| I'm so tired of people crying out that "learning | | | | stick a word to a picture. The word-picture |
| German is so hard and so time consuming" you | | | | combination is a great way to memorize words |
| basically hear those guys and girls everywhere on | | | | as they will be absorbed faster by your brain, |
| the Internet and you have to wonder: what the | | | | they're fun and most importantly, your brain will |
| heck are they doing wrong? German is one of | | | | hardly forget the picture, leaving you with a |
| the easiest languages to learn if you are already | | | | sidewalk to the word in case you forget it. |
| familiar with English and if you're reading this, I'm | | | | One last thing worth noting: this is a general tip |
| pretty sure you are at least moderately familiar | | | | but it applies great to learning German. Don't |
| with it, otherwise this is just a random string of | | | | forget to revise what you've learnt, otherwise |
| characters to you and you don't know what on | | | | you will just assimilate new stuff and forget a |
| Earth I'm talking about anyway. | | | | good part of what you learnt earlier. If possible, |
| The German and English languages have a lot in | | | | try to expand what you learned earlier and not |
| common, due to the fact that they share the | | | | go for a different subject (for example, if you |
| same Anglo-Saxon language base. Grammar rules | | | | just learn the basic words in the "vegetables" field, |
| are almost the same, they have many look-alike | | | | try working your way from there to the "kitchen" |
| words and although German may seem a bit | | | | or "farming" fields so you'll still use the words you |
| "rougher", with more focus on consonants, that | | | | assimilated earlier). Make sure you don't |
| barrier can be easily overcome after a few | | | | over-revise either. It won't hurt, but you will lose |
| language lessons. If English is your mother tongue, | | | | precious time for nothing and that time is better |
| ironically, it will be slightly harder to get a good grip | | | | spent to improve vocabulary, focus on the |
| on learning German, since all your grammar rules | | | | grammar or working on pronunciation and spelling. |
| are natural and have never really been "learnt", | | | | I've seen some disputes as to whether or not |
| but rather acquired through practice. Someone | | | | "natural language learning" is beneficial or not. It |
| that has learnt English as a second language, will | | | | involves learning a language through direct contact |
| find it a lot easier to learn German afterwards (or | | | | with it, instead of taking it step by step. For |
| vice versa) since these basic rules have already | | | | example, watching a TV show in German, reading |
| been assimilated the hard way. | | | | a book in German or simply hearing two people |
| The trick to making the German language learning | | | | speak the language is considered natural learning. |
| process easy is to keep everything simple and | | | | The advantage of natural learning is that you can |
| fun. Yes, those two ingredients, simple and fun, | | | | easily grasp new words out of the context. If |
| make a great language learning soup. Start out | | | | you understand 70% of what a person is saying, |
| slow even if you're an adult, start out with | | | | you'll be able to decipher the other 30% and what |
| "children techniques". Learn the basic words, | | | | those particular words mean by a natural |
| numbers, colors, months, days and so forth and | | | | deduction. This is a great way to add words to |
| familiarize yourself with the writing style, | | | | your vocabulary and if you can't get a new word |
| pronunciation and try to find links between these | | | | out of the context, or you're not sure what it |
| words and their English counterparts (what does | | | | means, simply write it down and check the |
| the "Montag" day of the week look similar to in | | | | dictionary for it later. |
| English? Etc). The natural progression in any | | | | The disadvantage of this method is related |
| language learning process is to get the grip on | | | | mostly to TV shows, audio tapes and so forth |
| some grammar rules after you've accustomed | | | | (less with books and magazines): sometimes the |
| yourself with the language through the basic | | | | speakers will talk a German dialect or they'll talk |
| words. Like I said above, this will be easy for an | | | | with an accent, making it very hard for you to |
| English speaker. | | | | learn anything constructive from them. That's |
| Next up, work on increasing vocabulary in | | | | why you should always choose the shows or |
| German. Use language games, flashcards, | | | | audio tapes that feature someone talking "clean" |
| mnemonics and everything in between that can | | | | German as much as possible. |