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How to learn German fast part 1

How to learn German fast, part 1

As I mentioned before, before getting down to learn German, determine your goals and aims. Determining your goals and aims is the first step to learning anything, and language is just the same here. You need to do this key step first and foremost. Determine your goals and aims in learning German is the main topic of this discussion.

Determine your goals and aims when learning German. 

Conversational German means that you just want to learn how to speak and talk a little German, so that you can make small talk and get around town, and maybe say a few simple phrases. That would be really handy if you want to visit some places in Germany, or if you wanted to go travelling around Germany, but would be really useless if you wanted to study in Germany or do business there. In this case, learning German would mean knowing many phrases and asking for directions, simple commands, simple instructions and the like.

On the other hand, learning business German means that you intend to do business, and would therefore need to know formal German ("wie heissen Sie" as opposed to "wie heisst du"?), and terms and words associated with business, enterprises, money and finance. Business German is not the same as studying German as a language, because it involves technical terms, legalistic language, a certain formality that is different, as well as a whole host of other related things, like business culture, law and the like. In this case, learning German would mean that one could communicate in a formal business setting, effectively and eloquently.

If you are studying for a German examination, there would be a certain rubric. You can visit the testdaf.de website at http://www.testdaf.de/ for instance, and if you are doing this examination, learning German would mean that you are able to do well for the test. If you intend to go to Germany for further studies or to pursue a degree, I would strongly suggest knowing, studying and doing the testdaf before going to study in a German university. It is the best and most well recognised qualification, and it is for life, so you just study for it once and then it is yours. Learning German in this case would mean that one can do well in the German examination. (I personally did the TestDaf, but this advice is quite applicable to German A levels or O levels, or AO, AS levels as well.)

German for enjoyment- that's something like conversational German, but now it is all up to you to define what you mean by learn. This means that you decide what level it is you want to pursue your German. Learning German in this case would be totally nebulous and based upon any standards that you yourself decide.

Having thus decided what you mean by learning German, now decide what it means to be fast. (By the way, the scenarios that I have just painted are not the only ways to determine language proficiency. The key point is that you need to know the level at which you are comfortable speaking German and the level that you can officially and honestly say "I can speak German".)

Honestly, there is no way to learn a language in 1 week, even if that is what some books and some online courses claim. There is no way to do that, because all you learn are some phrases that you will forget soon. There is also no way of learning anything of great value in one day, even if that is what some people might say.

If however, your goal is to learn German in three months up to a conversational level - that is an attainable goal. That would mean that you could learn German really quite fast, since it is quite a hard language.

If your goal is to learn academic German for studies and for an examination, and you only intend to focus on academic subjects, academic topics and not colloquial terms, you could possibly do it in one year if you are smart and starting from scratch, or less than 6 months if you have a strong background. Time differs also from person to person, as someone with a strong intuitive command of language might consider 6 months too long, and someone with a weaker command of, say English, might consider 12 months too short. So, it depends.

Decide what you mean by "time" and how much time you intend to do German. I think that 20 minutes a day is more effective than 2 hours on the weekends; but better still to have 20 minutes a day and 2 hours on the weekends. If you spend more time, like 2 hours every day, you will learn the language faster. My system for learning German is that intensity always wins duration, although both together are the best. Intensity and duration together working hand in hand, if you'd like a mental image of learning German efficiently.

If it is important to you, you will work harder and spend more time on it naturally, while enjoying it. And whether your goal is 3 or 6 or 12 months, I guarantee you, if you stick to my system, you can reach your goals if you put in the requisite effort within your time limits.

HOW TO LEARN GERMAN FAST! Learn how to learn a language!

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