Strictly German

[Skynet]

Skynet, I wish you the best with your world domination plans. I can tell you'll be very successful in everything you try. I am very happy you have joined us!

Thank-you so much!!!

Starting over with German, something that feels right. I am content and very motivated.

Great news!!! What resources do you have? I will be using an Assimil GWOT and NGWE combo to begin my journey (albeit at a glacial pace) from Monday 24 September.

No French studies (but that's ok). I spoke a lot of French though, daily and with success. It is enough for me right now.

OK, I understand. I really envy you for having all this French oral practice. Tomorrow, (Monday 3 September) I will do an Assimil Using French + Living Language 21-day sprint.

A great tan. I'll continue swimming during the weekends anyway.

Don't forget the sunscreen

Some serious thinking about important things resulting in decisions and plans that are realistic and possible. I was able to charge my batteries and see things more calmly.

I am glad to hear this latest development! I should congratulate you for charging your batteries and avoiding a burnout.

When we return home at fall, we say : have a nice winter. It'll be warm untill November, but have a nice winter nevertheless. (It's a joke we have...).

Hahahaha! Good one! Mediterranean winters are surprisingly mild, especially the ones in Andalusia (Spain).

[renaissancemedici]

Sunscreen, hat and sunglasses mandatory.

I am using the FSI German basic course, along with grammar and vocabulary from various books. I have a picture vocabulary book that I should introduce into my regular studying.

My update is brief. I revised the first chapter's dialogues, read the grammar part and started doing drills. It goes slowly because I write down everything. As I progress I will be using those drill patterns with the extra vocabulary I'll be studying, to remember things even better.

When FSI talks about genders it basically says that we are supposed to reach a point where the wrong article in front of a noun sounds so wrong you simply know it's a mistake. I agree with that, and hopefully this instinctive reaction will come after all those drills. Do you know that spelling in Greek works a bit like that: if we are not sure about a word, we write it down to see if it looks right. Does this happen in other languages? It probably does.

As I've said I have no deadline, I just want to go through the course as more efficiently as possible and really learn. But I have a trip to Vienna planned for Christmas, so If I could be able to speak by then it would be nice.

The thing is, there is also a small trip to Italy in December, so naturally I am trying to think how to squeeze some Italian into everything. Any ideas?

[Skynet]

I am using the FSI German basic course, along with grammar and vocabulary from various books. I have a picture vocabulary book that I should introduce into my regular studying.

I remember you mentioning FSI, so I wanted to see if I'd subtly convinced you to become a course hoarder . I am pleased to report that my tactic has worked

When FSI talks about genders it basically says that we are supposed to reach a point where the wrong article in front of a noun sounds so wrong you simply know it's a mistake. I agree with that, and hopefully this instinctive reaction will come after all those drills. Do you know that spelling in Greek works a bit like that: if we are not sure about a word, we write it down to see if it looks right. Does this happen in other languages? It probably does.

I can't wait to plow into German now, and Greek later. Is it odd that I am excited by the prospect of having my brain racked by something scintillating!

As I've said I have no deadline, I just want to go through the course as more efficiently as possible and really learn. But I have a trip to Vienna planned for Christmas, so If I could be able to speak by then it would be nice.

Vienna!? I am green with envy! I hadn't decided on whether Vienna or Zurich would be my "well done for passing B2 Zertifikat/Test DAF" reward next year. Please enjoy yourself on my behalf!

The thing is, there is also a small trip to Italy in December, so naturally I am trying to think how to squeeze some Italian into everything. Any ideas?

I see that you're on a tear! I am out of my depth when it comes to Italian, but I can suggest Assimil and Linguaphone.

[renaissancemedici]

Vienna is amazing but perhaps in Zurich you'll could use both German and Italian? I don't know.

No tear, Italian is on!

As for being a course hoarder, unfortunately it has been precisely this that led to failure in the past. I kept adding books and sources until I couldn't learn any more out of confusion. So I stick to FSI, and resist all temptation to add Assimil and who knows what else. Grammar and words are a different thing. But FSI is only the beginning: I plan to see German through, as far as I can go with it. One step at a time though...

Building strong foundation is important, because my French suffers from the lack of it (painful lesson learned there). Also learning how to have a conversation right from the start. At least now I know what I want. In the past I was a bit all over the place. I wanted poetry and literature before I could order coffee.

[renaissancemedici]

I hear the government is thinking about abolishing Latin from high school. This entire thing of disconnecting with classical education is nothing new. In the early 80s the polytonic was abolished and the ancient Greek studies were a lot less than before for school children. No government after that brought it back (so it's not a matter of a particular ideology, I am pissed off at everyone here). As a consequence of learning less ancient Greek, our modern Greek suffered, because despite what some people like to claim it is still the same language and if you don't know the basis of it all, then your current language goes to hell. Now they want to kill Latin as well. Why not abolish math while we are at it? Do we really use it in this computer age? How about history? Is it any use in this age of fast food news? What is going on? Are they going to add more modern language studies at schools? I don't know. All I know is that I watch old parliament videos on youtube, and comparing them to today's level of language and arguments, I want to cry. It shows something I don't want to explain...

[renaissancemedici]

I finished the first unit, and I hope to start the second one promptly. It's been busy and hectic so my languages have taken a back seat, but there is progress however slow. At least I can say I really know the first unit, because I've read it to death.

[renaissancemedici]

I am in the middle of the second FSI unit, and I'm taking my time.

I find the grammar explanations of FSI a bit strange. Apparently it assumes that the student has no knowledge at all of grammar, and the result is some odd explanations. It's nothing another grammar book can't fix though, and the pace seems good. If I stick to overlearning each chapter I'll have some good results. It will take forever but that's ok.

The drills are still not boring to me. On the contrary I like them and they seem to work. It is probably because it's a similar method with how I was taught things in my school years. Exercises after exercises and then some more exercises. The entire thing feels so familiar and comforting.

Studying German has a side affect: I always get an appetite to study Greek. Why that connection happens in my head I am not sure, but it's undeniable. As for German, the more I learn the more I like. It's a great distraction too, because I have been having health problems that I don't know yet if they are serious or not, so it's good to do something like that and take my mind off things.

I watch German documentaries and movies now and then, without subtitles, to get accustomed to the sound of the language and to keep my motivation high. No German songs though, modern I mean because their classical music is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_odON2aZjQ

[DaveAgain]

I am in the middle of the second FSI unit, and I'm taking my time.

I watch German documentaries and movies now and then, without subtitles, to get accustomed to the sound of the language and to keep my motivation high.

I've just started German. I found a (comedy-drama?) series called 'Berlin Berlin' (25 minutes, 86 episodes) that I'm hoping will help to drag me towards understanding

[AlOlaf]

The drills are still not boring to me. On the contrary I like them and they seem to work.

I like them, too. I worked through the FSI German basic course and overlearned it to the best of my ability, including putting extra pauses in the drills and dialogues so I could repeat after everything the native speakers said. It took a long time, but I internalized the German declension this way. Learned a lot of genders and plurals, too.

[renaissancemedici]

FSI is working but it takes a lot of time (as you all know). I am in the middle of unit 2, and I already forget unit one...

I have several problems right now, concerning German.

1) Studying at this rate I will never be able to have a decent conversation by Xmas, when we visit Vienna. I need something that will get me there, at this point. FSI needs time which I am willing to give with all my heart, but can I do something for Xmas right now? Any ideas?

2) That's not a problem, but it is an issue. They speak fast in FSI. I suppose it's good in the long run, but I am trying to copy that and you should see me turning every phrase into a tongue twister.

3) I am taking my German studying too seriously (contrary to my Italian studying). My Italian studying is going smoothly (contrary to my German studying). You get the idea. In fact my health problems which sent me to a cardiologist and a ton of medical exams, turned out to be stress and sadness. So I'll be damned if I will allow anything to upset me right now, unless it's super important.


I'll be studying German FSI until my trip, just as I do with Italian. After the trip I'll go back to FSI because I like it, but it takes time.