I am nervous about learning German as languages has never been my strongest point. I really want to learn German to a good standard with a view to being fluent in the future but not sure of the best place to start. It's hard knowing we can't get that "immersion" in German in the Basel area. Good luck with yours and hope you find a method that works for you!
What do you mean? Most of the typical classes, like Migrosklubschule, are taught immersion-style. That is, the teacher only speaks German and all lesson materials are in German. You're welcome to speak German with any banker, store clerk, postal worker, etc. etc. If they switch to English you can tell them you're trying to immerse yourself and would they please keep talking to you in German. I think you can certainly immerse yourself if you're determined.
That's absolutely correct, but perhaps lozzle22 (no relation, btw ) meant that it's impossible to immerse oneself in Hochdeutsch in Basel -- which is also absolutely correct.
Apologies for the confusion! That is what I meant as most "baslers" speak Swiss German so immersion is more difficult ok day to day life. I hope I can find a good immersion style class though and practise as much as possible!
Learning German in Switzerland isn't easy. In fact, it's way more difficult than learning in Germany. Over here you go to school and learn "high German" (as the Swiss call it), but once out of the classroom you can't relate any of it to what you hear on the streets, cause they don't speak high German here, they speak Swiss.
I know some people who live in Zurich and have dedicated some of their summer holidays to learn German in Germany, which basically involved taking a language course as well as living with a host family for 2-4 weeks. That's quite a bit of a commitment and probably not the cheapest option, but I'm pretty sure it's very effective.
Other options are to join a conversation group. I think there's one on meetup.ch called the "German Stammtisch" or something similar, which meets regularly.
Any of these will certainly also help:
- reading books (you can start with children's ones)
- watching movies and turning subtitles on (in GERMAN;-)) - pick a movie you have already seen, so you know what it's all about and is easier to follow
- spend 20mins a day to read a simple newspaper (like 20mins - stay away from Blick, it will only teach you crap;-))
- watch the Swiss news (they're in high German) on SF1 at 7:30pm (replays on SF info
at 8 and 9pm). I think watching the news is kind of killing two birds with one stone: you can improve your German and at the same time you're also in the loop of what's happening locally.
Take any opportunity to practice. Never be shy to try. No one's going to laugh if you make mistakes. At the minimum, it will earn you some smiles and the local's respect for putting in the effort.
I think the best thing to do is the intensive courses. After one month it's really possible to see the progress.. for me, the private lessons were not so helpful.