To broaden your horizons, you need to learn foreign languages. They will help you better understand a foreign culture, touch the great works of the classics of world literature in the original, and learn a lot of new and interesting things. When choosing a language, you need to be based on your preferences.
People interested in Germany ask whether it is possible to learn German on one's own? Those who have achieved success in this important task confidently say yes. You just need to try a little and spend some of your free time.
What is needed for this?
For positive result You need to have motivation and set a deadline for achieving the goal. It is equally important to organize the learning process in an interesting way, otherwise the desire to master is quite complex language may evaporate quickly. Determine why you want to start practicing. Perhaps you will be traveling to Germany, working in a German company, or communicating with native speakers. There can be many reasons. After all, Germany is the leading country of the European Union, and its language is very widespread and popular.
To learn German from scratch on your own, it is important to choose the right teaching material.
- A good option is audio lessons. They are convenient to listen to public transport, making good use of the time needed on the road and during the lunch break.
- Along with an audio course, it is often necessary to use diagrams, special cards, textbooks or other didactic material to help you quickly master knowledge.
- Along with audio lessons, it is useful to study the German language tutorial. Try using “German for Beginners”, compiled by V. Bukharova and T. Kessler. With its help, you will quickly remember basic phrases.
- Be sure to purchase a comprehensive German-Russian and Russian-German dictionary. Set a goal for yourself to memorize 10 new words every day, and you will not notice how rich you are lexicon.
- Visual information is perceived more quickly by many people. Therefore, to learn the language and improve pronunciation, video lessons are needed.
If at home without outside help remember articles and Irregular Verbs If it doesn’t work out, sign up for courses and study as part of a group. There you will receive regular tasks to complete on your own, communicate with like-minded people and, perhaps, achieve success faster.
Alphabet and umlaut
You need to start studying from the beginning. The first step for a language learner is to understand the alphabet. For those who attended English classes at school, this will not be difficult. Languages belong to general group- Germanic, and their alphabet is of Latin origin.
- If you set yourself a serious goal, you can master a language quickly. In it, words are written in the same way as they are pronounced, you just need to know the consonant and vowel sound combinations well and remember when an umlaut is placed above the letters Ä ä, Ö ö and Ü ü - two dots on top.
- You need to figure this out and learn how to pronounce the umlaut at the very beginning, otherwise your speech will be difficult to understand correctly.
- Most often, two dots appear in words used in plural, but sometimes they change the phrases completely. It is convenient to learn how to pronounce them by listening to educational audio or video material.
Some people mistakenly compare umlaut with a feature of the Russian alphabet - the letter E. In fact, there is absolutely nothing similar between them. These points have different meanings.
Start of classes
The main difficulty in the German language is articles. With their help, the gender of nouns is determined. German grammar differs from Russian, so at first students have to memorize nouns along with articles in order to speak correctly.
If you don’t give up on learning, articles will gradually cease to be a problem, and language acquisition will begin much faster.
Learn new words systematically. These should be not only nouns, but also other parts of speech. To successfully memorize prepositions and verbs, it is advisable to find educational poems or songs. In this form, they are stored in memory faster.
Remember learning a foreign language at school. At first, children learned to describe pictures, memorized basic expressions, names of days of the week, months, and kitchen utensils. Don't neglect this moment. Simple words necessary for communication.
A little later, it is important to understand how Germans construct sentences. They do it differently than the Russians, so it’s difficult for beginning students to understand.
- The Russian language has its own rules, and it is easy to arrange words in a sentence in a wide variety of orders. In German this is strictly prohibited. There, each word has its place, and their order is strictly fixed.
- To understand, you need to learn conjunctions and remember that in German grammar the subject always comes first, and the predicate comes second.
- In addition, it is important to learn the forms of verbs, which can also be difficult. You need to learn how to manage them, decline them by case, use them in the plural and singular.
If you need to know how to learn German on your own and quickly, after mastering the basics, start watching films released in Germany. It is useful to include a film that you have seen many times in Russian dubbing, so you are well familiar with the plot and dialogues of the main characters. A simple way of studying will bring a lot of impressions and significantly increase your vocabulary.
Search the Internet for the series in German “Extra Deutsch”. It is designed specifically for learning. The characters in the film pronounce phrases slowly and clearly, so you can calmly repeat the expressions after them. Each episode comes with German subtitles so you can learn the pronunciation and spelling of the words at the same time.
What to do next?
To quickly learn a language, it is useful to use it in different areas life. Find a German news site on the Internet and read the notes published there every day. Right away you will need a dictionary and a lot of time for this, but gradually you will notice that you instantly understand what is written.
Read a fiction book in German. It is advisable to choose a familiar work, then you will have to look less into the dictionary, because you will understand some words intuitively.
Change the language in settings mobile phone and try to figure out the controls.
It is useful to study information about the origin of a language. This interesting topic, which is intertwined with the history of countries such as Sweden and Denmark.
The final stage
When learning a language at home brings positive results, think about communicating with the residents of Germany. Thanks to modern technologies, it’s easy to do without leaving your apartment.
- Especially in popular in social networks Communities of like-minded people have been created dedicated to the study of German culture, history and language. It's easy to find friends there who are fluent in the language you need. foreign speech, enter into correspondence with them and subsequently start communicating via Skype.
- This practice is incredibly useful because mastering spoken language is the most important step in learning any language. It will help you perceive words by ear, recognize slang expressions and abbreviations.
At first, certain difficulties may arise. To reduce them to a minimum, arm yourself with the necessary notes during a conversation, open a phrase book and be sure to turn on the online translator on your computer. It will help you translate unfamiliar phrases of your interlocutor. By talking regularly, you will no longer need helpers and will understand everything on your own.
According to the observations of people who are interested in how long it takes to learn spoken German, it takes about 2 months. During this period, a huge vocabulary is developed and an understanding of how to correctly construct sentences comes.
To learn German from scratch, it is important to immerse yourself in the language environment, read more, listen to songs, and study the culture of Germany. If possible, it is advisable to visit this country, admire the beautiful castles, museums, nature and communicate with people. Having set a goal for yourself, feel free to do everything to achieve it. Of course, at first it will be difficult, but gradually you will get involved and the process will become easier. The main condition for success is regular study, perseverance, and then you will quickly be able to speak German and understand native speakers of this beautiful language.
To answer this question, you first need to understand why you need German, i.e. formulate a goal for yourself. This is important because It’s one thing to learn a language for the purpose of communicating with native speakers while on tourist trips, such as asking for directions, finding out the price, making an order in a restaurant, shopping in stores, etc. And it’s another thing to read Goethe or Zweig in the original, or to receive higher education in Germany, understand lectures, prepare for seminars and exams, etc. Or lead business correspondence with German partners, make business trips to Germany for the purpose of training at enterprises. Agree, the tasks are completely different. Based on these tasks, your training will be structured differently.
Thus, we select first step:
1. Statement of the purpose of study
So, let's say you set a goal. You clearly understand why you need German. What's next? And then begins something without which any learning becomes simply impossible: desire or, scientifically speaking, motivation. Unfortunately, not even the best teacher will give you this magic pill that will stimulate you every time you “suddenly” get a headache and decide to cancel the lesson. No one will learn words for you, do homework, teach boring grammar rules. Unfortunately, for most people, an attempt to learn a language (no matter what) remains an attempt. The most persistent and stubborn ones reach the “finish line” (you can believe me!). Therefore, immediately, from the first lesson, you set yourself up for work, because learning a language is also work.
You may have to temporarily forget about your habits, hobbies (or better yet, make German your hobby!). For some, hanging motivational slogans everywhere: in the apartment, on the desktop helps. It is useful to immediately make some acquaintances with native speakers on social networks (it helps someone to find a lover from Germany). Maybe someone around you is learning the language? Great, then there will be someone to exchange experiences with. In a word, all means are good! You have to immerse yourself in the language. Let these be mini-notes with words on the refrigerator (on the topic “Food”), in the bathroom (on the topic “Morning Toilet”), etc. Play German radio in the background, get used to the melody and rhythm of the German language. Train yourself to think in German.
Remember, the beginning is always difficult, you just need to get through this stage. But then a second wind will open, and all sorts of “goodies” will begin in the form of the opportunity to say something about yourself, understand simple questions from your interlocutor, and read short texts.
So we do the second one, and probably the most important step:
2. Creating and fueling motivation
Why did I write “recharge”? Because nothing helps you progress in a language like regularity. I’m always in favor of devoting a little bit to the language every day, rather than sitting down and trying to do your homework in one sitting or feverishly remembering what we covered in the last lesson? No need to try to learn 300 incorrect ones at once German verbs, it is better to make it a rule to learn, for example, 10 words every day. This is the most optimal amount, and after a few months you will have a fairly decent vocabulary. Again, don't pause too long in studying. This is especially true during vacation or holidays. Everything flies out very quickly! And then remembering everything is long and painful. You can use the time you spend commuting to the office. Get a small pocket notebook (dictionary) and leaf through it when you are stuck in a traffic jam or in line. Or install a language learning program on your phone, such as Duolingo. In short, make the most of your free time.
By the way, I am not a supporter of blind and thoughtless learning of new words. They will be layered and over time replaced by other new words from memory. Try to somehow emotionally color new words for yourself.
As you know, information is best remembered if you use several senses at once. First you see this word, then you say it out loud, then you write it and listen to it somewhere on an audio medium. Those. It is important to write and say new words out loud. It is good to learn adjectives in pairs - with an antonym. With verbs, it is useful to immediately try to build short sentences. This way you will remember the verb and how it is used (conjugated) in speech.
Another important point: very often people (especially at the beginning of studying) are afraid/embarrassed to speak. Some people are afraid of making a mistake, others don’t like their own pronunciation, etc. Because of the language barrier, people compare themselves to a dog that understands everything but cannot say anything. My advice to you: don’t be afraid to speak up and make mistakes! After all, the goal of any communication is to be understood by your interlocutor. If this happens, then the goal has been achieved. Of course, I want to speak correctly and without mistakes. I want to formulate my thoughts beautifully and complexly. But it's the same as asking one year old child run a hundred meters against the clock. When you start learning a language, you are like a child learning to walk. He will certainly fall and get up again and again. In this regard, parents help him in the beginning. Therefore, it is very important that you, too, have someone to guide and help you at the beginning of learning a language. Therefore we do third important step:
3. Choosing courses or tutor
It all depends on you: whether you like to study in groups or whether you prefer an individual approach. Each method has its own pros and cons, which I think is not worth listing. Learning a language on your own is quite difficult (unless you are a person of iron discipline and self-organization). Although I must say that it is now online great amount various resources for learning the German language: from online lessons by Dmitry Petrov to a variety of tutorials. But practice shows that people first try to learn the language themselves, but then they still choose courses or turn to a tutor.
So, the choice is made. You regularly attend classes, do your homework, but the desired progress is not observed. It is important to understand here that if you do something regularly, progress will come sooner or later. Yes, you won’t be able to speak fluently right away. By the way, a foreign language takes, on average, three years to learn. Despite the fact that no one has canceled your main activities and urgent matters! At first, you will have to write a lot, get acquainted with boring grammar, learn words, and do a bunch of (seemingly) monotonous exercises. When grammar becomes automatic and a decent vocabulary has accumulated, you will be able to formulate your own thoughts. What can I advise you at this stage, when you really want to speak, but “can’t” yet? And it will be ours next step:
4. Surrounding yourself with language
I wrote above about the importance of immersing yourself in a language from the very beginning of learning it. This could be German television, Deutsche Welle programs with different news reading rates for different levels of proficiency. Youtube has a variety of mini-series for German language learners. It is not necessary to immediately start with news channels, try watching German entertainment channels, for example, pro7, rtl, rtl2, sat1, vox, start with everyday topics. You can also watch German cartoons or films with subtitles in German. Get used to speech, try to isolate individual unfamiliar words and write them down.
It is useful to read short texts or adapted books under different levels, and it is no less useful to retell these texts. This develops speech, you learn ready-made constructions, which you can then use in conversation, but you should not overuse ready-made models. Sometimes many people think that having learned a dozen speech patterns, they can get by in all situations in life. Of course, like any language, German has its own set expressions, which can really only be “understood and forgiven.” But language is still more than fixed expressions.
We learn poems and songs. Why not? Some people actually learned German from Rammstein alone. Kidding. By the way, you can show off your knowledge of the poetry of Goethe or Schiller on occasion, showing yourself to be an educated and intelligent person, or impress a girl. ;)
We make acquaintances with native speakers, visit language clubs, of which there are a great many in Moscow now.
Having already gained a good base, you can continue your studies abroad, and it is better to settle with some German family and forget for a while your native language. Immersion in the environment and language is guaranteed. The only negative is that all this is not cheap.
Remember, nothing should be neglected in learning a language. It’s trite, but in the toilet room you can also hang notes with words, and above the desk in your room, in general, I recommend hanging a poster with basic grammar tables and diagrams: it’s convenient and you can always double-check yourself. Moreover, it is also better to make the poster yourself: once again write down the basic rules/endings/declensions/prepositions once again definitely won't hurt.
A journey of a thousand miles always begins with the first step. Take this step now!
30% of people “fail” at language courses. They give up because there is no time, it is difficult, there is no more energy, or because interest has disappeared. Why? It's simple. Outdated teaching methods that work against our brains. So how can you learn German quickly and forever?
At systematic approach You can learn German to an advanced level (that is, fluent communication on any topic, level C1) in 12-17 months, without living in the country of the language. System training includes:
- Set a language learning goal and go towards it
- Find a teacher or courses that fit your goal. No independent learning, otherwise it will take years to reach your goal
- Presence of success factors
Now about each point separately.
1. Set a language learning goal and go towards it
First you need to determine what level you have now and what level you want to reach. If the level is beginner, and for your purposes you need to master the intermediate level, then the learning time will be significantly reduced to several months. The same goes if you have an intermediate level and want to reach advanced.
The second important point is to set yourself a time frame. By what time do I want to reach my desired level? What specific date and month? A time limit is an excellent motivator not to put things off until later, but to get busy, despite the rush at work, illness, holidays and lack of mood. The goal should have a specific date that you will strive for.
2. Find a teacher or courses
Classes at a language school and with private tutors can be divided into three types:
First type: The pace of classes is slow
To obtain First level, you need to go for at least six months. Then another two years to master the intermediate level. The courses are usually inexpensive, but to achieve an intermediate level, you need to take 4-6 courses. The total is not cheap, and a lot of time is spent. This is the most common type language schools not only in Russia, but also in Germany.
Second type: The pace of classes is medium or fast
You will have to adapt to this pace. If you missed a couple of weeks due to a cold, you will have a lot of catching up to do. Most often on your own. No one will return money for absence from classes (according to at least, without a medical certificate). There is no individual approach. I have also met tutors who worked at their own rhythm, moving on to next topic even when the student has not yet mastered the previous one. This rush is especially common when the deadline for taking a test or exam is approaching. Although, in my opinion, it does not justify the tutor’s decision to move on.
Third type: The pace of classes is determined individually
Here the student pays not for the time spent studying, but for the result. For comparison: In the first type of courses we are told – “ Pay for six months and go to classes". Theoretically, in six months you can master half initial course A1. At least that's what it says in the description. But if you don’t master it, you’ll have to repeat the course.
In the third type of classes it is proposed to pay for the result - “ Want an intermediate level? Please. Pay once and study until you learn everything. As much time as needed.“Some people manage in three months, while others need eight, because they work two jobs and because they have to pass the exam. But the price for both the first and second cases one, and the rhythm of classes is chosen individually. There are very few such schools, but they do exist.
How do you know what type of school is right for you? It all depends on life situation, ability and willingness to learn the language. You need to determine how much time you have per day and per week to study the language. Not only in courses, but also independently at home. You also need to evaluate at what pace it would be most comfortable to practice. You can also attend trial classes on several courses and choose the most suitable ones. If there are no language schools in your city or it’s a long way to get to them, you can use the services of online schools. Online courses today are not inferior in quality. And you don't have to go anywhere.
3. Presence of success factors
There are a number of factors that will help determine whether you can learn a language quickly and permanently in the place or with the teacher you are currently studying with. These factors play a key role.
Variety of educational materials
At the initial stage, you can study one basic and one grammar. But as the language level increases, the materials should expand - texts, videos, games, discussion training, projects, etc. Materials must be up-to-date, no copies from textbooks of the last century.
Selective Grammar Study
I took it all apart German grammar, but in truth I use only 30-40% of the structures from grammar collections. In other words, like most Germans. No one uses all the rules described in the Helbig und Buscha grammar. It is important to train only 30-40%, and the rest to practice only for understanding, if suddenly it comes up somewhere. To quickly learn German, you don’t need to overload yourself with unnecessary information, otherwise the study will take a long time and the effect will be small.
Selective vocabulary
The logic is the same here - we don’t learn everything, but concentrate on common words and expressions. First of all, we train the words that we use in current topics(everyday affairs and a couple of specialized topics related to work and profession). First of all, we practice expressing our thoughts on these topics.
Learning spoken language
No expressions from the classics of German literature, no outdated words. Reading German literature is good, but learning German from it is not relevant.
Germans' eyebrows go up when they hear from a foreigner some literary phrase that they themselves have never heard before, and they are even more surprised by the question - “What, don’t you say that? And Thomas Mann wrote so!”
It is clear that previously there were no other sources of original German texts, but now there is plenty of material, both textual, audio and video.
Control
Not just at the end of the course. And not just written. And not only the official one. The teacher must monitor and record any progress of the student in order to react in time if something was not learned.
Feel constant personal progress
For example, you study with a tutor for a month or go to courses. What can you do in a month? Just say hello, introduce yourself and say goodbye? Or not only that, but also talk about yourself, your family and work, place an order in a restaurant, ask directions from a passerby and talk about the weather with your German neighbor on the plane? Do you feel the difference?
Motivation
Having set a goal for learning a language, we are already interested in studying regularly and completing assignments on time. But sometimes this is not enough. Therefore, the teacher must also not only convey knowledge, but also motivate different ways– from interesting story about Germany until time limits for submitting homework. However, do not forget to motivate yourself personally. For example, you could wear a German flag bracelet or keychain as a reminder to exercise every day. Or the opportunity to write your first greeting card in German after this topic has been covered. You need to think about what can motivate and encourage you to study the language regularly.
Individual approach
To learn German or any other language, you definitely need to take into account an individual approach. There are language courses with a group of 15 people or more. Here you can hardly hope that the teacher will regularly monitor the personal progress of each student. Most often, if the majority of the group has understood the material, the teacher moves on to the next topic. What if you're in the minority? Still don't understand the topic and want some more explanations and exercises? What if you were not present for previous classes? What if you remember visual images better, but the teacher gives only text? Some people find it easier to learn words separately, while others remember them in context. How to tailor classes to suit yourself?
Ideally, the teacher leads the class based on the students' goals, using everything, and goes through the topic until all participants understand it.
I wish you to learn German quickly, quickly and well, well, so that you no longer sit over textbooks, but enjoy the result!
Good luck to everyone!
10 tips on how to learn German quickly and forever was last modified: November 2nd, 2018 by Catherine
How to remember a huge number of words and complex unfamiliar rules? Especially if there is a task. You probably already understand that the classical method of memorization, despite its effectiveness, takes a lot of time and effort, and these resources are the most valuable thing every person has. However, there is a way out. And this solution is to use mnemonics to learn a language!
What is mnemonics
This technique involves memorizing new information by visualization or creating an associative series.
For example, most Russian-speaking people associate the German word “reisen” (to travel) with the word “flight”, and the word “wollen” (to wish) with the word “will”. At the same time, it is not enough just to find sound and logical correspondences. When using mnemonics, each concept still needs to be “linked” to a picture. In other words, you need to clearly imagine the actions, events, processes and objects that are associated with the material being studied.
What does this look like in practice?
Let’s take the word “Brille” (glasses) as an example. What word from the Russian language does it resemble? Absolutely right - “diamond”. Now we introduce glasses with diamond lenses, and the association is complete! Having remembered the picture, you can retrieve the desired word from your memory at any time.
This principle can be used to learn words, articles, prepositions, verb forms, adjective declension and other grammatical structures. Try turning articles from meaningless letter combinations into animate objects. Let the article female“Die” will become a young girl, the male “Der” will become an old man with a white beard, and the middle “Das” will become something neutral, such as the sea.
If we need to remember what kind of word das Schiff (ship), we imagine a ship flying through the waves. But das Eisen (iron) will drown in this sea.
How effective is mnemonics?
It largely depends on your mood. At first, the techniques described may seem a little absurd, but if you really want to learn German quickly on your own, give it a try. Within a week you will understand whether the method is right for you.
And if you're in the mood for traditional ways learning German, we will be happy to share with others interesting materials, which will help you quickly master the grammar and pronunciation of German residents. Go to the section. Good luck.
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Do you want to learn German, but don't know where to start? Or have you already bought a German tutorial and are eager to go into battle? In any case, today you will learn 5 ways to learn German that will help you learn this language much faster.
1. Sign up for courses!
Yes, this advice is banal, but many people neglect it, hoping that they themselves will be able to learn German. Indeed, you can learn quite a lot on your own. but believe me, if you take German courses, then training will go faster, more fun and often more effective. There are explanations for this: firstly, you will be more responsible in your studies, since you will have to pay some amount of money for the courses. Secondly, the courses will give you the incentive to compete with others in learning German. In addition, the teacher in the courses will be able to explain to you some points that you may not understand on your own. You will learn about another advantage of studying German in courses a little further.
Considering that the courses foreign languages available in almost any area, we recommend that you definitely enroll in the foreign language courses nearest to you.
2. Buy the book you want to re-read in German!
Do you want to re-read some literary work? - Do it in German! This way you will not only enjoy good literature, but you will also be able to learn many new words and expressions. Don’t forget to also write down all new words in your personal dictionary.
3. Be sure to purchase a dictionary and work with it!
This would seem to be obvious advice. But not many people understand that just having a dictionary is not enough. In order for the use of a dictionary to bring you more benefit, you must work with it correctly. Every time you come across an unfamiliar word, immediately look it up offline or online dictionary. Once you know the meaning of a word, be sure to write it down (including transcription and translation) in your personal dictionary. After writing down the word, do not forget to repeat it in the evening of the same day and in the morning the next day. This will allow you to retain this word in your memory for a longer period.
If you already know a little German, then it is advisable for you to also purchase a German-German dictionary. Using such a dictionary will allow you to update the connections between the neurons responsible for memorizing certain words, thereby you will repeat those words that you already know without noticing it.
4. Find someone with whom you can communicate in German!
It is best if you find not only a person with whom you will be interested in communicating, but also a native speaker who speaks Russian. If you meet a person who combines all of the above qualities, you can consider yourself very lucky. First of all, because now you will need to make only minimal effort to learn spoken German. In addition, they can easily not only point out any obvious mistakes, but also explain certain aspects of German that you may not understand.
By the way, about the advantage of studying German in courses promised in the first paragraph. When attending language courses, you will, willy-nilly, during classes you will be forced to communicate with the teacher and with other students attending these courses. This way, you will not only be able to get advice on one or another aspect of German that you do not understand, but you will also be able to make new acquaintances with interesting people who not only share your goal of learning German, but will also be happy to be your interlocutors.
Of course, we don't mean that you need to sit in front of the TV all day long. It's best if you do what we recommended in tip #3, i.e. find a film that you like so much that you are ready to watch it again, and find its version in German. Since you already know the content of the film, its key moments and perhaps even many of its lines, you will not concentrate on it. Instead, you can focus on what and how the characters in the film say. This will allow you not only to get acquainted with spoken German, but also to learn several phrases. Thanks to the Internet, today it is not difficult to find a film in German.
We hope that these methods will not only help you learn German faster, but also make learning easier and more enjoyable!
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