So, I have been pretty quiet the last Month or so and I figured it was probably time to chime in and discuss some things that I have been doing for the last Month in regards to learning German.
1. I have been reading Der Kleine Prinz and Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen. This has been very slow going but it is really helping me understand the past tenses and how they work. I can usually only get through a page or two in a sitting but it has been a lot a fun. I will continue this.
2. I have been listening to Podcasts on Germanpod101 . These have been very helpful. I am on the Upper Beginner series and the cultural tidbits and helpful grammar points are great. One thing I did was download the dialogs from each lesson and put them all together on a CD that I listen to in the car. This gives me about a half hour or so of continuous German only audio that is appropriate for my level. When I listen to it, I try to distinguish each word and translate as I go. This is helping me with my listening comprehension. I will continue this.
3. I have picked up a few books including Barron's "501 German Verbs". It is fantastic and has really helped me in my study of verbs and their conjugations. I recommend this book. In a future post, I will lay out my recommendations for books, online resources and courses in detail.
4. I have been using the ANKI flashcard App on my android phone. This App is great! I have been building my own decks based on words that I feel fit in with the things that I would want to talk about in German rather than the typical boring beginner stuff (farm animals, weather, etc). I recommend this App. I will continue this.
5. I have been watching movies in German with English subtitles. The selection is very limited on Netflix and I have only found 2 Blu-Rays with German audio and subtitles (V for Vendetta and Constantine). I have also found several episodes of How I Met Your Mother in German. It has been a great help to hear how real German is spoken and I will continue this as I have picked up quite a bit of vocab from this.
6. I mentioned Pimsleur and Michel Thomas CDs in previous posts so I should mention them here as well. I made it through the 30 lessons in Pimsleur German I and through the 10 CD Michel Thomas Beginner Method. I enjoyed Michel Thomas quite a bit and will look to buy his Advanced course soon. Pimsleur has been great for my pronunciation but is seriously boring. I will be checking out the Level II and III course from the library, but I may or may not finish them. They are a struggle to get through and are only really good for pronunciation as my vocab and grammar are far beyond even the level III CDs at this point. I would recommend Michel Thomas and the Pimsleur German I for anyone starting out with no German background.
7. Paper flashcards. Yes, I've still been using them even though I have ANKI. There is just something about writing a word or phrase down with pen and paper that helps solidify it in my mind. I usually reserve this for verbs at this point.
8. Journal. I have been keeping a journal of useful phrases and words (especially slang) as I find them on the internet or in Penpal emails. I have been reviewing these phrases often and they are starting to stick. I will continue this practice.
9. German Penpal email exchange. I found an email Penpal in Germany that I have been emailing back and forth for 3 Months now. We generally exchange 2-4 emails per week and I correct her English for her and she corrects my German for me. It has been great having this kind of access to a native speaker and we will be talking over Skype soon.
I hope this gives some good ideas for German and for Language Learning in general. I will devote another post soon to things that did not work for me.
Tschüss!
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