I’m a Dutchman who came to Singapore in 2006 to learn Mandarin. I founded Yago in 2008; a company that works with several Singapore language schools to bring their courses together on one website, so that you can compare and choose the language course that works best for you.
Besides my mother tongue Dutch and Mandarin, my current language of study, I have studied English, German, French, Ancient Greek, Latin and Spanish in a class setting and bits of other languages informally.
In this blog, I share my own learning experiences and try to offer the insights that I gained in my own learning process. I’m also trying to hold out a carrot, showing you the kind of things you can do and understand better about Singapore if you understand more languages.
I love to hear your thoughts, tips and tricks so do leave a comment if you can!
Hello,
I have passion in learning German as a new language and understand its culture, purely just for interest. Neither do I have to speak German in my daily life nor friends that can communicate wih me in German.
But I am sure it will benefit me for my Eastern Europe trip in next year. I will be glad if you can advise me further.
1.) For my case, is an intensive full-time course a necessity?
2.) Apart from the Goethe Institute in Singapore, are there any other language institutes/tutors that you would recommend?
3.) How can I improve and practice my German language, in a non-German speaking environment?
Look forward to hear from you soon.
Thank you.
Cheers
Seerping
Hi Seerping,
Thanks for your questions. As I see it:
1. A full-time course will be helpful to kick-start your learning, but it is not a necessity. I am not aware of any full-time German courses in Singapore, so you may have to ‘make do’ with evening lessons. Which will get you started all the same. Or if you can find the time to do a few weeks of intensive course in Europe (I recommend Germany for the accent), that will be a great start. Berlin is a fun city to be in and not too expensive for living – especially now the euro is down.
2. There are several other language schools that offer German classes. Where do you live? If you let me know I can see which one would make sense for you. You can reply me on info {at] yagosingapore [dot} com
3. You are right that practicing the language is important. There are a lot of Germans in Singapore actually. Working expatriates, exchange students and people like you interested in learning German. You could put up a quick ad at the expat singapore forum (http://expatsingapore.com) for language exchange. There are also a few groups for German culture and language exchange, you might drop them a note or give them a call, they are probably open to welcome you at their next event: http://www.discover-germany.sg/clubs.html
I am just loving your blog and unique perspectives on language and issues in Singapore. Just reblogged you.
Just came across your blog yesterday and it’s likewise. I love the sense of wonder that many of your posts have even about very everyday things. Will keep following!