一個英文專家學習德語的故事/An English Pro Started Learning German/Ein Englisch-Profi hat angefangen, die deutsche Sprache zu lernen

Written in two languages(Chinese, English)
English Version:

Hello, I’m Aang. I’m a Taiwanese student and today I’m going to tell you the story of how I started learning German.

I always enjoyed learning foreign languages. It is one of my weird hobbies, and it never gets old. I am only 13 years old, but I managed to finish a difficult task. I passed the GEPT High-Intermediate Level Test. It is recognized by the Taiwanese Government. That means I have one of the highest certifications of English here in Taiwan. Therefore, I started thinking about my language career. I didn’t want to keep on improving English by reading textbooks, vocabulary books or watching online courses. Because I know I’ve mastered the art of English. It was very clear. So I started looking for a second language to learn.

I started by looking for the closest languages to English --The Germanic Languages. They are a group of languages that are similar to English, including German, Dutch and more. Then, I evaluated my own status. I was a student, which means I might have an opportunity to study in foreign countries. And I hit the jackpot, Germany has free universities. What a great country. Soon, I started looking for teachers on AmazingTalker. It is such a great platform that it has so many languages for all of us to learn! And, German was on the list. I immediately started looking for teachers that teach German. After a long search, I found teacher Elke. Her teaching style fits my learning. And then, I started my German studying journey.


German is a fascinating language, it’s pronunciation is quite different from English. However, I do enjoy learning it because it is a big language. I also like the fact that a lot of words are exactly the same as English. That’s very convenient because I don’t need to re-memorize the vocabulary. On the contrary, the articles in German are very different from English, including Der(Male), Die(Female) and Das(Neutral or It). That really breaks my brain, it’s just so random! But it is a fun challenge and I accepted it long ago. Therefore, I do consider myself stable. I do not give up easily. Teacher Elke always gives me good tips when learning. She told me you just have to learn more and get used to it. It’s like every other thing I learned. The progress takes time. She also uses games or exercises to make it easier for me to learn conversation. Best of all, she doesn’t stick to the textbook forever. She gives extra content to me. Idioms and abbreviation words are also important. I also took the risk and went online searching for friends. Online platforms are also great places where I can practice my writing. Combining all of the things I did, I actually improved at German. My teacher also said I am starting to get hold of the strategies. But, that’s not the end. I am only half way through A1 and there is still a long way to go. So, I won’t get full of myself. I must stay strong and never give up in order to finish the whole learning course. It’s going to be tough, but I am going to do it anyway.

With all that said, I have told you all my story. But that isn’t the end of my chapter. My story is still continuing, going onward. And I believe all of your stories are not finished yet. Life is a long road. And we all have to walk our own roads.




Chinese Version:
大家好，我是Aang， 今年14歲想跟大家分享我為何想學習德語~

從小我就對不同的語言充滿了好奇，學習新的語言一直是我的興趣之一，在13歲時就通過了全民英檢的中高級測試，在取得合格證書後我就開始想要學習第二外語，因為我居住的城市沒有其他可學習外語的資訊，不想只是單純的閱讀紙本、文法書或觀看預錄的線上影片，自己知道要的不是那種刻板的被動教學，所以便開始上網找尋新的學習方式。

尋找到最接近英語的語言是”日耳曼語” ，它們是一組類似於英語的語言，包括德語、荷蘭語等。然後，評估了自己的狀態並上網搜尋得知德國讀大學是免學費(真是偉大的國家啊!) ，這意味著我有很大的機會可以到國外學習或讀書。然後我開始在 AmazingTalker 上尋找老師。這是一個很棒的平台，它有很多語言供我們選擇而且這個平臺上剛好有德語，我立即開始尋找教授德語的老師。經過3、4次的體驗找到了 Elke老師，她的教學風格很適合我的學習方式。然後，就開始了我的德語學習之旅。

德語是一門迷人的語言它的發音與英語是截然不同這讓我更想學習它，因為它是一個大語言，非常方便的是德語有很多單字和英語是完全相同的，所以不需要重新去記背新的單字，相反的德語的冠詞與和英語有很大的不同，包括Der(Male)、Die(Female)和Das(Neutral or It)。這真的弄得我頭昏眼花，它真的太隨機了！但對我來說德文是一個有趣的挑戰，我已經接受它也不會輕易放棄它。

Elke老師在上課時總是給我很好的建議，她說你只需要多點練習並習慣它，那麼自然而然就會使用德文了，就像剛學英文一樣，需要多點時間來練習，老師在課堂上還使用遊戲或練習方式讓我更容易去學習對話，最重要的是 Elke老師不會永遠只教我課本上的內容，她也提供我額外的知識，像是諺語和縮寫詞。同時我也試著在網路上尋找德國朋友來練習德文，這些平台也是我練習寫作的好地方。

結合了這些學習方式讓我實際上在德語方面有所提昇，Elke老師也說我已經開始掌握這門語言了，目前我才走到德文A1的一半 後面還有很長的學習路程，所以為了完成完整的學習課程必須堅持和永不放棄，雖然它很艱難但無論如何都要去做，細說了這麼多我目前的學習故事，但這不是我的結尾，因為我的故事還在繼續且持續前進，相信大家的故事也很精彩，漫漫人生~我们要走出自己的路。