Was habe ich heute gelernt?

Heute habe ich mit meiner Gruppe etwas über Modalverb gelernt. Die deutschen Modalverben sind die folgenden: wollen, sollen, dürfen, können, mögen, möchten und müssen. Wir haben die Konjugaison und die Prateritumsform dieser Verben gelernt. Wir setzen die Theorie in die Praxis um. Wir haben ein Spiel gespielt und die neuen Verben benutzen. Ich bin froh, dass ich diese Verben kenne, weil sie sehr nützlich sind.
Jeden Tag haben wir ein großes Thema, um unsere Wortschatz zu verbessern. Heute war der müll das thema. Wir haben etwas über die verschiedenen Arten von Müll gelernt und wie man sie in Deutschland sammelt.
Mit Grüßen, Judit

Weil wir Deutsch lieben

„Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache”, sagt man. Bis zum heutigen Tag hat niemand die Schwierigkeiten beim Deutschlernen besser als der amerikanische Schriftsteller Mark Twain beschrieben. In seinem berühmten Aufsatz “Die schreckliche deutsche Sprache” schrieb er in einer humorvoll-ironischen Weise, es hätte sicher keine andere Sprache gegeben, die so unordentlich und unsystematisch daherkommt, und sich daher jedem Zugriff entzieht.

Das war eine ganze Menge Arbeit ;)

Trotzdem war Twain zweifellos verliebt in die Sprache, denn er hat sich mehr als dreißig Jahre zum Deutschlernen verpflichtet und zahlreiche Werke über Deutsch geschrieben. Wenn ihr wie Twain eine Hassliebe zur deutschen Sprache habt, dann habe ich ein paar schöne Projekte die euch den Spaß beim Deutschlernen wiederbringen.

#100DaysofGermanWords ist ein kreatives Projekt von Federico Prandi, der jeden Tag ein neues deutsches Wort erfindet. Die Worte findet man auf Twitter unter demselben Hashtag. Wenn ihr Lust und Ideen habt, könnt ihr auch eure Worte vorschlagen.

Sprachnudel sammelt alle Worte (Umgangssprache), die nicht im Duden gefunden werden können. Hier findet man auch Wörterbücher mit verschiedenen deutschen Dialekten.

Ich wünsche euch viel Spaß beim Deutschlernen ;)

Viele Grüße

Julia

Vocabulary learning at Deutsch Akademie

Vocabulary learning at Deutsch Academy

Deutsch Academy gives homework as part of its course. This is important for a number of reasons. It cements the knowledge you’ve learned in class, it gives you a chance to practice the concepts on its own, and it reinforces the grammatical concepts you’ve learned. In A1.2 we do not get anywhere near as much work as the higher level, and most of what we get is in our workbooks or our course books, and I wanted to do a little bit more.

I need my German to improve quickly as we have a new housemate coming to live in our WG, and she does not speak much English. So, I’ve started a system similar to what some of the higher classes do in order to expand my vocabulary faster. Also, I’m a bit of a nerd, and I actually really enjoy things like this.

Every time we get new vocabulary, or if I ever have to look up a word, I write it in the back of my book. The German word is written in the column on the left, then either an example in a sentence, or a direct translation is written on the right. You can include things like common usage, the plural form of the word, or other quirks that particular word has eg. If it takes a particular case after it. I also like to colour code the word like our workbook does to make the gender of the words easier to remember – something I particularly struggle with.

Do you have any hints for faster learning?

My German class at Deutsch Akademie

Introducing my class!

Today we were working on directions and prepositions (over, under, beside, etc.). It was challenging, we had to give directions to our Partners based on little maps in our textbooks. Turns out, giving directions is hard When You’re so trying to speak German Correctly! The German Words Took up all the room in my brain, so things like ‚left‘ and ‚right‘ were pushed out.

While today was fun, it got even better later on in the evening When I actually got lost. I was Trying to find the swimming pool entrance and I stopped some German kids. I was so proud of myself, I had my question all planned out, and I would for once be able to understand Their directions. So I went and asked them – excuse me, where is the swimming pool?

And They answered in English.

Trying to learn German in Berlin has its very own set of challenges – like everyone speaking English. But, next time I get lost I want to know how to Correctly Ask for Directions!

Cultura en Berlin

Hoy fue un de uno de esos días en que no quería pensar más en alemán y te encuentras con el idioma y la cultura alemana, aunque parece un poco obvio, pues estoy en Berlín, no es tan así. Si te juntas con gente latina, sólo terminas hablando español y por las calles escuchas ingles, italiano y francés, entre los idiomas que logro reconocer, porque también hay muchos turcos y personas de Medio Oriente y Asia. De la misma manera puedes darte cuenta de las manifestaciones artísticas y culturales de cada etnia o nacionalidades, como el escoses que toca la gaita a veces por Berlín.

Les cuento esto porque entre a una especie de almacén-bar-restaurant literario ubicado al lado este de Berlín. EL lugar se encuentra muy bien diseñado para vender a las personas que salen del U-bhan, tipo almacén, cosas al paso, ese pasillo se transforma en varias mesas para compartir como un café-bar, peor el lugar a medio día tiene almuerzos y por la tarde emparedados, tiene servicio de wi-fi y ademas una estantería de libros en alemán muy interesantes. entre los que puedo destacar Hamlet de Shakespeare, los cuales están a libre disposición para quien se sienta en una de las mesas y para rematar el local mezclaba la modernidad con una serie de fotos del lado este de Berlín antes,durante y después de la guerra y el muro.

Podcasts and Deutschkurs day 3

Today in class we learned prepositions, specifically which prepositions are indicative of dative, and which are akkusative. This was very, VERY useful. I have been struggling to recognize how to distinguish between dative and akkusative, and only this morning realized that it’s actually not so hard! Now I just need to memorize the millions of unpredictable articles attributed for god-knows-what reason to every single German word, and to learn the various conjugations. I am not so great at math either, but I have a 33% wahrscheinlichkeit of first getting the nominative article correct, and then divide that by 3 again to cover dative or akkusative, I am guaranteed an 11% chance of getting the article correct just by guessing (I believe this, although again, math is really not my strength)! If I apply the skills I learned in class today, and my prior knowledge, I can probably increase my chances hahahaha.

Anyways, that’s why I’m taking classes!

I also wanted to describe my experience trying to learn German by podcast, which, as I mentioned, I had been doing while in Canada. So, learning by podcast was actually a lot of fun, but not the most effective technique to learn how to SPEAK German. Positive aspects were that I was listening every day to German idioms, to phrases, to pronunciation, and to a range of vocabulary. I heard how words were used in the context of simple stories, that were also entertaining. As a language introduction and a personal activity I highly recommend it. Grammar-wise, however, learning by podcast wasn’t so effective. I find that learning in a classroom, taking notes, being in a context where it is encouraged to speak and safe to make mistakes has really accelerated my learning. While I learn very well by ear, learning by reading and writing has been really effective. Classroom-based learning is also more useful because there is an established structure and order to what I’m learning, as well as exercises to aid in the application and repetition of what is taught. So, in the end I would recommend both, since my vocabulary is much more extensive from the podcasts, but without the course I would be like a handful of beads without a string to turn them into a necklace (the course is the string, for those of you rolling your eyes at my awkward metaphor).

Review of Deutsch Akademie Literature

By following the story of one character and his friends, it’s like reading fiction. Whether you are near or far away, the Audiokurs Deutsch Für Anfänger is a great thing to have at home, which is published with Deutsch Akademie. The book is helpful for many reasons, most notably because the texts go from English to German in the same paragraph (“His friends were easily persuaded because they all love skiing, sie lieben Skifahren”).
Throughout the storyline, there are lessons in between, translations and vocabulary building, which match up on the CD. For every chapter, there is a page with new phrases in English (“That doesn’t suit me at all”) with the corresponding translation (“Das past mir gar nicht”). If you have worked with other German textbooks, you’ll know this reference point is helpful and the storyline is much more colorful than what you’d typically expect. There is also a section in each chapter for grammar and verb examples. The rules are explained in plain language with several examples. Sie haben Glück gehabt – You’ve been lucky.

Learn German Podcasts

Let’s face it – you only get better at learning German by listening to the pronunciation of words (as well as practicing what you’ve learned, too). Here are a variety of German learning podcasts which will help you improve your ‘aussprache,’ by tuning into their weekly lessons. It usually takes only a few minutes out of your day, and is totally worth it to help build your vocabulary, exercise those grammatical muscles or just listen in to conversation.

One Minute German
http://radiolingua.com/shows/german/one-minute-german/

Learn German with Podcasts
http://www.dw.de/learn-german-with-podcasts/a-2917951

Survival Phrases
http://www.survivalphrases.com

GermanPod 101
http://www.germanpod101.com

German Ling Q
http://germanlingq.com/