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Beginning German (first language) | ||
Tags: German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Bobb328 Groupie Canada Joined 4583 days ago 52 posts - 78 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 9 of 14 26 June 2012 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I borrowed the Michel Thomas course from a friend and it just wasn't working out for me. I need a book to go along
with it so I just went into Assimil. Also, I'll check out that Basic German book. German grammar is so opposite to the way I think I need as many resources as I can find. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5583 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 10 of 14 27 June 2012 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Your goals are MORE than attainable, with Assimil and FSI you will have a very good command of the language in my opinion. Supplement that plan with some slang and vocabulary study and you'll be doing great!
By slang I mean common phrases so you don't sound like a military officer (FSI :D) or so rigid. Watch some German TV or listen to music/radio and you'll see what I mean. Best of luck! Both programs are very good, I'm going to finish FSI German in the next few months, I'm keeping a log :) EDIT: German grammar isn't as hard as you think. You just don't understand how much you are learning. I remember when I didn't know ONE word of German, now I can read papers and listen to music and probably understand 50% of it. Eliminate the worry/difficulty from your mind, and don't question the way the grammar works. Just learn it. I used to sit for hours saying "This makes no sense...who would ever say that" rather than just learning it the way it MUST be. You'll learn much more and quickly. Don't worry about the articles/case system. In a few months of study they'll feel natural to you. I'd recommend "Teach Yourself German Grammar" and "Essential German Grammar" Hammer's German Grammar and Usage is also very good, but a bit on the expensive side :D Edited by datsunking1 on 27 June 2012 at 9:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Antanas Tetraglot Groupie Lithuania Joined 4810 days ago 91 posts - 172 votes Speaks: Lithuanian*, English, Russian, German Studies: FrenchB1, Spanish | Message 11 of 14 29 June 2012 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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If one wants to learn German primarily in order to read Kafka or Goethe, "German for Reading" by Sandberg is a very good resource. It contains short extracts from both Kafka and Goethe as well as Weber, Bismarck, Marx, Spengler and others. "German Quickly" by April Wilson is another good book for learning reading German. April Wilson has also made a companion website to her book.
Anyway, congratulations on choosing German. It is a very interesting and rich language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4666 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 12 of 14 30 June 2012 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't really recommend Goethe, Schiller or Kafka to beginners.
You could find Herman Hesse much more useful at this level, especially some books like Sidharta, which are written in a simple, yet very poetic style. Edited by Medulin on 30 June 2012 at 7:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Antanas Tetraglot Groupie Lithuania Joined 4810 days ago 91 posts - 172 votes Speaks: Lithuanian*, English, Russian, German Studies: FrenchB1, Spanish | Message 13 of 14 01 July 2012 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree with you what concerns Goethe and Schiller if you mean their whole works. But in Sandberg's book that I mentioned above there are only short extracts of Goethe. And that famous rather short Faust's monologue at the beginning of Goethe's Faust is surprisingly easy to understand even for a beginner, provided there are notes explaining the text. I also agree that Siddhartha is a good study resource (provided, of course, that one shares its author's worldview). But I totally disagree about Kafka. It is a very "easy" author (grammatically at least, his Stimmung aside). Kafka always gets straight to the point. I believe that if one has an ebook reader with an adequate German dictionary one can begin reading Kafka right from the start (after one learns the basics of grammar). Especially if one is dying to read it in German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Bobb328 Groupie Canada Joined 4583 days ago 52 posts - 78 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 14 of 14 01 July 2012 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for all the replies. I might want to rephrase though. I'm not exactly learning German ONLY to read the literature. That's
just one of the main reasons. Really, to be honest, I just was getting bored and decided to learn German one day. As for Kafka, I've heard to main difficulty with him is that he chose words to are rather obscure and can mean various things but his style is pretty simple. But I've just started learning and will probably move onto native materials when I finish Assimil. P.S. I ordered the Kimberly Sparks book, German in Review, and it just arrived at my house. It's absolutely incredible (as far as grammar books are concerned) and is very thoroughly explained yet far more clear in doing so than other books. The book is broken in to chapters in accordance to certain grammar topics such as sentence structure, modal auxiliaries, etc. and is further broken into levels I, II, and III depending on how far you are in your studies. Level I can be used for a self studying beginner and level III can be used for someone reviewing for a college German exam. Furthermore, each level has a review and exercise section. If your stuck on grammar - like I was - this is definitely the book to buy. I don't know why I haven't seen any discussion on this book but it's fantastic. The newest edition, the 4th edition, it a little pricey (something around $80 on Amazon) and that's just for the softcover. With a little looking around, I bought the hardcover 3rd edition published in 2000 for $4 and it came in perfect condition. If you plan on buying it - which I highly recommend if you need grammar practice - go to amazon and type in 0030152925. It's not in stock on Amazon but I went to the used section and "Good" to "Very Good" seems to be selling around 3 to 5 dollars. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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