If you can't learn german in germany, then you simply do not want to learn the language. Don't think anki will make a difference.
Why? Well, obviously it still takes a lot of time and effort, factors which aren't altered by being in Germany. You still have to put in private practise (which isn't helped by being in Germany - you can do this anywhere) and you probably need to seek out classes or lessons (which isn't helped by being in Germany - you can do this anywhere). You might want to seek out people to practise conversation with, meaning other learners, who you can also find anywere, although there are probably more in Germany.
Also, my experience is that it's actually very rare that casual interactions with people e.g. in shops or restaurants is helpful - they either make no effort to help with your halting attempts to communicate (or worse: I've had some quite unpleasant responses from native Germans, even when I was trying my hardest to speak their language), or they try too hard to be helpful and immediately switch to English instead.
Of course, if a person was to move to Germany, completely immerse themselves by living amongst native speakers, while focussing on learning the language, then yes it would probably help. But for most other folks where the situation is less perfect, it still comes to interest and motivation, and being in the country is of relatively little benefit.
You don’t think so? Have you learned a second language?
Anki and any flash card system can be a small step in the right direction and that is huge!
If you already live there, forget flash cards, take a basic in-person course then just pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, talk to that gas station employee in your broken German... Having actual conversations, no matter how broken, is IMHO way more beneficial than any app or course. And yes, I've learnt several languages (including German) this way. There's countless ways, but in the end it pretty much boils down to the willingness to learn it, not an optimal learning method.
Flashcards can be help, somewhat to learning foreign language. But they are not necessary nor able to teach you to communicate by themselves.
I agree. Far and away, the fastest way for me to acquire a new word is to use it incorrectly in conversation. My theory is that the emotion of social embarrassment makes it stick (there is some research associating strong emotion with learning).
Maybe there's something about the act of using the word that also adds to the impact, because similarly, if I learn a new word for the first time in conversation, I rarely forget it. Words acquired via flashcards or reading or whatever take ages to stick in my brain, and then I usually have to go through another learning process it be able to use them effectively in real life.
And Anki is a nicety but won't revolutionise your learning. In fact in the end I stopped using it and switched to just reading German books and watching German movies.
They live in English/Russian/Turkish/Arabic speaking bubbles. They are not isolated from people, only from Germans.
Their issues are poverty, violence, lack of education that makes it impossible for you to really earn money. The expats speaking English do not have these issues.
But the Türkendeutsche no longer are - not the under-50 set, anyway. Try ordering a Börek in Berlin sometime - the person serving you will answer in perfect Berlinerisch.
Socially/politically they might be in some kind of a bubble, but so are the rest of us.
I lived in Mexico for years and was still surpassed by people who were there for six months. I had to fix a lot of quirks and setbacks just to begin the process.
For example, I couldn't understand people in English esp over the phone if they had any accent, and I never listened to lyrics of music (unintentional, I just didn't do it naturally).
So I hope at least, this will lower the hurdle a bit. Getting a flywheel going so to speak.
My plan is to re-evaluate where I'm at end of January next year.
If this seems easier than the hurdle of learning German, it makes me think issue is more psychological than technical, eg maybe you find German people a bit intimidating or there are some socialization patterns you don't feel comfortable with.
Certainly Anki will help if you stick to it daily. But grinding unrelated vocabulary and sentences is also likely to feel fragmented and random until you pass some threshold where things start to gel in your head and you notice emergent patterns of word formation and sentence structure. You need more German friends and you should probably buy a bunch of children's books. Also listen to daily news broadcasts on radio or TV; newscasters are selected not just for looks but for perfect elocution.
* I'm exaggerating somewhat; Japanese is part of a family of related languages. That said, only native speakers and linguistics nerds care, because these related languages are only spoken within Japan or the surrounding islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_the_Japonic_...
The explanation for that is that I used to study Japanese at Uni, and my wife is Japanese. So in some sense, it already is easier. Starting something from scratch is always a lot more difficult.
Some good other suggestions. I also thought of playing something like Broken Sword (adventure game fully voiced with text in german).
You might find it helpful in Anki to color-code things as you encounter them (you can do this very easily with a control and the digits 1-7), as well to switch Anki itself into German, so you have to read it to check your intervals, progress and so on. I grind Japanese for a couple of hours a night and the forced-immersion aspect helps me a lot.
You might also like this site which has graduated short readings in German that start out very accessibly - I was able to read the first few cold despite never having studied the language. I think it's very important to study vocabulary in some narrative/situational context because the filling-in and inferential processes you do with a text are very important; they help you invest a word with meaning rather than just assign it.