Hello, my name is Janae and I am a student at the DeutschAkademie here in Munich. I have been here for two months because I attended the summer school program of the LMU. I liked Munich so much that I decided to stay a semester longer and study here. It’s great that my university allowed me to do so. When I first arrived, my German was very limited…well, I guess it still is, but I have improved quite a bit being exposed to the German language on a daily basis. However, even though I took some German classes at my university back home, my skills weren’t sufficient to properly integrate myself in the German culture…I wanted to know a little more than “Eine Mass bitte” or “Wo ist die U-Bahn?”, hence I decided to start taking German classes… wow, I have to say that German has its own ways and there are exceptions to every rule! I feel like it’s so much easier for people from other countries to learn this language because most of them have learned a foreign language before. For example, there are people from Italy, India and Poland in my class who all speak fluent English and most of them have learned even another foreign language like Spanish or French and at least they know what different articles look like – for me it was very odd to discover that not every noun has a “the”, but can either have a “der, die, das” which mixes everything up and makes it so difficult to speak and write correctly!BUT as bad as all of this may sound, I have encountered that reviewing all the grammar is the most crucial point to really learning the language and remembering all the rules (and exceptions, hehe). One thing that is tremendously helpful to me is the online grammar tool of the DeutschAkademie. It has so many exercises to every grammar topic and it’s great to being able to practise, practise, practise – without feeling embarrassed because it’s all online. Also, you can ask questions in the feedback forum which is monitored by a German teacher (I think she also works for the DeutschAkademie, but I’m not sure)…Of course, a lot of times I’m too lazy to review all the material, but then I usually pay for it the next day because I make too many mistakes. So I try to learn German online via the grammar trainer at least for 15 minutes every day before I do my homework…oh yes, and I forgot to mention that this tool is free of charge, so it’s a great way for all the German students to practise and become nerdy like me! Here is the link: Learn German online Hopefully all of you guys will benefit from this just as much as I did!

뮌헨 언어학원에서 점점 친구들과 친해질수록 더 재미있는 수업!이제 간혹 서로 일과를 물어본다든지 주말에 뭐했는지물어보는 일이 잦아졌다.처음에는 자신감이 없었는데 갈수록 말하는데에 대한두려움도 사라지고있다~!어서 독일어가 쑥쑥늘었으면 좋겠다.

오늘은 학원을 가지 않았다.요즘들어 많이 나태해지고 공부가 하기싫어 지는 하루인 것같다.그리고 늦게 되어 계속 지각을 하고 수업 중간에 방해가 되는 것 같아서 그렇게 하지 않기로 했다.오늘은 아마도 더 많은 부분을 배웠으리라 생각이 된다.이번이 마지막 주인데 참 …다음달부터는 이제 우리는 오전반을 끈고 좀 더 높은 반을 들어야 겠다.

Class 1B, 6 to 9pmSeptember 29, 2009I don’t know if it is pure coincidence or is it an elaborate collaboration amongst the students in this class. Today is the 4th day in a row that half the class failed to show up. Always different people on different days (For example: Magda, Alex, Lefteris, Dorel and Malek were missing today but yesterday was Theresa, Stephanie, Alex, Dorel and Malek) but the number of the students always total up to 5. Hmm… very mysterious. I hope people are not ditching class to go to Oktoberfest.I do like the smaller class as it is easier to work with others, but when they do show up the next lesson, the teacher (Verena) would have to recap on the important stuff which the absentees missed out. Not a bad thing to do but that means we have less time to cover the remaining materials.For the sake of those who were absent today, homework given for today is as follows:TEST ON WEDNESDAYKopien: Seite 52KB: S. 139 D5 (short essay), S. 142 – allesBring 2.50EUR for VerenaMaterials taught today: Pages 135 to 139Adjektive in the NOM, AKK, DAT case. Not that it is important to know when I am ordering a cheeseburger at McDonalds but I don’t have a choice since I don’t want to get a big fat zero on my test!

Class 1B, 6 to 9pmSeptember 28, 2009I think this is the third day in a row where half the class failed to show up. I know for sure one of them has been transferred to another class, and another is pregnant and is told she would be due in early October. I don’t know if they read this blog, but I’ll list the homework given to us today, just in case.Gr.: S. 14, section 17Kopien: S. 47AB: S. 148 B2, S. 147 A2Test am MittwochMaterials taught today: S. 131 to S. 134, revised wann and wenn, and practiced ordering in a restaurant.We got back our test from Thursday and just as expected, I did not get those questions which required knowledge of ‘der Genitiv’ correct. I don’t really have any incentive to memorize the gender since I’m only going to be in this country for another 8 months, but I just want to learn enough German to let me order my food or visit the country side. I am thinking maybe I will take a vocabulary course next instead of 2A and getting frustrated with the Grammatik again.

오늘은 저번주 금요일에 본 시험 종이를 나누어 주었다. 그러나 나는 요번에는 실수를 많이해서….;;;2등급;;;;솔직히 공부를 안하기는 했다.그리고 요즘 배우는 것은 참 듣는것이 힘이 든다…그리고 온르 다른 시간대로 변경이 가능한지 한번 여쭈어보았다.그러나 이미 오전 시간대는 벌써 다 차있었따.그래서 나는 학원을 계속 다닐지 고민이 된다.

마지막주 월요일의 수업!오늘은 wenn에 대해서 배웠다.그나마 많이 어렵지 않은걸 배워서오늘은 복습이 수월하다.시간이 정말 빨리간다.벌써 뮌헨 독일어 코스에서 마지막 수업이라는게 너무 아쉽다.

It’s true that the long street between Odeonsplatz and Karlplatz (Stachus) is always packed with a lot of people! However, there’s always something interesting on this street. I almost took a free historical & archaeological tour this afternoon. Yes, free guided tour, sounds wonderful, right? Unfortunately, it was cancelled because there was only me! A street “reality show” is also one of my favourites. This afternoon I really enjoyed a street actor who kept on “annoying” the people who were walking on the street. That was hilarious! ) It was extremely funny; people who sit on the street Cafe were really entertained by his acting. Though it was just about 30 minutes, but it’s enough to cheer up everyone’s day I believe.

오늘 배운건 비교급과 최상급.점점 문법적인 내용을 많이 다루는 것 같다.어렵긴하지만 열심히 따라가려고 노력중이다.오늘은 뮌헨 언어학원에서 시험을 봤는데 예상했던것 보다는 괜찮게 봐서다행이라고 생각한다.텍스트에서 틀린거 고치기였는데 좀 어렵긴했다.오늘은 금요일이라 푹쉬어야겠다!!

컴퓨터의 말썽으로 독일어 코스 뮌헨블로그를 http://www.deutschakademie.de/muenchen/blog/ 밀려쓴다.24일 단어를 찾고 수업준비를 좀 해가서인지수업진도 따라가기가 수월했다.그나저나 금요일은 테스트가있는데 걱정이다.오늘은 집에가서 공부만 해야한다.