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[chaoticag]

A few weeks ago, I had gotten through an intensive German course (AI level, so I can speak rudimentary sorta. Didn't test for it either, so who knows), but I'm worried I might slip or I might need to practice more in German if I wanna get farther. I'm going to be in Berlin soon-ish, but I dunno if that'd be helpful. Anyone got any suggestions on how I can brush up on German?

And yeah, same thing with Spanish, although I have gotten two school years of it, and I have been out of Spanish for so long I've prolly forgotten most of it.

[Meph]

Das einzige was hilft, ist die Sprache zu sprechen.

[chaoticag]

I'm not even sure if I can carry a conversation without a dictionary though. Ich habe keine idea woher ich kann spreche Deutse[acronym]. (side note, mouse over that for an idea of what I was trying to say.)

But yeah, don't know too many people who talk it.

[Meph]

In Berlin you will meet people.

Ich habe keine Idea woher ich kann spreche Deutse. => Ich weiß nicht wo ich Leute finde mit denen ich Deutsch sprechen kann. (?)

Otherwise: Download movies/buy/rent DvD with german subtitles, or german dubbing and english subtitles. Best a movie you know or enjoy. Thats how lots of people learn english, they need to know it to understand their TV. And it helps to hear the words pronounced, instead of just reading them in a book.

[LordBucket]

how I can brush up

don't know too many people who talk it.

I'm not even sure if I can carry a conversation without a dictionary though.

To get quick easy reexposure, head to youtube and watch some movies in German. Read a book in German. Get the dictionary if you have to. For personal practice, check meetup.com for local language groups. Or hire a tutor. If you want to be pushed to practice speaking but without the social pressure, torrent a Pimsleur language course and do lessons.

[K41N]

Hey, native speaker here. I even live in Berlin ^^
We have some "Tandem groups" that are used to learn the language. It works like this: You post in a facebook group something like "Hi, I'm A., I would like to learn spanish and I'm offering german in return. Write me a message!"
After that you talk a while in said languages and later you meet up for a beer or something if you get along well. Great way to get to know people and get some practice!

For Vocabulary: I learn some spanish myself and I mostly use duolingo.com or just ask the people I met through those Tandems :-)

hope this helps

[Sappho]

Duolingo is good for brushing up. Video games are always the best for me. Multiplayer games are great, just ask people to help you learn and most will be happy to do so. There are plenty of decent point and click adventure games in German. Deadalic entertainment has all theirs in German first and English second. You can usually even have German audio and English subtitles, or vice versa. There's also a German fan-made sequel of Zak McKracken here, for free, very well made: http://www.mckracken.net/ It is available both in English and in German.

Films and TV are great as well. Nothing is as good as actively using the language, though. Talk to yourself, your pets, whoever. Talk to people online in games and whatnot. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll pick things up when you're actually speaking to someone rather than just trying to study and learn.

[martinuzz]

Speaking German is easier than writing it. Auf Schrift wird es dir angerechnet, wenn du der mit dem verwechselst. Wenn du jedoch mit deinen Freunden über dieses und jenes quatschst, werden der sowie dem oft duh. 

Also, I have yet to meet a Berliner who cannot speak english.

Also, also, Berlin is awesome! Enjoy your visit there.
 

[chaoticag]

Does look like a silly amount of people here speak English. Not that I don't want to learn German or anything, but what little I do know seems to come in handy. Though now my family wants to go to landmarks and other important places. No idea what to suggest for them.