatunterricht geben. Nach meiner Erfahrung funktioniert das prima.

Auch könntest du einen Brieffreund oder eine Brieffreundin per Internet finden. Dann kannst du regelmassig Emails zueinander schreiben. Und auch per Messenger chatten und mit Skype kannst du auch kostenlos miteinander sprechen.

Lesen ist auch sehr wichtig. Vielleicht hat die Bibliothek in deinem Gegend deutschsprächige Bücher oder an der Schule. Gibt es vielleicht hilfreiche Deutschlehrer, die dir ein paar Bücher leihen könnte.

Um dein Schreiben zu verbessern, du könntest dein Tagebuch auf Deutsch schreiben. Nur ein paar einfache Sätze. Das hilft viel, glaub mir!

Nur ein paar Ideen. Sag mir bitte Bescheid...

pwd

Berlitz audio courses are good, and you get a voucher for a lesson with them.

LegacyUser

I would offer ye to do it like in the European Tandem project:

I call ye (whenever ye like to/ next time vice versa) and we talk 30 minutes German.
Subsequently I give you tips what is good/ what is not so good/ general tips and focus on special grammar purposes or pronunciation matters.

Next we do the same but in English and ye give me tips.

Of course, it would be possible to do it via internet, if you have a good internet connection and a web cam

Furthermore, we could help each other with written activities ==> just email.

You might send me a PM 2

Have a staggeringly splendid day & let me know

maybelline

The "Deutsche Welle" offers good German courses - you can download textbooks and audio files for free:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,1595,2547,00.html

Or try to find a German penpal or tandem-partner

Mogwa

OMG dat site is brill im in 6th yr and its brill i love it thank u

murphaph

I have recently started learning this language. I was threatening to go back to it (I did it at school 10 years ago and didn't care for it, such is youth-so fair play to you schoolgoers who are actually interested in language) for a while and was landed with the Linguaphone CD set as a present (a kind of put up or shut up gift!) so I started it a couple of weeks ago. I am not a fast learner when it comes to language but the way this course is laid out seems (it's early days) pretty clever. It seems to reinforce ideas in a subtle, but noticeable way. I have to say I love Germany. I've been there many times for work and I have friends in Munich & Cologne and have been there plenty. I'd like to move there one day if I can get a job of course, but in the mean time I'm going to persist with this learning curve.It seems steep from down here at the bottom looking up at you fluent speakers, well writers anyway

When I've visited germany I find myself (ooh there's a reflexive-common in German I believe!) being embarrased at my lack of german in the face of all these germans with average or better english. We're not great europeans as a whole.

Hope to keep contributing to this little ecke of boards in the future....

Supercell

I was looking into this recently and must admit was rather put off the whole idea by the course duration in the Goethe institue, seems like it's a 9 year journey !!
http://www.goethe.de/ins/ie/dub/lrn/stf/enindex.htm

Is there anyway to progress any faster, surely to learn German thats reasonably fluent doesnt take 9 years with the right teaching ?

If anyone knows any other way to do it which involves classes in the Dublin area would love to hear.

The linguaphone method seems like a good starting point , but could see myself putting it off whereas if I had paid for classes would make sure I'd attend them, as well as that there is the social aspect of participating in a class enviornment thats missing from a prerecorded casette/cd.

John C

My mother tongue is english, I learnt German in Ireland, I learnt to read by starting with short articles of "German Reader's Digest". Also whenever I met German people holidaying in Ireland I spoke my basic German with them.
John C

Sonnenblumen

Whenever, wherever always take the opportunity to speak directly with native speakers. I've had fantastic times every time!

kristina19

If anyone is interested in talking or writing emails to a native speaker, tell me I am an Austrian aupair, staying for 8 months in Dublin, so I'd be delighted to meet some people. My English isn't perfect as you've probably realized, but my German is (of course)
So just write me a message

LegacyUser

has anyone studied in the Sandford Language Institute in Ranelagh.

i was thinking of enrolling

http://www.nightcourses.com/search.html?op=showcourse&row_id=13454&coll=Sandford%20Language%20Institute&id=393

Idbatterim

In response to the where you can learn German question, I work for the Sandford Language Institute, we have offered German since 1989, we run all levels, 15 week courses costing E240. You can check out our website at sandfordlanguages.ie, late enrolment is no problem. Apologies for the poor site, it is due to be completely revamped in the near future! You can also find us in golden pages, google etc!

Daniel-MD

Hello,

I'll stay here in Dublin until the end of February and writing my PhD in mechnical engineering. Afterwards I'll go back to Germany. So if anybody wants to lern or to perfect his or here german, this can be arranged. My english is not perfect und may also need some improvements.
So if you are interested in talking and maybe drinking a pint, let it me know I'm looking forward ...

Daniel

scop

It actually seems like we have a lack of good courses for those trying to learn German who lack the funds for the Goethe Institute course. Shame. I'm going to be starting German through an Oxford language pack and with the help of German friends. Pity on the courses though.

schubi

Hallo zusammen,

vielleicht findet sich ja online irgendein "Open-Source" Kurs, den wir hier empfehlen und mit Rat und Tipps unterstuetzen koennen?

Hi all,

perhaps there's an online course out there thats "open source" which we can recommend and support with advice and hints.

newby.204

hey im 20, soon to be 21, was too dumb to take the oppurtunity school gave me learn a language including irish, and well in my job german would be beneficial when im overseas and besides i just want to learn a foreign language!!! I cant sign up for expensive courses, im in a course at the moment!! any advice?

Dr Strange

newby.204 wrote:

hey im 20, soon to be 21, was too dumb to take the oppurtunity school gave me learn a language including irish, and well in my job german would be beneficial when im overseas and besides i just want to learn a foreign language!!! I cant sign up for expensive courses, im in a course at the moment!! any advice?

Hi there,

first of all let me say it's nice to see some people interested in our language

As for the courses I think it depends where you are located. There are some courses in Dublin and Counties, a good selection is on offer at the Goethe Institute in Dublin (full courses as well as two weeks summer courses) but they cost you a bit. Some of the community colleges/adult education centres offer evening courses once a week (there's one running in Bray) for a fee. If you want to start learning before going on a course I would recommend to get one of those CD-ROM courses with text books. Linguaphone is one of them but there are others as well.

There are two books out on night-time courses/part-time courses in Dublin (I think one covers the whole of Ireland) which you can find at Eason's.

Best,
Preusse

mackerski

Preusse wrote:

If you want to start learning before going on a course I would recommend to get one of those CD-ROM courses with text books. Linguaphone is one of them but there are others as well.

If you're tempted to go for Linguaphone, make sure to research it well. I bought their book plus audio CD course a number of years ago and wasn't impressed. The material was, if not actually out of date, then certainly very olde-worlde.

E92

Preusse wrote:

Hi there,

first of all let me say it's nice to see some people interested in our language

Ich finde das total ironisch. Ihr wollt doch euere Sprache zu uns verkaufen! Deutsch wird doch immer ähnlicher zu Englisch. Das Airport(der Flughafen). Die Kamera(der Fotoappart). konsumieren(verbrauchen). Das ist korrekt(Das stimmt). Was kommt nächste für die Sprache?:D

Wie die Deutsche, die ich kenne, mir gesagt haben ,,Englisch ist viel cooler als Deutsch zu lernen. Deutsch ist nicht so wichtig heutzutage".

Dr Strange

E92 wrote:

Ich finde das total ironisch. Ihr wollt doch euere Sprache zu uns verkaufen! Deutsch wird doch immer ähnlicher zu Englisch. Das Airport(der Flughafen). Die Kamera(der Fotoappart). konsumieren(verbrauchen). Das ist korrekt(Das stimmt). Was kommt nächste für die Sprache?:D

Wie die Deutsche, die ich kenne, mir gesagt haben ,,Englisch ist viel cooler als Deutsch zu lernen. Deutsch ist nicht so wichtig heutzutage".

Hallo E92,

es stimmt sicherlich, dass es zu viele Anglizismen in der deutschen Sprache heutzutage gibt. Vielen Puristen geht das auch ziemlich gegen den Strich!

Aber die von dir angegebenen Beispiele (ausser Airport) wuerde ich nicht als solche sehen. Es liegt wohl eher daran, dass sie einen sprachgeschichtlichen Zusammenhang haben. Korrekt, konsumieren , etc. wurde ja nicht nur neuerdings im deutschen Sprachgebrauch benutzt. Desweiteren sind die Wurzeln des Englischen ja auch im Deutschen zu finden. Sowie andere Einfluesse, z. B. Franzoesisch in beiden Sprachen enthalten sind. Eine der groessten Beeinflussungen wird sicherlich auch die lateinische Sprache sein und dass dann Wortgleichheiten in verschiedenen Sprachen auftreten ist ganz natuerlich.

Gruss,
Preusse

E92

Alles klar Preuße. Normallerweise sagen die Jugendliche die "Englische" wörter auf Deutsch, oder? Meistens hab ich sie von ihnen gehört. Ich finde, dass jeden Tag höre ich oder sehe ich etwas neues auf Deutsch(zB auf DW-TV oder der Kölner Stadt Anzeiger), und normallwerweise ist es ein Wort, das ich schon kenne, weil es von Englisch ist:D . Ja ja stimmt das, dass Englisch und Deutsch die gleiche einmal waren, und dank zu euch, haben wir bald wieder die gleiche Sprache, weil es heutzutage so viele Anglizismen in der deutschen Sprache sind, und sie wird immer ähnlicher(wie ich schon oben geschrieben habe).

Aber ich kann mich nicht beklagen. Das macht sich viel leichter für uns zu lernen.;)

friederikeeimer

i'm a german national and living in galway at the moment. i'm fluent in english and i am offering german grinds in galway and as well around galway...
if anybody is interested please let me know...

rieke

foxhound

I am learning German at the moment
Been studying it for a while but still find it hard (never did it in school)
I was just wondering if anyone would be interested in setting up an Irish German language appreciation group For irish and other native english speakers to practice speaking German to one an other

Or if anyone knows of any such group to let me know of them

Thanks
PM me if you are interested

foxhound

other than Goethe does anyone know anywhere that teaches intermidiate german (night courses) I need to go back and learn more before I forget what I have learnt

schubi

Posted via Mobile Device
It's just a wild guess, but st killian's german school might be running an adult education leg. They're online.

sd123

Guten Tag,

I've just begun learning Deutsch, but Ich Leibe dich! (hope that's right)

Being the crappy school I went to, they offered french with or without german, but not german alone for the JC, so I just did french for my JC and no language for my leaving cert.(except eng and iri) But I was never great at languages. (more of a mathsy/ sciency person tbh)

Anyway, I would really like to learn some german, mostly because I'll be celebrating Oktoberfest in Muchen this year and my german is atrocious. (BTW, how do you get U umlat on a keyboard) I picked up one of those Linguaphone books with CASSETTES in it from my local library. Although old, it's quite good but one thing that annoys me is the gender thing - Do you have to learn off the gender of every single noun? Also, does anyone know of any places that offer German classes for the summer?
I did read all the info in this thread but im weary about some of it being outdated.

Danke schon. (seriously, o umlat )

An Citeog

sd123 wrote:

Guten Tag,

I've just begun learning Deutsch, but Ich Leibe dich! (hope that's right)

Being the crappy school I went to, they offered french with or without german, but not german alone for the JC, so I just did french for my JC and no language for my leaving cert.(except eng and iri) But I was never great at languages. (more of a mathsy/ sciency person tbh)

Anyway, I would really like to learn some german, mostly because I'll be celebrating Oktoberfest in Muchen this year and my german is atrocious. (BTW, how do you get U umlat on a keyboard) I picked up one of those Linguaphone books with CASSETTES in it from my local library. Although old, it's quite good but one thing that annoys me is the gender thing - Do you have to learn off the gender of every single noun? Also, does anyone know of any places that offer German classes for the summer?
I did read all the info in this thread but im weary about some of it being outdated.

Danke schon. (seriously, o umlat )

Re: the umlauts, try installing German in the language bar on your computer. The umlauts are located where [ ; ' are on the standard English keyboard.

As for distinguishing the gender of nouns, here's something I posted a while ago that may be of some help to you.

An Citeog wrote: »

For those of you who have problems with distinguishing the gender of nouns, this may be of help:

Masculine-der

nouns ending in:
-er/ler eg. der Metzger
-ling eg. der Liebling
-or/ator eg. der Direktor
-eur eg. der Saboteur
-ant/ent eg. der Denunziant
-ismus/asmus eg. der Enthusiasmus
-ist eg. der Extremist

also, nouns constructed using the verb stem eg. schlagen- der Schlag

Feminine-die

nouns ending in:
-ung eg. die Regierung
-heit/keit/igkeit eg. die Freiheit
-e eg. die Reise (important exception here is 'das Ende'
-t eg. die Fahrt
-schaft eg. die Mannschaft
-ei eg. die Tyrannei
-ion/ation eg die Reaktion
-tät/ität eg. die Aktivität
-anz/enz eg. die Ignoranz
-ie eg. die Bürokratie
-ik/atik eg. die Politik
-age eg. die Massage
-esse eg. die Delikatesse (important exception here is 'das Interesse')
-ose eg. die Diagnose
-ur/üre eg. die Literatur
-ade eg. die Blockade

Neutral-das

nouns ending in:
-tum eg. das Wachstum
-nis eg. das Erlaubnis
-sal eg. das Schicksal
-sel eg. das Insel
-ar/är eg. das Vokabular
-at eg. das Sekretariat
-ment eg. das Parlament
-ing das Marketing
ohne Endung eg. das Problem

also, nouns constructed using verb infinitive eg. trinken- das Trinken
and nouns beginning with 'Ge-' eg. das Gespräch

Hope that helps

amasango

Earlier this year my German girlfriend and I started an upbeat German podcast that focuses on teaching colloquial German lingo, idioms and popular German slang. Essentially the kind of fun language that is spoken on the streets and in bars all across Germany. It's not for beginners great for intermediate to advanced learners.

We'd be stoked to welcome you to our site and hopefully you find it useful. Here's the link: http://pukkagerman.com

All the best,
Tyler

amasango

Earlier this year my German girlfriend and I started an upbeat German podcast that focuses on teaching colloquial German lingo, idioms and popular German slang. Essentially the kind of fun language that is spoken on the streets and in bars all across Germany. It's not for beginners great for intermediate to advanced learners.

We'd be stoked to welcome you to our site and hopefully you find it useful. Here's the link: http://pukkagerman.com

All the best from Freiburg,
Tyler

tattykitty

Hallo,

Seeing as this is a sticky thread, I thought I'd recommend a German course I'm taking at the moment. I'm studying at Languagewise - it's on Fitzwilliam street, on the corner of Lower Baggot street. I'm coming to the end of Level 2 now (I took Level 1 previous) and I've just enrolled for the next Level. I've found the classes to be really interesting and useful - the teacher I have is a nice guy, really friendly and makes a point of covering important grammar, along with the more social aspects of the language. Roleplay also features, to try and get us to learn how to speak in everyday situations. They do evening classes for €230 - significantly cheaper than the Goethe Institute, and a lot more "informal", meaning that there are no exams or actual qualifications at the end of the courses, but it's a great way to start learning the language without any pressure.

pepsicokeacola

feck it costs a bit but i must learn german.

Zxyton

I've used the Michel Thomas language C.D.s for both Spanish and German, and I have found them very helpful. I agree that they can be expensive so I am a hardcore library fan!!