The Benefits Of Learning German
Learning to speak German is a great investment in both your social and business life. Some of the most popular reasons to learn to speak German are to communicate with relatives, to prepare to travel in Germany or to study in Germany as an exchange student. While these are all good reasons to learn German, you might be surprised to discover just how many other great reasons there are that you’ve never considered. Here are a some others for you to think about:
Germany is the most populous European nation and German is the most widely spoken language in Europe. German is the third most popular foreign language internationally and by learning German you are able to connect with 120 million native German speakers. So German will not only allow you to build relationships with people in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein but also German speakers all over the world.
Germany is the economic powerhouse of the European Union and one of the biggest international exporters. Germany’s international trade earnings are proof of the high demand for German goods. Germany’s economic strength means business opportunities not only in Germany itself, but also throughout the European Union as well as in the United States. Germany exports more high-tech products than any other country apart from the U.S. so Germany is a country of innovation.
While German workers are highly productive, it is clear they know how to play just as hard as they work. If you are a world traveler, you are sure to encounter Germans wherever you go since nearly 3 out of every 4 vacations by Germans are spent in other countries. It’s understandable that the best way to profit from the German tourist industry is to speak the language.
Don’t fool yourself by thinking that German is a language of the past. In number of books published, Munich is second in the world only to New York. Since only a small percentage of German books are translated into other languages, only if you learn the German language will you enjoy access to the vast majority of these titles.
The cultural heritage of German speaking countries is very rich. Germany is known for being a country of poetry and great thinkers. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka and Hermann Hesse are just a few authors whose names and works are well known internationally. Scientists from the three major German speaking countries have won dozens of Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine. Anyone interested in any of these fields automatically expands their knowledge and skill by knowing German. Whether you’re interested in cultural and intellectual heritage of these countries or not, the fact remains that Switzerland, Austria and Germany all offer a very high standard of living, which make these countries very attractive to many people.
You’re probably thinking that’s all well and good, but German is too hard to learn. Well you’re wrong! If English is your native language then you already have a huge advantage when it comes to learning German. Modern German and modern English both evolved from the common ancestor language Germanic. Also once you learn the German system of sounds, it’s easy to predict how the spoken word is written and how the word is pronounced. Besides, learning German is fun when you make use of these German language podcasts.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 2:09 am and is filed under Kids and Teens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.













