How to Get People to Speak to You in German
Have you had the experience where you speak German and you get a reply in English? This is likely if you live in a big city. Frustrating, isn’t it?
This is not to say that you can’t say what you want in German, it’s just that you didn’t get the chance. You’re probably nervous. It could be that you freeze. The first thing you say has got to be said with confidence, so it’s smart to practice beforehand. If the other person senses you are hesitant, they probably just want to help you by speaking English, but, of course, it’s no help in the long run.
If you can speak with a bit of confidence and the other person responds in English, just keep speaking German. This sends the message that you are determined. Normally the other person will respect that. If they keep speaking English, you can just keep speaking German and you get into this strange situation where you are communicating in each other’s language. That’s OK — you want to learn, and the other person wants to practice too. Fair enough.
Remember it was you that started the conversation and you did it for a reason. You can understand a lot of what the person says by the context of the situation. For example, you want to know where something is. “Entschuldigung, wo kann man XYZ finden?” They will tell you (provided they know) and point to where it is while describing it. “Geradeaus, links, rechts, auf der linken Seite in der Mitte”. The best thing for you to do now is ask them to repeat it. Even if you understood perfectly. A simple “nochmal” will do. Then, if you repeat it back, you are either right or you are corrected. That’s a good simple conversation.
It happens that German speakers are very encouraging of people who make a serious attempt to learn their language. They know it is hard — they never get tired of telling you so! But this doesn’t help you. You have to tell yourself it’s easy. Just try it. It helps.
Actually I don’t think anybody thinks German is easy, but it is not as bad as you think. It’s that the grammar is badly taught, so it’s hard to become confident with (der, die, das…) and without that there is no confidence. It doesn’t sound important, but if you get the word ‘the’ right — you are immediately communicating that you are a serious learner.
The listener is normally tolerant of the mistakes you make. They will automatically, if need be, repeat back what you have said correctly. They are gently teaching you by modelling the right way. Generally people want you to succeed.
Having the opportunity to really speak and get into a proper conversation is much easier if you have daily exposure to the language.
Talking to kids is always great. If you have a child im Kindergarten or in der Schule, go ahead and speak to them in German. If, however, you want them to also speak your language (of course you do…), then consider inviting one of their friends to play. Then with two children there, you have to speak German. A happy circumstance — and it’s social.
If you have started a relationship always speaking English, then if is hard to switch over. In a personal relationship, your significant other will probably suffer from a lack of patience — which makes it hard. In this situation it is better to practice first with somebody else that you don’t know so well. You might know somebody you could ask. Somebody who makes you feel comfortable. Otherwise, you can find a tandem partner. Tandems are notorious for not working very well. I’ve written a post of how to organise a tandem. I’ll put a link in below.
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I am Dr. Peter Merrick. I teach people to have confidence in German. I offer the courses:
* Hammer the Grammar
* Scenario Learning
You can find out more by visiting my website
You can read about organsing a tandem here.
