Riječ polaznika
Matko Žurić
As a participant in Danica’s courses for over a decade, I have improved my German to the level that allowed me to successfully pass the demanding B2 and C1 exams at the Goethe-Institut in Zagreb. After obtaining internationally recognized Goethe-Institut certificates, I continued to improve my German in Danica’s advanced conversation groups. This helped me, both professionally and privately, when I moved abroad a few years ago, and it has now proved to be very useful in my first steps of learning Luxembourgish, a language very close to German.
The few sentences above may sound as “dry facts.” However, Danica’s decades of experience and professionalism in teaching languages to different generations of learners with diverse needs, expectations, and profiles, enriched by her work on writing and preparing a series of German textbooks and supplementary materials, are just part of the story. The other part—at least equally important—is Danica’s great passion, dedication, and love for what she does. That’s why it’s more accurate to say (and easy to see) that for her this is more of a vocation than just a job.
It is her passion for languages and teaching, and her genuine, ongoing interest in how languages evolve and “live,” that are the real “added value” of learning with Danica. Her lessons are always engaging, dynamic, and rich with new content, so even repetition—the essential foundation of successful and lasting learning—never feels boring or monotonous. Combined with a positive and motivating atmosphere, whether in groups or in individual lessons, these are the reasons why many of Danica’s students continue working with her to improve their language skills long after reaching a very high level of proficiency.
Looking back, I realize that the learning methods, curiosity, and positive attitude towards foreign languages that I largely developed while working with Danica have also helped me in recent years to learn French, a language that has little in common with German, from the beginning to the level of active use in both private and professional contexts, and therefore in my everyday life and work in a Francophone environment. Et voilà (fr.)! Danice, villmools merci (lu.)!