Help with German Prepositions?

Question

From learning German and then learning Japanese, Japanese is a lot easier than German...but anywho......

I need to get a good understand of German prepositions, which is what messes me up the most: auf, an, zu, von, aus, in, vor,.etc. Cuz I notice English prepositions are used totally differently than German prepositions. Like "Zum Beispiel" means "For Example" but "zu" means "to" but in this case it means "for" , but "fuer" could mean "for", and "von" could mean "from" or "of" and "aus" could meant "out" or "of" and "auf" can mean "of" and it's really confusing......x.x

Is there any good way I could get these German prepositions down?

Answer 1

There are two things I have learned as both a learner and teacher of European languages:
a) the shorter a word the longer its dictionary entry (i.e. the more difficult is it to fionbd a simple "meaning" or translation for the word)
b) translation is a wonderfuil skill, but a bad way to learn a language

I would say therefore in your case: Give up the idea of learning the "meaning" of functional words such as prepositions, let alone of translating the meaning they might have in English. Rather learn them in combination with the verbs they go with ("abhängen von = to depend on") or the nouns they can accompany ("zum Beispiel = for example"; "als Beispiel = as an example").

Remember: languages are not just heaps of words, but the sum of possible combinations of words. So we are not the slaves of words, but the masters of texts!

Answer 2

German is not the only language with confusing prepositions. English is even worse.
The use of in/on for example mystifies foreign language speakers. And as with English, German prepositions are mastered with experience and tenacity. Keep practicing.

Answer 3

i can't really think of a shortcut, unfortunately. u really need to memorise them along with the verb or expression (z.B. sich interessieren fuer, denken an + akk.) be vigilent in your studies and it'll eventually stick. viel glueck.

Answer 4

The way I remember the dative is, "Roses are red, Violets are blue, Aus Außer Bei Mit Nach Seit Von Zu". If you say it real fast, it rhymes.