German Language
<div class="IPBDescription">free online resources?</div> I was wondering if anyone knows any free online resources in learning German?
It would also be nice if the German members could help out with some advice on learning it, and those non-German nationality members who have picked up or learned the language.
It would also be nice if the German members could help out with some advice on learning it, and those non-German nationality members who have picked up or learned the language.
Comments
It would also be nice if the German members could help out with some advice on learning it, and those non-German nationality members who have picked up or learned the language. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I know of the <a href='http://dict.leo.org/' target='_blank'>LEO dictionary</a>, which has a vast resource of words. Otherwise, fromy my experience, the easiest way to learn is to not try and translate everything, but think in the target language.
...Which really doesn't work well when you know few words, but eventually, when you can usually get the meaning of a verb from its context, it works fairly well.
One easy step to start with: the verb comes second.
Ich <u>arbeite</u> schnell, seit ich gehen muß.
Seit ich gehen muß, <u>arbeite</u> ich schnell.
"Seit ich gehen muß" is a suboridnate clause, so the whole thing is the first part of the sentence; then the verb is next, second. The exception seems to be 'deshalb' which puts the verb after itself. German has lots of exceptions like that...lots of idioms too...It's a lot like English like that.
The most annoying this is going to be the der, die and das stuff. Since it depends on case (and English doesn't really have throughout cases), it's something English speakers don't really have experience doing.
I never really knew about English grammar until I had to learn German grammar. I just knew that it was 'a' for duck or book and 'an' for apple and stuff, because it sounded right, not because the following word started with a vowel.
If you got started once with the basic vocabulary you should go to a place where you can "watch" Germans talking, eg. a message board which covers a game you know, so that you can at least guess what they are talking about.
Well now, while reading is good, listening/speaking is even better! So, after having dug deeper into the language perhaps play on german servers where you can hear Germans speaking, and from this moment on your abilities concerning fluent speaking and being able to understand the words (pronounciation) will increase dramatically.
At least this is how I learnt english. But my english sucks, so you may as well ignore me <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
:EDIT: Oh, just stumbled over that link: <a href='http://www.learn-german-online.net/' target='_blank'>http://www.learn-german-online.net/</a>
Far from sucking if I'm honest. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
They're not free, but Michel Thomas's audio CDs are clear and concise.
<a href='http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0340780657/qid=1108676548/ref=pd_ka_7/202-5023943-8832663' target='_blank'>http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0...5023943-8832663</a>
Corrected <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
[sie without capital letter because a colloquial style is more appropriate here ^^]
:EDIT: <a href='http://www.learn-german-online.net/' target='_blank'>http://www.learn-german-online.net/</a> <-Just in case my edit wasn't noticed in my first post
Btw: Nemesis is german and I'm too. No one else I know about. There are some german nicknames arround though.
Oh well. If you want to learn a language you have to somehow get the words. If you know 80% of the words in a sentence you're already on the winning side.
You should note that:
-There is no ' (apostroph) in german. So no boy's or anything. It's just boys (well not a good example but whatever.)
-Nouns are in capital letters always.
-I may confuse these two but: english is more passive and german is more active.
Btw: Nemesis is german and I'm too. No one else I know about. There are some german nicknames arround though.
Oh well. If you want to learn a language you have to somehow get the words. If you know 80% of the words in a sentence you're already on the winning side.
You should note that:
-There is no ' (apostroph) in german. So no boy's or anything. It's just boys (well not a good example but whatever.)
-Nouns are in capital letters always.
-I may confuse these two but: english is more passive and german is more active.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Strangely enough, <i>ich</i> and isn't capitalized. Which sort of makes sense, since <i>you</i> is never capitalized in English, but for some reason <i>I</i> is.
You've got (...or you's got <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> ):
Sie - formal (letter writing and talking to older-people-types, although, they wont know it's capitalized because it would be spoken)
sie - you [plural] (as in <i>you all</i> or <i>y'all</i>...but aside from capitalization it's the same as Sie)
du - you [singular] (just like when you use you in English)
Before you try learning things like that, I would suggest finding a good verb conjugation chart and a word ending chart.
Present Tense non-stem changing verb conjugation chart: <a href='http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa100200a.htm' target='_blank'>here</a>
Through simple phoenetics you can begin to understand more German. I don't really have a comprehensive list but <i>d</i> in German becomes a <i>th</i> in English (which is sort of backwards compatible, since t becomes d in many cases), <i>b</i> becomes a <i>f / v</i>, <i>g</i> becomes <i>y</i>...which becomes a bit more evident with:
der Dieb - thief
die Tür (which actually comes from das Tor [which means gate]) - door
der Weg - way/path
[note that this doesn't work for many words, since English borrows from many, many languages]
Some notes on pronouciation:
<i>W</i> is an English <i>V</i>.
The dipthong <i>AU</i> is like the 'ow' in bow (the bending over one, or part of a ship).
The dipthong <i>ÄU</i> (or <i>AEU</i>) is like the <i>oi</i> sound in boy.
When starting out, a quick way to learn vocabulary involves memorizing short sentences, once you've got about 25 of those (1 or 2 per day) start on words. Sort of how you learn to read.
<!--QuoteBegin-sample sentences+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (sample sentences)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Er läuft schnell. [laufen - to run]
He runs fast.
Der Hund bellt. [bellen - to bark]
The dog barks.
Ich komme mit. [mitkommen - seperable prefix verb; to come with]
I come with.
Der Mann geht über den Fluß. [gehen - to go]
The man goes over the river. [über, here, is an accusative preposistion]
[somebody correct me if the ß has gone out of style, feel free to spell it Fluss]
Anne ißt ein Apfel. [essen - stem changing verb; to eat]
Anna eats an apple. [Anna could also just be Ann(e)]
Herr Bauer baut ein Gebäude. [bauen - to build]
Mister Bauer builds a building.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Then I would suggest going to a dictionary, looking for a word you commonly use in English and finding the translation.
...maybe that's helping, I'm not sure <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> .