Deutsch für den Beruf - Part 2

Since my German Business class ends in approximately one week, I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect a little bit on the whole experience.

First the positive aspects:

I had a chance to practice my German twice a week. This was by far the biggest benefit from this class. Since I don't currently work in Germany, have few German-speaking friends, and always speak English at home with A. I don't speak German as fluently as I would like. Any chance I have to speak German is definitely a good thing.

Another advantage of this class is that I learned a lot of practical and business-related vocabulary. For example, I spent an entire year at the Goethe-Institut and never added the word for "to deliver" (liefern) to my active vocabulary. Now I am not knocking GI... I don't think I would be as far in my German today as I am without them, but in the time since I have finished there I have found that I don't always know practical everyday vocabulary as well as I should.

Finally, my teacher was quite good. In addition to her regular duties, she was also willing to answer questions about and give me feedback concerning my first German resume and cover letter.

The negative aspect:

Overall I didn't feel the class was as "job-oriented" as I was looking for. I was looking for a class whose goal was, "OK, you are a foreigner living in Germany and want to work here. Here is the proper way to design a German-resume, answer a job ad, write a proper business letter, and overall deal with the German business climate."

Now it wasn't that we DIDN'T do these things. We did. We practiced telephone conversations, submitted a resume, and wrote various letters in groups. However, I would have liked the lessons to have been built around these business tasks but instead they were just tacked on in the midst of the different lessons.

But I guess any practice with these tasks is beneficial. Since I began the class, I have applied for a couple of different library jobs. And for the first time since I moved to Germany I felt comfortable enough writing email and letters that I didn't feel it absolutely necessary to have A. go through what I did with a fine-tooth comb before I sent it.

Overall, I would say that this class was a satisfactory experience for me. If I don't get a job this summer though whether or not I will take "Deutsch für den Beruf II" remains to be seen.