A Few Hours/week Aren't Enough: How to Teach yourself German Outside of Class

By lauraharker 

When German class is over, you’re ready to go live the culture vulture lifestyle.
You know, scanning Twitter, clicking through online magazines, binging on Netflix and recipe pinning. You’re dying to go home, sink into the couch, and get online.  Starting even more language practice probably isn’t on the top of your list.
Well, who says you can’t do all of the above?

It’s key to take breaks—they’ll help refresh your brain for the next burst of grammar lessons—but it’s also possible to incorporate German practice into your everyday life at home. And it can be fun too!
Did you know you can be super productive with your language learning outside the classroom?

Now you’ll learn exactly how to make this happen.  In this article, I’ll be showing you tips and tricks for dedicating spare time to German practice.

By lauraharker Comments are closed

5 Excellent Ways to Teach Yourself German Outside of Class

When German class is over, you’re ready to go live the culture vulture lifestyle.
You know, scanning Twitter, clicking through online magazines, binging on Netflix and recipe pinning.
You’re dying to go home, sink into the couch and get online.
Starting even more language practice probably isn’t on the top of your list.
Well, who says you can’t do all of the above?
It’s key to take breaks—they’ll help refresh your brain for the next burst of grammar lessons—but it’s also possible to incorporate German practice into your everyday life at home. And it can be fun too!
Did you know you can be super productive with your language learning outside the classroom?
Now you’ll learn exactly how to make this happen.
In this article, I’ll be showing you tips and tricks for dedicating spare time to German practice.

Why You Should Teach Yourself German Outside of Class

Learning as part of a class with the support of a teacher is a fantastic way to learn the language. It’ll help you really get to grips with the more difficult aspects of the language.  But, put simply: the more you expose yourself to the language, the better you’ll know it. If you’re in class 3 times a week, you’ll only be getting around 3 hours of practice in each week.

That’s not much considering there are 168 hours in a whole week—there’s a load more German practice that can be squeezed in!

What’s great about independent learning is your ability to tailor it to your own needs. Are you struggling with the definite articles, Der, Die, and Das? Well, make sure you focus on those during your practice at home. Are you doing a lot of listening practice in class but would like to improve your speaking?  You can do so at home without any distractions or interruptions from classmates!

Plus, do you even need to be reminded that you can play all your favorite German artists at home for language practice, rather than just using the songs that the teacher provides?

Teach Yourself German: 5 Excellent Methods for Culture Vultures

1. Use German recipes and cookbooks

If you enjoy being a culinary creative in the kitchen, why not start utilizing German recipes?
There are plenty of different German cookbooks that have lots of traditional and innovative dishes for you to make. And while cooking up these tasty treats, you’ll be getting your reading up to a sizzling level!

Recipes are made up of instructions, so you’ll get to see how the imperative tense works. Cookbooks are often written in the polite form, so you’ll get lots of practice with this kind of imperative, for example:  Kneten Sie zu einem Teig!   Knead (You formal)  into a dough!

Not only is this great reading practice, but you’ll be learning by doing once you get set up in the kitchen.
Here are 5 culinary vocab picks to help you cook up a storm:

• braten — to roast / to fry
• Die deutsche Küche — German cuisine
• vor dem Auftragen — before serving ... carrying it out (from the kitchen)
• geschält — peeled
• der Herd — stove

It doesn’t take to long to get into this fun activity. Plus, the element of active learning will help reinforce the language, making it stick in your brain even longer!

2. Tune into German radio stations

There are tons of German radio stations out there, so you can’t use the excuse that there isn’t one that suits your tastes! Many of these are available to listen to online. So that’s the not-being-in-Germany excuse out the window!
It’s pretty obvious that German radio stations provide you with excellent listening practice. Radio stations will help to liven up your practice—after all you’ll be choosing your station, so they’ll be playing your kind of bands and DJs. If you’re more into talk radio, you’ll also be able to tune into one that has programs covering your interests. Much more entertaining than listening exercises with stiff, scripted dialogues in class, right?
Not sure which one to pick? Here’s a speedy roundup of the 5 best stations:

• Deutsche Welle has a great selection of music podcasts that suit all levels of language learners.

• hr3 has some fantastic comedy shows. Time to get used to German humor!

• FluxFM always broadcasts top-notch interviews alongside an excellent selection of alternative indie pop.

• Radio SAW is great for those of you who want to stretch your vocal chords along with some true pop divas!

• Sport1.FM has all the latest games and match results.

3. Add German books and magazines to your stash

Not only will you look über cultured, but you’ll be upping your German reading skill. As I’ve said before, the great thing about independent learning is that you can tailor it to your needs and interests; and not to those of your teacher's supplies, or of your class. 

You’ll probably already have some favorite books and magazines that are available in German. You may even have some favorite written material originally in German!

If not, or if you’re looking for something new, here are my top 5 written resources to learn German with:

• Often compared to Time, Der Spiegel is a weekly roundup of all the latest political happenings in the German-speaking world.

• “Heidi” is a classic Swiss tale of mountains, goats and an idyllic childhood. Find suggestions for abridged classic German novels books here.

• German Vogue is a great option for all you fashionistas who want to learn who’s who in the German fashion world.

• One for the cool kids, Neon offers a trendy take on lifestyle, culture and travel.

• Kafka should be on all advanced learners’ bookcases. Start out with his most famous book, “Die Verwandlung.”

4. Connect with German social media

This one is easy in this day and age. Everyone’s on social media all the time.
If you follow some German Twitter accounts, then you’ll have bite-sized chunks of German delivered to you around the clock. It’s fab reading practice and, once you start to feel really confident, you could even show off and tweet auf Deutsch!

Here’s a brief summary of 5 of the best Twitter accounts to connect to:

• @NeinQuarterly is one of the most popular German Twitter accounts. His philosophical satire is tweeted both in English and German, but his witticisms in German are often a great critique of the language.

• Another one for lovers of satire, @PolizeiBerlin_E is a mock account of the Berlin police force and provides a comical view of life in Berlin.

• @GrumpyMerkel is another parody account, this one based on Chancellor Angela Merkel. Following this account will also keep you up-to-date with international goings on!

• @DieZeit is one of Germany’s favorite broadsheet newspapers so this account will keep you abreast of all current affairs.

• @dw_deutsch is one for all culture vultures and provides links to loads of German multimedia and cultural pieces.

5. Have a German movie night

Why not switch the settings on your favorite DVD and watch the movie in German for a change? The listening practice is unbeatable and, seeing as you’ll already know the story, you’ll be able to keep up easily.

Once you start to get the hang of things you can push your listening to its limits and watch something you’ve never seen before!  Invite all your friends over and pass around the popcorn—you’ll soon see how fun teaching yourself German can be!

Spoiled for movie choice? I’ve narrowed it down for you…

• “Goodbye, Lenin!”: This lighthearted comedy follows an East Berlin family during the fall of The Wall. Alex’s mother—a supporter of the East’s Social Unity Party—wakes up from a coma just after the fall of the wall. How long can Alex pretend that her beloved state no longer exists?

• “Das Leben Der Anderen”: Another movie based in East Berlin, this drama shows the life of a Stasi spy.

• “Die Fette Jahren Sind Vorbei”: A group of rebellious twenty somethings take out their anti-capitalist sentiments on their well-heeled neighbors with disastrous consequences.

• “Der Untergang”: A movie for history aficionados, “Der Untergang” portrays the downfall of Adolf Hitler.

• “Lola Rennt”: An exhilarating race through Berlin. Can Lola find the 100,000 German Marks she needs in order to save her boyfriend’s life? Time is running out…

Hopefully this article has persuaded you to get your German on at home!  You’ll instantly feel the benefits—it’s amazing how far a couple of hours of practice outside the classroom will take your German!

---

After studying German and Philosophy at The University of Nottingham, Laura Harker relocated to Berlin in 2012. She now works as a freelance writer and is also assistant editor at Slow Travel Berlin.

Audio Programs in Review

by FluentU's jenniferyoung

Listen Up: The 5 Best Audio Programs for Learning a Language

It’s time to get back on the right track. As an adult, you might find it frustrating to struggle with language learning while young kids become fluent just like that. Or you've heard people say, "Kids absorb knowledge like a sponge."

So why can’t it be that easy for you?  Well actually, it sort of can.  Maybe not exactly as easy, but close to it. Back when your vocabulary was limited to “mama” and “dada,” listening was how you learned new words and phrases.

Anything you overheard, your brain soaked up, and eventually you repeated it back.
The same method will work for you as an adult, because that’s how your brain is wired to learn a language. There are plenty of other benefits to learning a language through listening, too.

Why Learn a Language Through Listening?

Learning a language by listening can greaty improve your success in speaking like a native and the speed at which you achieve your language goals.  Let’s take a look at some of the reasons for this.

Some of us just learn better that way

Do you learn best by listening?  If so, you’re not the only one. A lot of us are the same.  While some learn most efficiently by reading books and using flashcards, others are more attuned to aural learning (just a fancy term for learning by listening). For these people, using an audio CD or MP3 program is one of their best bets for becoming fluent. It’s also a great way to practice speaking the language by responding to audio prompts.

In fact, for people who learn best by listening, using other methods can be quite frustrating!
So if you know you’re an aural learner, don’t worry—there are plenty of resources out there for you, even if your brain is a little slower than when you were three years old.

It’s a scientifically proven way to learn a language (for all of us)

According to science, listening may be the best way to learn a language for everyone, regardless of their usual preferred language style. So it’s not just those who consider themselves aural learners who can benefit from listening. The rest of us can, to.  Studies have shown that being exposed to the spoken language helps the brain absorb it,  even if you don't understand what's being said!  

Research on how the brain processes language has led to the revelation that hearing a language could very well be the most important aspect of a language learning curriculum. It helps our brains adapt to unfamiliar pronunciations and new grammar structures.  (We may even be able to learn a language in our sleep, just by listening to it!) 

Still, you probably already know that learning a language takes a lot of time and dedication, so it’s important to know you’re putting in time and energy where it’s going to pay off the most. It’s good to realize that learning by listening is sure to bring about results.

There are lots of great resources out there

If an aural language learning experience is what gets you to fluency, then audio CD and MP3 programs are the resources that can take you there. In these programs, you hear words, phrases and sentences spoken to you. Practices and exercises give you the opportunity to use them yourself. These lessons increase in difficulty and complexity in a natural progression. This provides you with constant feedback about how to properly pronounce words and create sentence structures.
The best thing about audio programs is that you can start learning by listening at any level. No experience in the language? No problem! By listening to audio resources, your brain will start to pick it up right away.

You can easily mix audio with other methods

While listening may be a scientifically proven key to learning a language, combining audio programs with other methods will give your brain an extra boost.  A comprehensive language learning curriculum may also include textbooks, written exercises, in-person language practice, TV programs, computer tutorials and others.

FluentU combines audio with elements of all of the above by taking real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turning them into personalized language learning lessons.
 
Using a combination of different approaches forces you think about language in different ways. It helps you master the breadth of language skills, from writing to participating in real conversation. Try different approaches and see what works for you. It’s not necessary to do everything—just what helps you make progress learning the language.

If you want to learn a language with fun videos, then FluentU’s a pretty good bet!

You can learn at home, during your commute or on the go

Learning a language using audio CD and MP3 programs is one of the most convenient ways to boost your fluency. You can listen to them practically anywhere—whether it’s in the car, during your workout or while doing chores around the house.

Bored on your commute? Waiting in line at the DMV? Sitting at home with nothing better to do? Turn on your audio language program and get learning! If you have a CD player, or a mobile device that plays MP3s, you can make the most of your do-nothing time with these programs.
Even if you’re just passively listening, your brain will still pick up the language.
So if you want to learn a new language, you may as well listen to your audio language programs whenever you find yourself idle. You may be surprised how much learning you can squeeze in!

Listen Up: The 5 Best Audio Programs for Learning a Language

At last, we reveal the top audio language learning programs that will skyrocket you to fluency! We carefully considered the options and selected these resources for their value, effectiveness and entertainment.

These audio resources are highly valuable for any type of learner. In order to really understand a language, you have to practice your ability to hear it and speak it, which are exactly the skills that audio programs test you on.

So listen up, and start acing your language now with audio language learning programs!

Pimsleur

The gist of the Pimsleur approach is this:

1. You hear the words and phrases in the target language.
2. You hear them in your mother tongue.
3. You translate the word from your mother tongue to the target language.

The course is based on research by Paul Pimsleur, a linguist who sought to discover the fastest way to learn a language. The length of each course varies from around 15 to 45 hours, depending on the language. The courses are broken up into half-hour sessions. Nearly everything is audio-based, and even the provided reading material is meant to be read along with the audio lessons. More than 50 languages are offered.

Pros: With the Pimsleur method, the pressure is on you to respond with the correct translations. This provides a built-in motivation system that inspires you to do better with every attempt. The material from previous lessons is repeated in subsequent levels, so there’s a lot of reinforcement.
Cons: There’s limited context provided in the lessons. Most of the vocabulary seems to be oriented toward people traveling for business. You’ll learn select words and phrases, but not necessarily those that would be most useful to you.

Levels: There are typically up to three or four levels, with 30 lessons per level.
Cost: Price varies by language and format. German, for example, is $450 for a four-level course on MP3 ($970 on CD). All prices are listed on the Pimsleur website.

iSpeak

iSpeak is an MP3 language learning program from McGraw-Hill that focuses simply on learning new words. The package for each language includes 1500 high-frequency words and phrases, all in MP3 format. Each comes with a visual cue to associate with the word that appears on the screen.
Simply load the program onto your MP3 player and select the word or phrase you want to hear. On an iPod, you’d find this by going to “Artist” and selecting from a list of themes, then to “Audio” and selecting from a list of topics.

Pros: iSpeak is compatible with iPod and most other MP3 players, so no matter your preference of device, you can use iSpeak to help you with your listening skills in the target language. The portability and simplicity of the program make it a perfect choice for travelers.

Cons: The program is limited, with just 1500 words and phrases. It doesn’t do much for improving grammar and building conversation skills. There are only a handful of languages available. Still, it’s a convenient way to pick up new terms in select languages, especially if you’re a beginner.
Levels: There are no distinct levels. Programs focus mainly on beginning-level vocabulary.
Cost: Programs are priced at $7-15.

Michel Thomas

This audio-only method provides an opportunity to learn from a “teacher” who reads a lesson and asks you to repeat it. You’re “in class” with two other students also heard on the recording. The course introduces words and phrases that are explained in detail, which you later (along with the other two students) use to construct simple sentences. The total course for each language consists of 12 hours of audio.

Michel Thomas was a linguist and language teacher who spoke many languages and developed a system for rapid language learning. He was highly successful, with diplomats and celebrities numbering among his clients. These audio CDs are based on his methods.

Pros: Because there are other students recorded on the lessons, you get to feel like you’re really in class, and the progression seems natural. The Michel Thomas method is a more economical alternative to the Pimsleur method. The structure of the course gives you the tools to make real conversation in a short time.

Cons: The Michel Thomas method uses a lot of mnemonic devices to help you remember words and phrases. If this doesn’t work for you, it may seem tedious. For some, the pace might be too slow, since it’s dependent on the progress of the other two “students.”

Levels: There are no distinct levels, but the program progresses to intermediate difficulty.
Cost: The entire series of each language will run you about $75-100.

Living Language Drive Time

The Living Language Method prides itself on giving language lessons that involve multiple senses. Its regular offerings include CDs and a book in multilevel packages that encompass audio, visual, written and interactive approaches to language learning. The company’s Drive Time series is an audio-based program designed for commuters and anyone looking for language lessons on the go.
Each language comes with eight conversational lessons that guide you through vocabulary warm-up exercises, examples and opportunities to practice. You also get a CD of vocabulary words and a listener’s guidebook with vocabulary lists, dialogue scripts and summaries.

Pros: The Drive Time series gives you a lot of bang for your buck. You’ll progress rapidly through increasingly challenging lessons for a fraction of the price of many other programs. If you like thorough explanations of new material, this course is for you.

Cons: It’s not as immersive as some other programs. The structure is very traditional, and with the explanations, there’s a lot of English on the recordings. Some learners may find the pace to be a little on the fast side.

Levels: The entire eight-disc series take you from Beginner to Advanced.
Cost: The price is about $20 for a basic package, and $35 for the Deluxe Package.

Berlitz

A well-known name in the linguistic world, Berlitz offers a variety of language learning programs, including those that focus on audio CDs. The focus of their programs are typically conversation-based and centered around real-life conversation. There’s less focus on vocabulary and grammar lists.


Berlitz has one-CD sets, like Spanish in 30 Days, that can get you started for an upcoming trip, as well as multi-CD sets like Italian Berlitz Basic that give more in-depth lessons. The contents of each CD can be easily downloaded to an iPod or MP3 player.

Pros: There are a lot of different Berlitz products to choose from. Using Berlitz means you’ll be able to get high-quality books published by the company to complement your audio learning. Berlitz uses the “direct” or “natural” method that emphasizes learning a language to be able to communicate. For those who want to start using a language right away, Berlitz gets straight to the point.
Cons: The quality of the materials on the audio language programs can vary from language to language. With more than 30 language offerings, you might not get what you expected.

Levels: Most of their audio-focused products are for beginners. Their Confident series caters to “advanced beginners.” Their textbooks, which come with a CD, come in beginner to advanced levels.
Cost: Price varies widely, but expect to spend $20-30 for one set.

Audio CDs and MP3s for language learning can be the next best thing to a personal tutor.
They’ll talk to you, prompt you and guide you along as you master speaking your new language. Plus, you can take them wherever you go!  Your language learning doesn’t have to stop in the classroom or at home.  Take it with you, increase your practice time and see your efforts pay off!

10 Embarrassing German Conversation Mistakes to Learn to Avoid

By ryandennis Comments are closed

“Am I going on a date with who?
No way!
She’s just my friend! I mean…
Oh, whoops…”
Sound familiar, German learners? As sure as you’re going to find a bad soap opera if you turn on a German TV in the middle of the day, it’s unavoidable that you’re eventually going to say something humiliating on your quest to learn the language. It’s part of the fun.  At best, you have a good story. At worst, you suddenly find yourself in a relationship (see below, #1).

The trick is to laugh it off, even if the other person beats you to it. Native speakers understand that some things just don’t translate from other languages, and therefore are unlikely to ask that your visa be revoked, no matter how offensive the mistake.  Nonetheless, to give you a fighting chance, here’s 10 embarrassing mistakes that you can learn to avoid before you go out the door.

1. Wait, I Thought We Were Just Friends?

Relationships can be complicated anyway. In German, the terminology doesn’t help. For as specific as the language usually is, having names for things we wouldn’t dream of in English, there seems to be a slight oversight: there’s no actual word for “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.” Or more accurately, you use the same designation for your burning love interest as you would the guy you play basketball with every Monday night, calling them friends [Freund (m)/Freundin (f)].

In this case, it’s all in the syntax. Generally, to point out that darling girl that you faithfully buy roses for on the anniversary of the day you first kissed, you would say Meine Freundin. To introduce the childhood pal that you hang out with sometimes on weekends but in a purely platonic, non-mushy way, you would usually call her eine Freundin von mir, or “a friend of mine.”

If you want to avoid undue jealousy and make it to your next anniversary, it may be worth taking note.

2. The Interplay of Weather and Sexuality

To avoid giving the wrong signals, it is important to note that being hot or cold in German is a reflexive thing. Mir ist heiß translates as “To me, it is hot.” The English learner has a tendency to want to say Ich bin heiß, a direct translation. That’s not incorrect…if you want to suggest that you’re hot and bothered. Either way, we’re not judging.

In the same way, if you’re a little too warm, you’re going to want to say Mir ist warm. Ich bin warm can carry implications of sexual preference.

3. A Brief Education on Education

Navigating the translation of the schooling system in German can often be confusing, and leave many well-intentioned foreigners suggesting that they’re six graders. Some distinctions:

• If you’re at university, you’re a Student/Studentin. Someone still in the equivalent of high school/secondary school or lower is a Schüler/Schülerin. Unlike English, “Student” doesn’t encompass all levels of learning.

• Studieren is the verb to study, but only as your major. When you’re hitting the books, you’re lernen, even if it’s review.

• Hochschule doesn’t mean high school. Instead, it’s a term that designates all higher education for various types of careers, the types of which are often spelled out in the names of the Hochschule.  [--As to undergraduate schools in Germany, they actually have these 4 types of high school:  Gymnasium, Realschule, Hauptschule, and Gesamtschule, the first 3 of which vary according to the pupil’s aspirations afterwards, and the last, which combines them all.]

4. Open the Geht

One of the things that you’re going to be asked the most is how you are doing. Although less likely consequential than the Ich bin heiß pitfall, beginners still have a tendency to say Ich bin gut when they want to say that they’re good, directly translating it from English. Classic rookie mistake. Instead: Mir geht es gut. (Literally, it translates as “To me it goes well,” but for all intents and purposes, you’re saying that you’re doing fine). Not only is the former grammatically incorrect, it comes across a little cocky…

5. Hold on a Minute…What Time Should I Be There?

Germans are renowned for their punctuality, and for scoffing at those who aren’t timely. To keep us in our place, however, they made telling time a difficult matter.

The beginning German learner will note that nach can translate as “to,” as in when you’re traveling to a country or other designation. As a result, when someone asks to meet Viertel nach fünf, one would think that that they’re supposed to show up at a quarter to five. If you did, however, you’d be twiddling your thumbs for half an hour—or better yet, practicing your German on random passersby. Viertel nach actually means “quarter after,” while Viertel vor is the correct term for “quarter before.”
Note for those of the Irish or English persuasion: When a German says halb vier (half four) he actually means a half an hour before four o’clock, aka 3:30. Following the customs of your homeland would make you an hour late in this case.

6. Before and…Oh Gross

The word for “before” in German, vor, sounds like its English counterpart. However, the German word After means anus.  Uh, do we really need to keep talking about this?

7. Unintentionally Noncommittal

Another German phrase that may not be ein Freund von dir (just seeing if you’re paying attention) is Ich will. Even if you know better, in the heat of conversation you may be tempted to use it as “I will.” So many German words are spelled the same in English that it’s easy to get duped. The cold hard reality, however, is that Ich will means “I want.”  (For those keeping score at home, “I will” translates as Ich werde in German).

Instead of telling someone that you’re going to take out the garbage, you may be suggesting instead that you want to…and maybe that it’s probably not going to happen. So watch out!

8. I Become a Jelly Donut

I once stood in line at a bakery with my ex-girlfriend’s father, who was German, overweight, and did not like me very much. Suddenly he turned to me and said, “Ryan, I become a jelly donut.”
Bekommen, the verb “to get,” sounds so much like “become” that both German and English speakers get confused by it. Nonetheless, if you’re not careful you’ll turn yourself into all sorts of things.

9. Now Listen, Young Lady

An oft-told story from German classes in middle schools across the world: The students are asked to introduce themselves. A boy stands up and says: “Ich bin ein junger Mann.” (I’m a young man.)
The teacher says, “It’s nice to meet you.”

A girl stands up and says “Ich bin eine Jungfrau.” The teacher says, “Well I hope so, dear.”
Jungfrau means “virgin.”

10. H stands for “Clothes”

The “ch” sound is notoriously difficult for non-native German speakers. It has amused or frustrated many the bus driver and store clerk that has tried to decipher the attempts. Sometimes we find ourselves going too soft (“sh”) or too hard (“k”) to compensate. Be wary of the latter at times, however. Instead of asking if something happened at night (Was es in der Nacht?) you could be asking if it was in the nackt, aka “nude.”

This list won’t make you bulletproof from saying something incidentally shocking or prevent you from garnering a few raised eyebrows: mostly, we don’t want to ruin the fun for you. It will, however, help you avoid some of the common pitfalls beginning learners sometimes don’t see coming (and allow you to laugh at some other non-native speakers). In the end, your mistakes will be more original, and make for better stories and more interesting language learning.

From one friend (wink) to another.

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Ryan Dennis was a Fulbright Scholar and previously taught at Pädagogische Hochschule Schwäbisch Gmünd. In addition to hating ketchup, British spelling and violence, he writes The Milk House—the only literary column about dairy farming.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

THINK BIG -- 6 REASONS to LEARN GERMAN!

HIER SIEHT MAN DIE ANTWORT

IdeaFeed

Want to Learn a New Language? 6 Reasons to Consider German

by Robert Montenegro

It's safe to say that the German language has suffered over the past 100 years. Much of the blame for this falls on German citizens and policies from the early-to-mid 20th century, the ramifications of which still haunt the nation today. There's a stigma attached to German (perhaps unfairly at this point) that will take decades to fully disappear. 
Because of this, German isn't always near the top your typical language learner's wishlist. Yet there are myriad reasons why learning German is a terrific investment of time and brainpower. As socio-linguist Ulrich Ammon explains in an interview over at Deutsche Welle, there are plenty of reasons why German is an attractive language for learners and why German leaders have an incentive to promote it to the outside world. Here are six of those reasons:

1. GNP, Baby: According to Ammon, German ranks 10th in the world with 104 million native speakers. But when we consider the GNP yielded per language, German ranks much higher:

"In that regard, the German language is in fourth place. English comes in first, followed by Chinese and Spanish. So you could say that the economic potential associated with native German speakers holds a lot of weight."

If you're entering the world of international business, German is hugely practical. Which leads to reason number 2:
2. The Networking, oder der Rechnerverbund: English may be the international language of business, but a country's vernacular is still the language of in-depth networking:

"People know that you get further in a country if you speak the local and the official language and not just English. For networking and approaching clients, and partially also for business communication, knowing German gives you an additional advantage."

3. Make Your English Gooder: Yes, that's a joke. One of the reasons why learning a language is so useful is that it allows you a context to identify what appears to be innate in your own vernacular. I'm a big fan of the English Grammar for Students of... series of books because they place a keen focus on the nitty-gritty of grammar and syntax in both the native and learned languages. Since German sentence structure is different from English (infinitives go at the end, for example), mastering it opens your eyes to anatomy of language.

4. It's Not All That Hard: If you're sick of all your Mandarin-learning friends going on and on about how hard it is to learn a new language, picking up German is a great way to stick it to them. English is a mutt of a language, but mostly rooted in the Germanic linguistic structure. That means there are plenty of cognates. A cognate is a word that is similar to its other-language equivalent. "Hunde" in the photo above means "dogs." It's very similar to the English word "hounds." Other German words that are probably easy to decipher: Alkohol, Medizin, Perspektive.

5. There's a rich cultural and scientific heritage: As the Goethe Institute notes, "German is the language of Goethe, Kafka, Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven," among others. It's also the second most commonly used language in the science world and "the third largest contributor to research and development." There are a ton of primary sources out there in German just begging you to learn to read them. Don't let those primary sources down!
Also, the Bundesliga is by far the most exciting major football/soccer league and it's awesome watching Paderborn take on Dortmund in German. So that's an incentive too.

6. O is for Opportunity, G is for Gelegenheit: According to the Goethe Institute, Germany offers "a generous number of scholarships and other support to study." I can attest — getting a visa to spend time learning within German borders is a breeze and many young foreigners from a range of countries are taking advantage. Exchange programs are also a popular option that allows for a valuable immersion experience. On the domestic side, knowing German is really valuable in industries such as travel, tourism, business, and academia. If you're interested in relocating, there are plenty of similar opportunities in German-speaking countries. 

If you're considering learning a new language, hopefully you'll give German a thoughtful glance. It's understandable if you're learning Spanish for cultural reasons or Mandarin for a business advantage or Japanese because you simply love anime, but remember also what German is the language of: efficiency, business acumen, pretzels, .... and Oktoberfest.

The German Education System: March 2015 series, WGBH

WGBH SERIES:  GERMAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

Four-part series focusing on what we can learn from Germany.  (Thanks to David Aubin for sharing the link.)


Part 1. How can we CONTROL THE COSTS of higher education?  (Is this even desirable?)

Comments:

• 
  

  ustjojo • a day ago

  
  

  p.s. Essen is NOT a small suburb of Cologne but rather a vibrant city of its own. In fact, it has a population of over 500,000. ... This story... is really very good at its core.

  
  
• 
  

  justjojo • 2 days ago

  
  

  Some information valuable and interesting and on the mark, while other information was misleading or downright false.
  •  In my 8+ years studying at two different German Unis, I rarely sat in classes with more than 20 students in them. In fact, most of my seminars and courses had anywhere from ten to twenty students, many of whom I got to know quite well over the years.
  • There is definitely student housing at all German universities (Studentenwohnheime) - perhaps not exactly the same as in America but existent nonetheless. I lived in a wonderful dorm at the Uni in Bonn. All the students on each floor shared a kitchen which provided the opportunity to get to know other students very well.
  • I also had the experience at both the Uni in Bonn and in Hamburg where I spent several years studying linguistics that I got to know my professors and even met with them outside of the Uni setting.
  • As a professor now at a state college I can guarantee you that the professors in Germany make similar salaries and probably put in fewer hours than their American colleagues. They also get more sabbaticals than we do.
  --- But yes, the German Unis lack many of the bells and whistles and definitely all the administrative bloat!

Part 2.  What CAN'T WE MATCH IN THE USA in comparison with higher education in Germany?

Part 3.  Germany produces happy, successful and even "ARISTOCRATIC" BLUE COLLAR WORKERS, -- rather than so-called cultural misfits in the USA: those people who don't dream of going to college.

Try a paid apprenticeship!  A company WILL PAY YOU ~ $1200/month to learn to be a good employee.  Once your 3 year training period is over, most apprentice-graduates will then get hired by their host company -- and salaries starting at US$ 60,000 aren't unheard of.  Compare that 4 year period with being a US college student for 4 years, paying even $60,000/year x 4 for a diploma:

                                     Year 1      Year 2      Year 3      Year 4           Total
German Apprenticeship     $14,400    $14,400   $14,400    $60,000     $103,000            INCOME!
USA  4 year University      $22-60K  $22-60K  $22-60K  $22-60K    $88,000-240,000  in DEBT  

Part 4.  How TALENT AND ABILITIES ARE CHANNELED in Germany, which keeps kids engaged and productive.

The beginning part of this report shows a strong American bias.  Most often, parents who attended university themselves are going to wish that for their children, too.  But the system succeeds as is in many ways, since it tends to support kids at the pace at which they are currently developing.  Should a student develop to the point of wanting more of a challenge, those separate educational tracks can merge.

Comment:

Martin Holzner • 12 hours ago

great report, but they forgot to mention one important detail: the decision what track a student goes on is not final. There are many options to change track later on. Kids that start slower can develop at their own pace, and switch later on ...  

 A further point is that the Realschule and the Hauptschule are merging into a Gesamtschule (or inclusive school) so that


 

Wall Street Journal: Lost in Translation

I think of this article helping to explain the example I use regarding the frequent use reflexives in German... ( Langweilst du dich? Freust du dich nicht?)  Yes, it is your fault if you are bored, or unhappy for instance! Danke, Adam!  --rsb

LIFE & STYLE

Lost in Translation

New cognitive research suggests that language profoundly influences the way people see the world; a different sense of blame in Japanese and Spanish

By

LERA BORODITSKY

Updated July 23, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

'The Tower of Babel' by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1563. The Gallery Collection/Corbis

(Please see Corrections & Amplifications below.)

Do the languages we speak shape the way we think? Do they merely express thoughts, or do the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express?

Take "Humpty Dumpty sat on a..." Even this snippet of a nursery rhyme reveals how much languages can differ from one another. In English, we have to mark the verb for tense; in this case, we say "sat" rather than "sit." In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can't) change the verb to mark tense.

In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Dumpty did the sitting. You would also have to decide if the sitting event was completed or not. If our ovoid hero sat on the wall for the entire time he was meant to, it would be a different form of the verb than if, say, he had a great fall.

In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you'd use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you'd use a different form.

Do English, Indonesian, Russian and Turkish speakers end up attending to, understanding, and remembering their experiences differently simply because they speak different languages?

These questions touch on all the major controversies in the study of mind, with important implications for politics, law and religion. Yet very little empirical work had been done on these questions until recently. The idea that language might shape thought was for a long time considered untestable at best and more often simply crazy and wrong. Now, a flurry of new cognitive science research is showing that in fact, language does profoundly influence how we see the world.

The question of whether languages shape the way we think goes back centuries; Charlemagne proclaimed that "to have a second language is to have a second soul." But the idea went out of favor with scientists when Noam Chomsky's theories of language gained popularity in the 1960s and '70s. Dr. Chomsky proposed that there is a universal grammar for all human languages—essentially, that languages don't really differ from one another in significant ways. And because languages didn't differ from one another, the theory went, it made no sense to ask whether linguistic differences led to differences in thinking.

The search for linguistic universals yielded interesting data on languages, but after decades of work, not a single proposed universal has withstood scrutiny. Instead, as linguists probed deeper into the world's languages (7,000 or so, only a fraction of them analyzed), innumerable unpredictable differences emerged.

Of course, just because people talk differently doesn't necessarily mean they think differently. In the past decade, cognitive scientists have begun to measure not just how people talk, but also how they think, asking whether our understanding of even such fundamental domains of experience as space, time and causality could be constructed by language.

For example, in Pormpuraaw, a remote Aboriginal community in Australia, the indigenous languages don't use terms like "left" and "right." Instead, everything is talked about in terms of absolute cardinal directions (north, south, east, west), which means you say things like, "There's an ant on your southwest leg." To say hello in Pormpuraaw, one asks, "Where are you going?", and an appropriate response might be, "A long way to the south-southwest. How about you?" If you don't know which way is which, you literally can't get past hello.

About a third of the world's languages (spoken in all kinds of physical environments) rely on absolute directions for space. As a result of this constant linguistic training, speakers of such languages are remarkably good at staying oriented and keeping track of where they are, even in unfamiliar landscapes. They perform navigational feats scientists once thought were beyond human capabilities. This is a big difference, a fundamentally different way of conceptualizing space, trained by language.

Differences in how people think about space don't end there. People rely on their spatial knowledge to build many other more complex or abstract representations including time, number, musical pitch, kinship relations, morality and emotions. So if Pormpuraawans think differently about space, do they also think differently about other things, like time?

To find out, my colleague Alice Gaby and I traveled to Australia and gave Pormpuraawans sets of pictures that showed temporal progressions (for example, pictures of a man at different ages, or a crocodile growing, or a banana being eaten). Their job was to arrange the shuffled photos on the ground to show the correct temporal order. We tested each person in two separate sittings, each time facing in a different cardinal direction. When asked to do this, English speakers arrange time from left to right. Hebrew speakers do it from right to left (because Hebrew is written from right to left).

Pormpuraawans, we found, arranged time from east to west. That is, seated facing south, time went left to right. When facing north, right to left. When facing east, toward the body, and so on. Of course, we never told any of our participants which direction they faced. The Pormpuraawans not only knew that already, but they also spontaneously used this spatial orientation to construct their representations of time. And many other ways to organize time exist in the world's languages. In Mandarin, the future can be below and the past above. In Aymara, spoken in South America, the future is behind and the past in front.

In addition to space and time, languages also shape how we understand causality. For example, English likes to describe events in terms of agents doing things. English speakers tend to say things like "John broke the vase" even for accidents. Speakers of Spanish or Japanese would be more likely to say "the vase broke itself." Such differences between languages have profound consequences for how their speakers understand events, construct notions of causality and agency, what they remember as eyewitnesses and how much they blame and punish others.

In studies conducted by Caitlin Fausey at Stanford, speakers of English, Spanish and Japanese watched videos of two people popping balloons, breaking eggs and spilling drinks either intentionally or accidentally. Later everyone got a surprise memory test: For each event, can you remember who did it? She discovered a striking cross-linguistic difference in eyewitness memory. Spanish and Japanese speakers did not remember the agents of accidental events as well as did English speakers. Mind you, they remembered the agents of intentional events (for which their language would mention the agent) just fine. But for accidental events, when one wouldn't normally mention the agent in Spanish or Japanese, they didn't encode or remember the agent as well.

In another study, English speakers watched the video of Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" (a wonderful nonagentive coinage introduced into the English language by Justin Timberlake), accompanied by one of two written reports. The reports were identical except in the last sentence where one used the agentive phrase "ripped the costume" while the other said "the costume ripped." Even though everyone watched the same video and witnessed the ripping with their own eyes, language mattered. Not only did people who read "ripped the costume" blame Justin Timberlake more, they also levied a whopping 53% more in fines.

Beyond space, time and causality, patterns in language have been shown to shape many other domains of thought. Russian speakers, who make an extra distinction between light and dark blues in their language, are better able to visually discriminate shades of blue. The Piraha, a tribe in the Amazon in Brazil, whose language eschews number words in favor of terms like few and many, are not able to keep track of exact quantities. And Shakespeare, it turns out, was wrong about roses: Roses by many other names (as told to blindfolded subjects) do not smell as sweet.

Patterns in language offer a window on a culture's dispositions and priorities. For example, English sentence structures focus on agents, and in our criminal-justice system, justice has been done when we've found the transgressor and punished him or her accordingly (rather than finding the victims and restituting appropriately, an alternative approach to justice). So does the language shape cultural values, or does the influence go the other way, or both?

Languages, of course, are human creations, tools we invent and hone to suit our needs. Simply showing that speakers of different languages think differently doesn't tell us whether it's language that shapes thought or the other way around. To demonstrate the causal role of language, what's needed are studies that directly manipulate language and look for effects in cognition.

That language embodies different ways of knowing the world seems intuitive, given the number of times we reach for a word or phrase in another language that communicates that certain je ne sais quoi we can't find on our own.

—Steve Kallaugher

One of the key advances in recent years has been the demonstration of precisely this causal link. It turns out that if you change how people talk, that changes how they think. If people learn another language, they inadvertently also learn a new way of looking at the world. When bilingual people switch from one language to another, they start thinking differently, too. And if you take away people's ability to use language in what should be a simple nonlinguistic task, their performance can change dramatically, sometimes making them look no smarter than rats or infants. (For example, in recent studies, MIT students were shown dots on a screen and asked to say how many there were. If they were allowed to count normally, they did great. If they simultaneously did a nonlinguistic task—like banging out rhythms—they still did great. But if they did a verbal task when shown the dots—like repeating the words spoken in a news report—their counting fell apart. In other words, they needed their language skills to count.)

All this new research shows us that the languages we speak not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. The structures that exist in our languages profoundly shape how we construct reality, and help make us as smart and sophisticated as we are.

Language is a uniquely human gift. When we study language, we are uncovering in part what makes us human, getting a peek at the very nature of human nature. As we uncover how languages and their speakers differ from one another, we discover that human natures too can differ dramatically, depending on the languages we speak. The next steps are to understand the mechanisms through which languages help us construct the incredibly complex knowledge systems we have. Understanding how knowledge is built will allow us to create ideas that go beyond the currently thinkable. This research cuts right to the fundamental questions we all ask about ourselves. How do we come to be the way we are? Why do we think the way we do? An important part of the answer, it turns out, is in the languages we speak.

Corrections and Amplifications

Japanese and Spanish language speakers would likely say "the vase broke" or "the vase was broken" when talking about an accident. This article says that Japanese and Spanish speakers would be more likely to say "the vase broke itself."

—Lera Boroditsky is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and editor in chief of Frontiers in Cultural Psychology.

Wir helfen zu Hause ... getanzt! Ventures (Walk, Don't Run)

Intro:     Wir wollen Fern sehen.  Aber zuerst müssen wir helfen. 
          --Na gut,  wir helfen hier zu Hause! 
       
A        Was machen wir zuerst?   Was können wir tun?    
B         Wo fangen wir an?  Draußen!  Jetzt geht's los!

C.       Wir mähen den Rasen   Wir mähen den Rasen   (Brumm, brumm! )
           Wir mähen den Rasen  Wir mähen den Rasen    (Brumm, brumm!)

D.       Dann gießen wir die Blumen  Dann gießen wir die Blumen  (Plantsch, plantsch!)
           Dann gießen wir die Blumen  Dann gießen wir die Blumen  (Plantsch, plantsch!)

Refr:    Jetzt zur Garage:  Wir polieren das Auto!
            Wir polieren das Auto!   Wir polieren das Auto!   Ja, so geht das, wir polieren das Auto!
            Ja, so geht das, wir polieren das Auto --  Wir wollen ein schönes Auto.   

E.         Aber die Garage ist auch schmutzig! 
             Räumen wir die Garage auf!  
             Wir räumen, räumen, räumen die Garage auf!
           

Brücke:  Nun geht's in die Wohnung. 
              Ach!  Der Waschbecken ist voll!   
              Der Waschbecken ist voll, und wir brauchen das Geschirr.
              Wir brauchen das Geschirr.   -- Wir spülen das Geschirr.
             
E.           Den Tisch müssen wir decken.   Decken wir den Tisch!
              Den Tisch müssen wir decken.   Decken wir den Tisch!

F.           Zum Schlafzimmer?   Das Bett ist nicht gemacht?  Ach ja.
              Wir machen das Bett,  Wir machen das Bett.   Wir machen das Bett.


Refr:     Der Staub!   Er liegt herum.  Saugen wir diesen Staub weg!
             Wir saugen, saugen, saugen den Staub.  Der Staub muss weg.
             Wir saugen den Staub.
          
ENDE:   Schau mal!    Das Haus ist aufgeräumt.
                Juchhe!         Schön fleißig sind wir.    
                Endlich dürfen wir Fern sehen!    --  Zuerst kommt Abendbrot.

Sprachen Lernen: WARUM?

HIER IST DER LINK
http://www.pasch-net.de/pas/cls/leh/med/jla/deindex.htm

-- mit artikeln z.B

Warum finden Schüler keinen Spaß beim lernen?
(Why don't kids enjoy learning?)

Warum sind Schüler manchmal so emotional? 
(Why do some pupils respond so emotionally?) 

Warum finden sie andere Schüler interessanter als der Lehrer?
(Why do pupils find each other more interesting than their teacher?) 

Warum sind Jugendliche im Unterricht oft gelangweilt?
(Why do pupils so often seem bored during their lessons?) 
Haben Sie das auch schon erlebt? Schülerinnen und Schüler machen im Unterricht nicht so recht mit und scheinen sich zu langweilen. Was kann dahinterstecken?Mehr ...

Warum lassen sich Schüler im Unterricht so schnell ablenken?
(Why do pupils tune out so quickly?) 
Ein bekanntes Phänomen: die Aufmerksamkeit für den Unterricht schwindet bei Jugendlichen im Vergleich zu erwachsenen Lernern viel schneller. Oft lassen sie sich von ihren Mitschülern oder anderen Dingen ablenken.Mehr ...

Warum sprechen Schüler häufig nur ungern vor der Klasse
(Why do so few kids enjoy speaking in front of the class?) 
Kennen Sie das? Sie stellen Ihren Schülerinnen und Schülern im Unterricht eine Frage. Doch statt einer Antwort erhalten Sie kollektives Schweigen.Mehr ...

Warum sind viele Schüler haüfig müde und teilnahmslos?
(Why are so many pupils tired and remote so often?) 

Für Fans der Geschichte: In einer Zeitmaschine, wie Zeitklicks!

Mensch!  Wir könnten viele Zeit auf diese Seite verbringen!

HIER BEI ZEITKLICKS!

Welche Epoche ist dir am Liebsten?
Besuchst du am liebsten im Jahr 1890?
Oder erst nach der Kriegszeit?


Und noch eine Zeitmaschine.  Diese Kinderzeitmaschine geht noch weiter zurück in der Geschichte.

HIER GEHT ES SOGAR WEITER IN DER GESCHICHTE ZURÜCK


Ich hoffe du findest auf diese Seite einen Schatz -- oder mehr! 
Schatz = treasure! 

BEI COMPUTERBILD (COMPUTER PICTURE) KANN MAN VIELE VERBINDUNGEN FINDEN.  LASS UNS WISSEN, WENN DU ETWAS GUTES FINDE.  VIEL GLÜCK!

Austauscher-Amanda bloggt

 "There's something about limited amounts of time that leave you feeling as if you have not lived enough experienced enough and thus must make up for it."  In the last couple of months I have experienced the clarity of enlightenment pertaining to my life here. The fact that I will be leaving soon has made me open my eyes again to everything that had made the transition from overwhelming to ordinary without ever taking a "Pause" ("pow-za":  German pronunciation needed for intended affect), like the fact that I'm in the center of Europe and RyanAir flights to Italy cost 12.99, or that cobblestone streets really are so much more interesting, or that public transportation rocks, or- or - or - or . This list would be about a mile long ... but it's the "ahhh" moment of rediscovery that makes these little things so big in my heart.

Being abroad has kept me continually viewing things from a different perspective therefore giving me the ability to really value the positives, and also recognize the negatives also play their role. Every equation however has it's constants: Milka will always taste delicious, handball is one awesome sport, and sunshine is always welcome.

...As I leave Germany, a piece of my heart will stay behind...