Today is the last day of my class for the month of August in DeutschAkademie. In the beginning of the class we learnt about weathers. It is interesting to know new vocabularies on weather since around this time in Berlin the weather is changing dramatically from very hot to quite cold in mere few days. So I did manage to tell to my friend how I feel whenever it is cold and windy in German. Later on in class we were taught about some useful conversation that we could make while doing some groceries shopping in the market. Meanwhile before, I already know on how to ask how much is the price? Now I even know how to ask if I could try some of the food. That is indeed very useful when you are hungry in market ;-) We were made into partner of 2 people and were given the task of going around the market just next to DeutschAkademie and try to practice what we were taught in class. Eventhough I didn’t buy anything since I didn’t find anything interesting, some of my friends bought 2 pieces of carrots and 3 roses to be given as a present for my girl classmates. We ended our last class by sitting in the café just next to the market and discussed our experiences in the market. Such a good end after a month of class but it is quite hard to say good bye as well. A lot of my classmates are going back to their countries and after exchanging our contacts, we gave each other a final hugs and off we go to our own way. I hope to be able to see them again one day and this time speak fluent German with them. That is what I hope and I wish it will become true.

One area I found really amazing to go for nightlife in Berlin is in Kreuzberg. It is situated in the south of Mitte and one of the most interesting districts out of all 12 districts in Berlin. Historically and true to now it is synonymous to being to being one of the poorest areas in Berlin and known for its large population of immigrants. Nevertheless, now Kreuzberg has become one of the most trendiest place in Berlin where a lot of clubs, bars and restaurants are located.

I went to a bar called Café Luzia with 3 other friends from DeutschAkademie. Very funny since when I was there I didn’t see anyone drinking coffee but yet it is called a Café and it is very popular. It was quite a struggle for us to find a place to sit when we first came in. Too bad, the only sits available was in the smoking section. Wile we were there, we talked about our experience in class and even discussed about German grammars. While it might sounds boring, but actually it was not. We had a terrific time together. I hope to do this again every week ;-)

One amazing place to visit when in Berlin is a place about 1 hour train ride from Berlin city center called Potsdam. Don’t get confuse with Potzdamer Platz which is in the city center! While it is connected under the same S-Bahn line from Berlin, I just got to know later that it is in fact another city! Not a small one either, it is a capital of German Federal State of Bradenburg. It used to be a residence of Prussian King until 1918 and now it is the largest world heritage site in Germany.

Among interesting places to see in Potsdam are the Potsdam City Palace, St. Nicholas Church, the Old town hall, Glienicke Bridge and many others. But one of my favorite among all is the Dutch quarters where there are rows of nice small shops, cafes and restaurant. I went to one of the small café and they have a small nice garden where I can sit and enjoy my tea. To my surprise, the café is actually also the owner’s residence and they live upstairs. That has to be a dream job. To wake up in a nice quarters and work downstairs of your own house everyday ;-)

In German language there are 4 cases which are nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. It has also 3 genders; masculine, feminine and neuter. Since articles (der, die, das) are very important in german language, it is very important to have a good grasp of all 4 cases above while knowing in which gender the noun is. Since learning in DeutschAkademie, I am using a textbook by….and from there in every topic we learnt, the vocabularies of new words related to the topic are marked with different colors (blue=masculine, red=feminine, green=neuter, and yellow=plural) signifying theirs genders. Then the teacher taught us basics of all 4 cases thus making it quite effective learning experience to incorporate the gender and cases to come out with the correct article for every noun. At the same time we learnt a lot of verbs too and so far I can say that my understanding of German language is getting better day by day. I hope after few more months, I can have fluent conversation with local German people ;-)

After couple of weeks in Berlin, one place which always gives me a sense of awe is the German Federal Chancellery building. It is a building of federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor. While the original building was built circa 19^th centuries, the new modern version of the building was completed in the year 2001. The magnificent architecture and its colossal size crossing the river somehow made it one of its kinds. Whenever I walk pass through the building I will at least take a moment to take a good view of its grand design. To make it even more dramatic, a lot of sightseeing boats passed through the building under the bridge making the building a captivating sight to just sit and relax watching the scenery.

To add up, next to the German Federal Chancellery building is another mind-blowing architecture; the Reichstag. Full of history, it was also built in the 19^th centuries. Since then, it went through ups and downs of being damage in fire and World War 2. Not until German reunification in 1990 the building was refurbished to its current state by world famous architect Norman Foster. Now it is the building of the German parliament.

One advantage to study in DeutschAkademie is they provide me with online learning tool such as free online German course. Through the platform I can practice my German by doing free exercises based on my level or by choosing particular grammar topic. These online exercises if complemented with normal daily classes are really a good way to improve my understanding on German language. While some free site such as Duolingo also provide free language learning, but I found DeutschAkademie’s version is much more challenging, much more varieties of topics to choose from and the vocabularies used in each sentences are more wide-range. After each exercise, there will be a statistic of my last 30 days solved exercises and from there I can track my performance. Since I am quite a beginner in German, most of the time I would practice my basics in adjective and adverb to strengthen my vocabularies.

Free German Audio Course

I was told by a friend who is fluently in Spanish as her third language, one way to learn language really effectively is through reading. So I went out to buy a German book. But then I realized that I need a lot of vocabularies to understand a sentence. So I decided to try e-book made available by DeutschAkademie. What is good about the e-book is, it starts at very basic for total beginner like me with both English and German as a language medium. Moreover, I do not only improve my reading and knowing knew words, I am practicing my comprehension through the audio. So I think that is very good as a starter before beginning to read a higher level writing such as novel or newspaper. I have to keep on reminding myself, to be fluent in a language I have to be good in speaking, reading, listening and writing. The e-book basically helps me with at least reading and listening part.

My classmates come from all over the world and they are mostly working professional. Probably because of that, I found it comfortable with them since they are so professional in class too ;-) One guy comes from England owns a film company based in London and Berlin. While probably he is motivated to learn Deutsch because of his business, I think probably because his wife is German. In this case money is a factor, but love is even a bigger motivator!  Another classmate of mine is a lawyer from Chile specializing in environmental law came to Berlin with his husband who is doing a master in architecture. So far, she spent a lot of time after class learning Deutsch with her 1 year old son. Another guy is a tool designer from Brazil who loves travelling. Every weekend he will be somewhere else around Europe. One Korean classmate who is working as assistant director of an Opera in Seoul is having a combination of vacation and studying. She is on vacation in Berlin while going to DeutschAkademie to learn Deutsch. Funny but true ;-) Another older classmate of mine is from England and he is here to be with his girlfriend who is doing a PhD in climate change. He is teaching English and sometimes Buddhism in Berlin during his spare time. Two classmates come from Poland. One is a car mechanic who also does some business relating to cars and another is a lady who used to work in an office in Warsaw but now trying to improve her German to find an office job in Germany. One Turkish classmate is studying German while doing her internship here in Berlin and a Danish girl who wanted to try to change her environment and move to Berlin with his boyfriend.

So far, most of the people I met wanted to learn German as an investment to find a better job in Germany. While the rest are rather interested to just know the language as a spare time. In both case, I still think German is a very useful language to know and learn.

Coming from an education background with little knowledge in linguistic, I found out later that it is very important to have a smaller group in class. This is especially due to heavy emphasize to practice speaking with the teacher and in order to have that conducive environment, I need a smaller class size. That is what DeutschAkademie offered with only maximum 10 students per class. In my case I was even more blessed to have classmates who are very motivated to speak in German. Never in mind I have ever imagine to speak casually even outside the class with my classmate in German. Even though we erred a lot between words, I personally felt like I have really improved a lot from day to day.

So far, one big motivational factor for me to learn German on daily basis is the willingness of local German people to speak to me in German even though they knew that I speak a little of German. Some German friends that I made even corrected me via text messages when we communicated. That is definitely a fast way to grasp the language quickly.

Since I grew up in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, I am used to be surrounded by big buildings and traffics. The constantly changing landscape and bustling cities somehow made me feel easy with city life. So when I came to Berlin, the modern architectures and the atmosphere somehow made me feel like at home. Among my favorite area to spend my time is in Potzdamer Platz. It is a very modern area comprising of architecture wonders such as Sony Centre, luxury residential areas, huge shopping malls and other majestic buildings to name a few. Besides that, Alexander Platz is another place in Berlin where a lot of young people came out to meet and shop.

What is more interesting about Berlin is, it is not only big and modern on one side but also rich in history. To think that Napoleon once walked past through Bradenburg gate is mind blowing. Berlin is also a home to multiple museums having some of the best artifact such as the Bust of Nefertiti in Neues Muzeum. At the same time night life in Berlin is never disappointing with abundant of night clubs and bars.