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Learn German Online

Admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:33:26 +0000

Learning a new language is often considered a costly task and people spend tons of money on buying books, courses, taking daily German lessons or paying for audio tapes, video lessons and so forth. Now, there’s an alternative to all of this: free language lessons online.
Not all languages can be learnt online. It depends on what you’re trying to learn and what your mother tongue is or what other languages you’re already familiar with. For example, learning Chinese online won’t be as easy as learning German through the same methods. Chinese requires more careful assimilation of grammar rules, vocabulary and learning steps whereas German can be learn more “freely” (and I’m not talking just about the financial costs). If you’re reading this, you’re either at least moderately familiar with English, or English is your mother tongue and this is a good starting point to learn German online, since there are a lot of connections that can be made between the two languages.
With German becoming an increasingly important language on the international stage, more and more people leave their course books behind and seek out websites that can offer free language lessons online. They’re faster, more convenient, you can go through them from the comfort of your own home and most importantly, they are much easier to assimilate, since an online lesson, unlike a course book for example, can combine visual and audio elements to make your learning process faster. In the past, this was not possible as websites were pretty blunt back then, they were just “clones” of course books with text, text and more text.
With the increased interactivity offered by many language learning sites out there, you can take online quizzes, play language games on the Internet, or on some sites, take audio/video lessons like you would from an audio or video tape. Forget about wasting time going to your local store, buying the tape, buying a good stereo and a set of headphones – now you have all these bundled up for free on the Internet. Technology is a blast, isn’t it?
Many websites (such as Internet Polyglot for example) offer a wide variety of methods to learn German, ranging from standard basic-to-advanced lessons, to word memorization games, text-video quizzes (like the ones that have you attach a specific word to a specific image – sort of like an interactive flashcard game) and so forth. Using games to increase German vocabulary or strengthen your grammar rules is also a solid option. Although many consider these games “childish”, they’re actually quite important and efficient, since you’re learning while having fun and we all know that this is a major boost to assimilating new words naturally.
One good tip would be to try and find quizzes and games that don’t simply use words. Sure, you can easily memorize a few words each day, but they won’t be “printed” in your memory as strongly as if you would have something visual attached to them. Our brain holds visual images much longer in our memory than simple strings of characters and words, so it’s a good idea to associate a picture to each word. When learning German, it’s even easier to do this since German has a lot of cognates with English (words that look or sound alike in the two languages and that share a common meaning) so you can stamp the English word instead of a visual image to the new word.
However, watch out for false cognates as they can be quite misleading. False cognates are words that sound or look alike in both languages, but their meaning is completely different, so if you don’t learn to spot them, you could be using words in completely inappropriate contexts. Fortunately, the list of false cognates is not that high between English and German, but it’s still a good idea to learn these exceptions by hard.
I’ll leave it to you to find the right websites for learning German online, but know that you shouldn’t just settle for the first one you find. Try learning from two sources and go through several websites before settling in on these two. In most cases, this will offer you a more complete coverage of the German language.

Are We There Yet? 3 Easy Tips to Keep You Motivated to Learn German Fluently

Admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:32:59 +0000

Move me momma! Just to jump right in and say it like it is. We all know that there are many different types of motivation, but the type that we are concerned with is intrinsic verses extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation refers to the desire to do something that pleases you and makes you pat yourself on the back. Most studies have shown it to be much more effective in long-term language learning than extrinsic motivation (for an external reward such as impressing the boss or your peers). Unfortunately, most of us are not lucky enough to hire a personal pep squad or self-improvement coach to keep us motivated. Yup, you are going to have to find the power within yourself. It seems that to become fluent in German will take time and perseverance, so how can you stay motivated?

1. Fraternal Twins Separated At Birth

Yes, the process of learning German can be very stressful but keep in mind the cool thing about German is that modern German and modern English both originated from the common Germanic ancestor language and despite their distinct differences, the two languages share many similarities in both vocabulary and grammar. Also, German is spelled phonetically. This means that once you learn the system of sounds, it is easy to predict how the spoken word is written and how the written word is pronounced. Know your German ABCs and you will be better equipped to learn to speak German quickly.

2. Oktoberfest Anyone?

If your ultimate goal is to learn to speak German fluently, then it is important to know that you will become more fluent quickly if you maximize your language exposure. You can start by simply practicing the language with a classmate outside of class. You can befriend native speakers in your community or attend a local foreign language conversation hour, if one exists. Rent a German DVD, or listen to authentic German audio or video online. Or you could attend your local Oktoberfest or plan a trip to attend the world famous Munich Oktoberfest. The first the first Oktoberfest was held on October 12, 1810 and lasted 6 days. The festivities were in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig’s marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. In Munich the “die Wiesen” (as the locals call it) starts around late September and lasts for sixteen days up to the first Sunday in October. The festival is a vibrant venue where you can eat sauerkraut, drink German beer, practice your German and expose yourself to Bavarian culture.

3. The Gift Of The Gab

Whenever possible, speak German aloud rather than reciting it silently to yourself. Say vocabulary words out loud, read passages in the text aloud, and do pronunciation activities orally. Transferring language from your mind to your mouth is a skill that requires a great deal of practice. And you should practice German actively frequently.

The process of learning German can be very stressful, and the impact of your own positive or negative attitudes can be critical to your learning. Self-motivation is the key to staying on track and achieving fluency. Because German and English have similarities, you have a head start when learning German. Ultimately, to learn to speak German online or otherwise is all about you. Therefore, you must play an active role in your learning by jumping at the opportunities to speak, listen and comprehend German. You’ll meet new people, make new friends and most importantly, learn German fluently.

The Idea of Learning the German Language

Admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:33:23 +0000

Nowadays there are more than 100 million people who speak German as their native. German is mostly the official language of many countries like Germany,Austria and Liechtenstein. It is also considered as one of the four languages of Switzerland. We can also come across these German speaking people in various European Countries. There are many links in the net to expertise German language . One can become expert in german grammer by following the steps in such links. It is not at all that hard to learn the language

German is spreaded over many parts of the globe by emigrants. We can come across such people speaking German in Canada,USA,South America , South Africa, and Australia. Rhis can be proved by the fact that a survey conducted across the globe reveals that every tenth book published across the world is in German language

In the beginning for any English speaking people ,the pronunciation of the words may sound difficult due to the consonant clusters in the words. BUt it has been proved that if we practise German regularly we can improve our pronunciation and develop good knowledge over the subject.

For eg if you look at these words Bett is bed and Braun is brown.

These two words have almost the same spelling, Though the pronunciation is different, the German and English languages came from the same language structure. There are words which have translation from German to English and some words have not even been translated at all. These words are still used today by English speaking people around the world.

This just proves that the idea of learning the German language is possible. Even the idea of memorizing the complete language can happen no matter what age you are right now. You read it right; you can learn the German language anytime. Children are not the only ones who can learn and memorize a completely strange language. Although it may not be entirely too easy for adults to learn compared to children, the brain works completely the same.

Online sources for learning different languages are popular nowadays but you don’t want to spend your money on inaccurate software learning programs issued today by many language-learning websites. Before you join the club of learning German enthusiasts, get as many information as you can regarding the software program.

Why Learn German?

Admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:37:06 +0000

Here’s another one. Bett is bed and Braun is brown.

Do these words have almost the same spelling? Yes they do. Although different in pronunciation, the German and English languages came from the same language lineage. There are words which have translation from German to English and some words have not even been translated at all. These words are still used today by English speaking people around the world.

Another reason why learning German is easy it’s because in memorization, different methods can be used. You can use a CD to learn German lessons while you jog or cook dinner. You may also watch German movies and listen to the dialogue and take down notes of the words you don’t understand. But of course, in learning your main lessons, you can memorize the words easily by linking the words together in one image or situation.

A man rises up early every morning. His dog wakes him up everyday and to return the favor, he gives his dog spinach bone as he tells the dog to “spin it” to give the dog an idea that the treat is for him. Did you spot the words? In the example given above, we used the word spinach from the English language and linked it within the same situation to the German word Spinat by putting in the phrase “spin it” for easier recognition. Go ahead, try another one, pick a word and picture them in one idea. You’ll see how easy for you to remember it.

Learn other German words by visiting the site http://learn-german-program. com.

How To Learn German The Easy Way

Admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:44:02 +0000

I’m so tired of people crying out that “learning German is so hard and so time consuming” you basically hear those guys and girls everywhere on the Internet and you have to wonder: what the heck are they doing wrong? German is one of the easiest languages to learn if you are already familiar with English and if you’re reading this, I’m pretty sure you are at least moderately familiar with it, otherwise this is just a random string of characters to you and you don’t know what on Earth I’m talking about anyway.
The German and English languages have a lot in common, due to the fact that they share the same Anglo-Saxon language base. Grammar rules are almost the same, they have many look-alike words and although German may seem a bit “rougher”, with more focus on consonants, that barrier can be easily overcome after a few language lessons. If English is your mother tongue, ironically, it will be slightly harder to get a good grip on learning German, since all your grammar rules are natural and have never really been “learnt”, but rather acquired through practice. Someone that has learnt English as a second language, will find it a lot easier to learn German afterwards (or vice versa) since these basic rules have already been assimilated the hard way.
The trick to making the German language learning process easy is to keep everything simple and fun. Yes, those two ingredients, simple and fun, make a great language learning soup. Start out slow even if you’re an adult, start out with “children techniques”. Learn the basic words, numbers, colors, months, days and so forth and familiarize yourself with the writing style, pronunciation and try to find links between these words and their English counterparts (what does the “Montag” day of the week look similar to in English? Etc). The natural progression in any language learning process is to get the grip on some grammar rules after you’ve accustomed yourself with the language through the basic words. Like I said above, this will be easy for an English speaker.
Next up, work on increasing vocabulary in German. Use language games, flashcards, mnemonics and everything in between that can stick a word to a picture. The word-picture combination is a great way to memorize words as they will be absorbed faster by your brain, they’re fun and most importantly, your brain will hardly forget the picture, leaving you with a sidewalk to the word in case you forget it.
One last thing worth noting: this is a general tip but it applies great to learning German. Don’t forget to revise what you’ve learnt, otherwise you will just assimilate new stuff and forget a good part of what you learnt earlier. If possible, try to expand what you learned earlier and not go for a different subject (for example, if you just learn the basic words in the “vegetables” field, try working your way from there to the “kitchen” or “farming” fields so you’ll still use the words you assimilated earlier). Make sure you don’t over-revise either. It won’t hurt, but you will lose precious time for nothing and that time is better spent to improve vocabulary, focus on the grammar or working on pronunciation and spelling.
I’ve seen some disputes as to whether or not “natural language learning” is beneficial or not. It involves learning a language through direct contact with it, instead of taking it step by step. For example, watching a TV show in German, reading a book in German or simply hearing two people speak the language is considered natural learning. The advantage of natural learning is that you can easily grasp new words out of the context. If you understand 70% of what a person is saying, you’ll be able to decipher the other 30% and what those particular words mean by a natural deduction. This is a great way to add words to your vocabulary and if you can’t get a new word out of the context, or you’re not sure what it means, simply write it down and check the dictionary for it later.
The disadvantage of this method is related mostly to TV shows, audio tapes and so forth (less with books and magazines): sometimes the speakers will talk a German dialect or they’ll talk with an accent, making it very hard for you to learn anything constructive from them. That’s why you should always choose the shows or audio tapes that feature someone talking “clean” German as much as possible.

Learning German as a Second Language

Admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:36:13 +0000

If you have thought about picking up a second language, you are on the right track. There are many reasons to do this. Because of the many people that come into the United States there is a big call for translators. There are areas of the U. S. where there are large German communities.
The health field often needs people who can speak other languages. Learning German is easier than ever with all of the different options that you have to learn. There are online courses, tapes, courses that you can buy, or even books that you can read.
You need to choose what the best is way for you to learn to speak German. Learning German can be made easier if you know what type of a learner you are. Do you do better with visual learning, vocal learning, or would you be better in a classroom? Look at what classes you did best at in school, and think about how you learned in them.
Some people need hands on learning. Some people comprehend better by reading and reciting information. Others do better by listening and repeating. German can be an easy language to learn for many people. Learning German is a good idea if you plan to visit Germany. It is a beautiful language when spoken properly.
If you want to work for the government in a homeland security position, it is often required to know certain languages. Police departments like to have translators available in case they have to deal with someone that speaks a foreign language. If you are in the military, and will be stationed in Germany, that would be a good reason to learn to speak German. You will want to know the language to communicate in everyday life.
It’s surprising to know that German is a much more wider spoken language than you may think as several countries and regions in the world have German as their primary language.
Switzerland is one are of Europe that has a large German-speaking population, as many residents of the major cities such as Geneva and Berne for example are host to substantial native Swiss German-speaking populations.
Whatever your reasons, you can learn German. Check out the different programs available and choose the one that best suits you, learning a foreign language can be both rewarding and fun, giving you a very useful addition to your armoury.

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The Key To Efficient Language Learning – Words + Sounds

Admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:56:36 +0000

First of all, this article is meant to emphasize on the importance of the words + sounds combination when learning a new language. This does not mean that the third factor that often comes into play, images, is not important. Actually, images are extremely important in any language learning process, especially in the beginning when you’re trying to form a basic vocabulary.

But if you want to become a complete polyglot, speaking your secondary languages fluently and learning them efficiently, it’s the sound + word combination that comes in most handy. Think about it – what good does it do if you know a language “on paper” and you can understand something read of spoken in that language, but can’t speak it yourself? After all, the essence of learning a secondary language is achieving BOTH the understanding and making yourself understood parts.

Oftentimes, making yourself understood is a lot harder than understanding a language. There are a lot of people out there that state they “know” a language, but they can’t speak it. That’s because they only learnt using words and not sounds as well.

So let’s assume you’re just starting to learn German as a secondary language. As soon as possible (meaning from your first few lessons), start pronouncing the words you read and memorize. Say them out loud a few times and read them so you can hear your self. Of course, you won’t get them right at first and it’s normal. But at least you have a chance to see how your mind expresses that word in sounds. You may wonder why I consider this so important. Well wherever you live, you must have at least one foreign neighbor with a clumsy accent. The reason they have this clumsy accent is that they learn the language using the rules and pronunciation barriers of their own mother tongue.

In order to defeat this problem, you need to try and set aside your natural pronunciation rules when learning a new language. Try and memorize words after hearing them as well as reading them (language learning online is best for this scope since there are many interactive websites that offer audio covering to their text) since this will allow you to learn both their correct pronunciation and spelling. Our brain is also more used to picking up new words “heard” than read (as children, we build up most of our vocabulary through hearing). At this point, if you can also combine the word with an image – you can be sure that word is never coming out of your vocabulary and out of your memory.

Ok, this might be the perfect language learning pattern, but it’s not always that easy to get to hear the words in the first place. Most language courses and online language lessons will simply throw you a list of common words in the language you’re studying and tell you to memorize them robotically, without an additional image or audio extension. Try to avoid these websites and look for something interactive, something that gives you the written list AND the ability to hear them being pronounced. I found several websites that do this and although they’re great to use, they are only available for a few major languages.

By the way, one common mistake when learning words through the sound + word system is becoming satisfied with half-measures. For example, you try pronouncing a word and it doesn’t come out quite as how the audio source sounds and you say “it’s ok, I’ll perfect it over time”. You won’t, or at least not for all the half-measure words you’ve learnt. Try to get them to sound as closely as possible to the native speaker, since if these words get “printed” to your brain with a wrong pronunciation format, chances are it will be very hard for you to correct them later.

So if you intend to learn a foreign language with the purpose of making yourself understood, not only understanding what others say, learn not to think in your own native language! Some call this the “parrot method” since it simply involves copying what others say, mindlessly, just like a parrot.

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Do Language Learning Audio Tapes Really Work?

Admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:56:40 +0000

The audio tape language learning technique took a boost in popularity in the early 90s, when it was considered one of the most prolific learning methods of those times. As with all things that grow too popular for their own good, competition tried to take advantage and turn this popularity into something negative, stating that they can teach you the language better and faster than “those stereotypical, boring, inefficient audio tapes”. Slowly, their fame went down and people started wondering if they actually work, after hearing how numerous competitors in the language learning market can do better and how they can do it faster. This article will try to shed some light on this subject and answer the question as to whether audio language learning tapes really work or not.

Most language learning specialists will agree that reading and listening are two extremely important factors for getting the basics and for improving the vocabulary of any given foreign language. Although reading sources are extremely easy to find (in local libraries, on the Internet, etc) listening ones aren’t. Audio language learning tapes and the country’s media culture are pretty much the only things that offer you something to listen to (and if that particular country’s media culture is not very developed or it lacks completely, audio tapes are all you have left).

No one can really decide on which of the two methods, reading or listening, is better for learning a new language. Reading has the advantage of allowing you to memorize words quicker and for longer periods of time (cause visual memory is more powerful than audio memory) but then again you only have a rough idea on how to pronounce these new words. Audio tapes on the other hand, provide a good way to get your pronunciation skills up and running and also have the advantage of getting you familiar with using the foreign language in an actual conversation.

Truth be told, the best audio language learning tapes come together with reading material that complement what you hear. Some come with exact transcriptions of the audio, so you can read through while you’re hearing things (helping you understand and memorize what the tape is saying better) while others provide translations of the stuff said on tape, which allows you to compare words, grammar rules, etc. If you have a choice, I would recommend getting an audio tape that has an exact transcription attached to it, since this helps a lot in attaining a powerful vocabulary and in learning how to pronounce words correctly.

So to answer the question, do language learning audio tapes really work? Yes they do, provided they have a decent quality and they take the learning process up gradually. Despite the slight fall in popularity, audio tapes remain one of the main language learning methods and if you’ve considered starting a new language at home, an audio tape might be the thing for you. Please note that you can order or download several such audio language learning recordings over the internet.

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Basic, Intermediate And Advanced Language Learning

Admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:56:39 +0000

Most courses or free online language lessons focus on splitting the learning process into these three categories: basic, intermediate and advanced. But how exactly do you know what category you’re part of at a given moment?

Basic Language Learning

Basic language learning usually consists of getting a solid grip on the base 1000 words of a language. Statistically, most languages use 1,000 words to cover colloquial conversations. Yes, I know it sounds like a small sum of words, since that dictionary on the shelf covers hundreds of thousands of words. If you really don’t believe this and have the time on your hands, compile a list of all the basic words in your native language. Stuff like fruit names, mammals, daily tools, furniture, so forth. No specialized words of course. You’ll notice that it won’t take more than 1,000-1,500 words to cover them, but then again you’ll probably run out of inspiration halfways.

Fortunately, there are books out there that cover these basic 1,000 words for most languages. Just search some free language lessons websites on the Internet, or spend some money and buy these books because they’ll be very helpful. Ok so now you have the list of basic words. But how do you get them from that piece of paper, in your head?

Many will recommend the “phonebook” approach, which would require you to take each word in the list, repeat it a few times in your mind, and then move on to the next. The only problem with this approach is that it sucks. Badly! By the time you’ve covered one quarter of the list of words, you will already forget the first ones you’ve learnt. A way to work around this problem is to take the words in smaller chunks (say 10-20) and put them in a context. Learn the word, say it out loud a few times, see what it means and try to find a context for it.

When you’ve reached 20 words, revise what you’ve learnt and then move on to a new batch. In my experience, this is one of the most efficient ways to improve vocabulary and when you’re done with the basic 1,000 words and a few equally basic structures using them, you can move on to the Intermediate language learning level.

Intermediate Language Learning

Once you’re done with the basics, the next step is understanding what others say. Reading and listening are your friends. Don’t start with hard stuff, obviously; don’t go about reading a newspaper or a magazine in French, when you just barely learnt the base words and some of the easy structures. Try some light stuff at first, some course book texts for beginners, some non-technical articles on the Internet or some translated text. They usually work well, until you can pass on to the harder stuff like newspapers, technical or specialized magazines and even books.

You can also listen to audio tapes or try to figure out what the actors in a foreign movie are saying. This will help you increase your vocabulary even further, familiarize you with the colloquial way of speaking that language and also provide a natural ingredient to the learning process, since so far what you’ve done has been slightly robotic.

Advanced Language Learning

If you’ve reached this stage, you’re most definitely on your way to fluently speaking the language you’ve set out learning. If you can understand most of what’s written in a newspaper, article or book and if you can understand what someone else is saying in that particular language (be it a conversation buddy, a foreigner or an actor on TV) then you can move on to using advanced techniques that will perfect your speech, writing and understanding.

Remember how you’ve learnt 1,000 words in the basic part of your studies? Well by the time you finish the Intermediate part and are able to understand the language properly, you will have most likely increased your word base to 3,000 which makes up for over 90% of normal speech used in almost any language.

So now it’s time to put what you’ve learnt to the test and chisel the new language until you can say that you’re truly fluent in it. Try a conversation with a native, or even better, visit the country of origin for your language. Being in that environment will put your so far theoretical skills to the test and it will be the perfect opportunity to correct all the small mistakes that you’re bound to still stumble upon.

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