 Poster: A snowHead
|
Yello...
Just wondering if any snowheads have done this or something similar and how they rate it.
Its basically 12 weeks in Kitzbuhel learning German and preparing for the Austrian Ski Instructors exam..
Mrs dingdong has post wedding blues and wants to do a season next year but we'd like to come out with something at the end, not just a toned butt!...
http://www.deutschinstitut.com/c_gapyear.htm
Thanks!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
dingdong, Someone I know did this a couple of years ago with her boyfriend and had a great time. They returned for 2 months this year to Kitzbuhl getting jobs with the ski school no probs. She even got to stand by the Hannenkahm piste in her Ski Instructor jacket during the big race and look important.
Go for it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
dingdong, never done it, don't know anyone who has, but it looks terrific if you can afford it. And there's no guarantee of a toned butt anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Hullite, Do you know how they get on learning German? How did they find the Ski Instructor exam?
pam w, Affordability could be an issue depending on how understanding the bank is towards the mortgage!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
I did the banff 11 week nonstop course and would highly rec. it. As would hundereds of other folk.
Google "nonstop ski". Can also do it in Whistler/Fernie/Red Mountain.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
Nonstop also do sailing courses if you're into that sort of thing.
Being an independent sort I've done my sailing and skiing solo - picking up courses as appropriate as I went along. But my goals are probably considerably different to yours dingdong. I have to say that it sounds like a good plan (provided, as others have said, the funds are there) as it'll add some structure, challenge and goals to an otherwise very platitudinous (  ) season. The opportunity to learn/develop a language at the same time, in a native speaking country, is great.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rossfra8, skisimon, We've looked at Nonstop Ski and it looks fantastic but one of our goals is the language so it looks like it gonna have to be Austria...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
dingdong, by a CD, listen to it in the car on the way to work, and on the plane to north america!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
dingdong, I will try to speak to her to find out and get back to you. I think she progressed with the language but felt she would have liked to have done better but whether this was a reflection of the course or her own commitment I don't know but will ask.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rossfra8, lol... Never thought of that, always an option I suppose!
Hullite, That would be great, thanks!
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
dingdong - that looks great.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
Rossfra8 I hadn't heard of nonstopski until you mentioned it above-looks great. Out of interest why did you choose Banff and when you did the 11 week course did you go on to L2 after completing L1 or did you go down their AMP route?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
dingdong, thanks for starting this thread, that sounds like an amazing idea. I need to learn to speak decent German, and the thought of combining it with 12 weeks of snow... 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
dingdong, depending on how much German you have now, it may be worth finding out what the language of instruction will be in the language classes. Once you have some German, then classes in German are a good thing and make you start using it. If you are total beginners, however, it would be better to have English as the language of instruction for the initial period at least
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
vetski, Cool... Maybe we'll see you over there!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
eng_ch, They cater for absolute beginners but once you get a foothold with the language the classes are in German and the ski instruction is also in German, AFIK.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| Quote: |
At the end of this intensive 12 week course you are
fluent in German *
an Austrian-qualified ski/snowboard instructor *
able to work for a whole winter season as a ski/snowboard instructor *
* this depends on you!
|
I'd be surprized if anyone was fluent in German after 12 weeks. Probably wise to see what the pass rate is and at what level you can teach afterwards.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| DB wrote: |
I'd be surprized if anyone was fluent in German after 12 weeks. Probably wise to see what the pass rate is and at what level you can teach afterwards. |
I'd agree with you there. I suppose it depends on how good your German is before you start. They are supposed to have a high pass rate, but they would say that. That's basically why I'm asking the question here, to try and get a balanced opinion on the whole experiance.
Good point about what level you can teach, I'll have to check that one, cheers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| DB wrote: |
| Quote: |
At the end of this intensive 12 week course you are
fluent in German *
an Austrian-qualified ski/snowboard instructor *
able to work for a whole winter season as a ski/snowboard instructor *
* this depends on you!
|
I'd be surprized if anyone was fluent in German after 12 weeks. Probably wise to see what the pass rate is and at what level you can teach afterwards. |
Although "fluent" doesn't necessarily mean a high level, just that what you know is at your (mental) fingertips. I must admit my initial reaction was the same, but I remember coming back from the school German exchange after 6 months of German at school and was more or less fluent at my low level, whereas at the time I knew far more French but struggled to put it together verbally
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
eng_ch, Would you say German is hard/easy language to learn?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
dingdong, I may not be the best person to ask because I'm a linguist and "get" languages quite easily. There are a few alien concepts to get your head around (word order/subordination, use of cases, few standard plurals, varieties of adjective endings etc.) and several things to memorise parrot fashion (strong verbs, plurals and adjective endings being the biggies, pronoun declensions etc) but once you've understood those, then I find German highly modular. French is simpler superficially but much more difficult to get right IMV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When I learnt both to O level in school I found the German grammar harder (because it is...) but always found it much easier to actually say what I wanted to say in German, when put on the spot. I now speak a lot more French, and spend a lot of time in France, but when camping in Switzerland last summer was able to dredge up enough German to cope in a campsite where the proprietors spoke no English - and that was more than 40 years later. For many English speakers I think the sound structures of German are just easier to get your head around - and I also found that Austrians and Germans were always very complimentary about my (pathetic) German, which gives you confidence to keep on trying. The only French people who ever congratulate me on my French are my French teachers, and they are trained to give positive feedback! Oh, and a very elderly gent I chatted to on a chairlift yesterday - but he was just a lovely, courteous, man! He was 77 and still out on the slopes.
But I agree that 12 weeks of part time German lessons, particularly if you are living/conversing with an English partner for a good part of the day, would not produce fluency except for someone of exceptional linguistic talent. Nor would 12 weeks of part-time ski or snowboard instruction make you a brilliant rider, unless you were very good to start with. But it would give you a really good base to build on, and should make for a great cultural experience all round. I'd love to do some immersion French tuition, but it's always quite an expensive option.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
dingdong,
Never been any good at languages and German is my second language. I train with a lot of foreign people and German is also their second language - in general we agree that German is not the easiest of languages and has a step learning curve in the early stages.
Amazon have various audio CD's for German .....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-7148659-5083043?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=german&Go_x=12&Go_y=7&tag=amz07b-21
I have a few Michel Thomas CD's and these tend to be very good for the stuff that has to be learned parrot fashion.
Keep us posted, might be interested in something similar myself in the future.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Tue 1-04-08 12:06; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
I suggested to rob@rar, skimottaret et al the other week that it might be useful to run a French conversation thread somewhere for practice - could easily do the same for German if anyone were interested?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Like eng_ch, I have always found that German came more naturally to me than French, once I had learnt the rules. I think like anything else it will depend on how much you apply yourself, especially what you do in any spare time, - as a couple it would be easy to go along to the lesson and then collapse back at the apartment and speak English for the evening, whereas if you make the effort to go out and do things language-related in your spare time (from visiting museums to trying out your German in a bar), you will learn much quicker, and this is really how you will get to feel sound more like a native, including odd local words for certain drinks/food that you won't find in the dictionary.
Total guesswork here, but in 12 weeks living over there I reckon you could get from almost zero to well past GCSE level, approaching A-level, if you apply yourself. Don't ignore the fact that you will have to be quite insistent about speaking German as many locals will want to use English to be friendly and helpful!
Like eng_ch though, I also get languages quite easily, so maybe it would be useful to have the point of view of someone who doesn't, to give a more balanced opinion!
D
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
dingdong, when I started learning German a few years ago, aged 31 IIRC, I found that it was harder than other languages I'd learnt (French & Spanish), but the thing that helped the most with the grammar was having done Latin & Greek. Other people in the class, who hadn't, found it a lot more difficult to get their heads round things like noun declension and the concept of strong and weak verbs (while both concepts do exist to an extent in English, our grammar teaching doesn't really explain them). My own personal difficulties were - and are - definite articles (der, die, das = 'the'), compound nouns (only German could have 'The man lying under the table' as one noun - I think it's something like 'Der Unterdentafelliegendermann'), and separable verbs (where a verb has a prefix which is sometimes separated in the sentence). Oh yes - and word order. Terrible. Sentence structure is not as English - to make that point, Asterix in Britain, in the German version, has the Britons speaking German but using English word order. My German teacher was always very frustrated that I couldn't understand what was wrong with the Brits' mode of speech!
For all that, it is a very satisfying feeling when you are understood in German, and even more amazing when you understand someone else!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well I'm pretty cr@p at languages. I'm a "learn by doing" kind of person so the only way I think I would ever learn is to be totally imerssed in the environment and given no choice but to learn.
It's the whole "word order/subordination, use of cases, few standard plurals, varieties of adjective endings etc." that gets me...!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
dingdong, it's only jargon devised to explain a concept in one word - no different from "braquage" or "snowplough" for that matter
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
DB, what about them?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| eng_ch wrote: |
| DB, what about them? |
The german sentences or the links?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
DB, the German sentences. Leo's brilliant, Babelfish ain't
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
| eng_ch wrote: |
| DB, the German sentences. Leo's brilliant, Babelfish ain't |
The German sentences were for Vetski in response to "Ich habe meinen Onkel geruft an".
Yes like Leo and Babelfish is a long way from perfect but is there anything better than Babelfish on the net?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DB, aha gotcha - she and I cross-posted so I hadn't seen what you were referring to. Sorry!
Is there anything worse than Babelfish on the net? It's highly dangerous and comes up with all sorts of translations that are actually wrong. Gobbledegook that you can make out is acceptable; incorrect information is not imo
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
eng_ch,
Leo is only a single word translator, babelfish seems to be the only phrase translator on the net - for simple phrases it's better than nothing IMHO.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
| vetski wrote: |
| habe is only an auxiliary verb and anrufen is the main verb because that's what explains what I've been doing. |
Nope, the auxiliary verb is the main verb because it is declined to agree with the subject (ich (subject) habe (1st pers sing declension).
angerufen is a past participle and cannot stand on its own without the auxiliary verb (unless you're using it as an adjective, in which case you would have another main verb anyway) therefore it cannot be the main verb - the main verb has to be able to stand on its own
Since habe is the main verb it comes second in the sentence which then forces the rest of the compound verb (the past participle) to the end of the sentence
Since the main verb is the anchor and the pp then has to go to the end of the sentence, their positions are fixed and the rest of the sentence can fit round them as you wish in this instance:
Ich habe meinen Onkel angerufen
oder
Meinen Onkel habe ich angerufen
Once you have that basis/anchor points, you can worry about time manner place (if there were more info in the sentence)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DB, OK I grant you that. But it's a case of you gets what you pays for
The other invaluable resource is ProZ' Kudoz glossary:
http://www.proz.com/?sp=ksearch
Covers loads of stuff you'll never find as a standard translation in a dictionary and you can enter phrases. Not a translation engine though, of course
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
The main verb is always the second element in the sentence. Once you have that anchor, everything else fits into place around it 
e.g. 'Ich habe meinen Onkel geruft an' - habe is only an auxiliary verb and anrufen is the main verb because that's what explains what I've been doing. I won't be at all surprised if I've got the anrufen bit wrong 
, but the principle remains the same.