I will have a 4-week annual holiday starting from 11 December. I went to Germany once 2 years ago. Love it so much and always wanna go back... finally I plan to go back this year.

I am thinking to take daily private German lessons in Bavaria (Regensberg or Bamburg) for 2 weeks first, so I can know some basic greetings/numbers/pronunciation before travelling around for another 2 weeks. Does it sound feasible? Will 2 weeks be too short to learn anything useful?

i always advise my students to start NOW with basic review so you are not paying to re-learn simple things and your private classes will be better taken care of

group lessons at a local institute will be much cheaper and easier to deal with for a longer period of time than one on one.

get some tapes/books from your local library and do as much as you can before you leave.
tapes in bathroom, car and at night. you will progress at a faster rate and be happier with the results.

If you want the cultural experience of language classes in Germany - or if you simply want an "excuse" for staying in either Regensberg or Bamburg for 2 weeks with a definite "mission" -- then, by all means, go for it! (I personally would think that one is better off with group lessons, rather than private -- just for the added cultural interactions -- unless you have a specific focus in mind. And, you probably can learn a fair amount with two weeks of imersion followed by two weeks of independent practice.) However, knowledge of the language certainly is not a prerequisite for enjoying an extended stay in Germany. (I have consistently found people helpful, and many of them speaking English with varying levels of fluency.) You also might want to check out the following BBC site, which I consider to be quite good: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/lj/

Thanks Lincasanova and bo_jack for the prompt replies!

I forgot to mention, in fact I am now taking a beginner course in a local office of Goethe Institut... It's a group class and it's for complete beginner (A1.1).

I totally agree that a group class should have more fun and more cultural exchange, so I checked for the group class at the very beginning. However, the schools I checked will only have their beginner classes started in late November, and it's the last one for this year. I can only start my annual leaves on Dec 11. My schedule cannot fit into any group class, so the schools suggested me to take private lesson of 1.5 or 3 hours daily...

sometimes schools call "beginners" those with absolutely NO previous learning experience, so perhaps you can take their level test when you arrive and see if you can get into a group.

sounds like fun.

actually, going to a language school and staying with a local family is a very INEXPENSIVE way to see and learn in a country. i have friends/clients who do it all the time.

i agree with the OPs who say start learning now. The early stages of german are easy and many of the words will be familiar.
IMO the best language tapes/CDs are made by michel Thomas - there is a german starter of 2 discs, or the full course of 8. Then staying with a family for a while, would also be a great help, with the caveat that many young germans speak good english, so you would have to be firm that you wanted to speak german most of the time.
Good luck!

German lessons in Regensb<b>u</b>rg or Bamb<b>e</b>rg!??

Just make sure you are not being taught Bavarian (Regensburg) or Franconian (Bamberg) dialects! In general people in Germany (which contrary to the perception of most Americans does have areas outside Bavaria - and I do apologize to the Franconians for this generalisation) have a hard time understanding those (and some radicals like me even question their relation to German) !

I once took a three-week German course at Humboldt Institute in Ratzenried, Allga&uuml;. The school is located in the village castle. I chose this school because of its location (near Switzerland) and because its quite professional.

Here's a website: http://www.infohub.com/vacation_schools/89.html

&gt;Bavarian (Regensburg)
And those &quot;Regenburgers&quot; don't even speak proper Bavarian. Their &quot;Oberpf&auml;lzisch&quot; is some very special kind of Bavarian which sounds rather funny to people living further south.

Oh my god! I didn't realize the possible problem of dialect... hum...

If I want to learn some proper German (which can be understood by most German), which districts/cities should be the right place to go?

Will the cosmopolitan Frankfurt be good? Or other cities like Hannover or Berlin?

Teacher that teach German will teach you &quot;proper&quot; German. There's no need to worry about that anywhere. It's just that even though you've learned &quot;German&quot;, (many) people won't speak the German you've learned but someting &quot;different&quot; ;-). It won't be easy to understand.

When I lived in Frankfurt my German teacher talked about &quot;high&quot; German and &quot;low&quot; German, the high being the more upperclass German. It was spoken in the Hamburg area, whereas Bavaria was considered low German. Don't think you need to worry about it though.

The teachers would manage to teach you German without a dialect, as logos said. I was just trying to tease some of our Fodorite friends from those uncivilized Southern parts of Germany .

That said and while the clearest German is indeed said to be spoken in Hannover, there never is a reason to pay Hannover a visit unless you have personal friends there IMHO.