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Strategy for learning German | ||
Tags: Learning Strategy | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4888 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 17 of 41 24 September 2014 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't think your plan matches your goals.
If you were casually trying to learn the language it would be an excellent plan. It's similar to what I would do. But you want to achieve B2 in 9 months. That will take about 1000 hours of study. You can do this, but you will need to be dedicating three to four hours per day. You need to do a lot more than what you have outlined. You don't have the luxury of finishing one course and moving on to the next one. You need to start doing the hard work now. So I would look back over Cavesa and Patrickwilken and Expugnator's recommendations and add a couple more of them to your study list ... as soon as possible. I also don't want to keep changing my routine and would rather stick with it up to a considerable period in time. This is good, but don't worry if you don't. There's going to be a lot of trial and error involved while you learn what works best for you. Be flexible enough so that if you hit a wall, or find another method isn't working, that you can move on. Edited by kanewai on 25 September 2014 at 1:38am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| drygramul Tetraglot Senior Member Italy Joined 4467 days ago 165 posts - 269 votes Speaks: Persian, Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: French, Polish | Message 18 of 41 25 September 2014 at 1:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I recently took a B2 examination (even if at my center they had the one from TELC) and got the result today, so I'll share what I think, even if it may be repeating what others already said.
Based on my experience, 9 months look about right for a solid B2 in German when you study most days at least 3 hours per day. But in order to pass an exam less could suffice, especially if you have a basic knowledge of some other language (I found that French and Latin were more helpful with German reading comprehension than English) and if you took language tests before. You just need to choose good resources and prepare yourself for the test format. I studied seriously for 6 months - with a previous knowledge of a few hundred words and none of grammar - with the aforementioned pace and I got the highest score in the test, so I'm still convinced that German tests are easier than English ones. Another guy I know passed the TestDaf C1 with a month more study (7 months) and a one month preparation course for the test. What helped me most was the Assimil course. I used it intensively for one month, not even getting past 40 active lessons, and then I was enrolled in an intensiv course starting from B1. That's how far Assimil brings you with little effort. I followed the course for 4 months, mostly for the B grammar, you need to learn vocabulary by yourself. Then one month again self study (mostly reading top-thema articles on deutsche welle). The last week of that month I learned the form of some type of business letters for the test (job application, complaint, request for information). That doesn't mean at all that I'm at a B2 level. I place myself at B1 for active production, and B2/C1 for comprehension depending on topics. Getting a certificate doesn't prove anything (I needed it for working purposes). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| akeed Newbie Sri Lanka Joined 3715 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* | Message 19 of 41 25 September 2014 at 7:25am | IP Logged | ||
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After reading all of your replies, I have decided to change my study plan. This is
what it looks like now : Assimil (my core method) Michel Thomas (supplementary) Anki (to memorize new words) i think the above plan is much neater and complete than my original one, don't you think?..I've realized that almost everyone here and on most other sites have ardently recommended Assimil, and I have decided to make it my core method of learning. I think I will buy it today. I understand that 'Assimil with Ease' is the first stage of the series and that it will take me to level B2, but I want to know how many levels are there for Assimil? BUT do you think that just Assimil is enough? Or might I need a textbook, a grammar book, a workbook etc? or how about I instead supplement Assimil by working my way through the exercises on the Deutsche Welle site? Thank you to everyone who took their time to help me out. I would like to mention Cavesa, Ari, patrickwilken and everyone else who contributed. Danke viel! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4908 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 20 of 41 25 September 2014 at 8:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil + Michel Thomas + Anki is no doubt a good approach, but as you suspect it won't be enough to get you to B2. Plus, if you really plan to spend 6 hours a day on German, I think you'd exhaust these resources in a couple hours and just get sick of them. There is a higher level Assimil German book, but the base language is French. Here are a few other suggestions:
- FSI German. The FSI courses are free, cover all of the grammar you should need, and will drill it thoroughly. It is less interesting than Assimil or MT, but you'll find it will complement them. - Deutsche Welle courses and resources. Yes, use everything they make. It is all high quality with excellent production. For starters you should try the Warum Nicht course and the vocabulary podcasts (Audiotrainer). I really liked RadioD, but that's designed for a slower approach than you need. Then move onto Wieso Nicht (B1) and start working on the B2 material they have such as "Video-Thema". This will give you a broad experience of German at the level you will need for your exam. - Find a good short grammar and read it through in the first month or two. You are not trying to learn everything, but to get an overview, while learning where to look things up when you need it (I got this idea from Iversen). If you are really going to spend 6 hours a day on German, I would strongly recommend that 2 or 3 hours of them are spent on a variety of native materials such as films, TV shows, comics, readers, music (lyricstraining.com is great), and so on. It will help to keep you motivated and interested, and it will get you used to "real German" from the start. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 21 of 41 26 September 2014 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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This sounds like a more complete plan but I'd recommend adding a few more things, some of which have already been suggested (either by myself or others)
As you want to use Assimil as the main source, you might profit from a further grammar book with exercises. I am currently totally excited about Klipp und Klar published by Klett, the two tomes should cover all the grammar you need from the beginning to the B2. Or there are great grammars by Hueber. Assimil is awesome but you might like to have more explanations and exercises. Deutsche Welle is great listening practice but you might like some more. Lyricstraining.com might be a nice option to keep yourself immersed in the language while relaxing between the more demanding activities. By the time you finish Assimil (or another B1 resource), you should be able to switch to a tv series. That will help you progress fast. A B2 exam proves more than nothing, I don't agree with drygarmul. Sure, there are some limits to any kind of testing. But it doesn't mean that passing doesn't have any informational value either for the emplyer/school or yourself. The certificate proves that you were able to pass a B2 exam and your results in none of the parts were too far lower than B2 and your overall performance was at least sufficient. It is normal to have some stronger and weaker skills. But an important skill to have for an exam is "exam writing". Once you get the solid base in the language itself and the exam comes closer, get a preparatory coursebook with cds and get through it. Really, it makes a difference. Don't worry it would be "cheating", it won't. It will be preparation. And those skills you'll find weaker won't matter for long as you will surely get them up once you are in Germany ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| akeed Newbie Sri Lanka Joined 3715 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* | Message 22 of 41 27 September 2014 at 10:57am | IP Logged | ||
Hey Cavesa, thanks, that was just what I was thinking, getting a grammar book. I will surely take a look at your suggestions. the 'lyricstraining' site is also a nice tip, I guess tv shows and movies are a bit too much for me right now ( i tried to watch a German movie but ended up reading the English subs and tuning out what was said!) . i'm listening to podcasts on deutsche welle and also finding for some good youtube channels until I know well enough to understand movies. And I guess even though I'm more interested in learning the language instead of passing exams, I still have to pass the exams if I want to go to a German university. Besten Danke! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6581 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 23 of 41 27 September 2014 at 12:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh, another tip. One thing that helped me a lot with my Spanish was downloading an Anki deck with all regular and irregular conjugations. See if you can find an Anki deck with all of the cases or whatever for German. SRS isn't just for vocabulary. I find it works great for grammar as well. Things like which phrases take the subjunctive (whatever that translated to for German) are also good to memorize. Of course, Anki is just for getting it into your head. You'll need to go further in order to make it automatic, but it's a really good start, in my opinion.
Gender, too, if there are rules and exceptions, could be a good thing to do Anki on, though I haven't tried that myself. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| J0sh Newbie United States Joined 3705 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 24 of 41 02 October 2014 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have recently begun my German studies as well. My deadline is not exactly as
aggressive as B2 in 9months but I am attempting a fairly intensive regimen. Speaking: Pimsleur: I have used Pimsleur in the past and I have found it to be extremely helpful for pronunciation and internalizing the vocabulary. The only downside for me is that I am primarily a visual learner and it annoys me that Pimsleur has no transcripts for their lessons, which means you are learning words and you have no clue how to spell them while attempting to pronounce them. Reading: Assimil: As others have previously stated, Assimil is a great foundation and core for getting a basic understanding of the language and there are an infinite number of approaches that you can use to study the material. I am pretty new to Assimil so I am still experimenting with different approaches but currently my only issue with Assimil is that I prefer Pimsleur's approach to helping you pronounce the words correctly. Grammar: Hugo German in 3 Months: I have not received this book in the mail yet but it has been recommended by a couple forum members for introducing you to basic German grammar. I will most likely take this book slowly and work on it when I have the time, I want to have a pretty solid core with the other two approaches before overwhelming myself. Assimil offers grammar hints and tips but seems to let your subconscious mind make the connections itself rather than providing you with all the grammar rules before giving you the sentences. I feel that these 3 approaches combined with ANKI decks (sentences/clozes/new terms) in my spare time will cover everything I need until I achieve a steady A2 at which point I will begin immersing myself in TV/Movies with German subs. (pausing and putting unknown terms in ANKI) Hope this helps point out some areas where your plan may need some improvement, I welcome comments/criticism on the approach. Good luck on your studies, stick with it :) Edited by J0sh on 02 October 2014 at 10:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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