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Learning Method? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5020 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 17 of 26 20 June 2013 at 10:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't say "Don't use FSI because of it", I just like to use more than one resource at a time and I think it is in general a good thing. And when choosing which version to memorize (as the ortograph is a matter of many individual words, at least from the beginner point of view), I just put the new version to anki.
FSI is surely worth using. I love the most their pronunciation drills and the rest of the course is really good as well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| EnglishEagle Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4586 days ago 140 posts - 157 votes Studies: English*, German | Message 18 of 26 28 July 2013 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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There are two types of Deutsch Welle courses it appears, there is a radio course and
there is a course that you can do on the computer. There is Deutsch - Warum nicht? and Deutsch Interaktiv. Which one should I use? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4155 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 19 of 26 28 July 2013 at 3:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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You're only a few weeks away from your trip now. How are you feeling about your
language learning? At this point, regardless of what approach you ended up choosing, I would *strongly* suggest finding some language exchange partners, either face-to-face or on Skype. You might want to choose some specific situations (for example, ordering food at a restaurant) and doing some roleplays with a patient partner. Even better - if you're willing to spend some money (and since you mentioned buying programs, I'm assuming that you are), then you might want to pay for a few lessons with a German tutor, either face-to-face or online through a site like www.italki.com. Again, if I were you, with such a limited amount of time left before your trip, I'd choose a few situations (meeting someone new, ordering food at a restaurant, shopping in a market, going to the doctor or pharmacy, buying a train ticket, asking for directions, etc) and practice them through roleplays with a patient tutor. Good luck and safe travels! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 4184 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 20 of 26 28 July 2013 at 7:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been learning German for a month. I use Pimsleur as my main learning tool and also do Michel Thomas and Assimil at the same time (I realise this might be an issue for those not living in the world piracy capital). I make sure I do Pimsleur once a day and I'm a bit less rigid with Michel Thomas and Assimil, just doing a lesson here and there when I have time. I think despite being rivals, they actually compliment each other quite well. Pimsleur is good for that initial pronunciation and fluency, and massive amounts of practice. I'd say Michel Thomas and Assimil are better for letting you play with the language and experiment a bit more, with the grammar being a bit more substantial. Assimil also gives you a bit more vocabulary.
One criticism I've heard about Pimsleur (and my German-speaking flatmate confirmed this) is that it teaches you too formally, initially using "Sie" for you rather than "du" and phrases like "auf wiedersehen" that in reality have more common alternatives. I've also recently started using Duolingo, and it's quite fun, although I'm not sure how useful it is yet. I've certainly learned a bit of vocab there though. And obviously I occasionally try out what I've learned on the 3 German-speakers I know. None are native, but they're all high enough levels to correct me. Edited by I'm With Stupid on 28 July 2013 at 7:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| EnglishEagle Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4586 days ago 140 posts - 157 votes Studies: English*, German | Message 21 of 26 28 July 2013 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | ||
Thankyou, unfortunately due to revising for GCSE exams my attention was diverted from language learning. I started yesterday and can now say a few basic things. E.g 'ich möchte' 'Das ist' 'Wo ist' etc... I am not going to be expecting to have much vocabulary to work with when I go to Germany. However I am possibly going to revisit Germany and visit Cologne in December (so about 5 months). So I am hoping to have improved by then. I am really starting to increase my learning time (as I have several weeks off school). I will try and learn key essential 'tourist vocabulary' so that I am not completely stuck in Germany. Thankyou very much :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| EnglishEagle Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4586 days ago 140 posts - 157 votes Studies: English*, German | Message 22 of 26 28 July 2013 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | ||
That's very interesting do you supplement these courses with native material, graded readers, radio, newspaper et cetera... How is your German learning going? How far have you progressed with using the combination of courses you have described? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4839 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 23 of 26 29 July 2013 at 12:10am | IP Logged | ||
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@EnglishEagle:
For songs, you might try "Die Prinzen". They have great voices and enunciate clearly. Some fun songs as well, e.g. Mein Fahrrad Kussen Verboten Der Mann im Mond Mein Bester Freund (Listen also to the a capella versions). These and loads more on Youtube, and some on LyricsTraining. This one is nicely presented: Was soll ich ihr schenken mit Untertiteln Die Prinzen Edited by montmorency on 29 July 2013 at 12:18am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 4184 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 24 of 26 29 July 2013 at 9:33am | IP Logged | ||
Like I said, I've only been doing it for a month, so I'm not really ready for native material yet. I have a collection of graded readers on my computer (with audio) and I'll probably start on them towards the end of Pimsleur. Pimsleur only promises to get you to A2 level. I do have some A1 books though, so I might dip into them before I finish Pimsleur. It's difficult to measure how far I've progressed. I know the different verb endings with he/she/it/you/I/etc and I'm reasonably comfortable with them. I know the structure of sentences with two verbs, although it still takes a lot of thinking time unless it's something that Pimsleur has gone over quite a lot, and the positioning of the things between the verbs might not be what is most common amongst native speakers. I can do future with "werden." Haven't really touched on past tense yet. I'd say the major weakness compared to a classroom is that the material isn't personalized, so after a month of learning German, I'm quite pleased with how much I can say, but I can't really talk about myself very much. I haven't yet learned how to say where I live, my job, my phone number/email address, nationality, etc. I haven't even had any practice saying my name. I'm fluent in saying I'm an American though. I think when I get good enough for native material, I have a lot of German films, and I'd also like to read about football. I'd possibly also start doing things like switching my phone/computer language over to German. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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