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German: From zero to basic fluency | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| tiagor0 Diglot Newbie Portugal Joined 4215 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English, Portuguese* Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 16 13 May 2013 at 3:08pm | IP Logged |
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Cheers,
I'm starting this journal in order to establish some study system and follow-up accountability into my German learning journey. Motivation: First and foremost, I've moved to Luxembourg in the beginning of the year and am living right on the border with Germany, which means I have the chance to put the language into good use and better integrate with my surroundings. Second, there are a few German books that I'd like to be able to read and for which there are no translations currently available (mostly on the topics of Geopolitics). Goal: I don't feel very comfortable on setting a fixed date at this stage since I'm at the beginning and its hard to anticipate the complexity of my objective. Still, I'll put forward a tentative target of reaching the stage of basic reading and conversational fluency by the end of 2013. Method: I am starting with the "New Assimil German with Ease" (I'm currently at lesson 10). I'm planning on complementing the Assimil with some Anki Flashcards in order ease the learning of the most frequent words and some grammar. I'll force myself into getting some conversational practice with colleagues from work (German language is compulsory on the Luxembourgish educational system), at gas stations, shopping, etc... I'll be posting regular progress reports and am open to suggestions from any other German speakers or learners. Regards, Tiago 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4870 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes  Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 2 of 16 13 May 2013 at 9:13pm | IP Logged |
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Boa sorte! Or in German: Viel Erfolg! (Viel Glück!) It's good to have a language program to follow. Additionally, I recommend just going with what you feel would be fun or what you think you might need to progress in the language. I usually get bored strictly following one approach, so it's great to know that whatever you do to practice the language will take you some part of the way to your goal of basic fluency.
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| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5186 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 3 of 16 14 May 2013 at 7:11am | IP Logged |
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Good luck. I always find it a bit boggling that people want to study a language to read dry stuff like
geopolitics.. But whatever motivates you. There's a lot you can do but if you're just starting I think Assimil is good. I recommend reading as soon as possible and I liked audio books a lot personally. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tiagor0 Diglot Newbie Portugal Joined 4215 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English, Portuguese* Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 16 14 May 2013 at 10:16am | IP Logged |
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@druckfehler: Thank you. I share your problem of sometimes getting bored by using just one source. As soon as I
have the means I'll try to mix some other sources but in the very beginning it is somewhat restrictive because of your lack of vocabulary. @kraemder: Thanks. Honestly I'd not be learning German if I haven't moved to Luxembourg. Being able to read some classics of Geopolitics is just a bonus since its a personal interest of mine. Hopefully the Assimil will give me the core foundation to expand to other sources soon. I'm currently working on lesson 11. So far I like the fact that the spelling seems very consistent and without a lot of special cases. On the other hand what has been bothering the most is some difficulty in memorising a few words, but that was to be expected on the first weeks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4535 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 5 of 16 14 May 2013 at 12:27pm | IP Logged |
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good luck! i am went from A1 to B1 German in about about six months, and am now reading books like Harry Potter fairly easily, so I think your end of 2014 goal is pretty achievable so long as you have a couple of hours a day to study.
I found Anki really helpful in building vocabulary (both via word lists, and sentences). I agree with another comment that starting reading as soon as possible is a real help. Surprisingly you need far less grammar to read than to speak (at least for intermediate reading). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4830 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 6 of 16 14 May 2013 at 1:15pm | IP Logged |
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@tiagor0,
I can't quite imagine what living in Luxembourg would be like, but it must be fascinating. ... For an Englishman of my generation, "Luxembourg" is associated with the pop radio- station that used to broadcast to us (on 208 metres in the medium wave, hence "two oh eight" was one of their catchphrases / jingles). I think it became famous even in my parents' generation, when BBC output was pretty staid and unexciting, although it was still going strong in the 60s and 70s I think. Lots of the old time radio DJs started their career there. I think the transmissions in English carried on for a long time after that, but it had long stopped being the thing everybody listened to. There's an interesting history on Wikipedia, containing a lot that I didn't know. ... As well as Luxembourgisch and French, I suppose you have access to Hochdeutsch in the media, and from Germany of course. Good luck, and enjoy the experience. I'm sure you will do fine. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Flarioca Heptaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5884 days ago 635 posts - 816 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Catalan, Mandarin | Message 7 of 16 14 May 2013 at 4:26pm | IP Logged |
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Tiago,
Vai em português, para reforçar: Memorize os gêneros das palavras, desde o primeiro minuto!! Mais tarde, você verá que existem alguns padrões, mas não são suficientes e vale a pena decorar SEMPRE cada palavra com seu gênero, exceto as mais óbvias, der Mann, die Frau (mas, você já deve saber, das Kind und das Mädchen). Ou seja, der Löwe, das Kind, die Tür. É melhor você pensar em cada palavra associada ao artigo que define sua classe, masculina, feminina ou neutra. Gostaria que alguém tivesse me dado esse conselho com ênfase desde o primeiro dia, portanto: Memorize os gêneros das palavras!!!! Edited by Flarioca on 14 May 2013 at 5:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DanielJorge Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4219 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German | Message 8 of 16 14 May 2013 at 4:59pm | IP Logged |
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Olá Tiago, além do conselho do Flarioca, acho extremamente interesante, junto com os
gêneros, memorizar os plurais das palavras, já que não há uma regra definida para plurais em alemão! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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