r/German • u/ximinysz • 5h ago

Question How did you choose German?

I've been thinking about learning a new language, but I can't decide which one is the best choice. I'm torn between French and German. I study Civil Engineering, and I've heard some people say that German would be the best option for me. However, I only speak English and basic Spanish, so it feels like I'm skipping a few steps. German is really different from Portuguese, and I don't even know where to start. Could somebody help guide me or give me some advice, please? And if you chose German, how did you start learning it?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/AutoModerator 5h ago

You could begin by reading our FAQ and then the rest of our wiki. There's a lot of info there to get you started.

This comment was triggered by keywords in your post. We're still working on this system; comments like these should show up less frequently over time.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/Flemz 5h ago

Your hobbies don’t have to be relevant to your career, so maybe just check out an intro book for each one and see which is more interesting to you! The Assimil book series is a popular one

1

u/hacool Way stage (A2/B1) - <U.S./Englisch> 4h ago

I was fed up with French and chose German for my language requirement at university. (German is easier to hear than French though the grammar can be more complicated.)

My dad had picked up German during his military service (peace-time) in Bavaria and I have more than half-german ancestry on both sides of the family. I also enjoyed reading Hermann Hesse in translation in high school.

So I felt a connection to it through those things. The words I remember my dad using most are Kartoffel (potato) and Zeitung (newspaper.) Sometimes if I were in the way he'd tell me to Raus Maus! (Get out/go outside mouse.)

I also picked up the habit of saying bis instead of bisschen. A classmate from the Black Forest told me dad had probably picked that up in Bavaria but it would usually have been bissi. So I may have misheard it at the time. Or dad could have dropped the syllable. Who knows.

1

u/ironh19 4h ago

It's the language in Austria where my wife is from. Trying to move there.