an aussie in austria

In between raising a child I’ve taken on another challenge: learning German… again.

You see, there is a thing in Austria called Ausbildungskarenz. Which translates to something like training on leave. With the blessing of your company, you can take time off work to do some kind of further education. There are plenty of courses available, the caveat being that it has to be relevant to your line of work. For this you get the time off (can range from months up to a year) to study, as well as a bit of cash for doing it.

When I went on maternity leave I found out that many people in the same situation take the opportunity to undertake an Ausbildungskarenz. Because even though you’re granted up two years leave in Austria, it’s common that the second year is unpaid. And getting permission from your company is rarely a problem, because you wouldn’t be working anyway! It gives stay-at-home-parents the opportunity to up-skill, and earn a bit of money at the same time.

So when I discovered that one of the available courses was German, I decided to go for it. And this is why I can say that I’m currently getting paid to study German. I mean, if I was an average person taking time off my full time job to do this, the money I’d get wouldn’t be much to get by on, but as someone who was planning on taking a year off without pay anyway, it feels like a bonus!

The course takes me through German levels A1-C1. Now… since I’m already qualified to B1, I thought… this will be easy. The first three levels will be a breeze and then I can really concentrate on the last two.

Is it a breeze, you ask? Well, no, not really.

I suppose if I just wanted to pass… I could push through it by doing it over and over until I memorised the correct answers. Since it’s completely online there are limitations on how the course can be presented. But the thing is, I do want to understand German. I do want to get better. And so even at A1 level I was scratching my head and going… hang on… how does that go again? Because even though I speak German ok, I certainly don’t get the grammar right and I certainly haven’t remembered everything I learnt from my German courses over the years.

So, I’m working through it. I’m taking the time to learn it properly. It’s fun in an annoying kind of way. It’s challenging. It gives my brain a chance to think about something other than optimum sleep sack temperatures and toddler food options. And even though it’s hard work and it’s taking up a lot of my very precious free time, I can tell myself that at least I’m getting paid!