This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. It means I’ll get a few pence if you buy anything – at no extra cost to you.
How do you practise your German when you’re no longer a beginner?
You’ve been learning German for quite a while and have reached a good standard. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, you don’t get much chance to use it. You don’t really want to continue with any textbooks but you also don’t want to stop learning German as all those years you spent learning would have been a waste.
What can you do?
You can incorporate your German listening, reading and writing into daily tasks. Forget textbooks or anything designed for learners, instead
- watch German films (Netflix, YouTube, DVDs)
- listen to German radio, music or podcasts
- find German websites that talk about things which you are passionate about
- find German groups on Facebook (I don’t mean groups for German learners, I mean German groups for… (insert a hobby of yours)
You can also do day-to-day writing activities in German instead of English. You could
- write your shopping lists in German
- make a scrapbook, maybe of your recent trip to Germany, but write everything in German
- whatever you need to do every day or week that involves writing (and sorry, I don’t mean anything for work, that wouldn’t go down well ☺), do it in German.
Get yourself a notebook or whatever you normally use, and write in German. If it gets boring, spread it out. For example, you don’t have to write every shopping list in German.
Or, you can buy one of my journals ☺
At the moment there are only three for foodies, but I’m hoping to add more for other interests. If you can think of anything worth adding, let me know. EDIT: There are more now. have a look here: General Journals for Active German Learning
The three food journals are
- Recipe Journal for German Learners, a blank recipe book for 50 German recipes with space for vocab or whole sentence translations.
- Weekly Menu Planner for German Learners, a 52 week planner for those who like to plan their meals and learn German.
- Food Journal for German Learners, a 31 day food diary for those who want to track their food and learn German.
The following slides show you how to use those three.
Hi Angelika,
I’m going to buy the 3 foodie journals. Do you have any recommendations for quilting/ sewing literature in German?
I’m afraid I don’t know anything about sewing or quilting, so wouldn’t even know what to look out for. But if you go to amazon.de and search for ‘Nähen’ or ‘Quilten’, there are lots of books to look at. Do you think a journal for sewing/ quilting/ knitting/ crocheting German learners might be a good idea? If yes, what do you think should be in it?