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German - advice for A1-A2 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4612 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 9 of 42 11 July 2013 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many Berliners aged 35+ speak very poor English due to the political situation in their youth. Speaking with
these people can be a great learning experience as they will only be comfortable speaking German. Heading further into East Germany you will come across many highly-educated people who will never attempt to speak English with you. I would say this was a huge factor in developing my spoken German. Being pitched into situations where you just have to get on with it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4523 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 10 of 42 12 July 2013 at 9:38am | IP Logged | ||
I agree entirely. I used to live in Magdeburg, and while the town itself lacks certain charms people were very friendly and willing to speak German. Berlin is a bit different, there are so many foreigners here, that it's not quite as easy to speak German with people when you are starting out, they tend to either switch to English or simply be quite inflexible WRT to accents. Of course it might be a bit different in the Kneipes, but my tolerance for smoking isn't high enough to find out. It's a good tip for people who want to speak German to try out the old East German towns (Leipzig, Dresden (not sure about the accent), Erfurt and surrounds, and Schwerin and other East German towns on the Baltic coast). However, while I was in Magdeburg my German didn't progress very far, because I hadn't done the necessary foundational work on vocabulary and a bit of grammar. For me talking really pays off once you get to B1 or so, until then you really don't have much to say to people anyway so your conversations are going to be quite stilted. Edited by patrickwilken on 12 July 2013 at 9:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 4163 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 11 of 42 12 July 2013 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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I (ahem) "found" a bunch of graded readers online, which go from A1 up to B2 level, all of which come with an audio version and exercises at the end of the text. I assume that if you're in Germany, you could buy these easily. If you're interested I could give you the titles of some in the levels you want.
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| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4523 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 12 of 42 12 July 2013 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | ||
Graded readers are not a bad idea. That's essentially what I did for A1-A2, using text and word lists from a textbook and inputting them into Anki. Personally, I wanted to start reading real books as soon as possible so I wouldn't have wanted to use them past A2, but I am reading with a Kindle and pop-up dictionary which makes looking up words fast and painless. If I was reading without a dictionary a graded reader for higher levels would be very helpful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4612 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 13 of 42 13 July 2013 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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A huge barrier to learning to read in German is the frequent appearance of the simple past in written
materials whereas spoken German makes far greater use of past participles. As in English, the simple past of many common verbs is irregular and you just have to pick them off one by one. This is where online dictionaries like Leo really come into their own. Type in lief and it will take you to laufen. It must have been harder to link back to the original verb in the days of paper-only resources. I started with childrens' books before moving on to teen fiction and finally some adult fare. It can be soul- destroying struggling with a kiddie story but this early groundwork really pays off in the long run. As for speaking skills, Michel Thomas really sorted me out. At that time, I had a healthy smattering of German but struggled with word order and tenses. Old Michel really hammers away at you until you can formulate some pretty complex ideas in your own head. Common pitfalls are remorselessly addressed, like the difference between konnten and könnten, likewise wenn & ob. I also watched countless interview videos on youtube and read online newspapers. Bild is a good starting point. Ok, it's like a British red-top but you might not be ready for Spiegel just yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4612 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 14 of 42 13 July 2013 at 3:27pm | IP Logged | ||
True, but you could also argue that any form of conversation is good practise. You can bet that when Germans first try to converse in English it will be heavily stilted. You have to jump through a few hoops on the road to competence. I think you said you have a German wife? Try and use that resource as much as possible (for want of a better expression). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| csidler Diglot Pro Member Australia chadsidler.com Joined 4813 days ago 51 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 42 13 July 2013 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Michael Thomas is very good to help you start speaking.
Hop onto memrise and do the 1000 words of intro vocab.. There is also a top 5000 words by frequency list which would be good, if you want to really learn German then I think you really need to be learning at least 50 new words a day. Each day take a 200 word German newspaper article and translate it into English, one sentence at a time. Start passively watching television shows that you have already seen in English. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4523 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 16 of 42 16 July 2013 at 9:38am | IP Logged | ||
I do, but I am early B2. Personally I didn't find speaking so helpful for learning when I was at a lower level (certainly A1-A2). What really helped me was reading and watching movies. I guess on the input-output 'debate' I stand pretty strongly on lots of (comprehensible) input early on with increasing amounts of output as your skills develop. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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