I am joining the German Group. Here is my log:
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 021#p70021 (though the German parts begin only in November 2017).
Before I introduce myself, a reply to an earlier post:
Prohairesis wrote:
-- As a side note, I'm not a big fan of formal learning resources (textbooks and grammar reference books), but I do enjoy reading German aimed at a young readership. I'm currently giving Ernst Gombrich's "Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser" a go. It's a great book. --
Although I have read Gombrich only in English translation, I love his writing. Thanks for this recommendation.
There have been lots of very useful recommendations given by the members of this group in previous posts. Thanks to all.
As for me. I took 4 semesters of German in college. My first instructor was an enthusiastic young man named Herr Mützig, who told us he learned English by watching American GI movies. For the longest time, he said, he never understood the phrase "Cheese is Christ." I don't remember the name of the woman who was my last German instructor, but I remember her worrying the pace of the semesters was too fast for us. It was. The reading for that semester was "Tonio Kröger." It was the hardest course I had in college, which included a course in calculus.
The nothing for a long time. I did not like German very much and was glad to be finished with it.
Years later in anticipation of visiting Germany, I started studying again with first Rocket German then Rosetta Stone then Tell Me More. RS and TMM were 'fun,' as advertised, but they did not take me nearly as far as I was expecting. Also I read a lot of stuff at LingQ, including materials developed for new learners by the staff tutors. The bottom line was I started too late and studied too little. I 'made do' in Munich, but the language-use part of it was not a pleasant experience. I returned home April 15. To Americans, that date is significant because it is the final deadline for federal taxes to be paid. But that was 2010, the year Eyjafjallajökull erupted. I was on one of the last planes out of Germany. Only back in the USA airport did I hear about the close call I had. Maybe "Last Plane out of Munich" could the the title of a thriller?
My main goal this third time around studying German is developing my listening skills so that I can understand most anything and everything not connected to strictly tech or scientific or math subjects. Reading will play a part, but mostly as a way of building vocabulary. I hope to do a gradual buildup, I don't want to do a lot of "work," so I am seeking mostly easy stuff to read and listen to. Some of what I have acquired so far is mentioned here in my log:
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 0&start=60I am working through Duolingo as a refresher and as a way of listening to comprehensible German. I like listening to audiobooks coupled with texts. As of this moment I am 23% fluent in German
.
Also
Deutsche Welle Learn German provides some nice easy lessons and listening practice. I also German ANKI deck for fast reviews (I make a special study deck and go through them at my pace).
What I will not be doing this time around is using LWT. I will continue using it for Ancient Greek because I have so much time invested in building Ancient Greek vocabulary with it, but otherwise I am burned out on the LingQ/LWT/Readlang method. I'm tired of all that clicking.
I look forward to digging into the many resources you all in this group have suggested.
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson