If you have ever learnt a foreign language, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the saying “use it or lose it” is very apt when it comes to foreign language skills. No matter how fluently one has learnt to speak it, after a time the vocabulary soon gets a little rusty and the grammar rules once learnt so faithfully begin to fade. Having heard the stories, I was determined not to let this be the case for me.
My name is Isobel and I began studying Dance & Choreography in September 2024, just after I had completed an amazing year working in Freiberg, Sachsen (Germany) as an English Language Assistant (I would recommend for any uni graduates looking to live abroad for a year!). My German was the best it had ever been, despite a three-year break between my German A Level and the placement, and now here I found myself, in a small town called Falmouth, about to begin a degree at Falmouth University.
As soon as I could, I began searching for a German society or other relevant group, and I even asked around at the intercultural café to see if there were any German people happy to chat in German with me, but at the time there were none. Disappointed by the fruitlessness of my search, it was with great surprise and delight that I later stumbled upon a poster advertising a monthly German Language Café run by a student called Nicole, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There were in fact other German-speakers like me on campus who also wanted to meet and speak German!
Taking part in the monthly sessions was one of the highlights of my first year as it built such a lovely community in which to share our love of the German language and culture, so it seemed like a no-brainer to apply for the student project fund a second year running in order to continue the good work.
This academic year, we have been meeting monthly on the second Wednesday of the month, usually in the Sustainability Café, where we chat in German over hot drinks and cake, kindly funded by the Student Project Fund. We’ve had up to nine people turn up for a session, ranging from complete beginners who are getting started on Duolingo, to German speakers of Turkish heritage who have previously lived in Germany, to others like myself who have spent time working in a German-speaking country. Together, we have enough vocabulary to get by and enjoy conversation together in German, although I would love it if we had more native speakers come along.
It’s so exciting to see a community forming as people choose to come regularly to the monthly sessions and friendships begin to form. The feedback I’ve had from those who have attended so far has been really encouraging too. Like me, many of the attendees were glad to see that such a community existed and have embraced it wholeheartedly. It is also much appreciated as a chance to dust off the German language skills and to take a break from busy schedules. So whether you’re learning German and want to practice, or you’re missing home and want to speak your mother tongue, or even if you’re looking for a chance to relax with a cup of tea and a slice of cake, fühl dich herzlich willkommen!
