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.

Before going to Berlin, I made a few research about German courses online. There are abundant of them but one thing in common is, they are a bit pricey. A lot of the courses offer a month course for around 400 Euros. As a fresh grad with no job, obviously I don’t have a lot of money to spend. While I already secured some money for a course when I decided to move to Berlin, luck happened. I was on a U-Bahn and I saw an advert about DeutschAkademie. They offered a month course for just 225 Euros. The first thing I did after coming home was to check them online and I found out the location is very strategic and accessible. I chose the one in Wittenbergplatz since I live just 3 stops from there and what is even more interesting, it is situated exactly at the shopping street Kurfurstendam. Never in my mind that I will go window shopping immediately after class almost every day. What is more can I ask for? ;-)

One reason I chose to study German is because, I am fascinated by Germany, the people and the culture. Whenever I travel to any part of Germany, there are always something good to tell. Moreover, Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe and still one of the biggest economies in the world. To master German is an investment to my own future. To add more, German is also spoken in Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.

I chose to be in the early session which is from 9:00-12:00 so that I could be a morning person and discover Berlin later on after the class. Considering that I am 27 and just graduated from university, I was expecting to be among the oldest in the class. Well, that was not the case. In fact I turned out to be among the youngest. I found that is very interesting to have a lawyer from Chile, a film director from London, a tool designer from Brazil, car mechanic from Poland and few others from Korea, Turkey and Denmark among my classmates. While the class is a good platform to learn German, it is definitely a good place for networking too.

My German teacher is a 28 year old lady. Energetic with a jocular personality who tirelessly walking back and forth around the table answering questions and to the white board to write down our discussions. While the class can be a bit difficult to follow sometimes due to the instruction in German, I found out it will be easier to grasp with time and a little bit of focus. Well, a diamond can only develop through pressure ;-) same goes with mastering a language.

My name is Mior and I come from Malaysia. It was 3 years ago when I first came to Berlin while studying in Prague for a weekend visit. It took me just one day to fall in love with this metropolis. The moment I graduated, I packed my bag and move the Berlin. Definitely one of the biggest random decisions I made, nevertheless 3 weeks on I have not regret even a second of it.

As someone who is fluent in English with great interest in Germany and German culture, I noticed that German language is not so much different than English. That give me an idea of why don’t I try to learn German? Hence, I began to look for a language course online and one day I stumbled upon an advert on U-Bahn about DeutschAkademie. 1 week later, here I am on the 1^st day of my German class.