Learning the German language is not easy, but not difficult as well. All you need is a little bit of patience, focus and determination to get hold of the language. Being able to speak German fluently takes time, and its okay if you even speak a little of it.
However, when you run into a person who speaks fluent German, across the street, who is interested in cracking up a conversation over a cup of coffee with you, you need to be smart. Smart enough to not make the person uncomfortable, and worse, switch to English for your good.
If you want to engage in a conversation in German, you need to make sure that you don’t end up making small talks. Just imagine if someone asks you “How are you.” And you reply, “I am fine, thank you.” That answer is the right answer to a person’s question, but not the perfect one. Unless you don’t like the person you’re talking to, you would not engage in a small talk. Rather, you would say, “Hey! I am fine. How are you?” The response indicates that you have just managed to start a conversation!
Here, the main motive is that you have is to converse in German, and not in English. So we’re going to explain you how to crack up a German conversation with three different answers to one question:
Hallo, wie geht’s mit dem Deutsch lernen?
The question is a simple one to understand. It means “Hello! How are you? How are your German studies going?” But if you are not very well versed with the rules of the German language, it’s possible that you might hesitate while answering. Your hesitation will make the other person switch to English, which of course spoils the motive of speaking in German. You don’t have to be comfortable; you need to make the other person comfortable.
There could be three possible answers to the above question, starting from the least appealing to the most:
Answer-1: Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch
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When you say “I speak a little bit German”, it is a clear indication to your German friend that it’s better that he/she shifts to English. But that’s not what you want, do you? English to German is the drill that you want to follow, not the reverse of it! The person will obviously know that since you don’t know any German, it’ll be impossible for you to converse in the language, which will make him shift to English. If a German person sees that your English is fluent than your German, they will definitely shift to the former language. So you need a better answer than that, don’t you think? Let’s move on to the next possible answer of the above question:
Answer-2: Mein Deutsch ist begrenzt.
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This means that “My German is limited”. Well, you want to converse with the person in German, and your answer to you means that if the person speaks a bit slowly and clearly, you will be able to converse in German. But can your German friend read your mind? No. He will probably think that you don’t want to speak about things that you’re uncomfortable with, leaving him confused as to what to say next. So there’s a possibility that he will switch to English for his own convenience. So that means you need a better answer. Let’s move to the final answer to the question and see if that works:
Answer-3: Ja geht so, danke. Und was machst du so?
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The English translation of this sentence is: “Yea, it’s going alright thanks. What have you been up to?” A response like that is perfect because you have left a thread to lose to be caught up by your German friend, opening a window for conversation. The very answer has fulfilled your objective of conversing in German, at utmost ease. So when you are in a conversation with a German, you need to be smart enough to answer correctly, leaving room for a conversation to occur in the first place. But that alone is not enough. You need to be fluent in German. To learn German from the top German language institute in Delhi to attain that level of fluency. There are also some German language tips that you can make use of, to learn the language at a faster pace.
Conclusion
Living in Germany is one of the many wonderful experiences that you’re going to have. Building a healthy relationship with the German locals calls for fluency in the language. So before heading to Germany, take some German language classes in Delhi to enrich the experience ahead of you.