Find a German tutor near me in Cardiff

There are nearly 100 million people that speak German as their first language, making it one of the world's biggest languages and the most spoken language in the European Union.

The countries where German is spoken include Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and parts of Luxembourg, Belgium, Poland, and Italy.

Let's take a look at why you should learn to speak German, the challenges you'll face if you do, how you can study German at school, and how private tutoring can help.

Why You Should Study German

There are a lot of reasons to learn German, but the biggest one is that learning a foreign language is an incredibly rewarding experience that will open up the world to you.

There are also cognitive benefits to learning to speak another language. Studies have shown that learning any foreign language can improve your decision-making and your cognitive faculties. Similarly, it can reduce cognitive decline in later life and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's.

By studying another language, you can also learn more about the English language. Studying a foreign language is an opportunity to study a lot of linguistic concepts that we don't get taught in school, which will help you understand languages in general, including your own.

You can also learn a lot about German-speaking culture and history by learning to speak the language. Speaking German will introduce you to a world of German-language literature, cinema, television, music, customs, and cuisine.

Learning to speak German can also help your career. After all, German is spoken across a lot of economically powerful places and there are a lot of lucrative jobs and careers out there where speaking German is a requirement.

Foreign language skills are also great for those who like to travel. You can enjoy your holidays and trips a lot more if you can speak the language and no matter where you go, people like to see tourists making an effort to speak the language.

Challenges in German

While you probably didn't realise it when you were learning English, learning a language is incredibly challenging and takes years of work and study. The German language is no exception and in addition to the number of ours you have to put in to learn the language, there are also a few other hurdles that you'll encounter when you do.

Linguists will tell you that both German and English belong to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. This means that the languages are related and it's supposed to be easier to learn a language related to another that you already speak. However, the second you sit down in your first German class, you might feel like they were pulling your leg.

German has a lot of grammatical structures and concepts that don't exist in the English language. As you don't have a parallel to draw in your mother tongue, this can make learning them very difficult. Sadly, there aren't any real shortcuts to getting around them and you just have to keep working at it and with practice, you'll get there.

While there are some strategies you can use to increase the effectiveness of your German studies, the best option is to just keep practising and learning from your mistakes!

Studying German at School

In Europe, German is one of the most common languages taught in primary and secondary schools alongside English, French, and Spanish. This is also true in the UK, but since you don't have to study English as a foreign language, it means that most students will get opportunities in school to study the language.

The first chance a student will have to get a recognised qualification for German will be at GCSE and we recommend that any student with an interest in the language should opt to study a German GCSE if they get the chance.

Like other language GCSEs, GCSE German focuses on core languages skills including speaking, reading, writing, and listening. Students are also taught grammar to provide them with a foundation in the language. The grammar covered includes the present, future, perfect, imperfect, and conditional tenses, modal verbs, negatives, infinitive construction, word order, nouns, pronouns, numbers, adjectives, adverbs, cases, prepositions, and conjunctions.

After finishing a GCSE in German, students can take A Level German and complete a university degree in German if they're interested in using their German in their career.

Private German Tuition

If you need help with your German, private tutoring is an excellent option. For students struggling in their German lessons at school, college, or university, a tutor can provide academic support and lessons that are adapted to the student.

When students struggle, it's usually because their teacher doesn't have the time or resources to adapt their teaching approach to the student. As tutors only work with small groups of students or individuals, they can make sure that every minute of every lesson will help the student to improve their level in German and work on the skills that need work.

You can also work solely with a German tutor to learn the language. They can put together a German language course that teaches you exactly what you need to learn and what you want to learn. For example, if you're learning German for work, you might just be interested in the kind of language you'd use in meetings and business lunches whereas those learning German to travel might want to learn light conversational skills or how to ask for directions.

Finding a German Tutor in Cardiff

If you're looking for a German tutor in Cardiff, check out the Superprof website. You can find tutors offering lessons in many different popular European languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and German.

On each tutor's profile, you see how much they charge per hour, what kind of tuition they offer, reviews from their other students, and whether or not they offer the first lesson for free.

If you can't find any suitable German tutors in or around Cardiff, you can always broaden your search to include online tutoring. As long as you can have a webcam and a decent internet connection, you can learn almost anything from the comfort of your own home with tutors around the world. This is particularly useful for foreign languages as you can find native speakers of the language more easily as it won't surprise you to find out that there are more native German speakers in German-speaking countries than in Cardiff.

While online tutorials aren't ideal for hands-on subjects, for academic subjects like maths, music theory, science, and foreign languages like German and French, they can be just as effective as face-to-face tutorials.