1. Be able to read non-fiction for the non-specialist (history, pop culture, etc...) and novels around the high school level. I am thinking of things like Im Westen nichts Neues (All Quiet on the Western Front) or Siddhartha along with being able to read the news in German. I am not quite a news junky, but do read the news regularly.
2. Maintain a written pen pal connection with a native German speaker entirely in German. There seem to be tons of penpal sites out there, and it would be a cool way to practice German in a very authentic, somewhat informal, manner.
3. Understand German TV/movies with subtitles on. I figure most of the time I would be consuming such media other than by myself, I'd be with other non-German speakers.
4. Be able to chat at survival German+1 which I'd describe as "making small talk with a German native speaker for that first 5-10 minutes on a plane while still settling in and leaving a nice impression before I zonk out to sleep the flight away."
No real timeline on these. My next opportunity to use German in person probably won't be for at least 6 months.
I finished lesson 22 of German Without Toil today. I have the audio and write out each lesson in a format akin to what is called Scriptorium on this site.
Say I make forty-five minutes to an hour per week day of "German time" and ~thirty of that is used on German without Toil. Any suggestions for what to do with the rest of the 15-30? Hitting the sweet spot of properly balancing learning materials with authentic materials is tricky, but I think the rest should be spent with native materials in some capacity.
Some news options:
Euro News - German has short news clips with a video and transcript. The big downside is they are only in the 30 second to 2 minute long range, generally. The big upside is it seems to be at full speed. I can also get the accompanying translation in English Euro News - English and it is updated regularly!
Deutschland Radio Kultur seems to be slightly slower than native full speed, but also offers much longer audio sessions. Sometimes well over 10 minutes. The main downside is I cannot seem to always find where the audio lines up with the typed text on a given page. Sometimes it seems to start right from the top, and other times only partway down the page after random intro chit chat. There is no English translation.
Then two offerings from the Deutsch Welle site:
Top Them which offers one news article a day, most days of the week. It is generally around 2 and a half minutes long. It includes both a manuscript in German and a glossary of specialized vocab from the video translated into English, but is definitely at a somewhat slowed down speed.
Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten (Slowly Spoken News) lives up to its title. It is generally 8+ minutes in length with a German translation of the text, but it is incredibly, incredibly slow. However, if one scrolls down there is an option for the audio "im Originaltempo als MP3" which is at normal speed. It takes the 8+ minutes down to a bit over 5 minutes, generally. No English transcript that I see.
Finally we have "easy to read" "Easy to Read" which is another site of short news with German transcript at a slow speed.
My biggest reason for wanting to use a news resource with audio is to internalize how German should sound before reading daily news quietly potentially messing up German pronunciation in my head. That said, my initial inclination would be to stick with Euro News exclusively. I am unsure what utility slower news options are for a language like German where, even when spoken quickly, I feel like the distinction between words is easy to hear even if I don't know what a given word means. Then maybe use Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten at normal speed if I ever have extra time in a day since it is a solid five minute test of just reading to see what I can comprehend without a way to check myself (other than translating it myself).
What say you, experienced language learners?
*One lesson of German Without Toil today including writing out each lesson by hand.
*Pick 5-7 minutes worth of German news clips from Euronews to learn from.
1. Read the English version of an article.
2. Read quietly along on the German side once while playing the audio. Glance back at the English side for understanding.
3. Read out loud the second time and try to match the German audio for pronunciation and speed.
Does that seem like a good base to kick off my second phase of learning with? My first phase was sticking with GWOT for 3 weeks and a day to ensure German was part of my daily routine. I don't like to change too many variables at once. Beyond the above, I ordered a couple short and cheap grammar books I thought to read through in odd moments and on the weekend to try to supplement the above. All criticisms are welcome.
But I do feel the beginner stage is one that may last a good long while!