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I want to learn German
- Thread starter esseesse
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If you are dedicated, it shouldn't be a problem. It's a spoken language (or languages, we have at least a dozen variations) and the grammar is way easier.
OP
OP
😂 Actually my username comes from the Abarth 500 Esseesse. It stands for Supersport in Italian.
Thanks for all the advice! You're amazing!
Just keep doing lessons every day regularly three to four times over the day. Otherwise you will take a long time, but just keep hacking at it and you will do fine. Duolingo won't teach you the language though. Duolingo is just for you to have a fun way to learn a few things, but it won't ever really help you learning a language correctly. Take lessons and work through books.
coming from turkish to both languages, this is how i feel to. they are really similar grammer and syntax wise. you just need to work on vocabulary basically.
Please stop trolling.
Na klar!
😂😂😂 I'm dying 😂😂😂
....facepalm.gif
OP I recommend taking intensive semester courses at a local Deutschinstitut.
Let me translate:
Der, die, das: The, the, the
Wer, wie, was: Who, how, what
Wieso, weshalb, warum: Why, why, why
Hope that helps.
Learn German, then Pfälzisch (the dialect from Rheinland-Pfalz), then Swiss German from Basel, and then ugly cry when trying to understand anyone that comes from Bern.
There are some good German shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime, they should be available internationally so I would suggest trying watching them with the German audio track and English (or German) subtitles. Exposure like that to a new language is the best way to learn and truly internalize it in my opinion.
Here's a good list:
German shows on Netflix and Amazon
Here's a good list:
German shows on Netflix and Amazon
It's not that bad. At least it's not Walliser German (dialect in Valais) which isn't even understood by other Swiss German speakers.
Now I'm not sure anymore... Which dialect is it where you're basically only hearing "krchrkrchkrch" ?
I'm just going to say as an American who studied Italian in college and lived there for 6 months and who lives in Germany for a year and a half now, Italian is much easier than German. With Italian you instantly know the gender and number of any word, and the genders themselves have more consistency to them. If I remember correctly Italian also has less articles.
And on top of all of that the word order matches better with English than the Yoda speak you get with German.
All of that is to say that German is hard.
this.
Coming from a language that has more to conjugation than adding an "s" in third person singular and has more (i.e. gendered) articles than "the" and "a".
That should really help.
Duolingo is neat, OP, but the best way to learn it is by taking a course (or three) and then actually immersing yourself in a German-speaking country for at least three months (and by that I mean avoiding living inside a bubble of people who speak your first language). I second those saying that perfect grammar is not needed when speaking. Don't stress out about the articles too much, everyone's gonna understand you. This takes some time.
Let alone the value of learning other people's languages in the interest of "Völkerverständigung".
What a bizarre blanket statement. You do know that people still talk to each other face-to-face, right? Good luck spending time in southern Germany for an internship with no knowledge of German.
Let alone the value of learning other people's languages in the interest of "Völkerverständigung".
Eventually I want to learn Alsatian which is rather similar to Swiss German (depending on which exact dialect of course – villages on either side of the Swiss/French border would essentially speak the same dialect for examples) haha. The lack of resources is annoying though, but I guess this would be a bit less of an issue with Swiss German.
Either way, I'll start with Standard German and work my way from there lol. Being able to converse in dialect sounds awesome
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Well, I was in the process to write a similar text as a native german speaker but hobblygobbly already has you covered. It´s not easy but if you think it will help you in the future go for it.
I am not a native German but I watch German TV sometimes. When did people stop pronouncing the "t" in "nicht"?
Could be due to dialect, in noth germany they don´t pronounce the "t" in some regions. Others say ned instead of nicht: "Das geht so nicht" "Das geht so ned /net" like in bavaria.
Or it could be the due to a lot of people not learning or not willing to speak proper german.
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Don't prioritize getting the (definite) articles right. It's night impossible unless you're a native + they generally carry absolutely no meaning at all. My advice is to not bother with the language. It's too hard, it sounds terrible, and English comprehension over here is stadily increasing with boomers gradually retiring and younger people filling up their spots.
That's not quite true, for example "der Schild" and "das Schild" are not the same thing :p
I know this, which is why I said generally. My advice is to ignore the definite articles and just get them right 1/3 of the time, it's whatever anyway.
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If you're into music, the German-language music industry is massive. Everyone knows Rammstein, but there's also pop, pop trash, comedy hip hop, serious business hip hop, questionable new wave taste, tongue-in-cheek punk, etc. etc.
You could start by picking your favourite German-speaking area and learning its signature pop/meme song.
Edit: Also, don't bother learning the alphabet the traditional way. Learn to recite this Fantastischen Vier song and you're set.
You could start by picking your favourite German-speaking area and learning its signature pop/meme song.
Edit: Also, don't bother learning the alphabet the traditional way. Learn to recite this Fantastischen Vier song and you're set.
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This is what I meant. Translation apps will be used in face-to-face conversation as well. Think "Snowpiercer".
Learning languages is still great for your private life, but it's not necessary for your job in the long term.
Dont be deterred! If you speak English German is an easier language to learn than the romance languages in my opinion. It's a very logical language and lots of English speech patterns originated from German (well....they developed out of the same root).
Took 3 years of German in college and online courses after.... I hadn't really spoken German for about 15 years but I was in Munich and Frankfurt last week and found myself stumbling through the language pretty effectively.
Also Germans in Germany are very nice and accepting of Americans trying to speak German. They're not like the French or Southern Italians.
Took 3 years of German in college and online courses after.... I hadn't really spoken German for about 15 years but I was in Munich and Frankfurt last week and found myself stumbling through the language pretty effectively.
Also Germans in Germany are very nice and accepting of Americans trying to speak German. They're not like the French or Southern Italians.
German isn't that hard. When someone's talking to you in German, just respond with either "tja" or "Schnauze Fickgesicht" and you're good.
No lies detected.
I've studied in Germany for 3 years and now I live in Austria and fuck me sometimes German is just plain ridiculous.
German is definitely not easy but if you stick with it it's a rewarding process. Is there a Goethe Institute near you where you could take classes? I definitely recommend learning the articles of nouns right away. It makes it a lot easier on you if you do it now rather than later and don't listen to anyone who says they don't matter. They absolutely do and make you and the language sound much better when used correctly. At the same time, don't stress about mistakes. You'll get it with time.
I'd recommend following something like Deutsch mit Marija on Facebook and YouTube.
Another App that I found good was Memrize. The problem I found though was that doesn't really teach grammar.
To give you an idea of my experience:
I moved to Germany 4 years ago with a very basic level of German. I took one year of German classes at a Volkshochschule, from A1 level to C1, 4 hours a day 5 days a week. I passed the C1 exam and I'm now studying Physical Therapy and work, both in German. I learn something new about the language every single day.
I'd recommend following something like Deutsch mit Marija on Facebook and YouTube.
Another App that I found good was Memrize. The problem I found though was that doesn't really teach grammar.
To give you an idea of my experience:
I moved to Germany 4 years ago with a very basic level of German. I took one year of German classes at a Volkshochschule, from A1 level to C1, 4 hours a day 5 days a week. I passed the C1 exam and I'm now studying Physical Therapy and work, both in German. I learn something new about the language every single day.
Bavarians will also appreciate your impeccable taste in dialects if you can do this.
Also, don't worry about articles, even we can't make up our minds about them. For example, where I come from, it's called "der Butter", but most other Germans call it "die Butter".
Oh, and try to have some fun :D. Watch some German shows, listen to German music, and maybe watch German dubs of movies you already know. The Star Wars OT has an excellent German dub, for example, and the Monty Python movies are great as well, though they do take some liberties translation-wise.
colloquially depends on the dialect, often -e is dropped from words like habe too, and the region I am in, we even drop stuff like the -ch from ich, mich, and dich so it's like i, mi and di lol, and we add -le to a lot of words, instead of mädchen it's mädle, bisschen it's bissle, etc.
one of the biggest challenge for german learners is actually having to deal with all the dialects. and not just learners, us native speakers too... I am not originally from Schwaben... but I live/work here for a while now so this dialect is a nightmare for me, they even tell the time differently from the north.
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You mean
Aus
Ausser
Bei
Mit
Nach
Seit
Von
Zu
Entgegen
Gegenuber
Gemass
*breathes in*
Durch
Fur
Ohne
Um
Gegen
Bis
Wieder
Entlang
?
These crappy lists will stay with you much longer than the actual meaning of the words.
I took German in high school. I found it much easier than Spanish.
Oh it's the list as i got in school. Can't even remember what it's for, haha.
The first part is third case and second part is fourth case of the articles. (Dem and den respectively for Mannlich)
The thing with learning languages with grammatical genders is that it will hurt you, even if your first language is one of those
It's actually quite easy if the studens learns the articles alongside the nouns.
the tree - der Baum
Instead of
tree - Baum
Just treat article and noun as a unit from the start.