Annelie wrote:I, am convinced that unless one has person in immediate family whom is fluent in Deutsch and speaks daily with you so you are able to hear the word and its accent, that just taking lessons one will find it difficult.
What other language has a flavouring word (denn) as in
Was ist denn los? what's the matter--- which "denn" only means that you are speaking correctly with flavour?
Maybe we should introduce a daily voice-chat here at Feldgrau for all who like to learn German :lol:
An English friend of mine, a music teacher, taught himself German, through music and song. He could read, write and speak, albeit High German, brilliantly and never had a formal lesson.
I have started to learn German properly from a 76 year old "Prussian" lady now living in England. She used to be in the BDM, at wars end she was a nurse on the western front, when "captured" she had a signed letter from Himmler thanking her for her fund raising/collecting whilst in the BDM!
I have only had 3 lessons, but it really helped last week on holiday/vacation to Austria. I hired a car and drove into Germany, we visited the "Eagles nest" and whilst there I was able to eat a lunch of Wurst and Sauerkraut ordered in German in AH's tea house!
Learning this "Hoche" Deutsch has been frying my 43 yr old brain, yesterday we did some interrogative pro-nouns................
I'm going to be taking German next term. The class next to one of mine right now is a German class, and they always have a tape with some man singing nursery rhymes blaring out across the hallway. Sounds amusing to someone who can't understand the language yet. :)
I've taken several university level German language classes, but I found that the two essential tools for getting the skills needed for document translation were as follows:
1) A good German dictionary (mine is an Oxford).
2) A book entitled "German for Reading Knowledge" which you can probably order through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Chapters, etc. It is a bit expensive, but well worth the investment.
An another good way to speak and learn German is 'The Learning Company's' "LEARN TO SPEAK GERMAN". An exceptional learning program on 4 CDs. E-Mail: http://www.learntospeak.com & http://www.learning.com.
I also use The Oxford Duden - German- Dictionary.
Best regards,
Rudi S.
Hans wrote:"Dutch, much the same as German" Wolf? Don't let a Bavarian hear you say this. A Dutchman might speak like a Prussian, but boy there is difference. Come to think of it, do we Bavarians speak German? Nobody else seems to understand us.
The reason may be that bavarians are the evolutionary step from austrian to human
Greets from the other side and the BKA *fg*
Annelie wrote:What other language has a flavouring word (denn) as in
Was ist denn los? what's the matter--- which "denn" only means that you are speaking correctly with flavour?
It's just a shorter version. With "denn" it sounds more polite.
POW wrote:
Sorry to correct you HaEn. Dutch and German is very similar especially when comparing the dialects spoken at the border. The Dutch "G" can be trained like the English "th". But when coming to Maastricht, there is a "silent G" (zachte G) und you need no training at all
Just watch bavarians or people with schwäbisch, saxon or colonge-dialects in a "conversation" with a dutch... I bet they won't understand a word.
In the norther(west) areas there is a dialekt witch is quite similar to dutch and in some parts even to danish.
Hans wrote:"Dutch, much the same as German" Wolf? Don't let a Bavarian hear you say this. A Dutchman might speak like a Prussian, but boy there is difference. Come to think of it, do we Bavarians speak German? Nobody else seems to understand us.
The reason may be that bavarians are the evolutionary step from austrian to human
Greets from the other side and the BKA *fg*
Annelie wrote:What other language has a flavouring word (denn) as in
Was ist denn los? what's the matter--- which "denn" only means that you are speaking correctly with flavour?
It's just a shorter version. With "denn" it sounds more polite.
POW wrote:
Sorry to correct you HaEn. Dutch and German is very similar especially when comparing the dialects spoken at the border. The Dutch "G" can be trained like the English "th". But when coming to Maastricht, there is a "silent G" (zachte G) und you need no training at all
Just watch bavarians or people with schwäbisch, saxon or colonge-dialects in a "conversation" with a dutch... I bet they won't understand a word.
In the norther(west) areas there is a dialekt witch is quite similar to dutch and in some parts even to danish.
I'm currently taking my German I class, I'm not the world's greatest at German, but I try. Also I don't know alot of the grammar that one is supposed to learn in English class, but they don't teach us grammar except occasionally, which makes me mad.
You are correct Grammer is important when "trying" to learn Deutsch.
I am also trying to learn and realize I have forgotten many things such as interrogatives, past participles, possessive adjectives, conjugated verbs
subject pronouns, separable-prefix verbs etc.....but like you I keep trying :-)
I am told learning the proper way initally is very important and in the end less time consuming....
I've often heard that English is the hardest language in the world to learn, but after trying to master German I would disagree. I’m finding it impossible to keep the genders of the nouns straight and of course this affects other things in the sentences, which is not a problem in the English language. For those out there who have mastered both languages, what do you think is harder English or German?
James
Back when I was fluent "auf Deutsch" I thought English was the harder language in which to learn diction, and German the easier. When it came to grammer I thought the other way around. English has borrowed so many words from other languages that pronuciation is inconsistent.
A good CD course in German, and no expensive (about $20 from Office Depot in the US) is published under the name "Instant Immersion German." It's a 4 CD set with "Talk Now German," "World Talk German," "5 Language Talking Dictionary", a poor dictionary, and "Who is Oscar Lake" in German. I would forget the 5 language dictionary that comes with the set and get a CD copy of the Oxford-Duden dictionary which pretty well sets the standard.
If you have the time and money I would go to the local community college, if you are in the states. If you are really rich, move zum das Vaterland for 6-12 months. I lived there for 6 years as an Air Force brat and it really is the most effective method by far.
To err is human, to really screw up requires a computer!
:lol:
