Tag Archives: Foreign language

Review of Week 1 #Fi3M

08 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in German Language

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Some characters of Asterix. In the front row a...

I’ve completed the first week of my Summer Language Challenge and overall I’m happy with my progress and the fact that every day I have been putting the effort in to progress my German.  For me, the forever Procrastinator, this is a huge achievement.

Breaking the parts of the Challenge down, this is what I’ve been doing this week.

Speaking

This is the section where I’m not all that happy with my efforts.  With my German speaking colleagues leaving, I’ve lost easy daily access to people who will speak in German with me.  However, I’ve noticed that I am speaking more in German class, instead of being deathly afraid to open my mouth, which is probably due to a change in attitude than an increase in ability. Also, I had a short one minute conversation with my neighbour about the horrible humid weather we are having and she was able to understand what I was saying and I was able to understand her, so that counts as a win in my book.  I was also able to go to the post office and ask for a stamp to Australia and one for Germany and most importantly, understand the amount I had to pay, so another win. Also, I went shopping for a pillow and was able to ask the assistant for her advice and yesterday was able to ask the assistant at Saturn if they had the movie I was after (they didn’t).  Therefore, I guess I did more speaking than I actually realised this week. Maybe I’m not so displeased with my efforts after all.

Reading

This is the section where I feel I’m really making some progress.  Every day I have read at least two articles, if not more, and am feeling less overwhelmed by it all.  Anyone who has ever faced a large chunk of text in a language they can barely read will know what I mean here.

Instead of reading my graded childrens’ books which weren’t getting me excited about reading, I’ve switched to reading Asterix comics. There are quite a lot of words on each page, more than the graded childrens’ books and because I’m enjoying reading them, I am now reading aloud 10 pages every night.  The Asterix comics have about 50 pages, so one comic takes about 5 days to read.

Listening

I’ve ditched the idea of listening to audio books and have switched to podcasts.  Initially I choose podcasts that were completely out of my current ability to understand.  Whilst the challenge was good, I felt I wasn’t getting much out of the time I spent listening to them.  Therefore, I’ve switched to listening to Wieso nicht? -a B1 graded listening course from Deutsche Welle.  I listen to an episode on the U-Bahn in the morning.  Then during a break at work, I listen to it again, but this time with the script in front of me and then on the way home I listen to it again minus the script.  I feel the repeated listening with and without the text in front of me is useful, but interested to get your thoughts on this method.  Is this the best way to improve one’s listening ability?

I’ve also been using Deutsche Welle to listen to the langsam gesprochen Nachrichten every day, plus their Alltagsdeutsch offering which involves listening to and reading the text at the same time.

Movies & TV

This week I’ve watched two German films with subtitles switched on (T)raumschiff Surprise & Spiderman 2 and was able to understand the majority of the films.

Also, I’ve watched five episodes of Buffy – Season 1, also with the subtitles on. Again being able to understand the main bulk of the dialogue.

And I watched the wonderful Kambolage on Arte TV, also with subtitles on.

However, I still struggle greatly watching TV where there are no subtitles as the dialogue is just too fast. I hope as my ability to understand spoken German improves I won’t be relying on the subtitles so heavily.

Vocab & Writing

I’m keeping up with my flashcards and doing at least 20 minutes of Duolingo per day.  Whilst Duolingo isn’t really helping improve my vocab, it is helping with practising all those grammatical concepts I’ve learnt over the past 18 months & promptly forgotten.

Also, I have been tweeting a little each day in German, so thanks to all of you who have tweeted back to me in German. I’m loving the short written conversations and am finding them incredibly helpful.

Daily Life

I’ve made an effort to reduce my input of media in English. I’ve watched almost no TV in English, with the exception of a movie last night, and in the mornings instead of listening to music in English, I’ve been listening to Disney songs in German.  I’m now on the hunt for decent modern music in German cause there really is only so much Disney one person can listen to in a week & I’ve definitely exceeded that.

So, that is a very long winded account of week one.  For those of you doing your own Summer Language Challenge, how is it going?  Are you happy with your progress & effort this week? What issues have you been having with your language learning? Or has it been smooth sailing?

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The Language Learning Tripod

01 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in German Language

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Today whilst stumbling around on You Tube I discovered a series of videos on language learning by Lingosteve, a Canadian man who loves learning languages so much he founded LingQ, an online language learning site.

He has recently made three videos on what he terms the Language Learning Tripod – the three things you need to have to effectively learn a language.  They are Attitude, Time and Noticing (or paying attention).  Whilst I don’t agree with every single point he makes, overall I found these three videos extremely motivating and thought that those of you who are also in the midst of learning a language might also appreciate a boost in motivation.

I recommend watching Lingosteve’s other You Tube videos as they are extremely informative and cover a whole range of issues about language learning. They are certainly helping me feel less stupid and overwhelmed by the whole process.

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Learning A Language When You Are In The ‘Wrong’ Country

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in German Language

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Foreign Language Bookshop neon sign

Foreign Language Bookshop neon sign (Photo credit: avlxyz)

Since I have a strong interest in learning foreign languages, I read many language blogs and one comment I always see on these blogs (and on my own) is how much easier it is for the blogger to learn a language because they live in the country where it is spoken & how much harder it is for the commenter because they do not.  I would like to go on the record by saying that this belief is bullshit.

Yes, I live in Northern Germany where German is spoken but it is honestly easier for me not to speak German than it is for me to learn it.  My job is in English, I can do my hobbies in English, I can find someone (though it is not always easy) at any company that speaks English & all my friends, despite from being from all over the world including Germany, speak English.  In fact I can (and have) go days without speaking a single word of German.  I also know many expats who have lived here for over 10 years and know as much German as would a motivated tourist after 2 weeks – and by that I mean social niceties and being able to order a meal.

For me to learn to speak German despite living in a German speaking country I need to put a lot of effort into it. I need to go out of my way to find the resources to do so.  In fact, living here doesn’t give me a distinct advantage to learning German compared to anyone else on the planet.  The same resources I use are available to anyone, regardless of where they live.

The resources I use are:

1. Language courses

These are available at most community college or adult education centre. If your town does not have one, you can also find language courses online.

2. Websites

If you have the internet, you have access to the exact resources I do.  Do a google search looking for ‘<languages> learning sites’ and you will be amazed at the number of sites available.  You can also find newspapers online written in the language you are learning.

3. Podcasts

If you use iTunes simply go to the store section and type in ‘learn <language>’ and you will be overwhelmed by what is out there.

4. Computer Software

I have a low opinion on how effective computer software like Rosetta Stone is as a single resource for language learning, but if you have the cash to spare go for it, just remember to use other resources as well.

5. Books

This one may be a little trickier, but most libraries in major cities have books available in other languages.  If they don’t, ask the librarian for help – they may be able to get books in for you from other libraries.

6. Your own computer & smartphone

Change your operating system language on both your computer and smartphone to the language you are learning.  Also change the language on social media networks you use every day like Facebook.

7. Human Interaction

This one I will admit is easier if you are living in the country where the language is spoken, but it is not impossible if you don’t.  Sites like Couchsurfing and Meet-up allow you to meet with speakers of the language you are learning in your own city. If you aren’t up for face to face communication, you can try sites like My Language Exchange to meet people online and find penpals or people to chat to on Skype.

8. TV & Movies

Most DVDs have more than one language available, so buy DVDs that feature the language you are learning.  This may be easier in some regions than others.  Also, most TV channels put some of their content online, so do a search for the TV stations that use the language you are learning & check out their websites.

Being based in the ‘wrong’ country is a poor excuse to not learn the language you have always wanted to learn. The internet has made the world a very small place – take advantage of that fact. At times, you might have to work a little harder than someone living in the country but if the thought of doing some hard work puts you off, then perhaps you should re-think learning a foreign language as it is hard work no matter where you live.

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First Dream in German

27 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in Expat

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I’ve been dreaming in German for quite a while now but all those dreams have been rehashing the grammar rules I’ve learnt that day or conjugating verbs.  Basically my subconscious trying to make sense of everything I’m learning and consolidating it. However, last night I had my very first dream in German where both I and the other person in the dream were speaking in German. I don’t remember an awful lot about the dream but I was walking up some stairs chatting to the person next to me and what I remember is that even in my dream I didn’t understand every single word that they were saying, but I understood enough to be able to make some kind of reply. It was interesting to see my dream life resembled reality, although it would have been much more cooler if I had been completely fluent in German in my dream world.

I’ve been told that when you start dreaming in another language is when you finally make some kind of breakthrough. I hope this is correct.  For those of you who are conversational/fluent in another language, at what point did you start dreaming in that language? And do you think that it had any relation to what stage of learning that language you were up to?

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How to Start Learning A Foreign Language

20 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in German Language

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Most people have ‘learn a new language’ on their bucket list, but very few people actually take the first steps toward fulfilling this dream as they simply don’t know how to start learning a foreign language or they think that it will be too hard.

Firstly, throw out any misconceptions that learning a foreign language is too hard, you are too old or you don’t have an ear for languages. You learnt to speak your mother tongue therefore you do indeed have an ear for languages and there is no magical cut off age after which learning a new language becomes impossible.  Kids seem better at learning new languages simply because they are not afraid of making mistakes, that is all.

Now that you are ready to start to learning a new language, here are the best ways to go about it:

Take A Class

This seems self-explanatory, but taking a class is the best way to start learning a foreign language. Most adult education centres have language classes and they tend to be fairly inexpensive.  The best part of taking a class is that you will have a whole classroom full of people to practice with who are not going to laugh at your mistakes cause they will be making them themselves as well.

Audio CDs

If, for whatever reason, you can’t take a class but you want to start to pick up a few phrases in your chosen language, then audio CDs are a good place to start.  Audio CDs will give you a good opportunity to get used to the sound of your new language, but the drawback is they offer no chance to practice speaking nor do they teach you any grammar.

Computer Software

Using software, like Rosetta Stone, is a very expensive way to start learning a new language, but if you have some spare cash and going to a class is not an option, then it’s a good place to start.  Like the audio CDs though, they don’t offer the chance to take part in conversations, but they will teach you the grammar so you’ll be able to construct sentences on your own rather than relying on learnt phrases.

Google

Yes, that’s right, Google.  If you don’t want to pay any money, then Google is the go-to place to start learning a new language.  Simply type ‘learn <language name>’ into the search box and be prepared to be overwhelmed with options.  However, beware some resources are far better than others.  Working your way through a couple of free online courses is a good way to judge whether you really want to learn the language before committing any money to it.

Once you begin learning a new language you then can start to read children books in that language, watch your favourite films (you know that ones you know all the words to) in that language and read trashy gossip magazines. Also most big cities have meet-ups for native speakers of almost any language you can think of and most of them would be happy for you to join them to practice speaking.

The hardest part of learning a new language is taking the very first step which can see from the above list is really not that hard at all.  So now that you don’t have any more excuses, it’s time to knock learning a new language off your bucket list.

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