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Matthew 21:22
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Monday, July 12, 2010

Marrying my German national husband

Now this is kinda long story for me to tell. But I will make it short then. And focus on one aspect at a time.

Getting married to a German national isn't easy. However, for the sake of Love for my husband, I have done all. Of course too, with the help and support coming from my family, my friends, God especially, and my husband and his family too.

One very essential note to all ladies who will be marrying their German fiancé or planning to get married with their German boyfriend.

1. Learn the German language. Not an easy task though.

Better start learning their language as early as you can. Ask your boyfriend or fiancé to teach you and help you understand their language. German language is not easy to learn. For me, it is completely different from our language, Tagalog or the international language, English.

This is my main reference during my self-study with the help and never-ending support and teaching of my very strict teacher, my dearly sweetest husband. Follow the different levels of the German lessons on that site. And I am sure, you wouldn't need to enroll in any Language school or hire a Tutor to give you home tutorials, which are for sure will cost really lots of bucks. PLUS you should have more patience, faith in God and prayers, as well as the support from your loving husband.

My husband, Stefan, also have been sending me some of the helpful info on the German grammars, common words, phrases and sentences they use, and giving me some homeworks, exercises, quizzes. It has been so stressful since we are working at same time. (Oh by the way, he is back in Germany while I am still here in Manila processing my visa. I will make another post and discuss about my visa processing). So it has been very difficult to learn alone when he is far far away from me. We communicate via emails, ym chat, text messaging and phone calls.

Here are some important pointers which are very helpful during self-study. Learn these things above all other things.
  • Genders of Nouns (Masculine, Feminine, Neutral). Yes, German nouns have genders!
  • 4 Grammar cases (Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative)
  • Prepositions. This is very very important when you are constructing sentences.
  • Tenses of verbs based on the grammar case. Memorize them!
  • Pronounciations. This is also very helpful during the A1 level of the German language.
  • Buy a German dictionary. I recommend the Collins German Dictionary. I have my one which is just 3 inches x 4.5 inches and approximately 1.5 inches thick. It costs Php 499. You can find it at National Bookstore.
  • Buy a German phrase book and at same time is also a two-way dictionary such as this.
Practice speaking Deutsch with your better-half/fiancé. This will make you "used" to speaking Deutsch and will lessen your nervousness during the Oral exam. By the way, I have mentioned the word "exam" here because one of the main requirements for you to be able to live with your husband or fiancé in Germany, is the Certificate of proof of Basic knowledge of the German Language. Basic knowledge means the A1 level. A1 is the first level. The German Embassy will ask you to provide this certificate during your visa application. Goethe Institut Manila, I think, is the only Language Course School in the Philippines that the German Embassy recognize. Please check out their courses offer, schedules of exams and other details

In my case, I was not able to enroll at GI because I have a job. I work from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 5pm. And I live in Bulacan. GI is located in Makati. I could not imagine traveling back and forth everyday after office hours. So I decided to have a self-study. PLUS we were able to save at least Php 18K from the enrollment fee with books, fares, foods, etc. If you are in the same case as mine, you may also just take the A1 exam and pay the appropriate fee, Php 4K in my case. But OF COURSE, make sure, you are prepared. On this link, you can download their sets of sample practice exercises. Very very helpful too! Make sure you check their website too for some changes in their practice material and information. The format of the A1 exam is exactly the same as found in their sample exercises. So make yourself used to it also. Good luck ladies!

P.s. I got a total passing grade of 93% in my A1 Exam last June 30, 2010. Highest passer for this batch. Got a gift from GI. :-)






4 comments:

  1. Hope your content will help me to learn some basics of German language. I learnt some German words from your blog. Keep posting more content.
    Regards:
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