Mission: Conversational German Level B2 by October 2012 | My language mission and my log | Forum
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16:31
October 13, 2011
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Hallo, Leute!
After a hiatus of six years and reading Benny's challenge, I have finally decided to resume my study of German. To give you a brief history of my situation, I began studying German at age sixteen until age nineteen. During that time, I reached a level of proficiency between B1 and B2. Since then, I haven't spent much time learning any language except for one year of French during freshman year. The baccalaureate nursing program leaves little time for anything else other than science and nursing courses. However, I am now a university graduate and a licensed Registered Nurse. This leaves me with ample time to dedicate myself to the German language and culture.
I have spent the past week re-learning the basics of German. Surprisingly, I am remembering a lot of what I once knew and am progressing relatively quickly through the basics. The hardest part has been remembering vocabulary, but that is what Anki is for! I've also been trying to immerse myself in German as much as possible. I have switched the language on all my electronic devices to German (if possible), read the news in German, shopped in German, listened to German music, watched German shows, spoken to my pets in German, and played my favorite video game in German (Danke, Bioware für die deutsche Untertitel in Mass Effect 3 
).
My ultimate goal is speak conversational German at a B2 level by October 2012. To do this obviously, I need to speak with German speakers. So, if anyone (natives and non-natives welcome!) would like to practice German conversation with me, please post here, send me a PM, or contact me via Skype. Any suggestions on resources and/or German-learning tips are very much welcome and appreciated! I am also on the look-out for sites, books, etc. for German medical vocabulary, so I can read and discuss medical articles/journals published in German.
Learning: 
11:58
August 20, 2012
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Hallo HuertaRN
Ich lerne Deutsch auch. Im currently using Pimsleur und es ist nicht schlecht. You are probably ahead of me lol but it could be good practice and I see your timing was October 2012 so we have a few months. Anyways I'm beginning to wonder how active this forum really is since your posted in June and have not received any replies.
23:07
October 13, 2011
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Ich benutze auch Pimsleur und ich finde es nicht so schlecht. Ich mache jetzt das Nivaeu 2. Ich habe vor kurzem einen neuen Job angefangen, daher meine Ziele zurück bleiben. Also dann, warum lernst du Deutsch?
Learning:
03:33
October 13, 2011
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Ultimately, I did not complete my original mission. While I was searching for native German speakers with which to converse, I came across several native Italian speakers who were very interested in doing a language exchange. Before I knew it, I was speaking Italian all the time. My German studies greatly suffered, and I found it time-consuming to study two languages at one time. Eventually, I stopped learning German and focused solely on Italian.
I had my first spoken Skype session with two native Italian speakers, who are brothers, last week. We spoke for about three hours! The first hour and a half was solely in Italian and the other hour and a half was solely in English, so that they can practice their English. I must admit that it wasn't easy! I often found that I could understand what they were saying but was unable to articulate an answer. It was rather frustrating, but I used gestures and what vocabulary and grammar I knew to explain things in the best way that I could. I'm sure that I sounded like a toddler, but overall I felt that we had a very enjoyable conversation. I'm definitely looking forward to our next Skype session, which should be fairly soon.
Looking back, I may have failed my original mission, but I have accomplished another one; having a Skype session in Italian with native speakers! I don't regret dropping German at all because I have had the pleasure to meet some very interesting people that I wouldn't have otherwise. Hopefully some of my language partners will become long term friends. Once my Italian reaches an advanced level, I'll pick up German again. Until then, it's Italian all the time!
Learning:
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