Learn German or not: What do you choose
German is one of the fastest-growing languages, with 120 million speakers across the globe. German is primarily spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland. Apart from these three countries, German’s usage is scattered. The German language has three types, High German, Middle German, and Low German. The standard German that is spoken and taught all over the globe is a mixture of High and Middle German. Most Austrian dialects are considered as the standard German. The Standard German did not develop from local dialects, rather it was artificially created by poets, philosophers, and scholars.
In this blog, we will see whether you should learn the german language or not.
Pros
- It’s a valuable language for business. Germany is a major economic player on the European scene and a significant one worldwide.
- It makes you more employable. Hardly 10% of the French pick German at school in favor of Spanish due to its relative easiness. Out of that 10%, I would say most will forget it in the next 5 to 10 years after leaving school. If you can speak German fluently, you’re a gem.
- It will make it easier for you to learn other languages such as Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish, should you ever feel like learning any of those.
- It will make it easier for you to live and work in Germany. I live in Hamburg and I see a lot of people from other parts of Europe living here, simply because their professional prospects in their homeland are very gloomy (I’m thinking of Italy and Spain in particular, but I would work in Ireland if I could, the situation there is just too harsh)
- If you manage to assimilate German grammar, then you can learn any language. It’s difficult, but not impossible, and very rewarding.
- You get a different insight into linguistics. You may not know what Dativ or Genitiv is, but chances are, you use them.
- Any concept or idea you can think of can become a word.
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Cons
- It’s a very difficult language to learn. It takes a lot of time, a lot of work and it’s frustrating to think no matter what you say, you’ll probably make a tiny mistake, even at an advanced level.
- Depends on your language background, but as a French native speaker, the words are very different from what I know and English did not help much. Then it’s difficult to guess what words can mean.
- Many Germans speak a decent level of English, making you wonder why you’re trying so hard to put a sentence together when you could switch to English and have a normal conversation.
- The sentence structure is a bit odd at times with the verb going at the end of the sentence. Again, it depends on what you already speak, perhaps you’ll find that normal. I don’t.
- If you’re going to learn a language that is widely spoken worldwide, then German does not score as high as say Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, or even French.
- It’s a matter of taste, but there are not so many cultural aspects of the German culture I would rather experience in German. I love watching Spanish movies Spanish, watching House MD undubbed, or reading Amélie Nothomb in French. For German, well I’m not that much of a Tatort fan or Thomas Mann’s books.