Cultural side of German language

Each language has a close relationship with the culture or cultures in which it is spoken. It is crucial to consider the cultural aspect when evaluating how challenging a language is to learn. There are several aspects about trying to use German with natives in the German-speaking world that you should be aware of if you visit Germany on vacation or have moved there. German Germans often communicate directly, which many native English speakers may find to be anything from frank to outright impolite. Depending on how you choose to interpret it, this can either be helpful or harmful when attempting to learn their language.

Being cut off and corrected when you mispronounced the final letter of a word or simply whispered it to avoid an easy error can be a terrific way to prevent negative habits from forming, but it can also be terrifying. For it to be the former as opposed to the latter, the learner must actively choose it to be the former. The best method to learn is probably through making mistakes, but unless they are recognised and corrected, they are meaningless and remain mistakes.

The level of English’s penetration in German-speaking society, however, is not as high as it is in other places, such as the Scandinavian countries or the Netherlands, for example. This is despite the fact that many native German speakers, particularly younger ones and those who live in more cosmopolitan cities, speak flawless English. In addition to having a strong literary legacy, German is also the translation and dubbing language for a wide range of international films and television programmes, including everything made in Hollywood.

All of this adds up to the fact that learning German quickly is easier if you move to a country where it is spoken than it is, for example, to try to learn Danish in Denmark, where it seems like everyone, even the elderly, speak English fluently and where English language TV and films are commonplace.