Ey yo guys, wie geht’s euch :). Welcome back to our Advent Calendar. And today I’ll actually do something really really really out of character: walking around naked while cooking. No… wait, that’s out of clothes, not out of character. What I’ll really do today is … brace yourselves… !!! publish a guest post!!! GEEEEEEZZZZ!!! A while back, I got an email from him asking me if I was interested in a guest post. And as always, my first initial thought was “No, I’m not.” Usually, when people offer guest posts it’s because they want to place some links to their product or site in there. Not that there’s something wrong with that. I mean, we all gotta eat, right? But I never felt this would be a good fit for this site. David, however, somehow didn’t seem like the usual freelance guest blog post author and he was really eager to do it. So I was like “Hmm, okay, what do you have in mind?”. He suggested a few topics and one in particular sounded like it could be interesting for you guys… “How to learn German by Yourself”. And so I decided to include it in this advent calendar….
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Ja, das Gastkommentare war sehr einfach, wir weiß alles!
Amerikanerin – I have tried to learn German and Swedish both for the last 30 years! How is your Swedish coming? And do you have any tips on keeping both languages separate in your mind? I have both Swedish and German relatives so that’s how I started learning both languages, it’s a blessing and a curse! God Jul och/und Froh Weihnnacht!
By “DE” I mean Deutschland. Ich bin Amerikanerin aber wohne in SE (Sweden). Ich bin in DE verliebt und habe neulich eine Zweitwohnung in HH (Hamburg) gefunden, deshalb kann ich jeden Monat nach HH fahren, um drei Nächte in HH zu übernachten. Bei jedem Besuch (can one say that, or should it be: Jedes Mal ich besuche HH) gehe ich in die Bibliothek, in die “Dialog in Deutsch-Stunde”, um Deutsch mit anderen Anfängern zu sprechen. Dort kann ich vielleicht eine Bibliothekskarte bekommen.
I’m American but live in Sweden. Have fallen in love with Germany (DE) and have recently found myself a lovely “pied à terre” in Hamburg (HH), which allows me to travel down to HH once a month for a 3-night stay. On every trip I visit the public library to do “Dialog in Deutsch” which is speaking Deutsch with other beginners. Perhaps I’ll be able to finagle a library card.
Bin froh, dass du Cari & Janusz entdeckt hat! Guck mal “German with Jenny” und “Deutsch Für Euch” with Katja – those two are great for cross-referencing and both are born teachers. Two different approaches. I’m loath to put links to other teaching sites in the comments on this one, but they are easily googled.
So happy you’ve discovered Cari & Janusz – check out German with Jenny and Deutsch für Euch, see English above.
First thank you so much for replying to me in German. The more German I am exposed to the better. My speking and writing is really bad. So the more exposure the better. I will definitely check out Jenny and Deutsch für Euch.
Don’t worry about the links :). It’s helpful material so no problem!
Glückwunsch zur Wohnung übrigens!!
Danke!
Sorry for my bad typing. Handys sind schlecht. I meant to say Kanopy is great. The quality of the films are great.
I hate being the party pooper but all these steps are pretty common sense and already quite well-known for most language learners, who take learning the language seriously. I mean, are there learners who start with the 30-letter words first? Streber! löl
Yeah, they are :). If I’m completely honest, I have to say… that’s my experience with guest post articles and the reason why I don’t like them all that much.
billyd THANK YOU for the tip (Kanopy)! Unfortunately mu uni library isn‘t offering a lot of books but I‘ll try to get a Library card in DE when I visit in January.
Andres Klein is great – he‘s been featured on this site so you know he‘s Bona Fide. Be sure to check Easy German, Seedlang and German with Jenny. Don‘t miss Deutsch für Euch – the girl is gifted, dedicated and also her info sticks.
I hope you become a member here – the Advent Calendar is gratis but you‘re gonna want full access – vertrau mir.
Nice to make your acquaintance!
Es nette dich kennen zu lernen auch. Kanopy isIgrwat not judt because it is free The quality of tve folms are fantatic. I am really enjoying reading about Dino in the short story books. Ibdo watch Kari and Janusz in You Tube. They are fantastic and based on Emmanuel’s recommendation I did join Seedlang . I also am a member here in Daily German. Thanks for the tips!! When you say DE do you mean the state of Delaware. I live in Philadelphia. Anyway thanks again for your information.
This door today was very welcome to me as a beginner and was a relief from the confusion of door 10. Slight pun there. I started learning German about 6 months ago. The steps outlined here are pretty much what I have been following. Sentence construction and prepositions are killing me. But I feel that with persistence it will get better. I am very lucky to have two friends in Germany who I am in contact with all the time. We Skype once a month and I am trying to use more and more German when we speak. I also work with a tutor through Italki once a week. I do not think that I am ready to tackle a full novel in German but I have bee reading a series of books by Andre Klein that are really helping me to learn. Netflix surprisingly has been a good source for me here in the US for German movies. And the good thing about them are that they are with subtitles. I found a FREE movie streaming site called Kanopy. The service is linked through local libraries and has classic and good quality contemporary cinema available. There are a whole load of German movies that are available (again subtitled) as part of a collaboration the service has with Goethe Institut. I also have to mention how helpful your site has been for me. Your explanations are very easy to understand. Your articles on Adjectives are really a miracle. I feel that with your approach I have pretty much mastered what would have been impossible otherwise. Thanks for posting this because it is good to see that I am not just been randomly flalling around in the process of being able to learn German.
Kanopy… never heard of it but I’ll definitely check it out. Sounds great!! Klingt super, danke :)
Der sechste Punkt ist sehr gut. Vor eineinhalb Jahren entschied ich endlich ernst Deutsch lernen zu beginnen und entschloss die Harry Potter Bücher auf Deutsch durchzulesen. Habe sie vor einem Monat geendet und kann nicht beschreiben, wie nützlich diese Bücher waren: sie waren einfacher zu lesen, weil ich sie schon vielmals durchgelesen hatte und die Sprache in den Büchern wird auch mit jedem nächstem Buch schwieriger, was fürs Sprachenlernen super gut ist. Würde allen empfehlen!
I have found that Netflix has many movies and TV series that one can select German dialogue and either German or English subtitles – best I’ve found for letting some German into my head and hearing words I know pronounced at native speed. Glad to have this endorsed by Mr. Taylor.
One question…. what country are you in? Because I feel like available subs depends on country of residence. Not sure though… I do neither netflix nor chill :)
In the US. Not all movies and programs have German but many do. Right now I’m finishing 1983, original is Polish.
Oh wow, that’s cool!
In the UK both Netflix and Amazon Prime have lots of german language films and tv shows.
Advent 11 1+1 =2
MIT Gastarbeiter
Allein sein geht es kaum!
Man braucht menschliche Mitarbeit.
Musik ist auch wichtig!
Vorsicht der Zug fährt gleich ab!
https://youtu.be/kx2Su8__vHA
Ich bin an — + acc.
English is often not so EZ.
I’m online.
I’m busy now on the computer..
I’m on the phone.
But sitting in my chair. But actually I’m sitting on (top of) it and not inside it!
O Weh!
Abgaßßstufe EsZett!
Hahahaha… wow, that must have been one of the most random comments ever :).
Also.. “mit Gastarbeiter”, hahahahaha, I guess so.
Abgasstufe EsZett: HahAha!
Helloooo again!
Good tips, I found number four particularly useful because I oftem succumb to the temptation of trying to construct long sentences before I can even do the short ones (maybe I should stick to the usual stuff people learn when they start studying French and write “Meine Tantes Kuli ist auf dem Tisch!”) (hope that at least that one’s right).
Bis morgen
You’re not alone. Many learners try making overly complicated sentences when they’re in fact not ready yet. And advanced students do that when writing. I remember back when I used to teach, that some students would concoct crazy sentences and I’d be like “Yeah, put a period here. And here too. And here.”
As ironic as it may sound… one key to speaking good German is to keep it simple.
Heute habe ich eine vierstündige Prüfung. Vier Stunden, um einen Aufsatz auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Wir haben das Thema nicht im Voraus bekommen, sondern müssen wir kurzentschlossen etwas hervorragendes schreiben.
Erschieß mich. Und drück mir bitte den Daumen…
Uff!!! Vier Stunden, wow. Die Abschlussklausur in meinem Nebenfach war so lang. Thema war eine Analyse von einer Sonate von Haydn mittels moderner Harmonielehre und der alten Harmonielehre von Koch im Vergleich.
Aber ich wusste es ungefähr vorher :).
Viel Erfolg, du rockst das.
Unless you are pulling my leg, that’s some heavy duty Thema for a NEBENFACH! Ours was not as demanding Themaweise, it was putting any thought into coherent Deutsch that was our main concern – today’s essay topic: write a letter to a long-lost relative that you haven’t seen since you were 10 years old and that you just found on Facebook. Introduce yourself, remind them of who you are, explain the 2 photos of yourself you sent, one from when you were 10 years old and one current one and suggest you meet.
Not exactly on par with an analysis of a Hayden sonata (any sonata of your choice?) with respect to modern harmony theory and in comparison to Koch (Sigurd or Erland?), with respect to old harmony theory, but for Anfänger, there’s enough prepositions, verb conjugation and Satzbau (word order) to wake Goethe from the dead. And probably both Messers Koch, as well.
Speaking of Koch, personally, I prefer Sebastian Koch, one of THE Most Attractive German Men on the Planet, but I don’t think he’s been the subject of a German exam. Yet.
As for my essay, I dunno, I thought the word order in subclauses was normal after “denn” and when there wasn’t a “weil, wenn, als or ob”. Seems I might be wrong there. And, I conjugated “gehen” as “gingen” for “die ganze Familie” which is pure and utter nonsense as Eine Familie GING and nothing else. Funny how this stuff hits you on the ride home after the exam, and not during one of the FOUR TIMES ONE PROOFREAD THE ESSAY before handing it in.
Keine Zeit zu weinen – muss lernen für die Grammatikprüfung am Freitag. Danach, muss ich meine Rede auf Deutsch putzen – gotta give this “speech” on Tuesday next week.
Meinen Damen und Herren…
Actually Heinrich Christoph Koch :). If I remember correctly, my professor suggested the piece to me and I went with it. Had lots of time to analyze it.
What a boring topic for an essay you got. I mean… I would be like “uuuuuggggghhh… can I discuss the yellow vest protest in France instead?”
But I’m sure you did youself proud.
The written German I have seen here from you recently was REALLY GOOD!
Waiting for your opinion piece to be published in FAZ ;)
Thanks for the link and the tips. Nice to see I’ve been on the right path.
First line, second paragraph from the top:
In English one sits ”at the computer” or ”in front of the computer”. If you sit ”on the computer” it means that you are perched on top of it, which, flat-screens and laptops being what they are, make my bottom hurt just thinking about it.
Prepositions are a special form of torture in every language. One can learn the basics but in my opinion, the only way to use them properly is to read and listen in the target language until they sit like the cement foundation of a skyscraper.
I’m in England and we definitely say „sit on the computer“ in the way Emanuel used it, that’s super common.
I’m in the midwestern US and we also say “sit on the computer.”
Hmmm… Well, I left the states for a non-English speaking country 1985. Computers weren’t all that prevalent. It sounds as though the language is morphing, as languages do. We are ON the net (online, actually), or ON the computer but we are sitting AT the computer.
My English has probably stagnated.