The Goal

Have a 30-minute conversation in German, with a native or near-native German speaker.

Why?

I like learning languages! Partly it’s the idea of speaking in a secret code, partly it’s because I like learning new things, and partly the intellectual challenge of saying things in a different way. And, to be honest, it’s also partly the bragging rights: “I’m so clever, I speak X languages!”

I picked a 30-minute conversation as the goal as I will need a very wide vocabulary and good knowledge of grammar to be able to maintain a conversation for that long.

Progress so far…

Signed up for the A1 German examination on the 2nd of July. The exam is administered by the Goethe Institut in Sydney. It only costs $100 to sit the exam and you don’t need to prove any study beforehand. Helpful for us self-directed learners!

Oh yes, Katie will be doing the exam with me. It will hopefully help her finish her degree quicker.

We’ve gone through the exam objectives and the detailed structure provided by the Institut. We’ve downloaded three practice exams and their accompanying media. So, we know exactly what they’ll ask us to do (not much, really) and we have the resources to practice.

We did this about three weeks ago, but I’ve been too busy to write this post!

We’re using a Lonely Planet German phrasebook, the German Assimil course, Duolingo, and A+ German as our main resources. We’re learning really fast and it’s great fun speaking German with Katie.

The next few weeks will focus more and more on the exam requirements and structure, and attempting the practice exams. We’re also practising leaving our daughter with a trusted family member, so that we don’t worry about her during the exam!

The Institut runs the exams every couple of months, so after this exam we’ll start studying for the A2 exam. The next levels are B1 and B2; around this point, I’ll probably be conversationally fluent!

I’ll try to post an update of our progress every week.