English speaker learning German

[Darwinist]

Hello!

I'm 25 years old, I come from England, and have been trying to self-teach German for at least 5 years on and off, but still not managed to reach conversational German.

My vocabulary is quite good, but I try to watch movies or listen to radio and it doesn't make much sense to me.

I've visited Germany a couple of times for short periods, and ordered basic things like beer or a sandwich, but when I speak German, I find that Germans often overestimate my understanding and speak too fast for me.

I guess I could visit more, but unless I move there, is there really much point?

My love of German is not random. My grandma was Austrian, so my family has a strong connection to Austria. In her name, I kinda wanna pursue my "cultural heritage". But it's so damned hard, especially now I'm an adult (brain plasticity, etc!).

Can anyone help?

[Keswick]

Hello!

I'm 25 years old, I come from England, and have been trying to self-teach German for at least 5 years on and off, but still not managed to reach conversational German.

My vocabulary is quite good, but I try to watch movies or listen to radio and it doesn't make much sense to me.

I've visited Germany a couple of times for short periods, and ordered basic things like beer or a sandwich, but when I speak German, I find that Germans often overestimate my understanding and speak too fast for me.

I guess I could visit more, but unless I move there, is there really much point?

My love of German is not random. My grandma was Austrian, so my family has a strong connection to Austria. In her name, I kind of want to pursue my "cultural heritage". But it's so damned hard, especially now I'm an adult (brain plasticity, etc!).

Can anyone help?

Hi Darwinist,

First of all welcome to the forum! I am awfully sorry that I had to correct you as a native speaker but could you please avoid slang and slang abbreviations (unless you're posting in the Chatterbox) ?

Reading, listening to the radio and watching films is definitely a good start to get into the flow of a language. But if you want to get to the German "speed" I would suggest that you spend a longer period in Germany (or Austria) to get used to the language. I am not talking about a year or longer, sometimes a couple of weeks is enough to adjust your hearing to a language. My husband says that it only takes him a couple of days to "adjust his German chip" .

If there is ever anything we can help you with, please let us know. For now, enjoy the language as such, don't put yourself under too much pressure

Kind regards
Keswick

PS: Whereabouts in the UK are you from?

[Riot81]

We can speak via skype.