HOW
TO LEARN GERMAN
German Department
BATES COLLEGE Lewiston,
Maine
Step by Step
The Purpose of this page
is to provide you with useful information about how to learn German. Whether
you are a beginner or an advanced learner this site might be very helpful
for you. It gives you a bunch of information on how to improve your German
or to learn more efficiently.
To become a "Perfect German
Speaker" try the following steps:
Study
Plan
Print your Study Plan and give it to your
professor or teaching assistant, they will help you to analyse your progress
or help you with difficulties
To finish your assignments
for class effectively you need at least two to three hours of preparation:
To understand a text and to answer the respective questions use the
following methods.
1. Read the whole
text without trying to understand every single word or sentence (just
get a general idea).
2. Read the first passage of the text – underline unknown words/
sentences
3. Read sentence by sentence (of the first passage) looking up unknown
words --? Make a vocabulary list (German – English)
To understand a text you do not have to look
up every single word you do not understand. You should be able to
get the main idea of a passage.
Mark words, word groups or sentences that you do not understand; ask
another student or your teacher about their meaning.
4. Draw a “Personendiagramm” (jot down a few notes on
each person)
5. Write one or two sentences about the main idea of the first passage.
6. Continue with the next passages by repeating step 2-4
7. After finishing the text,
complete the work that you must prepare for class.
8. Glance over the rest of the tasks in your book or on your copy
to get an idea what the content of the class might be. Try to answer
a few of those questions on your own. Take notes.
Go to class well prepared!
Try this method at least once to see how it works!
read those
tips and try to find the points that you consider to be most helpful
for yourself:
Motivation is one
of the keys to successful language learning. Maintaining a high level
of motivation during a period of language learning is one of the best
ways to make the whole process more successful. As each individual
is motivated in different ways, we have to find the right balance
of incentives to succeed (or "carrots"), and disincentives
not to fail (or "sticks"), encouragement, and the right
environment in which to learn.
Here are some tips to help you:
find a teacher or
tutor who is enthusiastic and who can help to motivate you
tell your friends
and family that your language learning is important to you - if you're
lucky they'll give you valuable encouragement
set yourself short,
medium and long-term goals to focus your activities e.g. register
for an exam, test yourself regularly
remind yourself
frequently that you are going to succeed
How
to Study
-Memorizing
-Strategies
-Progress
-Styles
-Barriers
-Motivation
STEP
3
WEEKLY
STUDY PLAN.
In order to increase/
enhance your proficiency in German you have to study regularly. Learning
a foreign language requires a consistant input of the foreign language
that stimulates all senses:
Writing, Reading,
Speaking, Listening.
To practice all these senses you should divide your learning input/
material into different areas. The following plan will give you ideas
of how you can improve your German by creating your own WEEKLY STUDY
PLAN.
The WEEKLY STUDY PLAN does not only include the study time you need
to complete your class assignments, rather provides extracurricular
activities that will assure a steady increase in your knowledge of
German.
Before
you continue your study of GERMAN you should read the following
instructions on how to write, read, speak, and listen
most effectively. Take your time to understand the instructions.
Take notes that you think could help you. Add those sites that
seem to be interesting to your internet favorites, or write
them down on your study plan.
WRITING/ SCHREIBEN
One of the most important things about
writing in German is knowing German Grammar. Having a good Grammar
Book and an excellent Dictionary are a MUST, e.g.:
Author: Wells, Larry D., 1940-
Title: Handbuch
zur deutschen Grammatik : wiederholen und anwenden / Larry
D. Wells
Edition: 2nd ed
Imprint: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., c1997
Author: Prowe, Gunhild
Title: The
Oxford German dictionary and grammar / dictionary, Gunhild
Prowe, Jill Schneider ; grammar, William Rowlinson
Edition: 2nd ed. / edited by Roswitha Morris, Robin Sawers
Imprint: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2001
Author: Bridgham, Frederick
George Thomas, 1943-
Title: The
friendly German-English dictionary: a guide to German language,
culture and society through faux amis, literary illustration
and other diversions / Fred Bridgham
Imprint: London : Libris ; Concord, MA : Distributed in the
US exclusively by Paul & Co., 1996
For further recommendations on Grammar
Books and Dictionaries ask your Teacher!
A good source for Learning Grammar
is the Internet. Go to our site Deutsche
Sprache and check out the Grammar Links. You will find good descriptions
of German Grammar Problems as well as Grammar Exercises, that most
of the time are selfcorrecting.
You might find that Speaking German
is one of your biggest problems. Of course, the best opportunity to
learn and speak a foreign language is to go to countries where the
language is spoken. If you do not have this opportunity right now
speak German in class, with your teacher or talk to the teaching assistant;
meet with other students and communicate in German, do your homework
preparation together; go to the German table; attend other meetings
with German Speakers or Language Learners.
If you have problems pronouncing German words and phrases correctly
use the following link or search for other sources on the internet:
Beim ersten Mal solltest
Du Dir die folgenden Tipps zum Hörverstehen durchlesen (Punkt 1-3),
danach geh zu den einzelnen Internetadressen (Punkt 4). Später kannst
Du dann Punkt 1-3 überspringen und gleich bei Punkt
4 beginnen.
1.
Are
You Listening?
Hören Sie zu?
Why you should be!
• How To Listen Online
Anyone who is learning German and doesn't use the Web for listening to
Deutsch is missing an important opportunity and a valuable resource. And
that includes beginners – especially beginners!
Why is listening so important? >>
