How to learn German fast, part 3
Basic vocabulary
Now, having determined your goals and objectives in wanting to learn German, or for that matter, any language, and then after that learning the basic grammar of the language, here's the next step. Learn the basic vocabulary that you need.
Basic words, vocabulary, are the building blocks of languages.
Since you have already determined your goals, you should know if this is a conversational German course, business German course, personal private leisure German course, or student academic German course for yourself. That was important because now it comes to play a part. Hence, now determine the vocabulary that you need to learn.
In conversation, the topics that you need are:
1. introductory words for introductions - I am, you are?
2. words about speaking about yourself
3. numbers
4. words that can give directions, asking for directions and giving directions
5. simple phrases (which will be dealt with in the next post)
6. question words for questions - such as what, when, why, who, how
7. food
8. some basic verbs, like those top twenty mentioned before
9. German, German words like doch, also, das heisst, und, na ja
(these words have intrinsically no meaning but carry weight in the language, much like some words in English, like "like so", "yeah", etc)
For business, the harder aspect is that you need to have the conversational German, and then in addition to that you need some business speak. Some jargon related to business, communications, finance, money and the like. These are all available online, as well as in any good German communications book. Some books deal with very specific and good topics like Business German, and will assist you greatly if you want to learn a focused language. Looking around will quickly reveal some resources, online or physical.
For academia, it's very simple: words associated with school. Studying, learning, classes, going to school and the like.
In addition to those, textbooks always have certain topics. Study them! For instance, some topic might be politics in Germany, and you can bet your bottom dollar that it is going to be important. Bundesrepublik, Kanzler, Deutsche Demokratische Republik, Politik, Wirtschaft, und so weiter.
For holidays: words like seaside, roads, cars, countryside and the like.
The key lesson here today is: determine the vocabulary that you need and learn them. First learn some conversational German because that is the basis for all German communication, and then learn specifically the words that you need. Nouns, adjectives, verbs and then phrases - which will be dealt with in the next chapter.
HOW TO LEARN GERMAN FAST! Learn how to learn a language!
