Today, I would like to talk about classmates. Of course, as the adage goes: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”. Our social environment is very important for us and if you want to learn the language as fast as you do in intensive courses then pay a lot of attention to your group. Now, after having changed three groups (during my study in Deutsch Akademie), I am absolutely sure that a lot of my own success depends on the group I’m with. If your group is a bit stronger than you – you are lucky because you will always be pushed by this external motivator. You don’t want to look silly every day, do you? So naturally you advance forward. If the group is weaker than you, your language progress will move slowly; however, on the other hand, you will feel quite confident and relaxed. Tastes differ, so do people. Some of us prefer the more intensive way of language learning and others prefer the relaxed style. You need to find your own comfortable tempo and group for it.

But the most important part is to meet like-minded people within your group. We spend from two days a week (half-intensive courses) to four days a week (intensive courses) in the language school and so sometimes we can’t even spend three hours every day with our own families because of work and language learning. If you have open-minded, nice people in your group – get together with them for coffee or go walking and of course speak in German. Sometimes native speakers don’t have enough patience for slow-speaking-foreigners, but you will have enough patience for each other. From the beginning, it will be difficult and move very slowly, but you will eventually start speaking. You will make mistakes, as we all do, but you will help each other and that’s really great. I think language schools are real places where adults can find friends. I have found my friends here and I wish you the same!

Möge die Macht mit dir sein!

Immer! :)

I would like to introduce you some of nature friendly places in Berlin.

Botanic Garden (Botanischer Garten)

It’s a little bit cold now, but in two or three weeks you can go to nice and relaxing places such as the Botanical garden in Berlin. There, you will be able to see a lot of exotic flowers and plants. I cant say that I am a big specialist in plants and thing like this, but I like the atmosphere of this place. It is a quite big area, over 30 hectares, so be ready to spend at least 4 hours there. And don’t forget about comfortable shoes. As in all botanic gardens you will see here plants from all over the world. There are a huge greenhouses with artificial climate zones. Palmas, cactuses, fir-trees etc.

What can one do in the Botanic Garden in spring? I will give you a tip, don’t spend too much time thinking about what is worth seeing and what is not. If you enter “Spring Trail” in the search engine on the Garden’ site you will get a special ready-made route for Spring visitors, so you will see only best places for this time of the year.

Aquarium

The first tip: It is much cheaper to visit the Zoo and Aquarium in one day, because Zoo-Aquarium ticket costs 20 Euro and one separate place 14,50 Euro. If you plan to visit with small children – choose one place for one day :)

There are 3 floors. The first one has different-sized, coloured fishes, the second contains snakes and lizard and crocodiles. And at the last floor there are a lot of insects and frogs.

In conclusion, the best part about all these trips is that you see and learn new, interesting things and you have the opportunity to learn new vocabulary. For example take a booklet in German and try to read it and translate. Or if you are a super language proficient, join one of guided tours in German and practice your listening and understanding.

In addition, the Deutsch Akademie organise special meetings (Stammtisch) or cultural events (Museums and Exhibitions). You always have to look for different opportunities for learning.

Good luck!

Mit Spaß zum Erfolg!

Hello zusammen,

Tell me, how much time do you spend online? One, two or even three hours every day? We all live in our modern world. We get information from Internet from official news to social networks. There are different types of leaners, some of them better understand than they write, other than they read or listen. So the way you learn language can be different and you have to find your own way.

There are a lot of online resources for language learning: websites, apps for phones and tablets. I have been learning foreign languages from my childhood, and i am sure that since all this opportunities have appeared our life easier and better became. In german language you can find a lot of difficult and strange things in grammar. I use different apps every day, which help me. For example, german articles fro me is not so clean as i wish them to be and i use application for articles. There are o lot of week and strong verb in german and very often you will not meet any logic in their conjugation. Germans are very precise to their language, so if you want look good – be correct when you are talking german.

Deutsch Akademie offers everybody free online german course and free online audio course. And thank you for it. I can practise new grammar and vocabulary. And it really helps! For example you are on your way to the school and you are bored in the U-Bahn. What to do? You always have a choice to check your facebook or open your language application. Time will pasts fast and you will improve your language, maybe you think that it is just two or three tasks to find a right word or to build correct sentence. But remember that every minute that you learn language takes you closer and closer to your aim, whatever it is A2 or B1 or C2. You always can find something that suits to your level and interesting for you.

P.S. if you don’t know which application to use or with whom practise your german – write in comments.

P.P.S. 90% of my group use online apps every day!

Bis morgen!

Being in Berlin 7 months, i can say that i am absolutely in love with this city. First three months i tried to find a job and i found a traineeship. There was no job after that, but it is not the most important. The traineeship was about sightseeing and guiding. We were trained during two months as junior guides to provide classical tours of Berlin. At first time i was very upset after that training, because i thought that i had lost time and i really did. But now! I am so grateful that this time gave me an opportunity to get to know this city from inside out. And i want to share it with you. If you think that there is nothing to see in Berlin because it is not München or Dresden you are absolutely wrong. The best of all to start from Alexanderplatz and after that to go to the St. Nikolai district or Nikolaiviertel, it is the oldest part of the city. It was a small neighborhood  of river sailors. Close to Nikolaivirtel you can find the Museum Isle with Lustgarten. Because of this place, Berlin is being sometimes called Spree-Athen. Berlin also has its own Avenue des Champs-Élysées and it is Kurfürstendamm. The most famous trade street in Berlin and the central street of the west part of once divided Berlin. The biggest european Zoo, with a very interesting history. It was destroyed during WWII, but survived. If you are in west Berlin you have to visit Gedächtniskirche or Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the pleasant thing that the entry is free. There is also an excursion to the tower (only in german). I don’t have my favorite place in Berlin, because i love it all. Love Berlin as i love it.

I offer you a short variant of my favourite route (less than 1 hour), and if you are new to the city, it is a good way to get to know Berlin Mitte.

Bis bald!

Привет! Меня зовут Ксюша и я совсем недавно переехала из Москвы в Берлин. Никогда в своей жизни я даже не задумывалась, что буду жить в Германии. Думала про Италию с ее волшебной кухней и живописью, про Францию с ее мелодичным языком, Испанию с солнцем, морем и тапас. Но нет..судьба распорядилась по-другому, я вышла замуж и переехала в Германию. Как и все иностранцы, желающие переехать в Германию, я еще до переезда выучила уровень A1 и сдала Start Deutsch 1 и на этом остановилась. Немецкий показался мне жесткий языком, с более сложной грамматикой, чем в английском и с менее приятной фонетикой, чем французский. Будучи по первому образованию преподавателем иностранного языка, я решила, что справлюсь с немецким сама и начала свое трехмесячное мучение самостоятельного изучения. Но кроме, как удержать уровень A1 я дальше не продвинулась. И волевым решением пошла на курсы и думаю, что поступила абсолютно правильно. Так как если изучение языка остановилось и не идет, то надо менять стратегию.

Сейчас уже прошло два курса здесь A 2.1 и А 2.2 и вот с марта начался B 1.1. Я уже совсем другой человек. Я могу сказать, что я хочу и в магазине и в кафе и на улице, но не только сказать, а отреагировать на вопросы и реплики в ответ. И это замечательное чувство! Завтра я напишу куда сходить и что можно сделать и не потратить слишком много денег. А еще в этом месяце я записалась в разговорный клуб по пятницам и обязательно напишу один раз о том, что там происходит и как.

Herzlich willkommen in Berlin.

Bis Morgen!

Up for lunch? Are you vegan? This is the place you should definitely try out!

New Deli Yoga in Mitte is a great place to eat healthy and fresh food for lunch / early dinner. They serve vegetarian and vegan dishes. The atmosphere is very hipster as well as cozy. As you can see on the black board they states the following:

‘Chill the fuck out, our food takes longer but it’s worth the wait, mate.’ And yes, indeed the service is a bit slow there and you do need to wait a bit to get your food, so you should visit this place when you are not in a hurry J But the wait is definitely worth, you will get really nice food – probably that is why it takes a bit longer ;) You don’t need any reservation; you can always get a seat. Important note: cash only!

Last Saturday I felt like getting out of the crowd and have some relaxed walking in a calm place. Therefore, I visited Tiergarden for the first time since I have been in Berlin. It is just such a great park! You get off the S-Bahn and what you hear first is cars, motorbikes and business. Nearly unbelievable that you only need to walk a couple of minutes and that horrible city noise is simply gone! You will arrive to a place where the ducks give the loudest noise. You can bring a book and just sit on a bench and relax – alone of with some company. During the summer you can rent a boat and explore the lake that is located in the park. Restaurants and cafes welcome you to get a drink in case you become thirsty :). It is definitely a place for the weekend and for those who really want to escape from the busy environment. On Saturdays you can enjoy an antique market right next to the park with full of old-school stuff from the past. I loved it!

Last week I went out with my roommate and with her friends, and they took me to an amazing place!!

We went to Eschenbräu Bräurei in Wedding. I am sure that if you are just a tourist, it is not so easy to discover this place, since it is so hidden and with full of locals.

The idea behind this pub it that EVERYTHING is home made. Their focus is on homemade beer – a whole selection of it – however they also serve German specialties – Apfelschorle etc. My favorite was the homemade apple juice, which was amazing!!!

You are more than welcome to bring your food there – I saw people eating chips and sandwiches at the other tables – you only need to buy the beverages. Therefore, it is the perfect destination for birthday parties, or other celebrations; you can spend your time with your friends in a great atmosphere that is cozy and cheap. In the summer they have tables outside with some special lightning. It is quite hidden, located behind some residential buildings in the basement; Google maps does know where it is, but when you go there for the first time, you might want to ask some locals around to help you with the navigation. I think it is a must to go to this place, if you are in Berlin. :)

These photos were taken from the office where I work; it is pretty cool, isn’t it? :)

Besides the fact that the view simply puts you in a happier mood, it kind of indicates where you should definitely go if you wanna grab a nice lunch! You can find this bridge on the U-Bahn line 1 between the Warschauer Strasse and the Schlesisches Tor. I pass this bridge every day and once you do that, you will be in a restaurant paradise! This area is very popular for its lunch places; you can find everything you need: if you are a meat eater, vegetarian or vegan! There are plenty of places to choose from and the prices are super affordable. They mostly serve easy, healthy and fresh food, the service is fast – you can take away or sit down and eat in the restaurant. In my opinion this area really reflects Berlin’s hipster style! I love it, since I work close by, I almost go to have lunch every day in this area. I would definitely recommend everybody to give it a go and visit the Schlesisches Tor’s lunch paradise. :)