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The internet has made it easy for people to teach themselves German thanks to the many available resources for reading, listening and writing. But when you’re learning on your own there is one skill that is not so easy to practise – and that is speaking.
I often get asked where and how somebody could carry on with German, not with lessons but with speaking to others. And I’ve always said that I hadn’t found anything that was really useful.
Until now….
Let me introduce you to the Deutsch Gym!
The Deutsch Gym, is for those German learners who want opportunities to just talk in German. It was founded by Rónán Mc Guire after he encountered a problem many of you can relate to. He learned German, but when he moved to Berlin he found that most people wouldn’t speak German with him and he didn’t get the practice he needed.
So he started the Deutsch Gym, an online place purely for speaking.
And he let me have a peek inside.
Who exactly is it for?
It’s for German learners who have reached a minimum of A2 of the European Framework up to C1. If you’re not sure whether you have reached A2, check out this quick chart on Wikipedia
What happens when I join a meetup?
At the start of a session everybody meets together before moving into groups of three (think of Zoom and breakout rooms but without the camera). Newcomers get help from a mentor. Then you’ll spend an hour talking in German with the other two from your group.
What will we be talking about?
There are prepared questions but at first you can introduce yourself and/ or talk about whatever is important to you. The questions are a great backup to make sure that everybody will talk for an hour.
What sort of questions might we talk about?
When I joined the A2 group, the topic was Krankenhaus and we answered questions like “Warst du schon mal im Krankenhaus? Wie war deine Erfahrung?”
Another topic was Einkaufszentrum. There were questions like “Welche Geschäfte dürfen in einem guten Einkaufszentrum nicht fehlen?” Or “Welche Nachteile haben Einkaufszentren?”
When I joined an B1/2 group the topic was “Wohnungsbesichtigung” and there were questions like “Wie sieht deine Traumwohnung aus?” “Hast du Tipps für die Wohnungsbesichtigung?”
Another topic was Egoismus and it had questions like “Wie egoistisch bist du?” Or “Wie können Menschen lernen weniger egoistisch zu sein?”
Where do these conversations take place?
It’s on Discord. I’d never heard of it, but since I installed it on my computer I have seen several posts on Facebook where people talk about it. It seems to be a popular app. When you decide to join, you’ll get several emails with instructions on what to do before your first sessions. At first it looked quite confusing to me, but it’s all very easy to pick up. I found an instruction video which will give you an idea.
What happens when nobody says anything in a group or if we get stuck.
Each session has a mentor who makes sure everything runs smoothly, helps newcomers and helps with the conversations if need be.
Is it free?
It is free for 5 days in which you can try as many sessions as you wish. After that you’ll have to pay. As you can imagine, running a site like that and paying those mentors costs money, but I feel that the payments are good value for money.
The unlimited plan allows you as many meetups as you wish to join and they currently (2023) cost €34 per month. You can cancel any time.
Just check before you decide to join that the meetups are actually at a time when you can join. You can see the timetable here (all times Berlin time)
Interested? If it’s lots of German speaking practice you’re looking for then this is perfect, so try the online German meetups for the 5 days!
