My week-long self-imposed German challenge is over. So how’d I do? I made it — but only just. The whole reason I challenged myself was because life has gotten really busy. But as we all know, if you don’t use it you lose it. After years of hard studying, I’m sure as hell not ready to give up all I’ve learned without a fight. Even with making special time in one week to take on the challenge, it was still tough to accomplish my task.
I already offered a mid-week check in with a few of the things I learned.
One of my favorite things I enjoyed during the challenge was reading the news. While I already make a daily visit to Der Spiegel, Bild or Deutsche Welle‘s websites and scroll through the front page, I don’t usually click on articles and read them in-depth. Once I made the commitment and started investing in time reading, I really enjoyed it. What can I say, I’m a news and current events junkie. I also felt this was a great way to pick up new vocabulary.
My least favorite part was streaming radio. I didn’t enjoy that as much for a couple of reasons. If I was listening to a music station, there’s really not that much German language used except when the DJ comes on between songs. The news radio stations were a little better but they speak quickly and, in the case of Euro News, seemed to be speaking at a level that was a bit more elevated than I could quickly grasp. In many cases I think it’s good to be challenged — if you can learn it at a high level, you’re in good shape.
Did you make your own German challenge? How’d it go?
