When Grant and I first started traveling, I was a little nervous about ordering food in a restaurant or getting by in a city of which I didn’t understand the language. I soon learned that this isn’t such a big issue. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but the saturation of the English language in far flung places such as Ukraine or Croatia has been really helpful. Most people that Grant and I have run in to speak a little English even if it takes hand gestures and pointing to get our ideas across. Never-the-less, because we knew that German is a language that is the 2nd most spoken in Western Europe, we’d decided to give it a try.

We have enrolled in German classes in every location we’ve settled into. And as such, we have been fortunate enough to find schools that either just started their term or have been extremely accommodating to our schedule.

One of our favorite language schools has been Inlingua in Innsbruck (This school has locations throughout Europe). Inlingua is located right across from the main train station. They have always been quick to get back to us and have been very helpful in placing us at the appropriate level, as well as carving out a curriculum that works with our schedule.

We’ve attended Inlingua for two terms and really like the pacing and the instructors. It is an immersion school, which means they don’t speak English during class and all communication is done in the language being learned. This threw us for a loop at first but we soon got into the rhythm of things and have found this style to be very helpful. There is a textbook that is used, and it provides the vocabulary and grammar concepts that you will go over during the week, but for the most part a lot of the classes are centered around speaking. This has been the area that Grant and I find we need the most work.

If you have the opportunity to be in a foreign country for an extended stay, and can spare the time, we highly recommend taking a language class or two. The difference this makes, even just enough to learn words to order food or to identify grocery items, will make your stay in that country all the more comfortable and enjoyable. And we’ve found, wherever we’ve traveled to, that when we attempt to speak the language (even if we are unsure of saying it right) people truly do appreciate the effort.

And if you happen to be in Innsbruck, Austria you should give Inlingua a try. We don’t think you’ll be disappointed!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018