German group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
gsbod
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Re: German group

Postby gsbod » Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:07 pm

aokoye wrote:Honestly my real advice would be to go to Dussmann, take the books to a table and look at them (maybe two at a time), and then choose which one has the sort of exercises and texts you think will be most useful to you.


Your post came a little late, but that is exactly what I did! I went for both Erkundungen and Entscheidungen in the end. Entscheidungen alone doesn't have everything I need, but it does have some stuff I really do need which wouldn't be covered by a more general textbook, so the two should be complementary. The Schubert Verlag books aren't so great for listening comprehension, but then again I couldn't find any other textbooks with the audio included, and for reading/grammar/vocab they do the job well. For listening there's always the free Deutsche Welle stuff anyway.

I picked up the Übungsgrammatik für die Oberstufe earlier during my trip and couldn't find any more grammar books today that looked like they'd go beyond what I already own. Some of the Hueber Deutsch Üben workbooks looked useful but they seem very expensive for what they are, so I didn't go for them this time.
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Peluche
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Re: German group

Postby Peluche » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:17 pm

gsbod wrote:A question for some of the more advanced German learners here:

I am planning one more visit to Dussmann to stock up on German goodies before I leave Berlin at the end of this week - in particular C1 oriented materials.


Are there any other bookstores to visit in Berlin?
Also used book stores?
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Brun Ugle
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Re: German group

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:32 pm

Gemuse wrote:
gsbod wrote:A question for some of the more advanced German learners here:

I am planning one more visit to Dussmann to stock up on German goodies before I leave Berlin at the end of this week - in particular C1 oriented materials.


Are there any other bookstores to visit in Berlin?
Also used book stores?

Café Tasso (Frankfurter Allee 11) is a good used bookstore, but Zenmonkey was just there and said the language section didn't have much right now. You could probably get lots of nice German books though. He apparently had better luck at Antiquariat ad libitum (Schenkendorfstr 8), judging from his Twitter feed. But who knows if there's anything left after he's been through. :)
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Peluche
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Re: German group

Postby Peluche » Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:23 pm

Brun Ugle wrote:Café Tasso (Frankfurter Allee 11) is a good used bookstore, but Zenmonkey was just there and said the language section didn't have much right now. You could probably get lots of nice German books though. He apparently had better luck at Antiquariat ad libitum (Schenkendorfstr 8), judging from his Twitter feed. But who knows if there's anything left after he's been through. :)


Is Schenkendorfstr 8 the right address?

I typed Antiquariat ad libitum and got http://www.berliner-antiquariate.de/anb ... Ad-Libitum

I was at Dussman yesterday. So many books. So many. :shock: :geek:
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Brun Ugle
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Re: German group

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:40 pm

Gemuse wrote:
Brun Ugle wrote:Café Tasso (Frankfurter Allee 11) is a good used bookstore, but Zenmonkey was just there and said the language section didn't have much right now. You could probably get lots of nice German books though. He apparently had better luck at Antiquariat ad libitum (Schenkendorfstr 8), judging from his Twitter feed. But who knows if there's anything left after he's been through. :)


Is Schenkendorfstr 8 the right address?

I typed Antiquariat ad libitum and got http://www.berliner-antiquariate.de/anb ... Ad-Libitum

I was at Dussman yesterday. So many books. So many. :shock: :geek:

I don't know. I just copied it from the picture Zenmonkey posted on Twitter. I haven't been there myself. I've been to both Dussmann and Café Tasso though, and can recommend them both.
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gsbod
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Re: German group

Postby gsbod » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:33 pm

If you are after reading material (rather than textbooks etc) then there are plenty of cheap used paperbacks to be found in the flea markets all over the city.
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gsbod
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Re: German group

Postby gsbod » Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:58 pm

For people looking for non fiction listening and reading material, the Funkkolleg from HR Info could be of interest. Every year there is a series of programmes on a given theme, made available on podcast, with additional materials published online and even a book. The website for the Funkkolleg is here: http://www.hr-inforadio.de/programm/funkkolleg/index.html.

I have been listening to the podcasts from last year on the theme of Sicherheit which I have found very interesting.
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: German group

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sat Nov 11, 2017 8:56 pm

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=60

I 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 :roll: .
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. :)
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: German group

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri Dec 08, 2017 7:22 pm

A review of the World War 2 movie from the point of view of German soldiers, The Adventures of Werner Holt. Black and white suits this stark, jarring and unsparing look at the closing days of the Second World War in Europe. Following two friends from high school who join the German army together, train together and serve together in an anti-aircraft unit on the Russian Front, the film shows us a growing reluctance to fight the war among some of the soldiers. Released in 1965 in East Germany, the movie has accomplished actors and credible action scenes. Occasionally the script goes astray and left me puzzled about certain actions, especially at the very end. The films attempts to be realistic, so there are some scenes of carnage, though they are kept to a bare minimum. The English subtitles and, so far as my limited understanding of the German allows, are accurate, if not always literal. I understood the whole movie, but only at most 10% of the German dialogue. Original title Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt, Director Joachim Kunert, running time 164 fast-paced minutes. Borrowed from the local library.

By the way, looking up the movie on IMDB dot com, the actors' filmographies leads to good leads for other German movies and TV shows (though rather dated).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057816/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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Re: German group

Postby Speakeasy » Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:01 am

MorkTheFiddle wrote:A review of the World War 2 movie from the point of view of German soldiers ... the film shows us a growing reluctance to fight the war among some of the soldiers. Released in 1965 in East Germany ...
Thank you very much for the link and for your thoughtful review. I am looking forward to watching the movie!

I have no difficulty believing that some soldiers were reluctant to pursue the war, this occurs in all armed conflicts and, in this particular case, one merely has to think of the regime for which they had been called to arms. Still, if I recall correctly, when this film hit the screens, the East German regime had recently completed a "major infrastructure project" in Berlin, nicht wahr?
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