The Best Way to Learn German is to Speak German | Chatterbug

Oscar Wilde infamously stated ‘life’s too short to learn German.’ – the team at Chatterbug is will you Wilde!

I’m sure most students of the German language can relate to the exasperation he felt. The process of learning German is not exactly easy. The cases, grammar irregularities, and seemingly endless word lengths can be intimidating when you start. 

But, like with any language, getting to grips with the speaking part is often the most daunting– and also the most rewarding– part.

Some people can spend years learning German only to find themselves unable to hold a conversation. This sounds nonsensical, right? But there is actually a linguistic explanation for why this happens.

At Chatterbug, we believe the best way to learn a language is to speak it. 

Chatterbug provides adaptive courses that combine self-study and Live Lessons with native tutors, so you start speaking as soon as you’re ready. But don’t take our word for it. There is a lot of research supporting this theory. 

 

Linguistic Competence vs. Communicative Competence

What does it mean to call someone a competent speaker of a language?

The term ‘linguistic competence’ was introduced by Noam Chomsky in 1965. This term refers to the speaker’s unconscious understanding of all the rules in their language, like how to form plurals, conjugate verbs, etc. But it doesn’t acknowledge how language is used in the real world. 

A year later, linguist and anthropologist Dell Hymes argued that knowing the words and grammatical rules in a language isn’t enough. Students need to understand social rules, like when and when not to speak, which terms are appropriate for different situations, basically how to conduct yourself in a conversation. In order to speak a language confidently, you also need to have communicative competence. 

 

So what should you be taught in a second language course?

Clearly, you need to be taught both linguistic and communicative competence. However, the main objective of most language learning courses is to tick boxes that prove you’re at a certain level. Inevitably, this means proving your ability to apply grammar rules and being able to answer certain questions in the way you’ve been taught. But how much can a test score really say about your German skills?

Most language courses and apps focus heavily on linguistic competence. While this may seem like a reasonable assumption for beginners, whom you might think aren’t in need of conversational practice, this isn’t necessarily true.

How languages are taught and how they should be taught are worlds apart. As Orland (2009) puts it, ‘even the most compelling and relevant research findings may fail to penetrate the policymaking process and, where research influences are manifest, their contributions are likely to be both indirect and incremental.’ 

Language courses also often focus on how people think you should speak, rather than how people do speak. Mougeon, Nadasdi, and Rehner examined the speech of a selection of French teachers, and found that they consistently avoided colloquial variants – that is, they avoided speaking in the way most people (especially young people) actually speak. As pointed out in a paper by Dewaele in 2004, the effect that this has on learners is that the input they receive isn’t diverse enough for them to understand everyday speech. Essentially, not only are second language learning methods not necessarily based on current research, but they tend to purposely teach you to speak in a way that’s too formal for everyday use. 

 

What does this mean for second language learning?

It is easy to study for a long time without learning to hold a conversation. The solution seems obvious: you have to develop your communicative competence and the easiest way to do this is simply to practice!

But is this too much to expect of a new second language speaker? 

 

Research on the effect of conversation practice on second language learning

Long (1996) was one of the first to argue that conversation between native and non-native speakers improves second language acquisition. His findings have since been corroborated by various studies.

In 2017, Saito and Akiyama aimed to examine the long-term effects of video-based conversation interaction on language learners’ abilities. They compared second language learners who used a tool like Skype or Google Hangouts to converse with a native speaker to other learners who were simply given standard vocabulary and grammar exercises over a period of 12 weeks. They found that the group who had done conversation practice had significantly improved their fluidity in speech, variation in vocabulary, listening comprehension, and use of grammar. In contrast, the group that only practiced vocabulary and grammar showed no significant improvement over this time period.

Saiko and Akiyama observed that past studies suggest that second language learners greatly benefit from working on tasks that have a ‘high communicative value with the goal of achieving social interaction and communication.’ This implies that second language acquisition is made easier through conversation practice.

 

Connected Speech Processes

A reason that conversation helps with second language learning is to do with what linguists call connected speech processes. An example of a CSP is ‘gonna’ rather than ‘going to’. Or ‘didja’ instead of ‘did you’. English speakers treat these as nearly identical in meaning, however they’re different enough that they might be indecipherable to a non-native speaker.

Most apps and language classes neglect teaching CSPs instead of giving the most “proper” or formal version of the language, even if this isn’t really how people talk. Although this is done to help simplify the language learning process at the beginning, it can lead to issues with comprehension when you talk to someone. 

 

So what can you do about this?

The answer is pretty clear. The best thing you can do to really learn German is talk! 

With Chatterbug you can learn German with native tutors from the comfort of your own home. Chatterbug helps you learn German through a combination of self-study and Live Lessons. You have access to over 1,000 self-study exercises, including flashcards, and reading, writing and listening exercises. The Live Lessons are what set it apart from other language learning platforms. The 45-minute classes take place in an online classroom, where you and your native tutor work through the exercises on your shared screen. 

So if you want to start speaking German, sign up for the two-week trial! 

And of course, feel free to check out some of Life in Düsseldorfs’s other favorite ways to learn German online!