Hallo from Japan!

Guten Tag! I'm moving to Germany in April for work and have recently signed up for all the Rocket German courses. I must say that so far I'm very pleased with the course. I'm an Australian and have been living in Japan for over 20 years, so i'm well aware of the trials and tribulations of acquiring a new language. I feel very comfortable with the German language because of it's many similarities with English, as opposed to Japanese which is completely different. I also had studied German at High School for one year (although very basic) which has, even in a small way, made me more familiar with German. I like the fact that I'll be able to start reading immediately, unlike Japanese, which took years of hard study just to learn how to read and write. The only disadvantages I can imagine in learning German is that because most Germans speak good English, that I'll be too embarrassed to speak German. In Japan, it is necessary to speak in most situations which I think is great because you are compelled out of necessity to speak the language (though there are many foreigners here that don't bother to learn the language). However, because of the ubiquity of English and the high competence in Germany, I'm afraid that until you reach a certain threshold of ability and confidence in speaking and understanding German that you'll be afraid to use it. This is kind of a catch 22 situation. If you don't use the language you can't improve. I'd be happier if the Germans didn't speak any English. So anyway, my plan is to study RG and to join a language school after arriving in Germany. A language school will allow me to grow more confident with German and allow me, at the very least, to interact in German with the other nationalities in my class. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to break the linguistic inferiority complex within a year. I figure that if i can learn Japanese then it's got to be easier to learn German. I hope that I prove myself right. Danke, John

Hi, John! I've just read your story and I think it is very interesting. Maybe when you read this message you'll already be in Germany. I wish you success in your experience of living in Germany. What German city are you going to live? My native language is Portuguese and it is similar to Spanish. It would be very easy to me to learn Spanish. But I don't think English is similar to German anyway. I used to think that way, but when I started studying German I could see I was wrong about that. Good lucky! Urbano Ballstaedt