 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Give up on learning whether things are der die or das and just make a noise somewhere between the three of them. Learn the basic principles of it (if the noun ends with e it's likely die; if it ends in r it's likely der, etc), but you will never learn them all and it#s not really all that important for general everyday communication.
Try and find some German/Austrian people to speak with - are there any language cafes near where you live? Perhaps near a university? You could perhaps even find a German student who would help teach you a bit in exchange for beer money.
When in Germany/Austria use Tinder to practise your writing 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@abd, If you hadn't already mentioned Michel Thomas that would have been where I'd have pointed you. I've learnt some Italian and whilst the pace is annoying at times I've found them to be pretty good and the method seems to suit a lot of people, our languages are related and I found MT's method of creating vocabulary rather than remembering it is effective. It will give you a good start if you stick with it.
Other than that as @clarky999, mentions language cafes are good, even in my small corner of NW England they exist so put the feelers out as there's no substitute for being able to converse with native speakers.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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From experience now, moving to the country is the best way. I was basic and fumbling before I got here, now I'm ok and fumbling not so much  .
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+1 macgyver
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@macgyver, definitely
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks for all the advice.
@macgyver, unfortunately that isn't an option at the moment.
Interesting that @clarky999, says don't worry about the genders and @schneeflocke, says to make sure I do! Confused.com
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Short of going the whole way and moving here, get yourself a German boy/girlfriend!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Steilhang, fantastic idea, however my wife of nearly 20 years might not sanction that!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Would have also said Michel Thomas. It's handy from the point of view that you pick up the way things are said, rather than having to think about it.
There used to be a forum thing on german.about.com where you could pick up a native German partner to converse with. They'd correct or suggest improvements to your posts. Or just read someone else's thread and work out why the native speaker corrected the non-native the way they did.
Dutch is easier. Fewer words for "the".
Easy to be confused... since Schneeflocke is a native German that teaches languages (or something like that), I imagine she prefers to teach the right way, not the "brit expat cheating way, where you can get away with errors". (My excuse is our working language is English+French )
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Watch DVD's / TV in German when ever possible.
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You know it makes sense.
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@abd, in my FR class some time ago, one nice girl was suggesting over coffee break that the best way of learning a new language is 'sleeping with a dictionary' - and she did not mean paper dictionary  So go and find a nice 'dictionary' and see if it works for you.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| abd wrote: |
| Interesting that @clarky999, says don't worry about the genders and @schneeflocke, says to make sure I do! Confused.com |
It's like skiing.
If you wan't to get by for now and never want to get much further I'd go with clarky999.
If you want to really go far with German then go with schneeflocke and get the basics right so you don't have to go back and re-learn them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| DB wrote: |
| Watch DVD's / TV in German when ever possible. |
This is a great tip, also German language films with subtitles on Netflix. Another good one is listening to German radio stations - Bayern Drei is good.
As languages go German is pretty easy. Just immerse yourself in it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Discovery Channel in Holland is how I learned Dutch. All the ads are in Dutch, the programmes mostly in English with Dutch subtitles, and eventually you pick up enough to realise how often they get the subtitles wrong.
Germany dubs everything (mostly) IME.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I did German A Level and a few modules of German as part of my degree. I do use various languages at work now, but not spoken. The best way I have found to try and keep my German up is to use it. I always try speaking German when I'm skiing in Austria, I watch the German/Austrian TV, listen to German/Austrian radio. In July I went to Saxony which is a part of Germany where English is rarely spoken and I surprised myself with how much I can actually speak German. Basically, you just need to get over yourself and do it. I found myself describing things when it was a word I didn't know, and then the person I was speaking too helped me out with a new word to add to my vocabulary.
The best way to learn a language is to live and breathe it, in the same way that children learn to speak.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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What @db said (not because he is agreeing with me obviously)
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If you want to really go far with German then go with schneeflocke and get the basics right so you don't have to go back and re-learn them.
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+1 for DVD/TV/Netflix. Once you have progressed a bit more try http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv "Sendung verpasst" for catch-up. "Tatort" is a good normally (thriller). You can switch on German subtitles for the hard of hearing which should help a bit.
If you can get your hands on it mail order catalogs because that covers basically any type of clothing known to men, sports equipment, furnishings etc. with picture illustrations.
Also magazines/newspapers (choosing areas/topics you are actually interested in).
http://www.bravo.de/sport (for slightly dodgy German)
http://www.alpinforum.com/forum/index.php
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/
http://www.spiegel.de/
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I've been meaning to getting around to learning German for years. Really feel I should, given that Austria is my favourite holiday destination. Re the Michel Thomas CDs, is it worth buying the "Start" version first or would people recommend going straight to "Total"? And any views on the Paul Noble CDs, which look like a very similar idea?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Some of the German phrases that I didn't quite get right first time, which only added to the entertainment value.
Ich bin langweilig (mir ist langweilig) which meant "I am boring" rather than "I'm bored"
Du stinkst gut (du riechst gut) which meant "you stink good" rather than "you smell good"
Ich bin warm (mir ist warm) which instead of meaning "I'm warm" meant "I'm homosexual"
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Internet radio is brilliant. If you are keen and have wifi at home then you can buy a decent radio with AM / FM / Digital and Internet as well. @telford_mike suggested Bayern drei and I agree. keep that on in the background and you will pick up all sorts when it comes to news / weather etc
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Try meetup.com to see if there are any local German speaking groups.
Would also agree with internet radio.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@abd, rather than tune into Bayern 3 (Drei) try and find one of the Deutsche Welle stations. Bayern 3 and Antenne Bayern both use a lot of Bavarian slang and dialect which is not that conducive to helping you get back into the language. Deutsche Welle is the German equivalent of the BBC World Service as I understand it and has a target audience of non-native speakers as well as ex-pat Germans. There is also a TV station that shows the programmes in both German and English - first in German then an hour later repeated with an English script. I used both the radio and TV to help me before I came out here permanently. I also attended classes at the local Geothe Institute (or GI licensed language schools) as well as coming over for summer courses in Germany and Austria.
Once I was tuned in so to speak, I switched to Bayern 3 and Antenne Bayern as background while working but I knew I was moving out to this part of the world. Ö3 is also a good one to listen to on the internet by the way and plays much the same type of music as Bayern 3 and Antenne Bayern
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| DB wrote: |
| abd wrote: |
| Interesting that @clarky999, says don't worry about the genders and @schneeflocke, says to make sure I do! Confused.com |
It's like skiing.
If you wan't to get by for now and never want to get much further I'd go with clarky999.
If you want to really go far with German then go with schneeflocke and get the basics right so you don't have to go back and re-learn them. |
I started trying to learn properly with a course, and found it really slow as I'd get bogged down in trying to remember all the details to speak properly - which isn't really how anyone speaks anyway (at least in Tirol!).
After getting bored of that I just started speaking with colleagues/customers friends as much and as naturally as possible, and my speaking improved FAR (FAR!!) faster. Interestingly my grammar is still improving, as I seem to naturally pick up the correct versions from native friends. Friends have been commenting that now I 'actually speak German properly,' so it seems to be working...
If you try and remember whether every single noun is der, die or das from the start it'll take you AGES to learn all the nouns - I'd argue that for normal spoken communication you're much better off with a big vocabulary and making a couple of small grammar mistakes (that don't fundamentally change the meaning of the sentence and that everyone will understand) than having 1/3 the size vocab.
But that's just what works for me.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@clarky999, total immersion is always great (though unfortunately not currently an option for the OP).
You don't need to learn all the nouns, the more fluent you get, the more of a "feeling" you get for the correct gender (allowing a certain margin for error).
http://1live.radio.de/
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Tue 16-12-14 16:36; edited 1 time in total
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I'm challenged by most languages, including English, but managed my Zertifikat Deutsch Als Fremdspracher with the Goethe Institut in Manchester. Sadly this outpost is now closed (despite many historic German connections with Manchester) but there are still schools in Glasgow and London. They also do distance learning. Highly recommended.
http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lp/enindex.htm
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@clarky999,
I did the same as you but although I now rarely struggle to find the right word in German I often find myself stoping to think is it der, die or das now? Suspect it would have been easier if I had always learned the noun and article together as my first german teacher suggested. As with skiing, ingrained bad habits / mistakes are hard to reverse.
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You know it makes sense.
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| abd wrote: |
| @Steilhang, fantastic idea, however my wife of nearly 20 years might not sanction that! |
admittedly that does complicate things a bit.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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My mother did various courses with the Goethe Institut n Edinburgh, and now gets the Readers Digest in German, which she says is very helpful in learning/keeping up with the language. We will not go into her reasons for pursuing German when she now lives in France. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Watching films you know well (with or without subtitles, as needed) in German also helps and can be fun.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@DB, I am still mortified to remember one of the first times away on a working trip, my colleagues told me if I wanted a latte Macciato at breakfast I had to tell the waiter I wanted a Morgen Latte 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Kooky,
...... mit Schlag, zum mitnehmen?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I once asked for schlange instead of schlage. I knew, when I thought about it, that it meant snake but a local (Salzkammergut) told me it was also slang for a prostitute. As I was about 14 at the time I was mortified. Wouldn't care now - and that's part of the secret. Just go and speak and don't worry too much. I found German-speaking people, whether Austrian or German, very polite about my German (and they don't do that special look, with one eyebrow slightly raised, which you sometimes get from French people pained by your slaughtering of their language).
As for gender, my French teachers - native speakers specialising in teaching as a foreign language - have both been pretty insistent on getting gender right because of the agreements - with a dodgy accent AND getting stuff wrong you can become unintelligible. I find it best to learn nouns in a phrase - "chocolate chaud" or "vin chaud", "de l'eau chaude" for example. And I always ask - in shops, restaurants etc if uncertain of gender. I asked for extra hot water in a mountain restaurant in Les Contamine and wasn't sure of the gender of water. But will never forget it now after I asked the waitress. It's one of those things that improves as your listening skills improve - it sounds "right", or it doesn't.
I find listening to audio books of Harry Potter has been hugely helpful in both French and Italian. Have also listened to some Roald Dahl (e.g. The Witches). Unlike TV or radio programmes you can listen over and over again - in the car for example - and "get" a bit more each time. Children's books have the advantage of straightforward structure and a good story. Proust would be more of a challenge.....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| pam w wrote: |
| I once asked for schlange instead of schlage. I knew, when I thought about it, that it meant snake but a local (Salzkammergut) told me it was also slang for a prostitute. ..... |
When I've been at dinner with colleagues in Cloggyland we always are highly amused by the dessert and coffee option that come with slagroom.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I listen to Antenne Salzburg to get the feel of the language around Salzburgerland. Despite having being taught German at school by teachers from Hamburg and assuming that I'd be OK in Austria, it's been like learning a new language here in Pinzgauer.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Wed 17-12-14 22:51; edited 1 time in total
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@quinton, Pinzgau or Pongau - my first German lessons were in Pongauisch what a shock my first lessons at the Geothe Institue were as a result!
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FAQ
community would give or can offer.
