learning to speak German???

Question

I am a military wife and we are currently stationed in Germany... we will be here untill 2011 and i would love to learn the language so that i can be respectful to thier culture. i also believe it would be great if my daughter could learn it from me as well as she gets older. however, the reason i havent paid for the online classes yet is because i have a two year old that needs lots of my time. i would only have maybe an hour a day free to do any online learning.... so.. my question is this.. has anyone learned german as a second language? how hard is it to pick up? how long does it usually take before you can communicate well based on about an hour a day lessons? i know that it just depends on me and i usually pick things up quickly... any tips for suggestions to help me out? or any websites that i can learn from for free? thanks to all of you

Answer 1

I've heard that it is pretty hard. But i have taken french and they say french is about as hard as german. And it wasn't terrible. ^_^

If i were you i'd get one of those Rosetta Stone lesson kits or any one that has a dictionary, a verb book, and a gramar book and use it as you can on your computer. I wouldn't recomend online translators because they are wrong all the time!

As for time, 20 minutes a day is best for a language because you can only absorb so much at a time. or 2 20min. incraments.

Learn some good basic words and phrases "bathroom, friend, help, where is?" and start using them to talk in very basic terms with those around you so you get used to speaking the language ^_^ You'll remember it easier this way too because you will be using what you learn. Be sure to learn "i only speak a little German" and "please slow down" because native speakers speak too fast to understand at first.

Also, see if you cant find a friend there who's first language is German to help you with pronunciation. Getting the pronunciation down is the hardest part of any language.

I wish you lots of luck!! <3

email me if you have any questions

Answer 2

Learn with your daughter. Watch tv with her in German, read German books to her. Try to find some German friends. And if you can add an hour a day of studying, that's fantastic! I might suggest a CD instead of online, could be more flexible (but I don't know exactly how online lessons work).

If you really study for an hour a day, I think you'll be communicating in real-life situations within the year. (Although I suppose at a military base you have less real-life German than I do.) And from there your learning should really take off.

Answer 3

Hello! I'm a beginner in German too... just picked it up 13 weeks ago. German is my third language (as a foreign language), in addition to English and Chinese (my first language and my mother tongue respectively).

In my opinion, I feel that one's progress in a foreign language depends very much on his or her cultural background. If you are European or speak a language similar to German (like English, French, Italian, Spanish etc), you would find it easier to learn German. Passion and persistence play an important role too - a talent in mastering languages is an advantage, but without hard work and effort, one will never get far in German. A hour a day set aside for German is a good idea - if you learn it from a native teacher (plus consistent effort), I think it's possible to master it in 3 years. It may take longer if you are learning by yourself, so if you really have the time, do hire a native teacher to teach you :)

I am currently learning German on my own with Deutsche Welle's free online German course "Warum Nicht", but I will be taking the placement test in one month's time and hopefully I can enrol in my university's German language classes next semester. Deutsche Welle's German course is targeted at Levels A1 to B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, so if you are interested, feel free to check out the links I have provided below.

Answer 4

Gueck mal hier !! Einige erster Augaben für dich ! Ohne kosten ! Nicht weit ausser der Kaserne steht ein ganz grosses Spracheslabortoire !

I took one semester of German in my final year in colllege and found it so interesting that I took a second semester after that at an entirely different college, so I ended up with 2 semesters that were not coordinated,taught by different professors (both very good) but I loved it practiced it and was not far from German speaking radio programs.So as I bragged to my cousin in Bielefeld last year I studied it for only one year but have been speaking it incorrectly for 40 years. Right now Germany is very conducive to Americans learning German since there is an official program in effect to compel all foreigners to speak only German (aimed mainly at the Turks !) After 2 weeks in Germany I found myself actually tired of speaking German which never had happened to me before. I very often grew tired of speaking exclusively French when I had to do it for 2 years.

Far fewer Germans today speak English than has been the case over the last 50 years. DDR is no more they are in the West now they never learned English,The AMI's are pretty much gone (except for you) so they do not get as much practice nor do they have the need to practice like in the past. English is still a desirable language but want ads in Paris, London for work abroad insist on German fluency.

Answer 5

I have been taking Deutsch course on Goethe Institut. Out from the 6 languages I know, Deutsch has many rules, and it is considered as the more difficult language for me.

However, considering that you are in Germany itself, it might be easier for you to pick up.

But I wouldn't recommend you just to pick up from free online sites. You can pickup the phrases, but since you are staying there till 2011, might as well you learn the whole language itself.

However there are some sites that I always use for checking grammar and vocabularies:

http://www.ielanguages.com/German.html for quick check on Deutsch grammar

http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ for online dictionary

http://www.livemocha.com/ for free online lessons, this one is good, it pounds everything into your mind, and you just can't forget about it. Some of the spanish phrases I learnt from this site, can't be taken out of my mind for the rest of my life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/lj/ for step by step German phrases. Only good for some phrases

Since you are in Germany, I don't think you need any podcast, just talk to the native speakers.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

If you decided to learn german, you can contact me by messenger to practice, if you want

Answer 8

the Pimsluer cd's will teach you even if you don't pay attention,And they will get you thinking in German.

Answer 9

http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/