Learn German, Open New Doors

I was 10 years old and on my first holiday abroad when I learned about the Germans and their strategic approach to securing the best sun-loungers.

My mum shook me awake when it was only just getting light. 'C'mon, wake up!' she said. 'We need to get to the pool before the Germans nab all the sun-loungers!'

For years I suppressed this memory, a little embarrassed by the lazy stereotyping my family had so freely indulged in. So imagine my relief when real-life German Daniela Robinson , founder of Let's go blabla popped up on my LinkedIn feed, not only acknowledging the sun-lounger trope, but laughing about it! I quickly followed Daniela's account, and soon rekindled my interest in learning German, thanks to her amusing posts about German words and concepts from fingerspitzengefühl (finger-tip feeling) to fernweh (the opposite of homesickness).

Daniela is a German teacher with years of experience in tourism. She helps tour guides and tourism professionals with their German language skills, focusing on conversational and storytelling skills along with aspects of German-speaking culture. I thought she'd be an amazing guest on Tour Pro Talks and happy to say, I was right!

We had a fascinating chat about German language and culture, but don't feel too bad if you missed it – you can catch the replay here.

Whenever you learn a language you learn about a culture as well because otherwise you don't really understand it. Daniela Robinson

If you're a tourism professional who is considering learning a new language, you'd be strongly advised to consider German. Obviously, Daniela is going to say that (being a German teacher and all) but you'll soon find out she's got a point if you do a little bit of googling. After all, Germans are huge travellers, and they spend a lot of money. Why wouldn't you want to make them feel at home on their travels?

If the draw of learning the language of Kant, the Brothers Grimm and Nena isn't enough for you, here are some of Daniela's reasons for learning German:

• Speaking German opens up worldwide job opportunities in tourism.
• Even if German adults speak English, their children often don't – being able to speak to them in their own language will involve them in your tour/activity.
• Language and culture are, as we know, inextricably linked. Learning German will help you appreciate, and be more sensitive to, cultural nuances. And this is sure to help your guests enjoy their time with you much more.
• It's not just Germans who speak German. By learning Deutsch you'll be able to communicate with Austrians and the Swiss too.

The thought of learning German can often seem a bit off-putting. The word order! The ridiculously long words! All those different words for 'the'!

Daniela is keen to stress that German is not such a difficult language to learn. In fact, if you speak English (which I'm guessing you do if you're reading this) you'll get off to a flying start, as they belong to the same language family.

Learning a language takes time, so don't expect to get fluent overnight. You can start using what you learn with your guests from the get-go though. Even a few words and phrases are guaranteed to get you off on the right foot with a German guest. You could even try (as Daniela suggests) learning the German translations of some unusual words that might crop up on your tour. Imagine the delight of your guests as you casually drop a translation into your spiel!

If you're interested in finding out more about Daniela and her work, you can follow here on LinkedIn or check her out on Instagram. You can also visit her website.

Finally, if you're interested in finding out more about how you can best accommodate German tourists then I've got some good news. Daniela has created a mini-guide for anyone who wants to communicate better with German tourists. You can download it here.

Don't know about you, but I'm off to dust off my copy of Deutsch Heute. Bis Sp?ter!