I have lived in Switzerland for 20 years, and now I am finally getting around to taking German learning seriously. As many have, I have found that input is ‘easy,’ i.e., I can learn some grammar today, but ‘output’ is where the rubber meets the road. One must train their brain and mouth along with all of the input to become fluent in a language. The output is incredibly important, and it is quite challenging to find others in our same situation.
With that in mind, I made and posted a simple Google website where people can join a Google Meet call three different times per day and practice their speaking! No cameras, just microphones and speaking together. This is a super basic site where one can come and go according to their schedule and speak freely with other German learners.
It’s a resource that has been really beneficial to me, and hopefully it can be to someone else too.
Niveau: A1/A2 & B1/B2
When: Monday - Friday (no weekends)
Times: 09:00, 13:00 & 20:00
Link: Home
Hope to speak to someone, anyone soon … all the best!
great initiative, but, wait… why would you speak German with people who cannot speak German well? (or no-natives?). it would be like a blind leading a blind… I find Sprachestunde Tandem partners (I call them ‘my victims’( on the tandem language platforms – or on the Stiftung coffee shops – there is always an old lady that wants to chat in German!
It DEFINITELY is the blind leading the blind! —but it’s the training aspect that is incredibly important. Getting one’s brain and mouth to connect and understand what the heck they are doing. Just doing it … just trying it and working it out is whats important when starting. It also helps that I have a family that can correct me all the time, so this is just a way for anyone to go for it … just see what comes up!
Tandem platforms are great … but there is something about someone who already speaks German correcting you, or this and that. For me, if someone corrects me I don’t write it down, memorize it and then repeat it until I have it because the moment has passed. Not that it’s not effective, but language learning is individual - and this is just another way to connect with people and ‘speak’ - no corrections, nobody is a teacher etc … just getting one’s self aquainted with how things connect … perfectly or not perfectly.
This is how I learned English. Meeting regularly at coffee shops with other learners and some advanced or native speakers.
I’m actually surprised these initiatives are not popular here with so many foreigners around learning the language. There’s always some extrovert local happy to chat with new people, or a lonely retiree, and it doesn’t require to rent any meetup space, the coffee shops are happy if you come buy some drinks and snacks, especially if these meetups happen outside rush hours.
all of my tandems (from these platforms) are ‘local’ – as you can define the location, so we meet for coffees, sometimes for a walk or for lunch, and when we can’t, we exchange via whatsapp or VC. They have become acquittances, and some of them, friends…
I think that the blind leading the blind method works.
The only rule is no matter what, you speak German, no cheating by reverting to english.
You speak with hands and drawings to get your meaning across.
Guys … seriously? I am not a scammer - I went on the Goethe website a few months back and in the forum one can write ‘lets meet up, lets do this, lets do that’ because in general, whomever they are or wherever they are from, it seems like people want to speak some German, no matter their level.
In any case, trying to meet up on that platform is horrendous. That just doesn’t happen. I took Izzy’s advice and asked a bunch of people on SprachTandem if they wanted to speak … still waiting for people to actually be interested.
The real red card in this ‘trying to speak to others without paying a boatload of cash’ … is that MOST learners aren’t really serious. And I mean REALLY serious. They have an idea, but ultimately to learn a language as an adult, one needs lots of time, patience, and a helluva lot of persistence and perseverance. Plus they need a crazy good reason. If that reason goes away, why the heck torture oneself … unless one is trying to be a polygot.
In any case, out of desparation I made that little website with Google Sites - to see if anyone would jump on or meet up at their discretion—no ads, no b.s., no exchange of info or personal details, no ‘signing up’ … just a Google Meet link - if anyone is there, then speak, if not … try again whenever.
Has it worked? Well … a bit. I have met up and spoken a couple of times with two Nigerians! Now … not to be whatever that word would be, but yes, they happen to be from Nigeria. Lol.
Speaking of scams - last summer we were going to Austria for holidays. My wife went on one of those ‘buy your Autobahn pass here’ websites. Looked legit. 5 minutes and CHF 2000 later … boom.
But even with that … even with the horror stories or what-have-you … what are we going to do? Crawl in a hole and not try new things. I believe we should all be careful with new online experiences, but in the end if we keep packing our head with negative stuff, we’ll end up going crazy. To each his own, of course.
Speaking of dark spots … what do you mean by ‘or even worse’? This is an interesting use of English in this context.
Maybe register yourself as a teacher on Italki then exchange the g meetup links on the first trial “lesson”. Just throwing this idea, as perhaps hundreds from your area are monthly searching for a teacher on that platform, so might think why not
Taking a regular course back home was a way different. There was a lot of willing to practice together outside of the classroom. Here people sign up because they are already exposed to the language, so are not looking for any additional practice.
