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Tips for getting my German back up to scratch

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  • 11-05-2011 10:17pm
    #1
    philologos
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,479 ✭✭✭✭


    No better place to ask than in the Deutsch forum?

    In school I learned German for 6 years. I spent some time in Austria and Germany respectively during that time and I got to practice German in a spoken context.

    However, if I was to brush up my German, what every day advice could you give me about getting my grammar up to scratch (as this was always difficult) and getting in touch with German conversation or German as it is commonly used? Any internet resources in particular that could help would be much appreciate.

    I think I would want to move from the lower intermediate type level upwards.

    Vielen Dank! :)
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    #2
    1huge1
    Registered Users Posts: 6,171 ✭✭✭1huge1


    An easy start that I would recommend is watching movies in German with English subtitles, easy to do and most dvd's you buy will already have the option.


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    #3
    F.A.
    Closed Accounts Posts: 327 ✭✭F.A.


    Something that worked well for me (learning English, that is) is to read an entire book in English with the help of just a dictionary and a grammar book. It took me months, but worked a treat. You need to really work with it, though, not just read and try and make sense but actually make sure you are getting every little detail, translating entire paragraphs to yourself. Needless to say, it's best to use a book about something you're really passionate about so you're actually keen on getting all the details right and won't get bored after a few pages.

    Other than that, try and find a few German radio podcasts, watch German films, read German news etc.

    This might also be good: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/


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    #4
    philologos
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,479 ✭✭✭✭philologos


    ^^ I never even thought of that F.A. I presume German language books would be quite easy to pick up on e-bay. Thank you both for your suggestions thus far :)


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    #5
    rp
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 1,227 ✭✭✭rp


    One trick I discovered was to not look-up a new word in the dictionary immediately, but wait until you have seen it a few times. This seems to help fix it in your head, perhaps because you have started to guess the meaning from the (various) contexts and looking up the word confirms or contradicts your own provisional definition.

    Listening to music is another good way to absorb a language. Watch out though: I used to listen to a lot of BAP years ago, and I've never been able to shake the Cologne accent...


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    #6
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,427 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    rp wrote: »
    One trick I discovered was to not look-up a new word in the dictionary immediately, but wait until you have seen it a few times. This seems to help fix it in your head, perhaps because you have started to guess the meaning from the (various) contexts and looking up the word confirms or contradicts your own provisional definition.
    That's a very good tip, and one that I've used before in both Germany and Holland when living there. After a while you get more confident, and don't even have to resort to looking up the words in the dictionary, in that case you're learning the language much as a child would be doing. The only disadvantage to this is that after a while you've built up a lot of vocabulary and phraseology that you don't actually know the English equivalent of! In my case after living in Holland for 13 years and working exclusively in Dutch, I was really struggling for words when I moved here, and had to do the opposite, i.e. looking up Dutch words to find out what they were in English!


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    #7
    rp
    Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 1,227 ✭✭✭rp


    Ah, Dutch vs, Deutsch: hours of amusement and confusion with falsche Freunden between those to. Ausfahrt vs Uitvaart, or even better: Freier vs. Vrijer.
    Mind you, we've some doozies with English and German too: "As a gift, I brought a jar of mixed pickles and a bottle of Irish Mist"...


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    #8
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,427 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Yeah, my Dutch was always much, much better than my German and I used it every day at work, whereas when I lived in Germany I was in an English speaking working environment. As a result, whereas I can still flip over to Dutch without even missing a heartbeat, if I try to speak German it comes out as 50% Dutch! Most Germans seem to understand me though, and after a few days there it gets better.

    Still, I think it's better to be fluent enough in a language that you can speak it without thinking, rather than having to be continuously 'translating' from your mother tongue in your head.

    With regard to the "valse vrienden", here's a good list ...

    http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_valse_vrienden#Duits


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    #9
    Sonnenblumen
    Registered Users Posts: 5,834 ✭✭✭Sonnenblumen


    philologos wrote: »
    No better place to ask than in the Deutsch forum?

    In school I learned German for 6 years. I spent some time in Austria and Germany respectively during that time and I got to practice German in a spoken context.

    However, if I was to brush up my German, what every day advice could you give me about getting my grammar up to scratch (as this was always difficult) and getting in touch with German conversation or German as it is commonly used? Any internet resources in particular that could help would be much appreciate.

    I think I would want to move from the lower intermediate type level upwards.

    Vielen Dank! :)

    Reading print and watching films are all good but an additional and very enjoyable way is to meet people. Tourist haunts would be an obvious place, you'd be amazed how enjoyable and easy it is to develop your skill through conversation. 'Jede Gelegenheit ergreifen' :)


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    #10
    Duffy the Vampire Slayer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,378 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    Does anyone have any tips on remembering the gender of a noun? Its one of the main things tripping me up at the moment.


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    #11
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »
    Does anyone have any tips on remembering the gender of a noun? Its one of the main things tripping me up at the moment.

    We were given general guidelines (which I don't have to hand, will post up another time) but my main conclusion at the moment is that I just have to sit down and learn a load of them :(


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    #12
    An Citeog
    Registered Users Posts: 3,096 ✭✭✭An Citeog


    Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »
    Does anyone have any tips on remembering the gender of a noun? Its one of the main things tripping me up at the moment.

    This is something I posted before,
    An Citeog wrote: »
    For those of you who have problems with distinguishing the gender of nouns, this may be of help:

    Masculine-der

    nouns ending in:
    -er/ler eg. der Metzger
    -ling eg. der Liebling
    -or/ator eg. der Direktor
    -eur eg. der Saboteur
    -ant/ent eg. der Denunziant
    -ismus/asmus eg. der Enthusiasmus
    -ist eg. der Extremist

    also, nouns constructed using the verb stem eg. schlagen- der Schlag

    Feminine-die

    nouns ending in:
    -ung eg. die Regierung
    -heit/keit/igkeit eg. die Freiheit
    -e eg. die Reise (important exception here is 'das Ende'
    -t eg. die Fahrt
    -schaft eg. die Mannschaft
    -ei eg. die Tyrannei
    -ion/ation eg die Reaktion
    -tät/ität eg. die Aktivität
    -anz/enz eg. die Ignoranz
    -ie eg. die Bürokratie
    -ik/atik eg. die Politik
    -age eg. die Massage
    -esse eg. die Delikatesse (important exception here is 'das Interesse')
    -ose eg. die Diagnose
    -ur/üre eg. die Literatur
    -ade eg. die Blockade

    Neutral-das

    nouns ending in:
    -tum eg. das Wachstum
    -nis eg. das Erlaubnis
    -sal eg. das Schicksal
    -sel eg. das Insel
    -ar/är eg. das Vokabular
    -at eg. das Sekretariat
    -ment eg. das Parlament
    -ing das Marketing
    ohne Endung eg. das Problem

    also, nouns constructed using verb infinitive eg. trinken- das Trinken
    and nouns beginning with 'Ge-' eg. das Gespräch

    Hope that helps :)


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    #13
    Seachmall
    Registered Users Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭Seachmall


    A point on reading German: find German websites on topics you're interested in. I used to have a German technology site on one tab and a translated version in another tab (Google translate) and would switch between them when I got stuck. My German still isn't great but it definitely helped and was interesting (fresh articles on interesting topics daily).


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    #14
    Manach
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,671 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    I agree with Seachmall, I try to spend 15m pd on google news for Germany or Austria. Also, there is an interesting German band "E Nomine" which I've grow partial to, with tracks such as 'Vater Unser', radio mix.


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    #15
    Duffy the Vampire Slayer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,378 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    Does anyone know of a reputable website where you can find German pen pals to converse with? Where I'd write in German and they'd write in English?


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    #16
    Lawrence1895
    Registered Users Posts: 7,627 ✭✭✭Lawrence1895


    Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »
    Does anyone know of a reputable website where you can find German pen pals to converse with? Where I'd write in German and they'd write in English?

    Did you ever think about doing the same with a German native speaker on this site? By e mail maybe or PM?

    Or does it have to be the good old letter?


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    #17
    Duffy the Vampire Slayer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,378 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    Lars1916 wrote: »
    Did you ever think about doing the same with a German native speaker on this site? By e mail maybe or PM?

    Or does it have to be the good old letter?

    No I suppose doing it with somebody here would be perfect. I think it would really help me out, because at present I'm learning by myself and I don't have anyone to give any kind of constructive criticism.


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    #18
    Lawrence1895
    Registered Users Posts: 7,627 ✭✭✭Lawrence1895


    Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »
    No I suppose doing it with somebody here would be perfect. I think it would really help me out, because at present I'm learning by myself and I don't have anyone to give any kind of constructive criticism.

    Well...I am a German native, living in Dublin since September 2004.

    If interested, just send me a PM and we take it from there. Usually' I'm here every day, even if it's just for a few minutes, because I have dodgy shifts in work, including night duty.


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    #19
    Apanachi
    Registered Users Posts: 757 ✭✭✭Apanachi


    Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »
    No I suppose doing it with somebody here would be perfect. I think it would really help me out, because at present I'm learning by myself and I don't have anyone to give any kind of constructive criticism.
    I'm sure there must be loads of Germans around Mayo/Galway you could practise with them (OK so you have to find them first and strike up a conversation with them, but that shouldn't be too hard)


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    #20
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    We were shown this site in class today, it looks really good and covers learning material for different levels, and has the news and exercises etc


    http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,13121,00.html pretty funny :D" rel="nofollow">http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2068,00.html[/url


    it even has a telenovella for learners :o
    http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,13121,00.html
    pretty funny :D


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    #21
    Frisian
    Registered Users Posts: 200 ✭✭Frisian


    I agree, very well made.

    Recommending this website frequently.
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70996950&postcount=9
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=66799512&postcount=6


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