Past Tense

It’s a fact that if you learn to speak German you will be giving yourself huge advantages in your professional career not to mention expanding your personal horizons. Popular reasons for people to start learning German are to make the most of holidays in Germany, be able to chat with German relatives and prepare for study exchange programs in Germany. But there are in fact so many other great reasons to learn to speak German that people never consider. Here are a some others for you to think about:

Germany has the largest population of all the European countries and the language is very widely spoken internationally. 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. The competitiveness and desirability of German products is indicated by the country’s substantial trade surplus. This means that if you speak German you will have excellent international employment and career opportunities. The Germans are great innovators and Germany is on the frontline of new technologies.

But all work and no play makes Jake a dull boy and the German’s also know how to enjoy themselves and are the biggest spenders of tourist dollars in the world. In 2007, the Germans spent a record 91 billion euros on international travel. Travel agencies, tour companies, hotels, airlines and car rental agencies that can communicate with Germans in their own language will win German business.

Also don’t be fooled into thinking that German is a language of the past. 1 in 10 books in the world is published in German, which is further proof that German is a country of researchers and scholars. As few of these books are translated into English, the only way to profit from this information is to learn German.

German speaking countries have made a huge contribution to the world’s cultural heritage. Germany is often referred to as the land of poets and thinkers. 10 Nobel prizes have been awarded to German, Austrian and Swiss German authors. Philosophy and the sciences would be unthinkable without the contributions of German speakers. Knowing German allows you to access the works of these people in their original language allowing you a more in depth appreciation of their work.  Even if your not so interested in Germany on an intellectual level the high quality of life in German speaking countries may well be of interest to you.

You’re probably thinking that’s all well and good, but German is too hard to learn. Well you’re wrong! I think you’d be surprised to discover just how similar English is to 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. Also learning German can be really fun when you use resources like this free learning German podcast..