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Adventures in German and beyond...

  Tags: German
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
23 messages over 3 pages: 13  Next >>
pandorasighs
Diglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4109 days ago

15 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 9 of 23
23 January 2014 at 4:32pm | IP Logged 
I like it very much so far, though actually the story itself is rather spoiled for me as I watched the movie some months ago dubbed in German! I subsequently learned that the English title is 'Voyager'. The language is quite simple and straightforward btw so it should pose few problems to you :)

I also recommend Russendisko by Wladimir Kaminer - that was the first 'adult' book I read through German; amusing anecdotes on life in Berlin, all divided into short largely unrelated chapters, which somehow made it more approachable for me.

I'm going to dive back into German movies and music at the weekend. It'sreally rewarding many years later to finally be able to understand lyurics of my Einsteurzende Neubauten CDs! I guess my aim is to naturalise German as much as possible. Although I need an outline plan as motivation, I've never got on very well with repitition, vocab lists and flascards etc. as an aide to learning. I seem to fare better with learning vocab from movies, books, media and music from the very start.

Edited by pandorasighs on 23 January 2014 at 4:32pm

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patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4531 days ago

1546 posts - 3200 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 10 of 23
24 January 2014 at 9:39am | IP Logged 
My tastes are decidedly more low-brow: I am getting into the second Jo Nesbø krimi at the moment.

Have you listened to Peter Fox?
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pandorasighs
Diglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4109 days ago

15 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 11 of 23
28 January 2014 at 11:49am | IP Logged 
Not yet, but I've heard he's marvellous. Once my internet connection is fixed I'll get around to an investigation.

So the past few days have gone relatively well in comparison to earlier weeks in the year. I think feeling obliged to update my log helps me to focus. In the past week I've managed 10 hours of practice exercises, writing and grammar for German.

I'm using em neu 2008 Abschlusskurs shop.hueber.de/en/em-neu-2008-abschlussk-kb-ab-l-6-10-cd.htm l following on from my Goethe-Institut classes. At the moment I'm finishing Lektion 10, 'Globalisierung'; quite useful for vocabulary, but moreso in for encouraging me to revise my Passiv and uses of Partizip I. I've supplemented that with em Übungsgrammatik , completing all the Passiv and Partizip exercises (again!). I also still find Toms Deutschseite really useful for clarifying grammar points as well as the about.com German site. I've almost finished Homo Faber, which emphasised to me how much I need to up my reading game, having been lazy of late. It's about getting over the temporary 'shock' of not understanding every word and ploughing on regardless, without despondancy :). It always seems to be the case that the more I know, the more I realise I need to know.
Other than that, watched 2 hours of Heimat, very entertaining, but I cheated since I was given the box with English subtitles only for Christmas.

Originally I started learning German because I had an interest in 19th and 20th century German painting and architecture and wanted more texts at my disposal. Conversation is a sticking point, since my original intention was never really to speak, though I've found it becoming increasingly easy since B1 level, where I could barely string an audible sentence together. I signed up for more classes which I hope will go ahead (C2.1 level allegedly, though personally I can't even approximate the skills really required for this level) and encourage me to talk. To be honest I'm a little more concerned about my writing, reading, listening and viewing at the moment.

Spanish is going rather well. My aim is to have very basic tourist Spanish by the end of February. So far I can conjugate present tense verbs, request food and drink, talk in the most basic terms about languages, manage a scattering of introductions and count to 20! In comparison to Italian and French basic grammar seems quite easy at this very early stage, and obviously there's many vocab. similarities which help.
I'm using Colloquial Spanish, a Lonely Planet phrasebook, a simple TY audio course Talking Spanish and I intend to try out Paul Noble's Destination Spanish this week.

Edited by pandorasighs on 28 January 2014 at 4:16pm

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Evita
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Latvia
learnlatvian.info
Joined 6550 days ago

734 posts - 1036 votes 
Speaks: Latvian*, English, German, Russian
Studies: Korean, Finnish

 
 Message 12 of 23
28 January 2014 at 2:52pm | IP Logged 
Hi, I'll also be following your log. I hope reading about your German progress will motivate me to study and read more as well. Good luck!
2 persons have voted this message useful



pandorasighs
Diglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4109 days ago

15 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 13 of 23
28 January 2014 at 4:12pm | IP Logged 
Thank you Evita. I hope to update it at least once or twice a week. I look forward to reading your log too.
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patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4531 days ago

1546 posts - 3200 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 14 of 23
28 January 2014 at 6:23pm | IP Logged 
Our study plans are quite different I am basically just reading books, the newspaper, and watching TV/movies. I am just hoping the grammar and speaking will come pretty naturally as my German strengthens.
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pandorasighs
Diglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4109 days ago

15 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 15 of 23
29 January 2014 at 11:28am | IP Logged 
I just need to focus a bit on my grammar at the moment, so as not to feel out of my depth during the formal classes and written homework assignments. But like you, I just presume that my speaking will improve and develop through consumption and writing practice. I guess time will tell. I presume, rightly or wrongly, that if I ever have to live or work in a German country everything will fall 'magically' into place in about 3 months :) Until then, I don't put a huge priority on conversation. I'll definitely follow up on the Die Zeit video link you posted btw, because equally I'm getting nowhere with Deutsche Welle these days.
2 persons have voted this message useful



patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4531 days ago

1546 posts - 3200 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 16 of 23
29 January 2014 at 11:34am | IP Logged 
pandorasighs wrote:
I just need to focus a bit on my grammar at the moment, so as not to feel out of my depth during the formal classes and written homework assignments. But like you, I just presume that my speaking will improve and develop through consumption and writing practice. I guess time will tell. I presume, rightly or wrongly, that if I ever have to live or work in a German country everything will fall 'magically' into place in about 3 months :) Until then, I don't put a huge priority on conversation. I'll definitely follow up on the Die Zeit video link you posted btw, because equally I'm getting nowhere with Deutsche Welle these days.


If you have a Kindle you can subscribe to Die Zeit too. I found it quite helpful to read on Kindle with a pop-up dictionary.


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