In a previous post we gave some tips for adults who want to restart with a foreign language they abandoned after leaving school. But even restarting can be tough -- it takes time, energy, practice, and commitment. It's even more difficult, though, when you are starting with a completely new language. So why make it harder on yourself than it needs to be?
One simple strategy can make learning feel much simpler, and it begins with taking a look at how you like to learn, as well as your overall goals. While there are certainly overlaps in what you'll need to learn, the idea is to prioritize what you're learning to make it the most fun and effective for you.
Think about it: what vocabulary do you need to learn first if you're heading overseas on vacation? How about if you want to communicate with clients in your industry? Different goals, different priorities.
To help you get started thinking about your goals, and how those can affect how you study the language, TakeLessons' Joan B. put together this primer. It also includes a helpful Learning style Quiz, just in case you don't know already!
Disclosure: Gamesforlanguage.com has no business relationship with TakeLessons.com other than having exchanged guest blogs. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for further details.
With Black Friday, the Christmas Shopping season starts in the U.S. Many companies, including language learning sites, are offering great deals.
GamesforLanguage is a completely free site already, so we can't offer any special deals! Over the last year, we've been making a few bucks (really few!!) with Google Ads. And since this year (2016), we've been Ads-free.
We plan to partner with language learning companies we like and whose approaches and philosophy are similar to ours. These may be companies and sites that offer free and/or fee-based services or products.
When we mention, review, or recommend such a company or site, we will always let you know whether we have a financial relationship with them. Look for our disclosure at the bottom of any of our posts.
Past Reviews and Relationships
We noted in our past reviews or mentions of Rosetta Stone, Babbel, Duolingo, Linguaville, LingQ, Digital Dialects, Quizlet, Eduxeso, etc. when we either used free or purchased/subscribed courses. For the review of the book of French idioms: “Other Cats to Whip” we had received a free e-book.
We are currently working with a free 3-month subscription of LearnwithOliver.com's Dutch course, as well as a free 3-month subscription of Lingualia's Spanish course. We will continue to mention and comment on courses, apps, and sites as we learn about them and try them out ourselves.
Current Affiliations
As you've seen over the past months, we have not only mentioned some companies in posts, but also in some of our Quick Games.
Our Languages
French: We are adding links to our French Quick Games for Frantastique, a fun and very effective site for French non-Beginners. They offer a free 1-week try-out. Spanish: We have added links to our Spanish Quick Games for Lingualia, a site which we are currently using ourselves to improve our Spanish. Try it out for free and see whether you like it as much as we do. German: There are links in some of our German Quick Games for Freelanguage.org and its free Language Learning Magazine. Italian: In addition to Freelanguage.org, we also have links in our Italian Quick Games for Luana's free Italian Video Lessons Learnitalianwithme.it Inglés: We will be adding links to our Inglés Quick Games for Gymglish (a sister company of Frantastique), as well as Lingualia, both of whom provide excellent English courses for Spanish speakers.
General
Lingohut - With Lingohut, also a free language learning site, that offers brief lessons for 10 languages, and ESL (English as a Second Language) courses, we have been in a partnership for several months. We have exchanged guest blogs, information etc.
Fluent in 3 Months - We recently joined the affiliate program of Benny Lewis (whom we met during the Polyglot Conference in New York in October). His Fluent in 3 Months Premium program is being offered at a 51% discount until Monday 11/30/2015.
We admire his enthusiasm and dedication to language. We believe that anybody who wants to boost his or her motivation and language learning will greatly benefit from his method and many practical tips!
More Changes to GamesforLanguage
We continue to work on improving our courses. Starting with German, we have been streamlining the “Memory Games” and “Snap Cloud” sequencing, adjusted the Word Hero's speed, and added more Vocabulary Quizzes and Quick Games.
We also continue to publish blog posts weekly on one of our three topics: Language Learning Culture and Travel.
Disclosure: Certain links above are to partners' programs with revenue sharing, should you decide to subscribe or purchase.
(updated 4/22/2017) Readers of my recent travel memories post From Stralsund to Usedom, know that since Germany's Reunification in 1990, Usedom has again become “die Badewanne der Berliner” (the bathtub of Berliners). This is not surprising, as it took us less than two hours to drive from Heringsdorf to Berlin.
We rented an apartment in “Berlin-Mitte” near the Alexanderplatz and the Hackeschen Höfe (see picture left), a neighborhood we had gotten to know well during our stay there in December 2005. This time, however, instead of Christmas markets, we frequented outdoor restaurants and cafés.
A later visit - this time together with my wife Ulrike - will likely stay with us forever: When we checked in at our hotel late morning on September 11, the hotel clerk seemed preoccupied. He suggested that we turn on the TV in our room, as “something's happening in New York.”
Then, just when we turned on the TV, we saw the plane hit the second tower ... Needless to say except for our memories of witnessingthis horrific event on TV, we remember very little from that stay.
Berlin December – January 2005/2006
Our month-long stay, from early December 2005 to early January 2006, was to make up for the ill-fated visit in 2001. And, we certainly made the most of it:
We enjoyed the wonderful Christmas markets (picture right), visited museums and churches, attended opera and theater performances, watched German movies, went up on the TV Tower at the Alexanderplatz, strolled down Kurfürstendamm, Berlin's premier shopping street, explored the Nikolaiviertel, etc. On New Year's Eve, after a performance of the “Merry Widow” operetta, we experienced the wild firework celebrations around the Brandenburger Tor.
Berlin September 2015
As we walked around the neighborhood, we recognized many of the stores and cafés around the Hackesche Markt S-Bahn station. We found our favorite bakery and movie theater. Both hadn't changed much. We also went back to the “Sophieneck” restaurant, our favorite hangout from before - which now was even better because it has become smoke free.
On Saturday we strolled through the familiarAntique and Book Market at the Bode Museum. (This flea market - see left picture - plays an important role in our German 2 course, “Blüten in Berlin?”). Lunch in the “Pergamon Keller” didn't work out, though. The restaurant (also featured in our course) was closed that day.
Berlin - New Discoveries
The pleasure of visiting Berlin again allowed us to catch up on a few experiences that we had missed before and make some new travel memories. One of them was a visit to Potsdam via a boat trip on the Wannsee.
Berlin is surrounded by lakes and waterways. You can actually get by boat to the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, even the Mediterranean, from Berlin.
My father had owned a small sailboat on the Wannsee during his student years and always talked about it.
Potsdam and Sanssouci
Taking advantage of the warm late-summer weather, we set out to explore Potsdam and Sanssouci. We took the S-Bahn to the Wannsee station. (S-Bahn means “Stadtschnellbahn,” but depending on whom you ask, the “S” stands for “Stadt” (City) or “schnell” (fast)!)
Boat trip to Potsdam
At a Wannsee dock, we joined a few other passengers on a boat to Potsdam. We all sat on the sunny deck as our boat made its leisurely way onto the Havel River, into connected lakes, and past various islands.
The ship's captain entertained us with many interesting tales about the islands, buildings, monuments, and sites we passed. The Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) in the Havel River, now a Unesco World Heritage Site, was a favorite of Prussian King Friedrich II, who had a little “Lustschloss” (pleasure castle) built on it for himself and his mistress, in the mid 1790s. (see picture)
His successor, Friedrich III, turned the island into a model farm and zoo with exotic animals, in the early 1820s. He even allowed access for the people of Berlin. The people's interest led Friedrich IV to transfer all the animals to the first German zoo, the Berlin Zoo, in 1844.
To create a real “beach” for the nearly one-mile-long “Freibad” Wannsee in 1908, many loads of beach sand were brought in from the Baltic Sea.
The Cecilienhof, on the shore of the Jungfernsee was the site of the Potsdam conference in July 1945, nine weeks after Germany's unconditional surrender in May 1945.
The Glienicke Bridge, (see picture) under which we passed, connects the state capital of Potsdam with the federal capital of Berlin. It became known during the Cold War as the point where secret agents were exchanged. The bridge also appeared often in novels and movies (e.g. John le Carré's 1979 novel “Smiley's People,” and Spielberg's 2015 movie “Bridge of Spies.”)
Potsdam
Potsdam was important in German history. As the residence of Prussian kings and the German emperor until 1918, it developed into a major center of culture and science in the 19th century.
Potsdam was inside the Russian zone after 1946 and therefore, after the wall was built, separated from West Berlin.
Today it is again the capital of the state of Brandenburg. Heavily damaged during World War II, many of Postdam's historic buildings were torn down during GDR times. We could admire several of the buildings that were reconstructed after Reunification, for example the City Palace and the St Nicholas' Church.
Sanssouci
French speakers will immediately understand that the name “Sanssouci” means “without worries.” It was indeed the palace that Frederick the Great (1712-86) enjoyed the most. The palace was completed in 1747 and became his private residence, where he could relax in the company of people he liked.
With its Rococo style, Sanssouci (picture left) is often called the German Versailles. However, the palace is unusual because it is a one-story structure connecting a row of 10 rooms. These face south and overlook a terraced vineyard and a large park.
Some 20 years later, Frederick had the much bigger“Neues Palais” (New Palace) built on the west side of the park (picture right). Although he always preferred to live in Sanssouci, he apparently felt the need to show off his power and might with a more pompous palace.
His son, Frederick III, who succeeded him in 1797, preferred the “Pfaueninsel” (see above), and did not spend much time in Sancoussi.
You can easily fill a whole day exploring the extensive Sanssouci park with its various buildings and structures: the Sanssouci Picture Gallery, the Wind Mill, the Orangerie, the Chinese House etc.
(In 1990, Sanssouci with its gardens became a UNESCO world heritage site. You can find more information in this English Wiki.)
Bauhaus Museum
When we were in Berlin in 2005, we missed the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum because it was being renovated.
This time we made a point to go there. It is highly interesting to see the many examples of modern design in architecture, furniture, ceramics, metal work, painting and graphics art.
Works of Bauhaus Founder Walter Gropius (who also designed the Berlin facility, which opened in 1979) and famous teachers and artists such as Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky, Johannes Itten, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and others are exhibited.
Also, we were reminded that the Bauhaus, which operated from 1919 to 1933 in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin counted among the 20thcentury's most important schools of architecture, design and art.
Potsdamer Platz
The “Potsdamer Platz” is a major public square and intersection located less than a mile south of the Brandenburger Tor.During Word War II, it had been completely destroyed. Bisected by the Berlin Wall after 1961, it remained a desolate wasteland until Reunification. Then, it became Europe's largest building site.
In the picture, the guard is looking across the Brandenburger Tor towards the Potsdamer Platz!
By 2005, major structures of the masterplan had already been erected, e.g. the Sony Center. Now in 2015, even more buildings, hotels, office towers, and a complex of buildings by the Italian architect Renzo Piano have been completed.
In one of Piano's shopping arcades, we discovered a fascinating exhibition documenting the 25 years since the fall of the wall.
In addition to the historic pictures and mementos, there were pieces of the notorious wall, as well as an old “Trabi” (the East German 2 cycle engine Trabant”). We later saw (and smelled) more Trabis on Berlin's streets as "Trabi-Safaris" have now even become a tourist staple!
Berlin is today still one of our favorite cities. We hope to be back soon to further explore the city and again make some new discoveries.
How many of the subjects you learned in school are now on your to-do list again? Not that many, right?
But it's not uncommon that out-of-school adults go back to relearning a foreign language that they took in school. Interest in traveling, foreign friends, trips for work overseas, curiosity about one's heritage, or even just a broader outlook on the world - all these can be reasons for unpacking a language you had mentally stashed away.
However, resurrecting a language that you started in school and building on it needs a little planning. Here are five tips for easing yourself back into a foreign language.
1. Develop a new mindset
When you're no longer in school, time has a way of becoming scarce. Work and/or family life tend to fill our your schedule. Going to evening or lunch-hour classes may be out of the question. All that makes learning from your home using resources on the Internet a good option.
However, learning from home requires a new mindset. You're now your own boss and in charge of your own learning. It may also be time to reassess your goals. Rather than being anxious about grades and not making a fool of yourself in front on your classmates, you can direct your attention to acquiring practical language skills.
For example, perhaps you never really learned to speak the foreign language when you were in school. That's no surprise given class size and the importance of reading and of written tests.
But now, by choosing the right resources, you can easily take your understanding and speaking to a new level. Give thought to how you learn best. There are many options to consider as you'll see below.
2. Find a fun way to re-enter into the language
Instead of worrying about homework and test scores, you can now focus on what you enjoy and find interesting.It can be anything you like: listening to music, scanning news headlines on your tablet, watching a tv soap, reading an easy ebook, playing language games, etc.
In school, fun is usually not a big factor. But believe it or not, learning a language can be hugely fun. A new language gives you the tools to break out of your routine, to meet new people, to experience a new culture, to engage with locals when you travel.
If you've ever searched the Internet for anything language related, you may have seen that there are lots of language-learning groups, language-exchange sites, Polyglot events and conferences, multi-language forums, just to name a few. Most of the members of these groups and communities love languages and and pursue one or more languages - just for fun.
3. Start putting together your resource list
Everyone's list of resources for learning a language looks different, and yours should too. At best, the list reflects your personality, your learning habits, your language skills, your interests, etc.
Take some time to read reviews of different language programs and apps, try out free demos, look at online courses, or consider online tutors, etc. While many of your resources will probably be online, a well-rounded resource list also contains some hands-on paper grammar books, phrase books, dictionaries, novels, stories, magazines, etc.
Here are some categories of online resources you may want to explore: - Flashcard programs and apps - Programs that use and adapt web texts - Programs that use internet video content - Comprehensive language programs with apps - Game-based programs and apps - Online dictionaries - Online sites for practicing writing - Ebooks
Don't let “experts” or friends talk you into using (or even buying) programs, especially, if they have not used them successfully themselves. Try them out yourself and work with the ones you like. Stay with those that keep you interested and motivated.
(We, personally, like and use GamesforLanguage and the programs and apps of our Partners.However, it's up to you to try out and find the learning tools that motivate and engage you, ideally with daily practice!)
Remember: The "best" program won't help you learn and practice, if you don't use it!
4. Set your most important goal
Do somethingyour foreign language (almost) every day.
This is the one goal you should start out with: daily engagement with the language. Just think: A goal of just learning 10 new words a day, for 300 days, will amount to 3,000 words, sufficient for many conversations!
The amount of time you spend is less important than the daily routine. Try to apply the 20-minute rule. (i.e. Doing something for 20 minutes is manageable for almost everyone.) It works for many people.
If you weren't a big procrastinator in school, this is one school habit that could be helpful now. And, if you were – now is the time you can acquire a new habit quite easily.
Even though progress may seem slow at times, the benefits of daily practice will also become obvious: things are starting to click; you'll hear sound differences; you'll remember words and phrases; grammar rules begin to make more sense, etc.
Language learning is not a linear process. Think of it more in terms of “weaving a rope” that consists of many strands. This is an image for language learning suggested by Michael Erard, author of Babel no More and a topic of one of our recent posts: Are You Weaving Your “Language Rope?
Learning to do something regularly is an important habit. If you can learn to use the 20-minute rule for your language, you can apply it to other tasks as well. Not a bad habit to have.
5. Find a native speaker to talk with
As soon as you can, find someone to converse with. Be it a language-exchange partner in an online community or an occasional tutor on Skype. It could even be someone in your own neighborhood who is eager to speak his or her own language with you.
Your language course in school was probably not an ideal place for learning to speak in a foreign language. You had to compete for “air time” in class and deal with fears about speaking up. Learning to freely converse with others in a language you formerly struggled with in school is both a huge achievement and a special pleasure.So, don't delay. Take charge of your own learning and take advantage of the resources available on the Internet. It's really worth it.
How do I know?
Language have always been part of my life. I'm both a language learner and a language teacher. Once out of school, I continued learning languages on my own; I really enjoy “language hacking”, I enjoy learning languages quickly and efficiently.
It's been exciting to see the Internet start providing fantastic tools and resources for learning languages.Benny Lewis, the “Irish Polyglot”, may be on to something, when he invites you to get you started with a FREE week-long email course: Speak in a Week.
Will you become fluent in a week? In ten days? Clearly not, but changing your School mindset and getting into a daily learning habit with materials that interest you and you have fun with, will get you into “language hacking” in no time...
Disclosure: Certain links above are to partners' programs with revenue sharing, should you decide to subscribe or purchase.
Continuing on our tour of the Baltic cities: leaving Rostock in the direction of Stralsund, we again decided to take the slow road.
We had read that three small islands linked to the mainland and each other by bridges - Fischland, Darss, and Zingst – cover a good part of the Baltic coastline between the cities of Rostock and Stralsund.
We had hoped to see some of the 60,000 or more cranes that arrive every fall on the island of Zingst, but the weather did not cooperate: It rained.
The long beaches were deserted; the reed fields along the eastern inland coastline of Fischland - which at some parts is only about 600 feet wide - swayed sadly in the driving rain; Ahrenhoop, a favorite of artists since the end of the 19th century, showed no life.
Fortunately, by the time we reached Stralsund, the rain had become just a drizzle.
The second and third parts of this video: "Ostsee: Lübeck, Stralsund, Rügen, Hiddensee," from the Mediathek archive of “Das Erste,” the German TV channel, show some wonderful images of Stralsund and the island of Rügen.
Stralsund
Stralsund became an important Hanse city Hamburg to Wismar for more about the “Hanse”) when it joined the League in 1293. Today it has about 58,000 inhabitants.
Together with that of Wismar, Stralsund's historical core is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the many imposing brick gothic buildings still give testimony to the city's former wealth.
The old market square (“Alter Markt”) is surrounded by buildings from different periods: the Gothic Town Hall (13the century), see picture above, the imposing St. Nicholas church (“Nikolaikirche”) completed in the 14th century, and the 18th century Commandantenhus.
Our walk through the old city core made it clear why Stralsund had been of such strategic importance: It is surrounded by water on three sides.
At the harbor, we admired the Gorch Fock 1, the German Navy's former training ship, which is now a floating museum.
And from the harbor we could also see the new suspension bridge, which has connected Rügen, Germany's largest island, with the mainland since 2007. (see picture)
Rügen
As the map shows, Rügen is a large island with many lagoons (“Bodden”). I always wanted to visit Rügen,as I remember my father talking about the island.
aHe had wonderful memories of the vacations he spent there with his family in the 1920ties, at which time they lived in Berlin. I recalled him mentioning the town of Sassnitz, and so we decided to stay there for a few days.
SASSNITZ
(A linguistic tidbit: When Germany introduced a spelling revision in the early 90's, the original spelling of the town “Saßnitz” was then changed to “Sassnitz” in 1993. This was consistent with changing the “ß” to “ss” after short vowels.
So, words that used to be spelled daß, naß, muß, Kuß, etc. changed their spelling to dass, nass, muss, Kuss, etc. The “ß” after long vowels in words such as Gruß, saßen, schließen, etc., was kept.)
Sassnitz, a town with less than 10,000 inhabitants, lies on the northeast corner of the island at the edge of the Jasmund National Park.
One of the attractions of the park is the Königsstuhl (king's chair), an over 350 ft high chalk cliff designated as a World Heritage site.
To see the famous chalk cliffs, we chose a boat trip, which took us from Sassnitz north along the coast. We not only saw the Königsstuhl and the adjacent chalk cliffs in the gleaming sunlight, but also heard much about Sassnitz' history.
When a rail link to Bergen, Rügen's main city in the center of the island, was established in 1891, the little fishing village of Sassnitz started growing and the chalk industry expanded.
When the beach promenade was built in the early 1900s, tourism grew as well.
Later, during GDR times, the harbor was home to a large fishing fleet and a ferry terminal with service to Russia and Poland.
In 1984, the ferry terminal was relocated a few miles south to the subdistrict of Mukran, to operate a railway ferry to the Soviet Union. Today,the new and expanded ferry terminal in Mukran (see picture) is Germany's most easterly deep water port and has developed into a trading and transport hub for Scandinavia, Russia, the Baltics and former Soviet Union states. Because it is the only port in western Europe with track and transshipment facilities for Russian broad-gauge vehicles, it's often called “the most westerly station on the Trans-Siberian railway.”
However, the relocation of the ferry terminal and the decline of the fishing fleet after reunification, have made the large, well-protected harbor in Sassnitz look quite empty.
The town is making great efforts to attract more tourism. Some of the old hotels have been renovated and a very impressive pedestrian suspension bridge connects the harbor to the upper town (see picture).
We had rented an apartment in the upper part of town in a private residence, whose garden extended to a cliff that dropped directly down to the Baltic sea. Our landlady lived with her harbormaster husband in the downstairs apartment.
We frequently chatted with her; she was very helpful, gave us advice on restaurants and walking tours, and even brought us a plate of homemade “Pflaumenkuchen mit Schlagsahne” (plum pie with whipped cream) on Sunday afternoon.
She also told us a story that still bothers her today – 25 years after the fall of the GDR: In the mid-eighties, when travel restrictions between East and West Germany were somewhat eased for older people, she wanted to visit one of her sisters, who lived in Hamburg.
In order to get the necessary exit Visa she had to go to Stralsund to be officially interviewed.
“I will never forget this woman” she said. “I come from a large family with four brothers and three sisters, some of them I had not seen in years. She wanted to know why my sister Jutta, who lived near Berlin, had never asked to go to West Germany. How would I know?! This woman knew where all my sisters and brothers, even where my cousins lived and where they had traveled to. She knew more about my family than I did. It was really scary.”
PRORA
We had never heard of Prora until a Swedish couple we met in Lübeck suggested that we visit the site.
Only a short drive south fromSassnitz, we passed the huge new train/ferry terminal of Mukran and then stopped along a long beautiful white beach, which stretches all the way to the next, larger town, Binz.
Prora is one of these gigantic projects that Hitler had started in 1936, but never completed. As envisioned by him and his planners, this seaside resort for the Nazi organization “Kraft durch Freude” (KDF, meaning Strength through Joy) was intended to accommodate 20,000 vacationers.
The complex of buildings stretches for several miles along one of Rügen's most beautiful beaches and can be best appreciated from the aerial photo (right) and other maps and pictures on the Prora website. There you can also learn more details about the gigantic project that sprang out of the ground in only three years.
When the war began, construction was halted and after the war, the buildings were initially used by the Soviet army and later by the East German army.
Today, some of the buildings have already been renovated and are used as the Prora Documentation Center, a youth hostel, a coffee shop, and most recently apartments.
So, nearly 80 years after construction started, and after decades of inaction and shame about its Nazi past, the “New Prora” complex is gradually being turned into luxury condominiums. (see picture)
After a few days of exploring Rügen – and there are more sights, places, beaches, towns, etc. to explore than we can cover here - we headed further southeast to another island - Usedom.
Usedom
Usedom is Germany's second biggest usland, and maybe even more so than Rügen, has again become “die Badewanne der Berliner” (the bathtub of Berliners) as it had been during the 1920s and 1930s. (And I, indeed, remember my father reminisce about Usedom as well.)
But I also knew of Usedom as the site of another notorious Nazi installation: Peenemünde. After Hitler came to power in 1933, this place became the world's most advanced center of rocket science research in only a few years.
PEENEMÜNDE
Peenemünde is located at the northern, narrow tip of the island, separated from the mainland by a wide channel. This very location also explains why the research could be kept secret for so long.
Our visit to the Historical Technical Museum, located in the observation bunker and former power station, (see picture left) was both interesting and depressing:
Interesting, because the exhibition explained the many stages of rocket development between 1932 and 1945, as well as in later years.
Interesting, because I did not know, for example, how instrumental Wernher von Braun had been not only in the research, but also in the development of the immense research and rocket production center.
Interesting, because I did not realize that, until the start of the war in 1939, scientists and workers from all over Europe were hired and came to Peenemünde.
Interesting, because I wonder, how the “distribution” of the Peenemünde scientists among the four allied powers after the war was still able to give the Soviet Union a head start in the space race - when the US was drafting the top brass;
Depressing, because of the damage and terror the V2 rockets caused, especially in England.
Depressing, because the German scientists, (including Wernher v. Braun) were successful in convincing the Nazi leadership after 1933 that more funding of rocket research would have military benefits.
Depressing, because once the war started, Peenemünde became a prison for foreign scientists and workers, and KZ inmates and other prisoners were used as forced laborers.
Depressing, because Allied bomb raids seemed to have killed prisoners and forced laborers rather than destroying the launching facilities, etc. etc.
The scale of the original Peenemünde research and production center can only be understood by looking at maps and aerial photographs.
Except for the power station and observation bunker (shown on the picture above and only a small part of the facility), most other facilities were destroyed after the war.
Dreikaiserbäder
After the interesting but also sobering visit to Peenemünde, we drove south towards the “Dreikaiserbäder” (Three baths of the emperor), the towns of Bansin, Heringsdorf, and Ahlbeck. They were favorites of German emperors until 1918.
As we were looking for a hotel along the beachfront, we realized that these three towns are actually connected by an over 7-mile-long beach promenade.
The beach and “Dünenstraße” (dune road) actually extends beyond the border with Poland, into the former Swinemünde, now Swinoujscie. (After World War 2, the southeast tip of Usedom, including Swinemünde, was awarded to Poland.)
We found a hotel in Heringsdorf, located directly at the promenade and enjoyed the pleasures of beach life for a couple of days.
We took long walks along the wide beach. (To do this, we had to acquire a “Kurpass” for 3 euros each).
At one of these concerts, we shared a table with a young couple. (It's very typical in German beer gardens and restaurants to share tables.) We learned that they lived in Lübeck, a city we had just visited.
We asked them what attracted them and their two young twin daughters to the Usedom beaches, rather than to the “Timmendorfer Strand,” the well-know beach in Travemünde near their home.
“The Timmendorfer Strand is overrun by folks from Hamburg!” they answered. “And the beaches are cleaner and safer here, so our girls can play without us worrying.” (see picture of Heringsdorf Beach)
Their answer provided us with another insight and understanding why the Baltic sea beaches, with their low tides and beautiful white sand, are more attractive to beachgoers than the mudflats of the German North Sea with their 12-16 foot tides.
With our stay in Heringsdorf, we've come to the end of our trip along the German Baltic coast. The next destination, Berlin, will be the topic of our next travel post.
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
Do you ever get a little anxious when speaking a foreign language? Foreign language anxiety knows no age and can bubble up in anyone.
It doesn't matter whether you're speaking formally in the classroom or office, on the telephone with someone you don't know, or informally "on the street."
So, why do some of us get anxious when speaking to someone in a foreign language? Well, we sometimes imagine all kinds of mishaps. The thoughts are all in our head but the fears feel very real.
We worry about: - making a fool of ourselves - saying an utterly wrong thing - being badly misunderstood - making mistakes - being embarrassed
On top of that, our anxiety itself may have all kinds of effects on us: - we blank out in the middle of what we're saying - we forget words and phrases that we thought we knew well - we start to stutter or get visibly flustered - we start to feel nauseous or otherwise physically uncomfortable
Worst case scenario: As a result, we avoid situations in which we could use our foreign language. Ultimately, we find it hard to continue learning the language.
But it doesn't have to go that way! A second or third language is a huge personal and professional asset. If you want to make that new language your own, it's totally worth dealing with your anxieties.
Below are 3 situations in which the fear of speaking in a foreign language often pops up, even in people who are outgoing and used to being assertive.
SPEAKING UP OR PRESENTING IN CLASS, or in another formal context
Holding your own in a foreign language when you're being evaluated by a teacher, a superior, or even peers can be particularly anxiety-provoking. Before and during your speech, all kinds of additional emotions may come up, including jitters about standing in front of a group.
You may feel anxious about: - looking foolish - not being prepared - suddenly losing concentration - feeling self-conscious and shy - feeling unable to explain your ideas - getting stuck and/or losing your thread - going completely blank
Dealing with anxiety about speaking in front of a group starts the moment that you know you'll be doing it. But curious as it may seem, you have quite a bit of control over such an event.
Because you're anxious, it's easy to avoid thinking about the presentation. Thinking about it also means worrying about it. However, the key is to start early and not to procrastinate.
A Few Tips For Acing That Speech
- Put your speech or presentation together as soon as you can, and don't try to make it perfect. - Practice your speech out loud, in front of a mirror, and if you can, before a partner or friend. - Practice again and again until you have your speech pretty well memorized. - Write down a few key words, and practice your speech again, this time talking more freely. - Look up and write down a few phrases that you'll need when you should lose your thread during your presentation, phrases such as: "what I meant to say ...", "okay, that's not right", "let's go back", etc. - Practice your speech, this time "blanking out" a couple of times. Use your phrases to get back on track. Don't forget to chuckle at yourself as you do this. - During your presentation, focus on the here and now. - Find a kind-looking face in the middle or back of the room and from time to time use that person as a focus.
SPEAKING WITH SOMEONE ON THE TELEPHONE, or Skype, camera off
If you cannot see the other person, you don't get important visual clues from the other person. So, you have to focus exclusively on the person's voice. This makes a telephone call in a foreign language with someone you don't know or don't know well, particularly difficult and anxiety-provoking.
In such a situation, you may be be concerned about: - misunderstanding what the other person is saying - not being able to formulate what you want to say - sounding scared rather than confident - saying something stupid - starting to stutter - having the other person hang up in exasperation
As with a presentation, preparing yourself is crucial. Even if your language learning goal has been only to "speak" in the foreign language, it's worth mastering some writing skills.
The good thing about speaking with someone on the telephone, is that you can have your "cheat sheet" right in front of you to help you along. If you're polite, relaxed, and smile as you talk, you'll be just fine.
A Few Tips For Dealing With Telephone Anxiety
- Write out a couple of typical phrases for greeting someone on the telephone, and for starting and concluding a conversation. - List the items of information that you want to ask or to communicate. - Write down how to ask questions politely and how to confirm, "yes, that's it." - Learn typical phrases to help you get through the conversation, such as "Sorry I didn't understand," or "Could you repeat that, please?" or, "Did I get that right?" - Practice your phrases out loud, several times. - On the telephone, always repeat the information the other person gave you, just to make sure you fully understood.
SPEAKING WITH SOMEONE IN PERSON, or on FaceTime, or Skype, Camera on
Let's say you're lucky enough to know native speakers you can chat with in person. Or, also nice, you're in the country or in a region where your new language is spoken. All I can say is, go for it!
While having a real conversation may seem a little scary, you have the huge advantage of getting immediate feedback beyond the other person's responses and tone of voice. You also get lots of visual clues: gestures, body language, and his or her facial expressions - especially the eyes.
When talking with native speakers you know or meet, you would typically talk about yourself, your interests, things that you do, and ask about the other person. If, however, you are visiting or living in a country where the language is spoken, you're lucky.
Daily opportunities for practicing your new language: - buying something at an outdoor market - asking for directions - ordering in a restaurant - asking for the check - purchasing a train ticket - looking for a specific item in a store - resolving an ATM issue in a bank (see our experience in Seville) - starting up a conversation while waiting in a line - making small talk at a social gathering
These kinds of language interactions are not quite as limited in scope as the others. Still, they are a great way to confront your foreign language anxiety in relative safety. As a starter, you could preface any of these encounters by saying that you are just learning the language and that you're eager to put it into practice.
A Few Tips for Conversations
- Prepare by writing down some of the words and phrases that you'll need, be it forbe the task you'll undertake or the kind of conversation you're expecting. - Memorize and practice these aloud. - Write down questions you want ask, and phrases to help the conversion along, such as: "I didn't understand," "Can you repeat that," "What does X mean?", etc. - Take a piece of paper with you with a list of words. It can't hurt. - When you're in a conversation, pay attention to the filler words or sounds, "uhm", "hmm", "eh," etc. Use them, but cautiously at first. Used correctly, they can help you sound more like a native. - Be aware of the cultural context in which you find yourself. Become alert to what is appropriate, what is not. This is often learned through conversation, by asking questions, and yes, also by making mistakes.
When speaking a foreign language, the cultural context is highly important. In her timely talk - based on her book, The Anxious Language Learner: A Saudi Woman's Story - which Taghreed Al-Saraj gave at the 3rd Polyglot Conference in New York (October 10-11, 2015), she stressed how important a role culture plays in communication and behavior.
It also means that the person learning a language is adopting "a new identity ... (and) is learning a new way of doing things. ... What's normal in one culture differs from what's normal in another culture."
Should you indeed say something silly or make a cultural faux pas - you'll probably know this from the other person's immediate, verbal and/or non-verbal responses. When it happens, it's best to learn how to laugh at yourself, say you're truly sorry, and chalk it up to language-learning experience.
Just remember, a little specific preparation can make it easier to speak up in the foreign language you're learning. It's been proven that practice reduces anxiety. Then, when you are involved in a conversation, know in your mind that it's okay to make mistakes and to feel somewhat uncomfortable. With time and practice, you'll gradually learn to deal with your fears.
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
In a previous post we gave some tips for adults who want to restart with a foreign language they abandoned after leaving school. But even restarting can be tough -- it takes time, energy, practice, and commitment. It's even more difficult, though, when you are starting with a completely new language. So why make it harder on yourself than it needs to be? 
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