Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

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Khayyam
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Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:26 am

Hey, friends. (If you care enough about learning languages to join a forum about it, then I do automatically consider you some kind of friend.) I fell in love with German about three years ago, when I chatted with a woman in Austria. (I'm American.) Listening to her speak a little German piqued my interest in the language, and since I'm into rock music, i decided to look up some German rock songs. Like everyone, I'd heard some Rammstein, but I wanted to try something different, so I did a YouTube search for German rock and found myself listening to "Bombe" by Eisbrecher. I was instantly in love, both with the song and with the language. I didn't understand a word, but my blood was stirred in a way it had never been. After listening to the song a dozen or more times without understanding it, I decided that if I liked it so much, I might as well learn the words. So I used Google Translate to painstakingly look up one word a time, writing it out in English as I went along. Then I kept on listening to the song until I could fully grasp its meaning without thinking in English at all, and then I memorized it and repeated it verbally so many times that I probably knew it as well as the singer himself. At no point did I feel burdened with a chore; rather, I felt bewitched or seduced. My inability to understand the magic only increased its power over me. You might as well ask me why I like big, rumbling motorcycles. You feel the vibration, sense the spirit, and you just know. And you know with equal certainty that you could never really explain your love to anyone, not even to yourself.

Since I learned the song, I've read dozens of books in German, listened to almost as many audiobooks and hundreds of podcast episodes, spent many hours listening to German songs and sometimes singing or speaking along. It's not bragging if it's true: I kick ass at passive German, especially for a solitary learner. However, I've spent very little time on grammar, writing, or speaking, and it shows. It's hard for me to focus on active German for a variety of reasons: social anxiety, the constant seduction of passive German ("come plaaaay with me, Khayyam--you know you hate that grammar workbook!"), the lack of anyone to practice with. (Well, there's one German woman with whom I sometimes chat at work, and she lets me practice with her. But I suck so badly that it's hard to make myself even try.)

So what do I do? Well, my experience with passive German study has taught me that one of the most important skills a language learner can have is the ability to creatively build bridges between domains where you're confident and domains where you're not. When I could read German at about a sixth grade level but all German speech (other than in songs) still sounded like babble, I combined books with their audiobook counterparts, first emphasizing reading but gradually changing the regimen to emphasize the audio. It worked; I can now understand most German speech, unless we're talking about strange dialects or really fast/sloppy talkers.

So what kind of bridge should I use to connect passive to active? The logical and obvious choice in my case is to make videos of myself speaking German and share them. (I can't afford a tutor and don't know that I'd pay for one even if I could, for reasons that would take me too far off track if I were to get into them here.) This way, I can try as many times as I like (within time constraints) before sharing anything so as to avoid embarrassing myself with too many mistakes, And I can use my ability to memorize lines fairly quickly (a trait I both discovered and developed by learning songs and poems) to help me make little speeches. *And* I can develop my grammar/writing by first writing my speeches the best I know how with my current ability, and then correcting them with my grammar book and Google Translate before I memorize them. Yes--the more I brainstorm, the more I think this sounds like a great idea.

Since my passive German is already great and I'm already practicing it consistently (sometimes too much--STOP DANCING TO GERMAN RAP AND DO YOUR TAXES ALREADY, YOU MORON!), I will give vastly more emphasis to active study in this log. For the foreseeable future, that's going to mean posting YouTube videos. I'm sure that just making them and sharing them will help me even if no one responds ("I put my silly accent out there for all to hear and the sky didn't fall!"), getting responses would really help me. What I'm hoping for is that people will start responding to my videos with videos of themselves speaking German, rather than just posting here (though of course it's fine if that's all you want to do). I need to shift from introvert to extrovert mode--that's what it boils down to. Writing out speeches, memorizing them, and recording myself as many times as necessary to be (reasonably) happy with what I've produced seems like an ideal bridge in my particular case.

If any of you are in a similar boat, this might be a good chance to break out of your shells and work on your weaknesses. Yeah, I know you're terrified, but SO AM I AND I'M DOING IT ANYWAY!

I've already started two logs and deleted them because I hadn't thought through my goals and motives well enough. I'm quite sure I've got it right this time. If not, oh well--getting comfortable with trial and error and awkwardness is what active study's all about, right?

Here's my latest video. Please let me know what you think. Critique me for anything--delivery, accent, rhythm, wrong emphasis, anything--as long as you're nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMCuBUeYlGg

I'll post links to new ones as I make them (but no promises that I won't cringe at myself later and delete them!).

Since I like memorizing song lyrics so much, I might also post in forums and YouTube comments sections where there are fans of the same music and see if any of them are interested in responding to me with their own videos.
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Sonjaconjota
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Sonjaconjota » Thu Mar 10, 2022 8:10 pm

Hallo Khayyam oder Dan!
Erst einmal gratuliere ich dir zu deinem Video. Es gehört viel Mut dazu, sich vor die Kamera zu stellen und bereit zu sein, auch Fehler zu machen!
Ein paar Kommentare zu deinem Deutsch: Es ist offensichtlich, dass du mit der Sprache sehr vertraut bist. Wenn du in dem Video am Anfang frei gesprochen hast, kannst du problemlos auf korrekte Wörter, Strukturen, Sätze zurückgreifen und sie spontan verwenden. Sehr gut!
Was die Aussprache angeht, gibt es noch Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten, aber ich bin mir nicht hundertprozentig sicher, wo das Problem liegt.
Du sprichst die Wörter klar und deutlich aus, man kann sie gut verstehen. Aber die Satzmelodie klingt irgendwie ... undeutsch. Zum einen höre ich (trotz der korrekten Aussprache der Wörter) klar einen amerikanischen Akzent heraus, zum anderen ist deine Sprache manchmal ein wenig zu flach und ausdruckslos. Aber ich glaube, das hat auch damit zu tun, dass du versucht hast, dich an den auswendig gelernten Text zu erinnern.
Ich denke, in der Sprachwissenschaft spricht man von „Prosodie“, wenn man sich auf das Zusammenspiel von mehreren Dingen bezieht: Akzent, Betonung, Rhythmus, Satzmelodie ... Darauf würde ich mich an deiner Stelle konzentrieren. Vielleicht würde „shadowing“ helfen, oder ein sprachliches Vorbild wie das, was hier „language parent“ genannt wird:
https://refold.la/roadmap/stage-3/a/adopt-a-parent
Viel Erfolg!

(Ein Fan von diesem Musikstil, wie du gehofft hattest, bin ich leider nicht ... :lol:)
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Khayyam
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:57 pm

Sonjaconjota wrote:Hallo Khayyam oder Dan!
Erst einmal gratuliere ich dir zu deinem Video. Es gehört viel Mut dazu, sich vor die Kamera zu stellen und bereit zu sein, auch Fehler zu machen!
Ein paar Kommentare zu deinem Deutsch: Es ist offensichtlich, dass du mit der Sprache sehr vertraut bist. Wenn du in dem Video am Anfang frei gesprochen hast, kannst du problemlos auf korrekte Wörter, Strukturen, Sätze zurückgreifen und sie spontan verwenden. Sehr gut!
Was die Aussprache angeht, gibt es noch Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten, aber ich bin mir nicht hundertprozentig sicher, wo das Problem liegt.
Du sprichst die Wörter klar und deutlich aus, man kann sie gut verstehen. Aber die Satzmelodie klingt irgendwie ... undeutsch. Zum einen höre ich (trotz der korrekten Aussprache der Wörter) klar einen amerikanischen Akzent heraus, zum anderen ist deine Sprache manchmal ein wenig zu flach und ausdruckslos. Aber ich glaube, das hat auch damit zu tun, dass du versucht hast, dich an den auswendig gelernten Text zu erinnern.
Ich denke, in der Sprachwissenschaft spricht man von „Prosodie“, wenn man sich auf das Zusammenspiel von mehreren Dingen bezieht: Akzent, Betonung, Rhythmus, Satzmelodie ... Darauf würde ich mich an deiner Stelle konzentrieren. Vielleicht würde „shadowing“ helfen, oder ein sprachliches Vorbild wie das, was hier „language parent“ genannt wird:
https://refold.la/roadmap/stage-3/a/adopt-a-parent
Viel Erfolg!

(Ein Fan von diesem Musikstil, wie du gehofft hattest, bin ich leider nicht ... :lol:)


VIELEN, VIELEN DANK! Ich werde mir deinen Rat zu Herzen nehmen!
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Khayyam
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:11 pm

Here's my most recent video. It's just me speaking in English and describing my system for reading novels in German. I already wrote about this in a post, but I need to get a lot more practice making presentations, and this seemed like a good opportunity. I'm awkward and I ramble a bit. I may delete and redo later, but here it is if ya want it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwEkMy6gvo
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby luke » Mon Mar 14, 2022 4:48 pm

Khayyam wrote:Here's my most recent video. It's just me speaking in English and describing my system for reading novels in German. I already wrote about this in a post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwEkMy6gvo

Thank you! That explains a lot. It's an interesting system and is clearly working for you.

Not sure if it's the start of your log, but it's where you put your reading program in writing. Seeing you, the book, and hearing the narration of the whole process clearer.

If you edited the first post of the thread, you could change "My" to "Dan's" in the Subject and it would be easier to find using a subject search. I think it's worth it.
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Mon Mar 14, 2022 5:31 pm

luke wrote:
Khayyam wrote:Here's my most recent video. It's just me speaking in English and describing my system for reading novels in German. I already wrote about this in a post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwEkMy6gvo

Thank you! That explains a lot. It's an interesting system and is clearly working for you.

Not sure if it's the start of your log, but it's where you put your reading program in writing. Seeing you, the book, and hearing the narration of the whole process clearer.

If you edited the first post of the thread, you could change "My" to "Dan's" in the Subject and it would be easier to find using a subject search. I think it's worth it.


I'm glad that my showing the book and the list came across as helpful rather than patronizing. It occurred to me after I uploaded the video that you all might be thinking, "Well, yeah, Dan, we all know what a damn book with circled words and a vocab list look like. Do you think polyglots are morons or something?" :D Ahhh, this is quite a learning curve for me.
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby luke » Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:52 pm

Khayyam wrote:I'm glad that my showing the book and the list came across as helpful rather than patronizing. It occurred to me after I uploaded the video that you all might be thinking, "Well, yeah, Dan, we all know what a damn book with circled words and a vocab list look like. Do you think polyglots are morons or something?" :D Ahhh, this is quite a learning curve for me.

You've got to remember we've got the polyglots and the polynots. The polynots definitely decipher "book", "circle", "print out", "word list" better when we see it :D
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Mon Mar 14, 2022 11:35 pm

luke wrote:
Khayyam wrote:I'm glad that my showing the book and the list came across as helpful rather than patronizing. It occurred to me after I uploaded the video that you all might be thinking, "Well, yeah, Dan, we all know what a damn book with circled words and a vocab list look like. Do you think polyglots are morons or something?" :D Ahhh, this is quite a learning curve for me.

You've got to remember we've got the polyglots and the polynots. The polynots definitely decipher "book", "circle", "print out", "word list" better when we see it :D


You are truly too kind.

It's weird how speaking in German on YouTube is far less intimidating for me than speaking in my native language. I guess maybe it's because so much awkwardness is expected anyway when you're just learning. Sort of like how one advantage of being drunk at a party is that any faux pas you commit can easily be blamed on the booze. :lol: I was trying to flirt with a German woman by trying my horrible German out on her the other day, and I realized that I was far less nervous than I would've been speaking to her in English. I think that for the foreseeable future, I'll restrict myself to uploading videos where I memorize lines in German and then speak them. First talk a little bit about the song/poem/epigram/whatever I'm about to recite, say why I like it, and then recite it.

Have you ever read The Genealogy of Morals by Nietzsche? I was thinking I could read the section in the essay "Good and Evil, Good and Bad" where he looks at the predator-prey relationship from both points of view and observes that prey are bound to hate predators but not vice versa. Every time I've read it in English, I've been unable to resist reading the line, "We have nothing against these good lambs; in fact, we love them; nothing tastes better than a tender lamb" out loud while doing my best impression of an arrogant German overlord. To do it in German sounds really fun. What do you think?

That's pretty ambitious, though. For now, I think I'll just keep hitting the German songs I've already memorized.
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Tue Mar 15, 2022 11:22 pm

I'm not feeling too ambitious today but I want to do something, so I'm going to translate the first verse or two of the song "Stahlschwarzswchanger" by Eisregen into English. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnHSwW_dgI8

For twelve days I've journeyed
But only by light
In defiance of the night
I am the sun's most beautiful child
Because her radiance brings me to the light (or to enlightenment/the correct way of seeing?)
By night, I sleep in the dust of the streets
My face turned away from the moon
I no longer want to see her pale beauty
I no longer want the cold
I no longer want to abide in the dark
Sunlight, purify me
Burn me deep under the skin
Drive away the shadows that have become so familiar
Sunlight, save me
Erase my sins, wash me clean
I'll always be loyal, always be your servant
Be your servant
Your servant

But the sunlight did not cleanse me
I was too deep in the abyss, a part of it myself
Steel-black-pregnant (literal translation)
The son of death

My interpretation, and I think probably the only possible one although of course I'm open to hearing other ideas: a sincerely repentant sinner turns to God, but he finds that his sins can't be cleansed. He's gone so far down the path of evil that no amount of wanting to be good can change anything. He is, in other words, "steel-black-pregnant"--filled to the bursting point with badness, like a black widow spider's swollen belly. Damned as damned can be.

How would you translate Stahlschwarzschwanger into English? Google Translate just gives me the literal translation, which of course sounds dumb and would convey nothing of the true meaning or the poetry to a non-German-speaker. I've wracked my brain, and I really don't think it can be translated.

Untranslatable words are my favorite because when I learn them, I know I'm breaking out of the constraints of my native language and culture at least a little bit.
Last edited by Khayyam on Tue Mar 15, 2022 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dan Lernt Deutsch, Take Three! (YouTube Video Practice)

Postby Khayyam » Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:06 pm

I've just about reached the point in the fantasy novel I'm reading where it's time to start over from the beginning and listen to the audiobook. (As I've said probably too many times by now, this point comes when I can tell that I'm on the cusp of the climax.) I'm a bit embarrassed to admit how excited I am by the fact that spring is just now arriving, and that this will be the perfect time to go out on a long solitary day hike and listen to the book.

Before my hiking date with the audiobook will be possible, I'll need to fiiiiinally finish fixing my broken motorcycle. It's the prospect of going on this date even more than the prospect of going on actual dates with women without having to ask them to drive that's motivating me to do the work. Ist das erbaermlich oder bewunderswert? Du entscheidest!
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