2020 - C1 in German by june

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tungemål
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Thu Feb 06, 2020 8:59 pm

Ok, I watched another episode of Tatort. It is hard to follow, but afterall I find these crime series hard to follow also in my own language. I try it another way: I watch 10 minutes with german subtitles, making sure I understand everything, and then I watch the same 10 minutes without subtitles, concentrating on listening. It should improve my listening skills.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby gsbod » Thu Feb 06, 2020 9:13 pm

Regarding Tatort, because the series is made up of individual episodes concerning different crime teams in different parts of the German speaking countries, including, at times, local dialects, some episodes are much easier to understand than others. For some reason I found the Bremen Tatorts (Lürsen and Stedefreund) among the easiest to follow. At the other extreme, I still need subtitles for the Viennese Tatort.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Thu Feb 06, 2020 9:23 pm

gsbod wrote:Regarding Tatort, because the series is made up of individual episodes concerning different crime teams in different parts of the German speaking countries, including, at times, local dialects, some episodes are much easier to understand than others. For some reason I found the Bremen Tatorts (Lürsen and Stedefreund) among the easiest to follow. At the other extreme, I still need subtitles for the Viennese Tatort.


Ok thanks for the tip, I'll pass on the Viennese team for now. I've watched two episodes from Dresden, and I find Peter Schnabel hard to understand, allthough I don't really think he speaks dialect.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:40 pm

I ordered and just received a German grammar book: "B Grammatik" from the Schubert Verlag. This is to perfect my grammar, so I think I will read through it cover to cover, and do exercises on those parts that I am not confident in.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:25 pm

Inspired by slowmoon I took this test of passive vocabulary:
https://www.itt-leipzig.de/

Test of the 5000 most common German words. Result:
93%, 140 of 150 correct, in 20 minutes. All 5 levels passed, so that means a reading level of B2.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:45 pm

I have been working on my German connectors, inspired by Anthony Lauders idea, that is phrases that functions as "language glue" to keep the conversation flowing. (maybe "lubricant" is a better metaphor?)

One thing I have been doing for some time, is notating phrases that I come across, and not only words. Many of these phrases are this kind of useful connectors. Translation is not recommended, as these phrases are very specific to each language. A mere translation can sound unnatural. Notwithstanding, I searched for these phrases using Google Translate, and Context Reverso, and found the equivalent phrases in German. Mostly I found phrases that I have heard before / have a passive understanding of.

There is also the fact that phrases like these are more common in some languages where they are very talkative (Bristish English?) and less common in others where they tend to be more terse (Finnish, Japanese?)

Should be used with caution. Or I will end up, instead of answering "yes", with this:
"Um die Wahrheit zu sagen, darüber habe ich noch nicht nachgedacht, aber meiner Ansicht nach, könnte man es so auch ausdrücken. Mit anderen Worten, diese Einschätzung teile ich voll und ganz." :D
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:35 pm

I watched the animation movie about the polyglot Georg Sauerwein, a german who lived in the 19th century, learned 75 languages and fought for the rights of minority languages. Very interesting. In the film you will hear German, but also English, Italian, Romanian, Sorbian, Lithuanian, and Norwegian.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Feb 16, 2020 6:47 pm

tungemål wrote:I have been working on my German connectors, inspired by Anthony Lauders idea, that is phrases that functions as "language glue" to keep the conversation flowing. (maybe "lubricant" is a better metaphor?)

One thing I have been doing for some time, is notating phrases that I come across, and not only words. Many of these phrases are this kind of useful connectors.
I watched a short video about Jodie Foster's french skills the other day. The presenter was very impressed that she added 'quoi' to the end of her sentences. This is apparently a very french thing to do.
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby Kraut » Sun Feb 16, 2020 8:04 pm

DaveAgain wrote:
tungemål wrote:I have been working on my German connectors, inspired by Anthony Lauders idea, that is phrases that functions as "language glue" to keep the conversation flowing. (maybe "lubricant" is a better metaphor?)

One thing I have been doing for some time, is notating phrases that I come across, and not only words. Many of these phrases are this kind of useful connectors.
I watched a short video about Jodie Foster's french skills the other day. The presenter was very impressed that she added 'quoi' to the end of her sentences. This is apparently a very french thing to do.


Haha, at 1:44 she says "du meme facon que moi"
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Re: 2020 - Advancing in German

Postby tungemål » Wed Feb 19, 2020 3:07 pm

I am thinking about doing the Goethe exam in june. I mostly learn German for fun, but an exam would be a nice goal to work toward. It could also be useful professionally for me to have the Zertifikat. I find that German is useful to know, so that makes me want to do an effort to improve my skills, and an end date is good to have.

The question is, what Zertifikat? B2, C1, or C2? I am leaning towards C1, as I don't think I could pass the C2 test, and C1 is already proof of an advanced level. It would be a spur to extra effort in all areas of the language.

I know that I need to work on my speaking skills as they are definitely not C1 yet. I find writing easier to do than speaking, and I think my reading and listening skills could be at a C1 level or almost there.
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