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.
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jonm
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9402
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Re: German group

Postby jonm » Mon Jun 17, 2019 10:27 pm

EthanH wrote:Hello everyone! I've been studying German now for about a month and thought I'd drop by and join the club. At the moment I am using Assimil and Anki but in need of another book to pair with it but am a little lost on what to choose, I guess I'll browse and ask around the forum. Cheers!

Hi Ethan, for reading I really like the Dino Lernt Deutsch series by André Klein. Here's what I wrote about them in a log entry:

The protagonist is a young man from Sicily who kind of improvises his way around Germany. The series is lighthearted and entertaining and full of quirky details that feel authentic. For example, when you first meet Dino, he's in Berlin, sharing a flat with fellow international students. Everyone gets along well, but the place is a mess. No one cooks, but the sink is somehow always full of dirty dishes, and people swipe from each other's shelves in the fridge rather than go grocery shopping. I feel like I've lived in that flat.

I find the stories so much more interesting than the usual beginner reader fare. And there are audiobook versions, well narrated by the author at what for me is a good speed. The production quality is good, and there are even sound effects.

It really makes a difference to have this whole series of (audio)books with engaging characters and storylines that's accessible almost as soon as you pick up the language.

I would say the first few books are A1, and gradually the series ramps up to A2. Harder vocabulary is all defined at the end of each chapter. I was very much a beginner when I started the series (pairing it with Assimil and Anki, same as you), and I found it very motivating to find I was able to understand and enjoy stories that held my interest.
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Kraut
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Re: German group

Postby Kraut » Sat Jun 22, 2019 9:26 pm

Fairy tale, subtitled and audio-described !!

KIKA Kanal

https://www.kika.de/sonntagsmaerchen/sendung113534.html

Prinz Himmelblau und Fee Lupine

Morgen Sonntag 23.6.

12:00 Uhr

Die Königin will, dass ihr Sohn Prinz Himmelblau eine hübsche, begüterte und unkomplizierte Prinzessin heiratet, ohne magische Kräfte. Doch der Prinz will seine Braut selbst aussuchen und reitet mit seinem Knappen Fred los. Er trifft auf die entzückende Fee Lupine, und sie verlieben sich ineinander. Die Königin beauftragt eine Hexe damit, diese Liebe zu verhindern. Durch einen Fluch erkennen Himmelblau und Lupine einander plötzlich nicht mehr.
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Kraut
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2599
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Languages: German (N)
French (C)
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Re: German group

Postby Kraut » Wed Jun 26, 2019 10:45 am

online discussion: only a tiny minority of Germans learn Chinese in school

Sprachunterricht: Warum deutsche Schüler und Studenten kein Chinesisch mehr lernen

https://www.spiegel.de/forum/lebenundle ... 841-1.html

Nur 5000 Schüler in Deutschland lernen Chinesisch. Nach einem vermeintlichen Boom stagniert die Zahl seit Jahren. Experten kritisieren: "Wir überlassen die Deutung alles Chinesischen den Chinesen."
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DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: German group

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Jun 28, 2019 7:07 am

EDIT
Is there an online grammar checker for german?

I've tried using languagetool.org, but it doesn't seem to look at word order.

(I'm doing some word order exercises, and I want to get an online tool to correct them, as the book doesn't include answers.)
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Doitsujin
Green Belt
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Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N)
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Re: German group

Postby Doitsujin » Fri Jun 28, 2019 12:45 pm

DaveAgain wrote:I've tried using languagetool.org, but it doesn't seem to look at word order.

As you probably already know, word order is more variable in German. I.e., just because your answer doesn't match the answer key, it isn't necessarily wrong.
Can you provide some examples of sentences that passed LanguageTool, but were syntactically wrong?
BTW, if you download the desktop version of LanguageTool, you can create your own rules.
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DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: German group

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Jun 28, 2019 12:58 pm

Doitsujin wrote:As you probably already know, word order is more variable in German. I.e., just because your answer doesn't match the answer key, it isn't necessarily wrong.
Can you provide some examples of sentences that passed LanguageTool, but were syntactically wrong?
BTW, if you download the desktop version of LanguageTool, you can create your own rules.
I don't know what word order would be right/wrong, the book does not have an answer key.

When languagetool.org was unable to find an error, I changed the word order, as a double-check, and that passed too.
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Doitsujin
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Re: German group

Postby Doitsujin » Fri Jun 28, 2019 3:11 pm

DaveAgain wrote:I don't know what word order would be right/wrong, the book does not have an answer key.

You could simply ask German LLORG members. :)
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Kat
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Languages: German (N), English (advanced), Dutch (intermediate)
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Re: German group

Postby Kat » Fri Jun 28, 2019 4:39 pm

Just a quick note: I tested languagetool.org with a couple of simple sentence variations:

Ich gehe morgen nach Hause. (correct German)
Morgen gehe ich nach Hause. (correct German)
Ich morgen gehe nach Hause. (incorrect )
Ich nach Hause morgen gehe. (incorrect)

Languagetool.org reported "No errors were found." each time. So please don't rely on this website, it definitely does not pick up on word order mistakes.
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Transcription challenge: 1. episode of De Ijzeren Eeuw (The Iron Century)
Minutes: 6 / 43

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1967
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Re: German group

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Jun 30, 2019 12:25 pm

Kat wrote:Just a quick note: I tested languagetool.org with a couple of simple sentence variations:

Ich gehe morgen nach Hause. (correct German)
Morgen gehe ich nach Hause. (correct German)
Ich morgen gehe nach Hause. (incorrect )
Ich nach Hause morgen gehe. (incorrect)

Languagetool.org reported "No errors were found." each time. So please don't rely on this website, it definitely does not pick up on word order mistakes.
I've been using deepl.com for this today. I come up with an appropriate english translation, and use Deepl.com's german as the model answer.

(Deepl.com offers multiple different answers, if you put the mouse pointer at the start of a word, it lists different options)
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DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1967
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: German group

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Jul 02, 2019 4:01 pm

I was reading an article about vocabulary size today that stressed the importance of some common verb prefixes.
On the basis of frequency patterns of prefix and particle verbs, this article argued that three prefixes, i.e., be-, er-, and ver- and four particles, i.e., an-, auf-, aus-, and ein- should be introduced and practiced explicitly in first-year German textbooks, including a discussion of how they modify the semantics, aspectual characteristics, and argument structure of the base verb.

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... icle_Verbs

So I did a web search on 'common german prefixes', which produced the Fluent U article below.

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/german/german-prefixes/

EDIT
Restricting the web search to .ac.uk produced the article below.

http://www.joycep.myweb.port.ac.uk/abin ... ap6-6.html
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