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German and I | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| wordwizard Diglot Newbie Canada none Joined 6333 days ago 14 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, German | Message 9 of 16 18 October 2007 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am learning German too. But the speed with which I learn is not a primary concern with me, even though I am older too. The older I get, the less time I have, yet somehow I have more patience. Maybe it should be the other way round.
After learning French in school, I decided to take the scenic route with German. It has been well worth it. I decided to start reading what I could in Spiegel and Stern very early on, and so I have been finding out a great deal about German life from the very beginning. Recently I have been reading the two part article in Spiegel about the alleged murder of Uwe Barschel, a middle level politician (like the premier of a province or governor of a state) in Germany. This is a very intriguing story in its own right. I am also fascinated by the detail and openness in this story because I doubt that such openness would happen in Canada where I hail from. In Canada a lot gets hushed up. I don't much see the point in learning a language in order to order a meal in that language or any of the other so-called practical applications. I can do such things in English in most parts of Europe without much trouble. I actually hitchhiked in Spain with one word of Spanish successfully. The word was "sopa" meaning soup, and the Spanish outside of cities were not interested in speaking any language but Spanish either. Ir was a great trip, though of course it would have been better with, say, a hundred words of Spanish. I am learning German to find out stuff I would never know about if I didn't know German. That's what keeps me going. My fellow students in the one German class I took found my approach a little offputting, but here I trust there are many approaches to language learning and tolerance for all of them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6188 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes  Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 16 27 October 2007 at 7:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's lovely that you are keeping a log. I am learning German too, and like you, I also tend to spend more time learning about how to learn a language :P ..Internet could be so addictive, and especially since I found this website, it's so fascinating to read about all these people who speak many more languages than I do.
Anyway, good luck with German. Keep up, and I am sure you will be fluent in no time. Auf Wiedersehen! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TreoPaul Senior Member United States Joined 6273 days ago 121 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 11 of 16 27 October 2007 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||
I think you have put it in words better than myself. I want to talk to the people of Germany. I want to talk to my "German daughter" about the things that matter in her life, not just about what food we eat and whether she has slept well. I want to talk to my adult friends and better understand how the world looks from a different perspective. It isn't about a meal, or sights, or sounds; it is about people. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| glossa.passion Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6264 days ago 267 posts - 349 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, EnglishC1, Danish Studies: Spanish, Dutch | Message 12 of 16 28 October 2007 at 6:26am | IP Logged | ||
It's absolutely the same for me! Additionally I want to know by myself, how that can be achieved. I love to try out various things and afterwards think about my own results. I could also spend endless time reading posts in this forum :-) Weiterhin viel Erfolg und viel Vergnügen mit der deutschen Sprache! Einfach dranbleiben und nicht aufgeben :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TreoPaul Senior Member United States Joined 6273 days ago 121 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 13 of 16 28 October 2007 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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100 Day Plan.
A week or two ago I reached lesson 50 of Assimil German. If you are familiar with Assimil, you know that this means it is time to start the "second wave" whereby every day you do a new lesson, and also review an earlier lesson. As the book has 100 lessons, I now have 100 days of Assimil. I intend on avoiding procrastination and getting through the 100 days in 110 days. Why the slack? Because health, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are bound to cause a hiccup or two, and I'd rather not build in for-certain failure. My 100 day plan is not limited to the Assimil 2nd wave. Each day I intend to review a lesson from Level 2 and Level 3 Pimsleur, (60 days). Each day I will also enter 40 words and sentences from Langenscheidt vocabulary builder (4000 words) into Twinkle (a mnemosyne/Supermemo type program) on my PDA, and review the previous material. As I know about 1/2 the words in the book, this will be adding about 20 new words a day. Lastly -- I have a book Grammar that I have been working on. I have about 100 pages remaining -- so I am sure you can guess what I'll be doing there. So that is the assigned work. As desired I'll be reading/shadowing a book in German for entertainment. (Harry Potter and/or Tintenhertz) As I am not a complete beginner, the Assimil and Pimsleur (review) won't be too challenging. 20 New words a day is not lightweight, nor is it mind-boggling. Wish me luck. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6188 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 16 28 October 2007 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Paul,
Good luck. 100 Day plan sounds challenging, but achievable. I am sure you can stick to it. By the way, does shadowing mean reading/listening same material over and over again? How do you find Harry Potter books in German? I love them in English, and when I can actually understand even 50% of the words in German, I would love to try them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TreoPaul Senior Member United States Joined 6273 days ago 121 posts - 118 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 15 of 16 30 October 2007 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Introspective ramblings follow, thinking out loud, likely nothing of real interest:
I must confess that Day 1 of my 100 (and 10) day plan was a complete rainout. Not a great start. I think I've an inkling of my problem. I tend to be an "all or nothing" sort of guy. An example would be the garage. I will let it fall into complete disarray. But when I clean it, I'll put up pegboard, sort loose screws, and lable stuff. But never just "straighten it out a little bit". When a new interest -- such as German -- hit me, the ALL mode kicks in and I love it. I can't get enough. I don't seem to be able to downshift into a bit of German, a bit of guitar, a bit of chess. My day seems to be all of one, or all of none, but never a mix. I think the mix is what I am missing -- and as contrary to my general makeup as it might feel, I think it is needed to carry on with German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6495 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 16 of 16 30 October 2007 at 5:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Paul, Also learning German and I also have only an ON/OFF button - no dimmer! But As I have a lot of other things going it is ALL or nothing in lots of areas, so somehow it even out.
Good luck with the challenge. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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