Claudia in Germany

Learning languages has been a hobby for me, fortunately; so it has been a joy for me to learn German. I wish to improve faster, but I have to remind myself that it is important to not get ahead of yourself and just let the process flow. Otherwise, you'd be frustrated and learning process wouldn't be optimal. While attending a good language course is still the best and most effective method to learn a language, here are some supportive methods you can use to improve your language skills: Buy exercise books online You can find plenty of exercise books online that you can do by yourself at home. Some of them even come with audio CDs or audio download links. They usually state the level of each book, so you can choose a level suitable for you. Remember to always choose ones with the answer key included, if you are going to learn by yourself. What would be ideal is a combination of some explanation with exercises. If you're a complete beginner, there are also books that...

The A1 level is pretty much the lowest level of German exams you could take at Goethe Institut. There are: A1 and A2 (for beginners), B1 and B2 (intermediate), C1 and C2 (advanced). You can learn more about the level structuring  here . If you're going to apply for a national visa for marriage or for au pair work, you're required to pass the A1 exam. You can read more about the A1 level exam  here . It might be daunting to discover that you are required to pass an official exam, especially if you never took German lessons before. However, after passing the A1 exam, I can see why they require it - it's really helpful to have some basic German knowledge if you are going to move there. It will definitely make your life there much easier if you already have some basic knowledge of the language before you take the plunge. I went straight to the Goethe website and discovered that the A1 course is divided into 3 terms (A1.1, A1.2, A1.3), each term lasts for 10 w...