NaNoW
{ Footprint | part 4} Sprechen Sie deutsche?
by , 09-12-12 at 06:18 AM (2540 Views)
Sprechen sie Deutsche = Do you speak German?
The biggest issue I immediately faced when coming here was obviously the language barrier. Me and @Joker departed our ways from Frankfurt airport to take the ICE train to our destination, along the way I learnt the value of knowing even the basics of another language. I am sure if I hadn't communicated with a few really nice people, who helped me along the way, I wouldve been lost.
The little German I learnt in Karachi (I did A1 course from Goethe), to prepare myself helped alot. I would highly recommend anyone interested in coming here to learn a bit, trust me, it makes your life a lot easier.
Other than that, German isn't a hard language to learn if you know English, Urdu and your teacher focuses on grammar. The alphabets are 90% English with a few twists, S/Z/E/J/F sounds like Z/S/A/Y/PH, thus more than a few words are similar sounding with their English counterparts.
And like Urdu for formal we use Sie (App), and in informal Du (tu/tum). Also like Urdu gender of things is specified die/das/der( like bhens KI, phone KA,etc).
Contrary to my belief previously, it is incredibly fun to learn a language (imagine 15 or so masters student with decent educational background learning A, B, C, D...).
Also learning a new language opens up a whole new culture and a dimension to the world. Knowing a language really does offer more than we anticipate. How would you feel if you didnt know urdu or english?. You would be missing out on alot.Maybe that's why most young people here yearn to speak 3 or 4 languages., cause it's fun.
In cities like Berlin, Frankfurt and Munchen approx 80%-90% people speak English, but in smaller cities like mine the ratio drops to 70-80%. And in villages the ratio drops even further to 60 to 70%. But these figures are for everyday people, because learning either English/Latin/French is a part of German education,and most go for English. So it is a safe bet that anyone who has attended school here knows basic English. Another thing to keep in mind, when a German says he knows english " a little bit" or "ein bisschen", expect him to blow you out of water, these people are modest about their english skills.
You CAN get a job here and live without knowing German, but honestly do you want that, or spend a lil time and enjoy the country to its fullest? Plus most universities have cheap course for its students (WARNING : By cheap I mean nearly same price you would pay in Pakistan, so its better to learn from Pakistan and not waste your time here).
Germans really appreciate you learning their language and respect that. and you can have a time of your life with friends you make in language course here in Germany, as it is a part of the course to interact and communicate with them.
Answer to a question asked:
I misspelled both words, so maybe thats people couldn't Google it..my bad!
anyways here's the answer:
What is Hochschule?
Best answer from wiki:
and Fraunhofer:n recent years, Hochschule has increasingly become the term for institutions of higher education without full university status, i.e. for institutions that:
- do not cover a large diversity of academic fields, but focus on certain areas;
- do not have the right to award doctorates, but bachelor's degrees and master's degrees.
Institutions that are called Hochschule meet one or more of these criteria, which differentiate them from a full Universität (university).
Hochschulen are similar in mission to specialized colleges or academies (e.g., of arts) in English-speaking countries. Other German terms for this type of institution are Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften (university of applied sciences, institute of technology) or Fachhochschule (FH).
In most German states, a Berufsakademie is not a Hochschule by either of the definitions because the bachelor's degrees conferred by such are professional degrees, which are de jure not academic degrees. However the state of Baden-Württemberg, from where this type of tertiary sector education originally emerged, has recently elevated these institutions to the status of a Hochschule as Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University. The degrees awarded by the latter are academic degrees and equivalent to those awarded by Fachhochschulen and universities.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_Society
a couple of pics of my town are below
Alrite thats it for now...next blog when I get more free time.thanks for all the love, appreciate it !
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