How can I improve my German?

SeanMadd

I'll be doing my Leaving Cert in June and I really need to do better at German! I'm just average at it, but want to do a lot better than that. I find I'm always forgetting vocab after I learn it, same for verbs. But in Irish I can remember them and I don't see why I can't with German Any tips that I can do to improve my writing/speaking?

Amtmann

SeanMadd wrote: »

I'll be doing my Leaving Cert in June and I really need to do better at German! I'm just average at it, but want to do a lot better than that. I find I'm always forgetting vocab after I learn it, same for verbs. But in Irish I can remember them and I don't see why I can't with German Any tips that I can do to improve my writing/speaking?

What's your location? If you're in Cork, I hold a weekly conversation group that you could join.

In terms of verbs, I find that making associations with English words can help (but beware of false friends at all times). Example:

• Fangen = to catch. Think of the English word 'fang', the sharp tooth that a predator uses to catch its prey.
• Wachsen = to grow. Think of the English phrase "the waxing moon", i.e. the growing moon.
• Brauchen = to need. Related to the English word 'broker' (as in insurance broker, a person who gets you something you need).
• Graben = to dig. Like the English word grave (which is dug).

• The German word for fork appropriately resembles the English word 'gobble' (i.e. you gobble your food).
• Dach in German is 'roof' in English, but it looks rather like 'thatch', which is a roofing material.
• In Flughafen, 'hafen' is related to the English word 'haven' (a safe place), which is what a port is.
• Here's one I find hilarious: Brustwarze (nipple) - breast wart. Not very romantic, and unlikely to come up in your Leaving Cert oral, but you get the idea

And so on. I find that these connections help me to remember many words.

gruenchen

I find some of the online language learning community sides very helpful, its interactive so I am more likely to actually participate in tasks etc

busuu.com and livemocha.com are partly free and its easy to get to know people to have communications with and to interact with.

Viel Glueck!

coffee_cake

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2547,00.html

SeanMadd

Thanks for the help! I'm just wondering are there any good German radio stations I can find to listen to? Preferably for young people, but if not maybe entertainment/news?

Raladic

FM4 is an Austrian Radio station whose main audience is people around 15-30s - http://fm4.orf.at/
Or OE3, more general pop station - http://oe3.orf.at/
Both can be streamed directly from the site.

Otherwise there are some on demand streams from Austrian/German TV stations, where you can watch documentaries, german tv productions and news.

ORF (Austria): http://tvthek.orf.at/
ARD (Germany): http://mediathek.daserste.de/
ZDF (Germany): http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/hauptnavigation/startseite#/hauptnavigation/startseite

Viel Spaß beim hören/schauen.

Lawrence1895

SeanMadd wrote: »

Thanks for the help! I'm just wondering are there any good German radio stations I can find to listen to? Preferably for young people, but if not maybe entertainment/news?

My local radio station from Dortmund:

http://www.radio912.de

SeanMadd

Cool I'll try it out And another thing, does anyone know where I could find an e-pal, to e-mail/skype one another in German? Perhaps if they wanted to learn English too it would be a win/win situation! If you know any sites or such let me know!

coffee_cake

SeanMadd wrote: »

Thanks for the help! I'm just wondering are there any good German radio stations I can find to listen to? Preferably for young people, but if not maybe entertainment/news?

the site i linked has a news section
they have a version where they read more slowly also
and a fun telenovella which is short and good to watch