Answers
Jun 22, 2013 - 08:43 AM
hi Willem - everyone learns at different speeds but i think level 1 is still fairly early stages to be completely understanding native speakers. i am at level 3 italian - i find that when in italian shops i can usually pick up the basics but can no way understand business scenarios. in addition to fluenz, you might want to see about doing a supplementary "german for business" course, perhaps catered to your industry. good luck and stick with it - you'll get there!
Jun 22, 2013 - 10:29 AM
You are probably just a bit impatient! I had two years of German in college, but when I went to Munich as an exchange teacher, it felt like I was in over my head. Even after Fluenz level 5, (which puts you just about the level of second-semester, second-year college), you will need to still work very hard to become proficient. I remember my first faculty meeting in my German school - if it were not for the English teachers translating for me (under their breath), I would have been totally lost. It is a lifetime work, and you've just started on it. By the way, German kids start taking English in 5th grade and keep on taking it every year until they leave school (9th, 11th, or 13th grade, depending upon what "track" they are on.) And in 7th grade, they take another! (In Bavaria, they have the choice of French or Italian.) English is a "Hauptfach" (major course), like math, German, and science. If you fail just one "Hauptfach", you fail the entire year and have to go back and repeat it. They are VERY serious about their schooling - unlike us, which is one of the big reasons we are falling behind internationally. We're not - all the fuss and lip service given to education in Washington and the state capitals notwithstanding. The politicians don't put "their money where their mouths are" and the taxpayers are too cheap to pay for a decent system. (By the way, the word is "score" and not "music sheet" - I'm a conductor.)
Jun 22, 2013 - 12:59 PM
If you're getting even just 5% of real life conversation while still in level 1, I think you're doing great. You may need another vocabulary source to supplement what you learn in Fluenz. If you look at these posts and think about how many of the English words you would know how to say in German, you'll quickly see that vocabulary is a limiting factor. Unless your coworkers only say 'Ich möchte Kaffee mit Zucker aber ohne Milch" all day!
Jun 22, 2013 - 01:06 PM
Willem: PLEASE don't get discouraged! I speak conversational German, learned as an adult (but not with Fluenz), and have spent quite a bit of time in Germany. Most of the time I get the gist of the conversations around me, but could I translate every word? Absolutely not. My husband was born in Berlin to German parents. They emigrated to the US when he was five, and he grew up speaking German. When we are in Germany, the business terms and even the newspaper is somewhat overwhelming for HIM, so give yourself a break. Don't expect to understand everything for a long long time, even after living in Germany for awhile. It just takes time. The good news is that the Germans are very impressed by attempts to speak their language and will not laugh at you for making mistakes. It's great that you are trying to learn, but DON'T frustrate yourself so early in your lessons. Keep it up. Sometimes things will just click, other times you'll want to tear your hair out. Good luck, and keep at it!
Jun 23, 2013 - 01:31 PM
I've have done all 5 levels of Fluenz German, all 5 levels of Rosetta Stone, and all 4 levels of Pimsleur German. I have a pretty good vocabulary andunderstanding of German, but am I fluent? No way. Learning to respond to a language program will help to learn a language but will never give you conversational fluency. They are but tools, they are not the solution. The only solution is immersion and lots of it. Fluenz does not equal fluency despite what the name suggests. Fluenz is great template for sentence structure and grammar harmony and is invaluable in beating word order into your brain. It takes a long time to effortlessly to invert English word order into proper German. It doesn't come close to providing enough vocabulary to understand a native speaker in full flight. I suggest you try a multi-prong attack and use other products simultaneously with Fluenz. It will speed things up tremendously as you engage different learning modes. Don't get discouraged. Consider the fact that you and I could have a robust conversation in English and if we have a good vocabulary, use enough idioms, run words together and use enough homonyms, very few Germans despite years of training in English will follow the conversation to their satisfaction. Catch my drift? (translate that for a German !) Hang in there.
Jun 24, 2013 - 06:35 PM
I met a German girl that is 9th grade that has been taking English since 1st grade (3rd class is what they call it in Germany) and she still isn't perfectly fluent. Learning a language isn't immediate and you're just gonna have to be patient. And your only on level 1, what did you think the next 4 levels with 30 other sessions were going to be about? You only understand 5% of the discussions because you've only learned about that much of the language.
Mar 30, 2014 - 07:01 AM
I wonder if you're having an issue because of the Dialect they are speaking. I have an issue in my neighborhood, but I didn't have much difficulty in places like Berlin and Dusseldorf. Try watching some German movies and see if you can understand more from the movies. If you can, then it might just be the local dialect they are speaking.
Apr 14, 2014 - 07:59 AM
As you go through Fluenz or any other program, they put you into scenarios that you may encounter. For example, ordering food or shopping. In these situations, you'll be able to understand much of what is being said. I can handle myself fairly well in those type of situations but after being put in a situation that was more technical, I ran into a lot of issues. Fluenz is much like the Common European Framework course material in that it puts you in these situations and these situations put together allow you to survive in Germany. One situation that wasn't covered in German Disk 1 so far is the introduction phase. I guess they went over, "Ich bin jadajada". In Germany, most people say, "Ich heisse jadajada". They always start with introducing yourself, your background, your family life and what you like to do. From there, they go into more survival situations to get someone through. The good thing is that although you might not be able to really describe yourself or your family very much after German 1, Germans really don't like to ask personal questions anyway. So survival is fine. If they do want to get that intimate and ask those type of questions, you'll probably also want to learn how to speak in "du" form which also wasn't taught in German 1. I'm starting German II and I'm on lesson 3 right now. I really don't need for them to go through it, but it would be something that should be covered somewhere in the beginning of any lesson plan.