Help with German

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by weed_eater_guy, May 20, 2007.

  1. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    I'm an American who as an army brat, lived in Germany for a big chunk of my life. My english is native, I went to American schools both in America and in Germany, and my german is intermediate at best. I feel a bit emberased about not being able to speak german better than I do considering how long I lived there, so I've tried to fix that problem.

    I've started reading beginner and intermediate level books in german, and for some reason, I seem to have forgotten alot of the language. I find myself constantly looking up words like "oh right, I remember that now!". I only moved from Germany two and a half years ago! It amazes me that I've gotten this rusty so fast. But, for some reason, reading and looking up the unknown words is not helping me very much. I've still got problems using what I learn to speak better.

    Basically, I'm trying to find a more effective way to learn how to speak German better and more fluently while living in America. Anyone got any really great ways to learn a language effectively when you're not immersed in that country's culture? I'm trying to get up to where I'm speaking on an intermediate to near-fluent level.

    And I've already been advised to find groups in my college that just speak German with each other for practice, but I can't find any such groups.

    I appreciate the help!
     
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  3. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    I don't think reading is very helpful unless you just want to read better. As your friends have advised, the only way to retrieve your knowledge of any spoken language is to use it.

    I was never exactly a fluent speaker (I think I rated myself at 7 on my scale when we started this forum) and to make it worse I had studied "scientific German" in college with a lot of really useful words like Kohlenstoff (carbon) and Weltraumfahrt (space travel). I didn't use the language at all for ten years and then took a vacation in eastern Europe. In those days (1973), all the adults there spoke German because they had learned it at gunpoint in childhood. Within two days I found my entire vocabulary had returned and I was conjugating verbs and declining nouns correctly without stopping to think. People who met me casually thought I was German.

    I think you simply have to find a way to practice spoken German, not written German. Find a German language chat room with an audio hookup, that can't be very hard. And forget the students, their cadence and pronunciation may be "perfect" by classroom standards but very few of them actually sound like native speakers and it will probably not trigger your brain's response. Hang with native speakers. You'll have the same experience I did, it will all come rushing back in no time at all.

    At the very least, get some German films and follow the dialog. That will get your brain warmed up to the language.

    I would wish you good luck in German, but I never learned that one.

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  5. Xev Registered Senior Member

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    Music and those Pimsleur (spelling?) cds.
     
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  7. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    Actally, that's a good idea, i think I'll start with my dad's original (german) version of Das Boot and take it from there. Thanks though! two days is all you took to get back into the hang of things? amazing, gives me hope

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  8. pilpaX amateur-science.com Registered Senior Member

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    download some german TV serials, most of them arent worth your time, but Alarm für cobra 11 , is bearable.
     
  9. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    In my personal experience, singing doesn't do it. My thesis is that immersing in a milieu of the spoken language triggers a response in the brain. Singing doesn't sound enough like speaking to do it, at least not for me. Rapping, maybe. Falco's "Der Kommissar" got some of my old synapses firing.
    It doesn't matter how bad they are, in fact the worst ones probably have the easiest vocabulary. I find Spanish soap operas to be pretty good for the purpose, because they have a limited vocabulary. It's not quite the same vocabulary you'd use in real life of course but it's small. The problem with Spanish-language TV shows is that they recruit actors from all over Latin America and they don't all speak with the same accent. That can make it surprisingly difficult, at least for this foreigner. The subtle differences like pitch and cadence really throw me off unconsciously. Fortunately for me, if not for the Colombians and Argentines, they've begun training them all to speak Mexican Spanish, which is not only "flat" by their standards but also the commercial leader with the most shows. That way when a family is sitting around the dinner table it doesn't sound like the children were born in six different countries.
    Two days, but two days of immersion. Except for my traveling companion, I was constantly hearing and speaking German. I started my trip in München, picking up a BMW motorcycle at the factory, and spent a couple of days traversing Germany and Austria before heading into then-Czechoslovakia. In Germany I made a point of struggling with German, even though many people could speak English. The Germans were perfectly happy not to indulge me in English. In Czechoslovakia in 1973 absolutely nobody spoke English so it wasn't an issue. They were so determined to woo German tourists that people gathered around us, making helpful comments in German, to make us feel comfortable. When they found out we were really Americans, they fell all over themselves with delight and awe. Complete strangers took off work to show us Praha and one family even put us up in their home.
     
  10. weed_eater_guy It ain't broke, don't fix it! Registered Senior Member

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    Stories like that get me itching to go back over there again.

    Ahh the memories... *sigh*

    Actually, I'd bet money that my college library keeps a stock of german movies for their german classes, I might just give those a go once I start back up in the fall again.
     
  11. Athelwulf Rest in peace Kurt... Registered Senior Member

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    Portland State University has the yearly Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik. You take upper-division or graduate college classes about German culture, history, etc., in a German-only environment for about five weeks of the summer term.

    I've been accepted to attend this year, and if I'm super-lucky, I'll be able to get financial aid from PSU and actually afford to attend. Be forewarned: All the expenses bundled together is in the range of three fucking thousand dollars. And I'm in the same state; out-of-state expenses might apply for you.

    I'm almost sure it's too late for you this year, but keep this place in mind.

    "Viel Glück". Or one of a few other translations.

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  12. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    This is a useful phrase:

    "Hande hoh. Ich habe einen Gewehr. Ich mochte alle deines Geld."

    It means: "Hi there. I am a new guy. I want to be your friend."

    Always a favourite.
     
  13. Athelwulf Rest in peace Kurt... Registered Senior Member

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    Y'know, I think he knows what the phrase means.

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  14. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Sans doute. He'll be out there making friends left and right, I'm sure of it. Government officials too: mostly Politzei, I'd guess.
     
  15. CharonZ Registered Senior Member

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    I assume if you say that, most Germans will take their time to correct your grammar first. And then spelling, if it's audible.
     
  16. Sciencelovah Registered Senior Member

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    If somebody say that phrase to you on the street , simply reply:

    Entschuldigung, ich habe kein Geld. Mich küßen, wenn du wünschst.

    means 'hi, I am also new. We could be friend if you wish'.

    you should say it calmly

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    Last edited: Jun 5, 2007
  17. GeoffP Caput gerat lupinum Valued Senior Member

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    Hmmm. I tend to think I'd get slapped.

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  18. Ziazan Banned Banned

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    I think learning language quickly is to speak to the native speaker. So find a German to speak to him.hehe~~~
     
  19. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Even though German is (as of several years ago) still barely on the list of the world's top ten languages, there are very few native speakers in America. When I was a kid the country was full of German Jewish refugees from WWII and German scientists who had been expatriated for the Cold War. But today you seldom hear German.

    You can hear Spanish, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese almost anywhere, even outside big cities. In the cities, Russian, Tagalog, Cantonese, Japanese, Farsi, Arabic, Thai, Lao, Cambodian, Armenian, several languages of India, and a number of African tongues. But not the Western European languages, unless you run into a tourist.
     

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