2 Month Checkpoint

Hallo!

So today is the 2 Calendar Month checkpoint. I know I haven't posted in a considerable amount of time, so I have a lot to fill you in on.

Progress: I have been force-feeding myself vocab via several different methods:
1. Flashcards. I am up to about 500 flashcards with about 85-90% right each go around.
2. Dictionary work. I keep a notebook with me where I can jot down any words I want to look up in German later and I do so at the end of the day. If it is a really important core word, I make a flashcard out of it.
3. Journal notebook. I keep a notebook of key words and phrases that relate specifically to me. I have a monologue detailing who I am, my job, my hobbies, my family, my motivations, my language level, etc. I look this over every night and plan to use these in future conversations.
4. Vocabulearn in the car. Basically these are a series of CDs with vocab words. I have 8 of them and there are probably about 2500 words altogether. I listen to them when I drive. They are ok in short bursts, but probably useless for long trips (unless you listen to the same CD over and over). I like them because they are easy to listen to while driving and they really seem to be working.

I purchased the 10 CD Michel Thomas set and am very pleased so far. I am 5 CDs in and they have REALLY helped my grammar and sentence structure. Without them, I would probably still be struggling in that regard. I really encourage anyone starting out with German to use Michel Thomas and Pimsleur together as they seem to make a great foundation. The Pimsleur advantage is in accent and pronunciation. The Michel Thomas method is excellent for Grammar and learning to really put sentences together.

So, to sum up, I probably have about a 500-600 word vocabulary and can put together basic to intermediate level sentences with consistency. I can express almost anything I want (even if I have to massively simplify it) in German. I would put myself squarely in the A2 category of German language fluency (maybe nudging on B1).

My struggles really continue to be vocabulary and grammar. When I say grammar, I am referring more to noun and adjective declination than word order. As for vocabulary, even though I feel like I have picked up a lot of new vocab, it is always surprising how much I don't know.

I spend about 2-3 hours a day focused in some way or another on German learning. At this rate, I should meet the 750 hour requirement to Fluency of FSI. I will be taking the Beginner and post-beginner tests again in the next few days to compare my one month to my second month.

Tschuss!