soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3899 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French
| Message 1 of 123 18 March 2014 at 3:12am | IP Logged |
Materials (not all are used at the moment):
Pimsleur
Michel Thomas
Rosetta Stone
Assimil
FSI
Various books
Quizlet
Background:
I've always loved German since I was a kid. I started using Pimsleur and RS on and off about a year and a half ago. I was a casual learner but have recently been able to speak with some native Germans and was surprised at how much I could actually speak with them so far. This inspired me to start taking my studying much more seriously.
Reasons for Learning:
My main reason is for interest and enjoyment. I love the sound of this language and have a lot of fun speaking it. I plan to travel to Germany and Switzerland often once I graduate college and also hope to maybe go there for work someday.
Routine:
While I don't have a set routine, I do have general goals for each day:
-Complete one Pimsleur lesson each day on my drive to work
-Complete at least two Assimil lessons each day (I just started Assimil so the current lessons are very easy, I will go down to one a day once they become more challenging)
-Start and practice a new basic grammar topic ever couple of days
-Watch at least one German movie a week
-Work on RS a little each day
-Use Quizlet each night to practice vocab words and genders
-Read a short story from my German Reader each day
Current Level:
According to the DeutscheWelle site I got an 88% on A1, on the cusp of A2. I am two lessons away from finishing Pimsleur II, am currently halfway through RS L2 and am on lesson 7 of Assimil (through I'll use Pimsleur and Assimil as my main guages, RS is just supplementary).
Immediate Goals:
-Finish Pimsleur II by Friday
-Finish Past Tense chapter by Thursday
Medium-Term Goals:
-Become B1 (according to tests) by end of Summer
Edited by soclydeza85 on 18 March 2014 at 3:14am
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nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)
| Message 2 of 123 18 March 2014 at 4:14am | IP Logged |
Welcome to the forum, soclydeza! I don't study German! But I always like to see others' study methods. Looks like you are doing well and well on your
way! Happy studying! :-)
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soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3899 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French
| Message 3 of 123 19 March 2014 at 2:29am | IP Logged |
Thanks nancydowns! Good luck on your studying, I'll be sure to check out your log.
I did two lessons of Pimsleur today (drove a lot) and completed Pimsleur II. I start Pimsleur III tomorrow.
I did two lessons of Assimil. I'm actually enjoying this program. I just started it recently so the lessons are pretty easy, but it's more of a relaxed way to practice.
I read a few of stories in my reader, added any unknown vocab to my Quizlet and will go back over them again tomorrow with the aim of flawless reading.
I added a bunch of words to my Quizlet decks and went over them for about 30-45 mins. My strategy is to read/say through the cards twice (once with German first, another with English), then I so the same but by writing them down in my notebook. It's a bit tedious but it helps to hammer them in.
I tried to study some grammar but felt burnt out on it today. I'm going to slow down with it for a day or two, let it sink in (I covered a lot over the past week) while trying to notice and practice its usage in my other practice mediums.
I've made a LOT of progress over the past month, but I feel like I am starting to plateau. I am going to continue with everything as before but focus more on reading and observing (watching movies and shows) to let everything settle.
============
Finished Pimsleur II
Completed two Assimil lessons (up to lesson 9)
Read three short stories
Added about 30 words to Quizlet
Alles ist gut!
Edited by soclydeza85 on 19 March 2014 at 2:30am
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soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3899 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French
| Message 4 of 123 20 March 2014 at 4:10am | IP Logged |
Pimsleur III - Completed lesson 1. This level is different from the others, in that the speakers don't sound very enthusiastic and the audio quality isn't that good. Plus there are some words and phrases that are brought up that were not covered in the previous sections. I'm looking at this as more of a positive challenge though, since real life interactions aren't going to be so clear, it forces me to really listen and sometimes decipher what is being said; es ist gute Praxis.
Assimil - I did levels 10 and 11. I found a good guide online on how to actually go through these Assimil lessons, since the book doesn't really explain what to do.
Rosetta Stone - I knocked out about half of a lesson and got some good practice from it.
Movies - I watched Hell and a movie about zombies in Berlin (ich vergesse den Name). I was able to pick up on some phrases while also picking out individual words that I don't know. I write them down and add them to my vocab list (assuming I wrote them down correctly). Though German movies are a bit daunting (they always put me in my place and remind me how far I actually have to go) it's good to hear how some of the dialect differences and get used to how things are said outside of a controlled audiotape.
Vocab - I added about 10+ words to my ever-growing Quizlet set and will go over them before I go to sleep.
I neglected direct grammar study today and will resume once I feel like everything I've gone over recently has sunk in. Das ist alles, ich werde morgen mehr studieren.
Edited by soclydeza85 on 20 March 2014 at 4:12am
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soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3899 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French
| Message 5 of 123 24 March 2014 at 2:26am | IP Logged |
Haven't posted in a few days but I've been studying.
Pimsleur III - Finished lesson 4 today. I will listen to it again on the way to work tomorrow to help solidify it. I'm going to try to listen to each lesson twice a day from now on.
Assimil - I'm up to lesson 17 now. I now understand all the hype about this program, I really like it. I tweaked the original instructions a bit so it's more involved now. I also started doing the active phase, going back 14 lessons, translating from German to English, then from English back in to German. Then I go back one more lesson, look at the English only and verbally translate it into German.
Rosetta Stone - I did a few sections this morning.
Reader - I did a bunch of reading in my reader and added maybe 20 words to my Quizlet vocab list. I also ordered a new reader last night. It should come in time for when I finish my current one.
Grammar Study - I studied (or rather, refreshed) the tenses, future, present perfect and past perfect. I was able to clear up some discrepancies, which is good.
I was thinking about starting up my Italian again but I don't want to take away from all the time I have to put into German since I feel like I am doing really well in it. I think once I finish my German programs (Assimil and Pimsleur) I'll start up again, but as for now German comes first.
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Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4074 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German
| Message 6 of 123 24 March 2014 at 9:06am | IP Logged |
Hi there Pat. There are a few of us working at the A2 level.
Once you are done with Pimsleur, I highly recommend Hugo German in 3 months. Its a great
tiny book which focuses on what makes German German. If you can get it with the CDs,
even better.
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soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3899 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French
| Message 7 of 123 25 March 2014 at 10:39pm | IP Logged |
Gemuse wrote:
Hi there Pat. There are a few of us working at the A2 level.
Once you are done with Pimsleur, I highly recommend Hugo German in 3 months. Its a great
tiny book which focuses on what makes German German. If you can get it with the CDs,
even better. |
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Hey Gemuse, I looked at Hugo German on Amazon. It looks interesting but would it be well suited from someone who finished Pimsleur and Assimil? I feel like at that point it might be too basic, but if it helps clarify points then I'll definitely check it out. Have you tried Hugo Advanced German yet? What point would that be good to start? Thanks for commenting!
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Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4074 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German
| Message 8 of 123 25 March 2014 at 11:57pm | IP Logged |
I did not say wait until you are done with Assimil. The right point IMHO to start Hugo
is when you are at about lesson 29 in Assimil. Or when you are done with A1 level and
beginning A2 or mid A2. I shouldn't have said to wait until you are done with
Pimsleur..my bad.
I have Hugo advance German, but I'm still on Hugo 3 months.
Which resource are you doing the grammar from?
Edited by Gemuse on 25 March 2014 at 11:58pm
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