Want to learn German but how??

sadhbhc15 · 05-07-2010 10:14am #1

After deciding a while ago to learn a new language, I've finally settled on German

. The thing is I've no clue where to start! I live in a rural area so no courses anywhere near me (I've also checked the nearest towns and no joy!) so a lot of it will be self-taught. Now I've no problem spending money on software, books, CDs , etc. but my question is what exactly to buy

. I've had a look at Rosetta Stone, which is very expensive but if some people here think it's worth it, I'd buy it. There's also a mountain of "teach-yourself-German" books and CDs out there, is there any particular one anyone here would recommend? I'm not massively bothered about grammar initially, I'd just like to build up vocab, etc.

Huge thanks.

craoltoir · 05-07-2010 2:10pm

You could check what is available in your local library (if there is one near you). A lot of libraries have language courses and they are kostenlos (free).

sadhbhc15 · 05-07-2010 3:12pm

Thanks craoltoir, I appreciate your reply. I should have said in my OP that I did check in my local library but all they had was two very outdated and tattered audio books. Not exactly inspiring :rolleyes:...

KevinVonSpiel · 05-07-2010 8:10pm

Search for Assimil German... also, regarding the point you just made, there are a lot of folks who would say that the older materials were/are better than the newer stuff.

Old Linguaphone & Assimil courses are generally highly valued by the polyglot set.

craoltoir · 06-07-2010 8:46am

And if you have BBC2 television, there are programmes for language learners regularly (in the middle of the night! So you might need to record them.)

www.bbc.co.uk/languages

Frisian · 07-07-2010 5:18pm

There're loads of online courses.
One of the free ones (and also a pretty good one, too, according to an irish girl living down the road) is @ DeutscheWelle.de.
Here!
Check it out.

And of course there is german satellite TV. All the mostly american stuff is dubbed into german, good if you know the original, and you want to listen to the pronounciation.

John C · 07-07-2010 11:09pm

I have used linguaphone and BBC in the past.
BBC courses are great. http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

You could also taste www.youtube.com for a German clip.

Or pick out an international news item. One reads a short
article about XYZ in English, then read a German version.

As a test, read an article in German, then in English
and see how much drift you got.

One always starts small. I started with BBC German.

I got a hold of "Das Beste" magazine, that's a German version
of ´Reader's Digest. I first read the jokes and four line articles.
Eventually I graduated to two page articles. I recall looking up
the same word three times in twenty minutes.

I also bought Disney comics. With the pictures I could
infer the sense.

Empire o de Sun · 12-07-2010 9:47pm

Get some basics, and then start reading childrens book. You can get books in the International Book shop on South Frederick Street in Dublin, if you are in Dublin. It's good probably to have it in Englsih too, but remember, stuff isn't always directly translated.

But childrens books are the way to go. and even get them on cd if you can.

gar120 · 14-03-2011 10:11pm

I have a very basic level of German having learned in school. I am looking to pick it back up after 10 years.

Would there be anyone be able to point me in the right direction.
Am I better off signing up for a course in somewhere like the Goethe institute?

Lawrence1895 · 14-03-2011 10:34pm

gar120 wrote: »

I have a very basic level of German having learned in school. I am looking to pick it back up after 10 years.

Would there be anyone be able to point me in the right direction.
Am I better off signing up for a course in somewhere like the Goethe institute?

Do you mean somebody like a native German? Maybe private grinds will do the trick rather than booking a course

gar120 · 14-03-2011 11:16pm

Lars1916 wrote: »

Do you mean somebody like a native German? Maybe private grinds will do the trick rather than booking a course

Cheers Lars!
I might pick up a few language tapes first to get re-acquainted with it first.

Inkblot · 15-03-2011 1:08am

Have you checked, whether there is an online course available? There are some free ones available for a variety of languages and I am fairly sure that German is among them.

Here is one example I just found with a quick google search. I wouldn't know its quality, but checking it out, might do no harm.
Good luck.

Lawrence1895 · 15-03-2011 4:21pm

gar120 wrote: »

Cheers Lars!
I might pick up a few language tapes first to get re-acquainted with it first.

Right so, but I would check, if they are produced in Germany, just to make sure, it is a native German you hear

Plazaman · 15-03-2011 4:29pm

OP no matter what action you take, be it online learning or Linguaphone/Rosetta Stone, from personal experience the biggest hurdle with self learning is self discipline (i.e.to set a hour a day aside to listen/learn). I have the attention span of a goldfish and after week two drifted away from the schedule I set and 6 years later here i still am Germanless (Mein auto is nicht whar - learned that but haven't a clus what it means now). I hear if you can stick to a schedule, anyone can learn a new language in six months and be fluent inside a year (provide you use the skil regualrly). I have the attenstion span of a goldfish.... oh wait....

Lawrence1895 · 15-03-2011 9:58pm

Plazaman wrote: »

OP no matter what action you take, be it online learning or Linguaphone/Rosetta Stone, from personal experience the biggest hurdle with self learning is self discipline (i.e.to set a hour a day aside to listen/learn). I have the attention span of a goldfish and after week two drifted away from the schedule I set and 6 years later here i still am Germanless (Mein auto is nicht whar - learned that but haven't a clus what it means now). I hear if you can stick to a schedule, anyone can learn a new language in six months and be fluent inside a year (provide you use the skil regualrly). I have the attenstion span of a goldfish.... oh wait....

Being fluent in a foreign language in a year? I doubt it...unless you move to the country in question and use the language every day.

Inkblot · 16-03-2011 12:53am

Hijacking this thread here, it is possible Lars 1916 - I learned to speak Norwegian fluently in half a year. I would say it depends on the kind of language you are trying to learn. The less similar it is from your own, the harder it gets.

Lawrence1895 · 16-03-2011 3:28pm

Inkblot wrote: »

Hijacking this thread here, it is possible Lars 1916 - I learned to speak Norwegian fluently in half a year. I would say it depends on the kind of language you are trying to learn. The less similar it is from your own, the harder it gets.

I guess, German is not that easy though, because the grammar part of it (articles for example) can be a tough task.

And being fluent in a foreign language includes oral and written, and many people have some difficulties with the written part, as some words in German are awfully long ones

gar120 · 16-03-2011 8:53pm

Thanks guys all suggestions noted!

jb-ski · 17-03-2011 7:47pm

Inkblot wrote: »

Hijacking this thread here, it is possible Lars 1916 - I learned to speak Norwegian fluently in half a year.

it also depends on one's interpretation of 'fluent'.

Can you get by day-to-day, shopping etc?
Do you read and understand Bild or Sueddeutsche?
Could you write an article for above?:eek:

I find the more I know/learn, the more I realise how much I don't know.

it's the small references that just pass you by, unless you're constantly curious & asking questions, going to quality classes, (Goethe Institut, Volkshochschule etc) or whatever. Watching TV & Movies is also a big help imo.

Like 'Inglourious Basterds' 3 Bier; something i'd never noticed but so simple.
(i'm showing my very high-brow standards now:))

http://i46.tinypic.com/5u4nsz.jpg

peasant · 17-03-2011 8:48pm

jb-ski wrote: »

Like 'Inglourious Basterds' 3 Bier; something i'd never noticed but so simple.
(i'm showing my very high-brow standards now:))

http://i46.tinypic.com/5u4nsz.jpg

Number one (for a German) is about as difficult as "live long and prosper"

and talking about logic ...why would you show 3 as in pic no1? You start with a fist and then you just extend fingers as they come ...thumb, index, middle and there you got three ...no further gymnastics required.

But hey ...Germans have to get their reputation for efficiency from somewhere ...:D:D:D

(sorry for going off topic)

Inkblot · 18-03-2011 11:13am

jb-ski wrote: »

it also depends on one's interpretation of 'fluent'.

Can you get by day-to-day, shopping etc?
Do you read and understand Bild or Sueddeutsche?
Could you write an article for above?:eek:

In this case I could. Not because I am a genius, but because I am a native speaker. I would agree that it is hard to learn German fluently in half a year (it even gives me headaches from time to time and I am studying it), only that it is possible to learn a language in half a year - in this case Norwegian. And yes I would be able to do all these things mentioned above in Norwegian, but as I said, it depends on the language and how related it is to your mother tongue.

About the three in Inglorius Basterds - I haven't seen the movie, so I wouldn't know and maybe am missing a reference here, but I would always make a three with my fingers like the one in picture 2. But maybe I am missing the insider here.

jb-ski · 18-03-2011 12:21pm

@ Inkspot,

the questions weren't a personal attack on 'you';), sondern implied as
as general 'can one read etc etc?'.

In my case, I often have to use a dictionary to look up words from the e.g.
Irish Times, or 'good' books (as a native English speaker).

Being totally pedantic now, but i suppose my question is how does one define 'fluency'.
Over the years I've heard many dubious claims of fluency (and 'perfect') German/English language skills.

Am I gone a little off-topic here....?:)

jb-ski · 18-03-2011 12:25pm

Inkblot wrote: »

About the three in Inglorius Basterds - I haven't seen the movie, so I wouldn't know and maybe am missing a reference here, but I would always make a three with my fingers like the one in picture 2.

I had my suspicions about you alright!:D

it's picture 1 for me.

peasant · 18-03-2011 3:02pm

Inkblot wrote: »

maybe am missing a reference here,

I was going to post the barscene video ...but it gets a bit bloody in the end, so not really suitable. Anyhow, it's up on youtube, damit du nicht dumm sterben musst

fricatus · 18-03-2011 3:07pm

KevinVonSpiel wrote: »

Search for Assimil German... also, regarding the point you just made, there are a lot of folks who would say that the older materials were/are better than the newer stuff.

Old Linguaphone & Assimil courses are generally highly valued by the polyglot set.

I'm one of the polyglot set (French, Spanish and Italian) and I agree there's a lot to be said for the older, more rigorous courses. Of course they're harder, but learning a language isn't a walk in the park - you can't just look at a few nice pictures and listen to a few CDs and be off speaking like a native. Anything that claims that you'll be fluent in a week is to be avoided!

I'm a fan of Linguaphone myself. I have the German Linguaphone course (the full one, not the PDQ) and did up to about lesson 20 (of 30) back nearly 20 years ago now! I just recently picked it up again and have got myself back up to lesson 20 (in jig time, because I just needed it all refreshed again).

Now I'm pushing on so as to finish it, and as someone else said earlier, the most important thing is methodical application - forcing yourself to do an hour a day. There really is no other way.

If you do go with Linguaphone, I think it's a good idea, once you're about halfway through it, to start then working through another course. I don't necesarily mean that you have to give it the same dedication that you're giving Linguaphone, but at least it gives you some more natural reading material and conversations to listen to so that you get a feel for the spoken language.

I've got Teach Yourself German: Improve Your German from the library, and I just stick the CD on in the car, or dip into the book when I'm on the throne. It's amazing how much more "solid" your knowledge gets once you get to a certain point.

peasant · 18-03-2011 6:57pm

fricatus wrote: »

dip into the book when I'm on the throne. It's amazing how much more "solid" your knowledge gets

German lesson for the day:
Look up "Verstopfung"

(SCNR)

Inkblot · 22-03-2011 12:57am

jb-ski wrote: »

@ Inkspot,

the questions weren't a personal attack on 'you';), sondern implied as
as general 'can one read etc etc?'.

In my case, I often have to use a dictionary to look up words from the e.g.
Irish Times, or 'good' books (as a native English speaker).

Being totally pedantic now, but i suppose my question is how does one define 'fluency'.
Over the years I've heard many dubious claims of fluency (and 'perfect') German/English language skills.

Am I gone a little off-topic here....?:)

To finish this off once and for all: I didn't read it as a personal attack. I just felt I made myself a bit unclear there and tried to be a bit more specific.

About the definition of fluency: I have the feeling that even linguists would argue over that, since there is not even a valid definition for native speaker around.

About the "three". I might have given out myself now. Please don't shoot me.

Want to learn German but how??

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