If you are aiming to live in Germany, it is very important to learn German to be comfortable in daily life, build a career and express your needs easily. For this reason, we share important points about the mistakes made while learning German.
In the process of learning German, you will not have any difficulties if you lay the bricks on a solid foundation. Of course, there will be difficulties at first because the language itself is difficult. In this article, we tell you about the most common mistakes in the process of learning German.
Mistakes while learning German
We share the most common mistakes in the German learning process so that you can learn the language in an easier way. Let’s get started:
Setting wrong target
If we say mistakes while learning German, the first thing is to set the target wrong. You will give up early because of a lack of motivation. For example, “I will reach B2 level in 1 month” is not a realistic goal. If you do not set yourself short-term goals, your German learning process will end before it starts.
Sometimes you start, you keep going good for the first week, then you stop working and step aside. Therefore you can think of your brain like a reward mechanism. In order to get this reward, you need to accomplish short-term goals one by one so that you can achieve success in the long run. First, simply set a goal and achieve it. Then set a new goal and move on.
Just memorizing words
When we want to learn German, we try to memorize a lot of words with the thought of “Let me learn the words and somehow people will understand me”. However, at this stage, articles are ignored and then later difficult to be learned. Do not make this mistake. Learn the articles and improve your vocabulary simultaneously. Memorizing vocabulary alone will not lead you to be a fluent speaker.
Since there is no article in many languages, people who start learning German start to memorize words directly. When learning words, learn them together with their articles and plurals. If you do not learn the article and the plural together, you may not be able to explain exactly what you want to tell someone with that word.
Not allocating the right amount of time
When you don’t take the right steps when learning German, you will have problems. Every language requires time and effort to learn. One of the mistakes that is made while learning German is not allocating enough time. If you are attending a course, you are making a big mistake at this point if you do not study German outside the course period. When we asked these questions to the teachers who teach German, they said that studying after the course is of great importance. Especially when you are learning the language in a non-German-speaking country it is essential to study outside the course.
While you learn the subject during the lesson, you reinforce it after the lesson. If you don’t do this, what you learn in class goes in one side of your ear and out the other. So make sure you spend at least 1 hour a day learning the language.
Working by writing as one of the mistakes while learning German
You may say, what is wrong with working by typing? And of course in the first place there is no mistake in working by typing. But if you are studying only this way, you are making a mistake. A language cannot be practiced only by writing. Because language, like mathematics, is not something you can study silently.
You can learn the language by writing in theory. But you will fail to put it into practice. If you remain passive in listening and speaking, you will fail. For this reason, continuing to study by writing is one of the biggest mistakes you will make while learning German. Be sure to learn 1/3 by writing, 1/3 by listening and 1/3 by speaking.
Focusing on language level
Worrying about being A2, B1, B2 or C1 as soon as possible is one of the things that will hinder you while learning German. Stop obsessing about the language level and really focus on learning. Courses sell you by promising you levels like A1 or A2. But at level B1 you are expected to memorize a list of prepositions you need to know. How productive will be a learning process and what kind of results you will have?
Stop trying to reach a point by memorizing. Your vocabulary should be strong and you should make sure that you can use these words in sentences. Stay flexible.
Not knowing yourself
When we ask native German teachers the question “What mistakes do people make the most when learning German?”, they often answer: “Not knowing themselves“.
You cannot learn a language without knowing what kind of learner you are. The language learning process is not the same for everyone. You may be someone who understands much better visually and auditorily. But for some learners, language learning is much easier and they may not feel the need to spend so much time on audio or visual stimuli.
You should find out if you are a visual learner. If you have such a learning style, then it is better to focus more on visual materials.
For example, you should know whether you have a tactile, visual or auditory learning style. For this, you can search for “learning styles test” on the internet and discover yourself with the tests you come across.
Memorizing without sampling
If you are memorizing words, we can say that you will forget them after a while. Just memorizing the vocabulary without exemplifying it during the vocabulary learning phase will not give you any efficiency. Without context and logical examples, you will not be able to memorize the words.
Try to have as much memory aids with the words you learn and remember, the more individual and personal they are, the more you will keep them in mind on long term.
Not practicing as one of the key mistakes while learning German
If you are one of those who read, write and talk to yourself but still have issues learning the language, the reason is obvious! Wouldn’t it be strange if a teacher knows all the subjects but wants to teach without even coming face to face with the student once? Or wouldn’t it be interesting if a captain has devoured all the information about sailing but doesn’t want to take the helm of the ship? Or, as another example, can a person who has mastered every theoretical knowledge about driving a car say “I can drive a car because I have all the necessary information” without ever sitting in a car before?
One of the biggest mistakes made while learning German is not to speak. Without speaking, you cannot put what you have learned into practice. Online lessons, as using applications for tandem will help you learn German. Therefore, please take care to practice a lot in this regard.
Both German teachers in other countries and native German teachers say that you need to practice a lot while learning German. Those who do not do this may only have theoretical knowledge. Beyond that they fail in pronunciation, accent and correct communication.
Fear of making mistakes while learning German
Among the mistakes made while learning German, the biggest one is to be afraid of making them. Why are you afraid of making mistakes? Nothing is learned in its most perfect form. You will fall, get up and then fall again. Imagine a road in your mind and you are standing at the beginning of the road on your bicycle. You will fall down on the way, but you will not stop cycling.
The next time you cross that road, you will not fall down anymore. Because you have learned where there are potholes, where there is a danger of falling. Language is similar to that. You make errors and after learning the right way to do it, you won’t do it again. Don’t get discouraged and trying to avoid mistakes.
Making mistakes is necessary and will teach you more than trying to get it right. Don’t forget that.
Not having fun while learning Germany
If you are not having fun during the language learning process, that’s where the mistake starts. Not having fun is one of the main mistakes made while learning a language. How far can you go when you don’t enjoy something? Watch your favorite series in German, listen to podcasts, play games in German, listen to music, but most important, learn German with whatever entertains you.
Almanya’ya ilk kez 2014 yılında, Uluslararası Kültür ve Yönetim alanında yüksek lisans eğitimi almak için geldim. Burada edindiğim dostluklar, bu bambaşka kültüre kendimi ait hissettirdi; eşim Evrim ve oğlum Leo ile kurduğum ailem ise, Almanya’ya “ev” dememi sağladı.
Türkiye’den buraya gelen kimse kendini evinden uzak hissetmesin diye kurduğumuz “Turkish Expats” Facebook gruplarımızı, şimdi Vasistdas aracılığıyla ulusal boyuta taşıyoruz.
Almanya’ya adapte olabilmek, biraz da kendi kültürümüzü yaşatabilmekten ve anadilimizde kendimizi ifade edebilmekten geçiyor. Ben de bu süreçte Vasistdas’ta içerik üretiyor ve blog yazıları yazıyorum, deneyimlerimi paylaşıp faydalı olmayı hedefliyorum.
