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Author
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Topic: What do you do to make learning a new language more fun or easy
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Stawr
Moderator Posts: 606
From: N. America
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted June 25, 2011 09:19 PM
  
So I got though my first week of my summer job doing day care at the Y. Well today a mom came in. And her oldest son was kind of whinning and throwing a fit in German, and clinging on to his mom.
Probably because he felt uncomfortible being droped off somewhere where no one spoke his lanuage. The mom even asked if me or the other two girls if we spoke any Spanish (I guess her kids also know some Spanish). But then I asked her if her son was speaking in German earlier and that I also know a bit of that. I did have a German class in 7th grade and Spanish in 5th grade and 11th grade. But I definetly don't know enough to be able to comunicate or have a conversation in any of those languages. I can greet, I can count to 10, remember how to say some colors. A few phraises, a few objects and the chorus to jingle bells. But the mom was still really exited. When I told her I knew VERY LITTLE. She asked me if I could try to speak a little and that it would mean alot to her kids, and it would help them feel comfortible. So this situation makes me want to brush up on my German. And learn a bit more.
Anyway those of you learning or have learned a different language, what do you do to make it easy and fun?
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Stawr
Moderator Posts: 606
From: N. America
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted June 26, 2011 09:16 AM
Does anyone know any cool music that is in German?So far the only song I know that I like that is sang in German is this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrB97Ia1bEM
It's the Sailor Moon German theme song. It's flipping sweet. Kinda reminds me of like raver music or something. ....When I had Spanish in 11th grade I would watch shows on youtube that I like in Spanish. I think it made a difference. I only did this in my spare time, probably only the first two months of the class though...after a while I didn't do that anymore cause I started talking to this one guy on the phone alot, and I found other amusing things to do. IP: Logged |
Swift Freeze
Knowflake Posts: 66
From: London England
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted June 26, 2011 11:54 AM
If you're really serious about learning a language, then the best thing to do is take classes and/or find a fluent german speaking person, preferably a German national because they'll understand the culture and all the subtleties in the language such as reciprocity.Does this child speak any English? The best way to learn German would be with a child because their vocabulary would likely be comparitvely small with an adults and therefore you'd be on a much easier field of learning. Reading and listening to German are good options to improve your range, listening is harder if you don't know what words you're listening out for. Below are some bands I found simply via googling and good ol'wiki. Beatsteaks
Sportfreunde Stiller
Juli
Silbermond
MIA.
Annett Louisan
Tokio Hotel
Oomph! For me the most fun way to learn German is to have a fluent partner and just spend time with them only speaking in German. You'll generaly learn better because you have no other choice!
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Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek Happiness. Follow your dreams. IP: Logged |
bunnies
Knowflake Posts: 438
From: u.k
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 26, 2011 01:23 PM
Just learn 4 major verbs such as
I want, I am, I am going, I feel for example.
And then about 100 words vocabularly mixing nouns and adjectives.
You will be surprised how much you can convey just using this.IP: Logged |
Stawr
Moderator Posts: 606
From: N. America
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted June 26, 2011 02:28 PM
I'm pretty sure the boy doesn't speak any english at all. Or at least knows english as well as I know German lol.I asked the mom a few questions. About how to say things in German and her, and her youngest boy where glad to let me know. I have been thinking about taking a language class at my community college. Thanks for the lists from google and wiki Swift Freeze. IP: Logged |
Stawr
Moderator Posts: 606
From: N. America
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted June 26, 2011 02:36 PM
quote:
Originally posted by bunnies:
Just learn 4 major verbs such as
I want, I am, I am going, I feel for example.
And then about 100 words vocabularly mixing nouns and adjectives.
You will be surprised how much you can convey just using this.
that sounds brilliant IP: Logged |
Randall
Webmaster Posts: 9656
From: The Goober Galaxy
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted June 27, 2011 06:27 AM
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Swift Freeze
Knowflake Posts: 66
From: London England
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted June 27, 2011 07:33 AM
Well I'm actually doing my best to learn German currently. I would quite like to go and live and work in Germany.
The best part about German is that English is predominantly Germanic in nature, so there are a fair number of words which share similar sounds as well as meanings and I personally find it easier to understand and pickup.Wish you the best of luck with your learning. ------------------
Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek Happiness. Follow your dreams. IP: Logged |
Stawr
Moderator Posts: 606
From: N. America
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted June 27, 2011 11:10 AM
Thank you!IP: Logged |
lechien
Knowflake Posts: 1160
From: my 30 cubic square meter room with a rat!
Registered: May 2009
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posted June 27, 2011 12:41 PM
don't move to Berlin, if you ever intend to brush up your German by living in a German speaking country. it's like half of the population here is Americans... the rest are French and Spanish. they all decided our neighbourhood is hip and cool, and nowadays everywhere i turn i hear English. i'm not exaggerating. on the street, i feel a bit glad when i hear German.  that advice of bunnies is brilliant. unless you plan to read Nietzsche in German that's really all you need to know. and from there you can fine-tune and get even better. learn like a child, with the child, and don't worry too much about grammatical rules in the beginning!!  IP: Logged |
Venus
Moderator Posts: 296
From: Beirut
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted June 28, 2011 02:42 AM
quote:
Originally posted by lechien:
that advice of bunnies is brilliant. unless you plan to read Nietzsche in German
i couldnt grasp Nietzsche in English, maybe German would be more feasable  IP: Logged |
mochai
Knowflake Posts: 973
From: Charon
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted July 04, 2011 12:18 AM
For me to learn languages..1. I have to love the language/culture in some way or develop an interest in it 2. Turn it into a game/dramatize it in my head/play with it as much as possible, silly accents.. anything 3. Try to see how many connections I can make between words or any bizarre thing I can think of (great way to learn it too) I was also really competitive about it and my sister and I would speak the language to be affectionate with each other and I would try to think about what I was doing in a foreign language throughout the day. I wouldn't encourage the competitiveness, but the last semester before I dropped out of high school I tried to see how close I could keep my grade to 100% for how long, and I think I was to a 98.5% at the end of the semester despite the fact that I had dropped out for half of the last year and was taking the next level up (yay family problems and moving out when you're 16 lol). I also spent at least a few past lives bilingual if not many and most likely knew some spanish in a past life as well as having been fluent in similar languages italian and french in past lives. Saying that because it likely made learning it more fun.. All of the above, the mastery etc probably made it more fun. IP: Logged |
Stawr
Moderator Posts: 606
From: N. America
Registered: Nov 2010
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posted July 04, 2011 10:12 AM
Thanks mochai.Oh yes I agree that being into the culture is a plus...Cause then you can feel what your saying more, and relate with others better who are fluent in that laguage. And finding a way to make a connection with the word (no matter how goofy, so helps! Shoot I even have to do that with my fluent language english if there is a big word I don't know that I have to know. lol)
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Lindaland
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