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WalkingAlone88 Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3455 days ago 8 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 1 of 12 04 June 2015 at 12:58am | IP Logged |
I have previously had a log here, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, my login details on that account no longer worked despite several attempts at retrieving them. I gained many tips and frequently read other logs, and really admire the progress and skills of other users here, so it'd be really lovely to receive any help anyone is willing to offer.
Without further ado,here's the new me.
I started learning German roughly three months ago, and I am relatively pleased with my progress thus far. It's only been three months, so obviously it's nothing amazing, but compared to how long it took to reach a similar level in Polish and Finnish, I'm very pleased!
My rough plan is as follows;
Memrise 5k most frequent words (I'm on about 2.5k at the moment)
Pimsleur (Finished the first, lesson 16 of the second so far)
Michel Thomas (CD 6 so far of the first course)
FSI (I started but decided to finish Pimsleur and Michel Thomas first)
To use (Not started yet)
Assimil
Hueber Großes Übungsbuch A2 - B2
FSI
Native material + others
Dino lernt Deutsch
Cafe in Berlin (read)
Ferien in Frankfurt (read)
Karnival in Koeln (read)
Moment in Muenchen (read)
Ahoi aus Hamburg
Percy Jackson (First book)
A series of unfortunate events (first book)
TV
Stargate SG-1 (German voice actors are excellent for the main characters)
Season 1 (Watched)
Season 2 (Watched)
Season 3 (Watched)
Season 4 (Watched)
Season 5 (Watched)
Season 6 (Watched)
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10
Buffy (Voice actors were a bit of a let down, especially when Oz is introduced >_<)
Seasons 1 - 4 watched
Seasons 5-7 to go
Charmed (Voice actors for main characters are very good)
Seasons 1 - 4 watched
X-files (Voice actors are pretty good)
Seasons 1 and 2.
I should probably mention, I watch these with German audio and English subtitles. These are some of my favourite series, so I don't need the subs so much anyway, and therefore am able to try and take in as much language as possible. I realise it probably isn't doing all that much for me just yet, but I watch a series before bed anyway, so it's not taking away from anything.
I have included my opinion of the dubbing, mostly as a comparison to the English versions. For example, Teal'c in Stargate SG-1 sounds almost identical in the English version and the German version. Oz from Buffy has a ridiculously high pitched voice in the German dub for some reason, which is very noticeable at times.
Anyway, I just included it as I see sometimes people ask what "X" is like dubbed in whatever language. It's just my opinion, but it may still be of benefit to someone.
My routine thus far generally looks like this;
Memrise 60 words a day
Pimsleur - One lesson per day
Michel Thomas - One lesson per day
The readers listed above - one a day (I re-read them)
TV series - 2 episodes per night
I recently returned from an eight day trip to Germany, and now I have put off learning new words on Memrise until I have caught up on my reviews. I am in no rush so these shouldn't cause too many problems. I am estimating it will take about a week or slightly longer. I got to speak quite a lot of German and managed to get by fine, including getting myself out of trouble at the train station in Baden Baden trying to get a train to Munich during the train strikes. I was pleasantly surprised by just how far I got with my current knowledge of German.
My goals at the moment are very modest.
Complete Pimsleur II
Complete Michel Thomas I
Complete 5k most frequent words
Read the last of the series in the readers.
Get started on the Hueber grammar book
*New goal: One Skype session a week attempting to speak entirely in German (However badly)
Slightly longer term
Read Percy Jackson
Read the first book of a series of unfortunate events
Watch and understand an episode of something fully with German audio and German subs.
I have not really thought how often I'll be updating this, however I might try to do so relatively frequently, just to keep track of how well I am keeping to my schedule. I might also attempt to write in German now and then, as I do not practise at all currently.
Again, I have huge respect for everyone here, so any advice or tips, resources you may feel will benefit me, please say and I'll happily take it on board.
Tiny bit of history for anyone wondering.
I'm a native Brit. I developed my interest in languages reasonably late, within the last five years or so. I never had any role models to inspire me to really make a go of languages, despite being very interested in them at the start of those five years.
I started with Finnish as my first second language, and later ended up moving there for two years. I am back in the UK now, however.
I also attempted to learn Polish and Swedish. I can read in Swedish relatively easily, as I used to take out books from the library when I lived in Finland and read them very frequently. I haven't studied Swedish since my return, and would like to make a go of it properly once I reach a high enough level in German.
I still keep up my Finnish (vocab at least) but I don't actively learn anything, just make a point of reviewing what I do know, when I can.
I have slowly begun to teach myself Polish again, however I am taking this glacially and really don't mind how long it takes to get anywhere with this.
I am hoping German will be my first "proper" second language, in regards to it being the first second language I could confidently state that I can converse effortlessly about a wide range of subjects, and generally communicate with my friends often in.
Edited by WalkingAlone88 on 11 June 2015 at 1:08pm
3 persons have voted this message useful
| LFD1988 Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4131 days ago 18 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Spanish, Dutch
| Message 2 of 12 05 June 2015 at 1:36am | IP Logged |
Sounds like you have a solid plan! I'll be interested in seeing your progress here.
Vielleicht könntest du hier auf Deutsch posten. :) Auf jeden Fall, erwarte ich gute
Sachen von dir. Gutes Glück!
1 person has voted this message useful
| rtickner Diglot Groupie AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3510 days ago 61 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB2 Studies: French, Spanish
| Message 3 of 12 05 June 2015 at 3:59am | IP Logged |
Viel Glück dabei! Wenn du mit jemandem Deutsch sprechen willst, sag nur Bescheid. Was
hältest du von Prüfungen bei der Goethe-Intitut in London? Kann hilfreich sein, so ein
Zeil zu haben.
1 person has voted this message useful
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4525 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German
| Message 4 of 12 05 June 2015 at 10:51am | IP Logged |
Wow. You are doing an impressive amount of study.
Have you thought about turning off the subtitles? I find English subtitles really block my ability to process German. I bet if you have already 2500 words you should be able to understand a fair bit of what's going on.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| WalkingAlone88 Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3455 days ago 8 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 5 of 12 10 June 2015 at 12:26pm | IP Logged |
@LFD1988: Danke! Ich hoffe, dass ich so gut wie Sie erwarten. Daun drücken! :)
@rtickner: Danke! Das ist eine gute Idee, ich hatte nicht daran gedacht. Danke für die Anregung :)
@Patrickwilken: I am often very tempted to do so but always end up leaving them on. I guess it's a psychological thing, but I might just force myself and see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.
Unfortunately my router broke, so this has meant my time online is very limited at present. I have managed to keep up with most of my schedule, but my reviews are definitely not as high as I would have liked.
Still, I've been able to keep up with Michel Thomas and Pimsleur, as well as finally starting the newest book by Andre Klein (the reader) which does seem marginally harder than the previous books. However, I had read the others several times over before moving on, so it's probably more to do with that.
I actually made a really nice discovery on youtube the other day, which is this: https://www.youtube.com/user/KirbyTVgerman/videos?view=0&she lf_id=0&sort=dd
It's the Kirby series in German, no subs. The episodes are only 20 minutes long, and because the story in each episode stays relatively similar, it's quite easy to understand. Episodes 1-4 are split, so ten minutes per part, however from 5 onwards they are in one 20 minute video.
I hope it's okay to post links. I apologise if not.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5001 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 6 of 12 10 June 2015 at 12:56pm | IP Logged |
Thanks a lot for the info, especially on the dubbing quality of shows I consider watching in German.
I also recommend letting the subtitles go as soon as you can. Or at least switching them to German asap. It worked for my previous languages but I am still not that far with German.
1 person has voted this message useful
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4525 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German
| Message 7 of 12 10 June 2015 at 7:07pm | IP Logged |
WalkingAlone88 wrote:
@Patrickwilken: I am often very tempted to do so but always end up leaving them on. I guess it's a psychological thing, but I might just force myself and see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Perhaps it will help if you see it as a learning exercise as well as a relaxation opportunity? Even if I only understood a very little at first, I was always pleased that at least I did understand that little bit. It proved to me that I did understand at least some German. And over time the little bit gets bigger and bigger.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| osoymar Tetraglot Pro Member United States Joined 4728 days ago 190 posts - 344 votes Speaks: English*, German, Portuguese, Japanese Studies: Spanish, French Personal Language Map
| Message 8 of 12 10 June 2015 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
You could also try the German subtitles. For selfish reasons I'd be curious to hear how
they line up :-)
1 person has voted this message useful
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