How to Learn German Fast

How to Learn German: German Music

2011-06-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

How to Learn German: German Music

Recently, I made a friend called Max Heyde at the LSE, who happens to be a young German student here, doing his masters. I asked him many questions and would like to share some ideas here: assuming that you've come a long way in your language learning process, and can understand basic German and some grammar, with a nice little set of vocabulary, what fun things can you do with German?

One thing that I've advocated is learning German by using music. Unfortunately, I happen to be an intermediate learner, so the songs that I am going to recommend might not be for lower level readers at the moment. Max Heyde recommended:

Mia, Rammstein, Toten Hosen, Die Aertzte, Farin Urlaub, Culture Candela, and Peter Fox.

As I've said earlier, one good way of learning German is to listen to German music and take note of the lyrics, and perhaps sing along. That might be a useful way to learn German enjoyably.

Well, that was Max's recommendation; mine is probably more ridonculous, so if you're willing to learn German via youtube and all those online music sites, here goes:

Nena (who can forget 99 Luftballons?), Yvonne Catterfeld, Annett Louisan, Wir Sind Helden (most famous for the sounds coming out from the Fifa2008 football game on my PSP (I am referring to Endlich Ein Grund Zur Panik); well at least now you can guess or confirm how old I am at the moment!), and Disney songs translated into German.

Now, how does this have to do with learning German? It seems more like a fun activity to do that doesn't have anything to do with learning languages, but it actually does.

First, if you're interested in learning a language, music is one effective way especially if the song is a earworm, a word we borrowed from German (apparently, or so I am told).

Second, don't just listen to the words. Go get the lyrics from google, and that will help you learn German because you will see the words and hear the sounds. I have an article on memorisation and memory techniques, and you can find it on this site.

Third, this will help you sustain interest in German. Learning German can be fun when you actually like it, and listening to German words being sung would be really useful if you are looking at longer term goals of cementing the vocabulary you've learnt, or actually listening to how words are being pronounced, either mumbled or pronounced clearly. It's brilliantly interesting to do it this way, I figure! (Although this does not mean that there are not other ways of learning German that can be fun as well, naturally.)

Fourth, at the very least, you get to hear great music ranging from R&B to rock to pop, and you can get to hear German on a daily basis being sung by great nice voices, preferably by people you admire or like! :) In other words, do it just for the heck of doing it, and if it can help you with learning German you've benefited; if not, you still get the benefit of listening and enjoying yourself.

I can recommend more songs and singers to help you learn German, and those are coming up in the next article right here on How to Learn German Fast. Thanks for reading and cheers!

How to learn German fast!

Summary Page: How to Access Different Parts of this Site Effectively

2011-06-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

Summary Page: How to Access Different Parts of this Site Effectively

OK, first up, I realise that most of the readers coming to this page might be new and so here are some suggestions on how to navigate this site to access the materials that I have written about.

First, on the right hand sidebar, you can access the different pages via the links/tags (Look At Me) and the shortcuts (Express German Links). That is one way of moving around most efficiently.

Secondly, I've included this quite convenient access page with all the links you will need:

A Summary of How to Learn German Fast - the system I recommend

Deciding on your German language goals

Learning the basics of German grammar

Quick start, easy phrases

Start picking up advanced grammar and advanced vocabulary

Use the internet and online learning

More fun stuff with German

Prepare for the German examination (if you are taking one)

How you maintain your German and where do you go from here? if you've been following the language learning system or a version of a language learning system, at least... :)

On memory and memorisation, part 6.5 actually (a really handy tool for learning languages)

Well, I hope those help! :) Hoffentlich.

Thirdly, I've also put up a "search within this site" google search, at the bottom third of the page, (Search Within "How to Learn German Fast"), and that might be really handy.

Thanks for reading and cheers!

How to learn German Fast!

I am back! :)

2011-06-19T15:19:00.001-07:00

Hallo Alle :)

OK, I realised I hadn't been blogging for a long time on this site, where I was supposed to write and conjugate German verbs and stuff like that. I realised that I had put in a lot of effort writing tips and ideas on how to learn German, and then waddled off into different directions, giving verbs and all that kind of stuff which wasn't my intention initially. So I've decided to go back to basics - this is about how to learn German (as fast as possible, given the targets and the goals), and so I will be once again posting on that!

I was on a hill last week - in England, St Michael's hill near or in Glastonbury - when I bumped into a bunch of German schoolkids and their school teacher. I think people treat you rather nice when they find that you bothered to learn their language and speak to them in it. So the teacher chased the students away to get me a nice spot for a picture, all because I could say something, which I think is really dandy. I should say why I am in England (again) though; I'm completing my masters at the London School of Economics and it has been a quick one year! :)

Sind Sie Lehrerin? Aha machen Sie hier Urlaub (oder sowas)? Worked like a charm; I swear I only said two lines and she was very happy already. Throw in a couple of nice words like Austauchprogram und Sie sprechen ja fliessend Englisch and Bob's your uncle! :)

So to cut a long story short; I am going to continue blogging and putting this site right back on the right track - tips on how to learn German fast... and basically what I do to maintain my German language that I learnt all those years ago.

Thanks for reading and it's great to be back. Thanks to all the writers and readers who have written to me about this. Thanks friends!

Mit herzlichen Gruessen

Shawn

PS I will be removing the comments ability because of the recent spate of well ... nasty spam comments and fake advertising. Sorry to the really good readers who are interested in learning German and how to learn languages. Cheers!

How to learn German Fast! :) ... and basically you can apply these to other languages, I figure.

How to Learn German Fast: Quick Note!

2010-04-05T03:27:00.000-07:00

How to Learn German Fast: Quick Note!

I have had a great day today. I submitted my honours thesis and it has been one long hard ride for me, writing about Loss Aversion in the Singapore Housing Market. It was nice to hear that if I had been able to correct for the biases and the generated regressor problem, my paper would have been of publishable standard. That's very nice! :)

However, I am here on my German language site, not to talk about that, but to talk about my leaving the German Language Society! :)

Last Thursday, we held elections for the German Society. I have been a member of it for 4 years - 4 long years - and was General Secretary and then President. We voted. And the results came out. And then I handed over my stuff and SOP books and responsibilities to the next President. How time flies!

A personal note/ message follows (I promise I will get back to conjugating verbs on this German language blog):

Special thanks to my current EXCO and subcommittee members. It was great working with all of you in our German club activities: Stammtisch, movie screenings, German learning sessions and SEP Sharing Sessions!

Special thanks to all the friends I made in the German Society and thank you for always showing me support and care!

And above all, good luck to my friends Rachel and YJ who will be leading the Society to greater heights. Good luck for German Day!

Boy, am I longwinded :)

But it's perfectly fine since today's the day I bound my thesis and got everything ready for handing in; and last Thursday I was no longer President of the German Society I love so very much.

Thanks to all the loyal readers who keep coming back to my German learning site although I've been busy with my thesis! Thank you as well.

Thanks and cheers!!

How to Learn German Fast - well, this is just a quick and personal note.

PS
I have been receiving many comments on my German language learning site that are not about German, nor about languages, nor about any other thing related to my topic of interest here.

Recently, I've been receiving spam comments from Chinese readers and also comments that lead my readers to advertising sites that are - well - distasteful. Apparently there has been a great influx of Chinese websites offering erm... extra services from sweet girls, let's call it that. I've nothing against people from China. I am in fact, Peranakan - Straits born Chinese. But I will remove any stupid comments from come from Chinese blogs or China websites that take advantage of my blog for advertisements, for linking, and for all that sort of thing.

Please only drop me comments that you'd be proud to post; drop me comments that would not make your grandmother blush; and please, don't spam. Thank you very much! I love to hear nice compliments and beautiful comments, as well as other ideas on how to learn German and materials that could potentially help other readers from all around the world, whether Chinese, American or even German. Thank you!

How to Learn German Fast - Replies to Some Comments on TestDaF :)

2010-01-29T20:52:00.001-08:00

How to Learn German Fast - Replies to Some Comments on TestDaF :)

Hello my dear friends, readers, neighbours, students, German Society members, and passerbys!

I am sorry that I have not been posting the new verbs and vocabulary lists that I promised, as I have been very busy. I am sorry! However, as this is more important, here goes:

Replies to Comments And Questions About the TestDaF (Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache)

For your convenience, and also since those who asked nice questions need nice answers, here they are:

Ich habe mein ZD mit "sehr gut" bestanden. Ist TestDaF viel schwieriger als ZD? Wie kann ich es vorbereiten? Jetzt lerne ich selbst.Vielen Dank im Voraus!

Hallo!! Eigentlich weiss ich wirklich nicht, ob ZD einfacher ist oder nicht. Aber ich habe Freunde - sie sagen, dass TestDaf schwerer ist. Vielleicht viel' Uebung, meine Tipps benutzen, und naturlich viel lesen, hoeren und schreiben.

Good luck! Ich meine, I think that you should be fine since you obviously write German quite well, or even better than me :)

I'd say you can read the stuff on my blog all you want, but it's best that you apply basic principles of learning. Good luck, friend :) All the best!

I hope that answers the query and I certainly hope that I didn't reply it too late. Viel Glueck! Ich meine, ich hab' einmal gehoert: ohne fleiss, kein Preis (oder sowas, etwas aehnlich). Hoffentlich schaffst du es :)

Hi dude

I want to take TestDaf as well, and found your tips very useful.
But can you tell me where can I find listening and reading resources.
Is that really true that TestDaf is not really concentrated on grammar?

Thanks for the comments. Yes, the Testdaf is mainly language use and isn't about grammar, so you will be alright as long as you have a basic grasp of German grammar. They won't really hurt you if your grammar is bad, as long as you can speak and write German. However, it goes without saying that you need to know the basics and can operate well in German.

You can find all sorts of listening and reading sources on my site; just use the righthand sidebar, because I've written about youtube and Der Spiegel Online and Angela Merkel stuff, as all that can help you in your exams.

Cheers! All the best :)

My name is Luciana and I´m preparing myself to take the Test DAF in June in Brazil. Can you tell me please how could I also receive my examination results per e-mail?

Hallo Luciana,

Keine Sorge! OK, I'm not sure how the Testdaf works in Brazil but I guess that it works the same as in Singapore.

You will receive your exam results from the Goethe Institut, so I guess that there must be a branch in Brazil. You can request for an email notification, but rest assured you will also get a certificate of your success at the Testdaf.

I hope that helps :) Other suggestions:
1. You can ask your German lecturer, if he/she works part time at the testing centre (sometimes Goethe, sometimes University).

2. You can go to the testdaf website to check it out?

All the best! Viel Glueck und alles Gute

Ich werde den TestDaf am 10. Februar schreiben und bin so aufgeregt. Mein Problem ist, dass man nicht so viele Quelle auf Internet finden kann. Ich mache mir Sorgen besonders um den Mündlicher Ausdruck Teil. Ich habe fast keine Idee wie man eine Grafik beschreibt.
Any Suggestions?

Man kann viele Quelle auf dem Internet finden, vielleicht Der Spiegel (fuer Nachrichten), TestDaf Practice Examen und so weiter.

Mach' dir bitte keine Sorge! Haha fuer muendliche Pruefungen -

1. Man muss klar und deutlich sprechen
2. Man muss Konjunktionen benutzen - (at least, I think the examiners loved it since they gave me a good grade...)
3. Man soll viel ueben.
4. Vielleicht ein Partner finden, zum Beispiel ein Klassenkamerad?

Eigentlich finde ich, dass du sehr fliessend Deutsch schreiben kannst. Better than me, I'm sure.

Viel Glueck beim Test! :)

I missed out the second part,about describing Graphics and Diagrams. My mistake!

This might sound too easy or wrong, but it's true - just learn how to say "It is an increasing trend" or "it is increasing" or "it is decreasing". In fact, the most marks are given still - apparently - for 1. clear German with correct pronunciation, 2. lots of conjunctions and connections between sentences, and 3. practised answers. I hope that answers the question.

To all my readers, thanks for your continued support for my How to Learn German Fast site, where I teach how to learn languages in general and how to learn German in particular. Thank you for your kind comments and for your generous support.

Thanks and cheers,
Shawn

How to Learn German Fast! - my language learning site.

How to learn German fast - Notice and Replies to Some Comments! :)

2010-01-17T02:49:00.000-08:00

How to learn German fast - Notice and Replies to Some Comments! :)

Hello dear readers - sorry that I've been busy with other things for too long! Here's a quick reply to a message that I was sent, which I think needs or deserves a nice reply:

Ich habe mein ZD mit "sehr gut" bestanden. Ist TestDaF viel schwieriger als ZD? Wie kann ich es vorbereiten? Jetzt lerne ich selbst.Vielen Dank im Voraus!

Hallo!! Eigentlich weiss ich wirklich nicht, ob ZD einfacher ist oder nicht. Aber ich habe Freunde - sie sagen, dass TestDaf schwerer ist. Vielleicht viel' Uebung, meine Tipps benutzen, und naturlich viel lesen, hoeren und schreiben.

Good luck! Ich meine, I think that you should be fine since you obviously write German quite well, or even better than me :)

I'd say you can read the stuff on my blog all you want, but it's best that you apply basic principles of learning. Good luck, friend :) All the best!

I hope that answers the query and I certainly hope that I didn't reply it too late. Viel Glueck! Ich meine, ich hab' einmal gehoert: ohne fleiss, kein Preis (oder sowas, etwas aehnlich). Hoffentlich schaffst du es :)

The second reply to a comment is going to be quite different.

Someone wrote some nasty comment in Chinese (Mandarin, actually), which I deleted. It's gone.

First, How to Learn German Fast is my site, and I've every right to write what I feel is nice, necessary, important, or good and whatever I share is what I wish to share with you. I share language learning tips and some simple language stuff and materials here.

The thing is, I really don't like nasty comments or bad, poor comments on my language learning site. I think it's bad in taste and it's certainly silly to write negative things on other people's sites if they are trying to provide a nice social or language learning service. Why give bad comments when you can be nice and just read other things? Furthermore, I make it clear when I'm writing my opinion, and I also make it clear when I am citing or borrowing materials to share with my readers or fellow online bloggers. I think it's important to know what you're reading and whether criticism is due. (E.g. how can you criticise a grammar list or a vocabulary list? How can you criticise an opinion on how to learn German??)

I read and censor all comments, so please, please, if there are any nasty comments or negative things, leave them out. Thank you very much! If you want to ask questions, feel free to do so and I'll reply as and when I am able to, and I will try to help you to the best of my advice-giving abilities (and tip giving abilities, too). I've only learnt German for 5 plus years and have spoken it, now, perhaps about 8-10 years, on and off, so you can't expect me to be a genius at it, or certainly not as good as a native speaker. (Were I a native German speaker, why would I need to do the Testdaf?)

Thank you for comments but I'd prefer nice comments or questions rather than criticisms or bad, nasty, overly critical opinions. And no advertisements other than the ones I have, please! And oh, while I understand German, English and Chinese (Mandarin), please don't write bad things in any of those languages, because I understand them. Thanks for your kind understanding :)

Anyways, I hope I answered the two comments sufficiently! Thanks for reading and cheers. To all my other readers, do keep your comments coming and I will try to reply. We can all learn from each other and keep our love of the German language going. Thanks again and see you soon :)

How to learn German Fast :)

How to Learn German Fast: About Me! :) Again.

2009-08-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

How to Learn German Fast: About Me! :)

Again.

Hello and welcome to my German language learning site!

I am Shawn, and am the President of the German Language Society, acad year 2009/2010.

I was once the General-Secretary, for 08/09. Click here to see my old write up on myself :)

I study Economics and History, with Economics as my major subject and History as my minor.

I studied German 5 and German 6 at NUS, doing very badly for German 5 and then going on to fare superbly in German 6.

This was because I was quite unused to NUS when I was in my first semester, and things were very new to me; also, when I was placed in the German 5 class after doing a placement test, I was then the youngest and probably the weakest student in class. I had studied German at O levels way back, and got my A1 in 2001. How time flies!

I went on to do my Testdaf after German 6, completing it with 5-5-4-4 in 2007. (I write about how to study and how to well in the Testdaf also on this site, so if you're interested in German language proficiency qualifications, I might have the information or the tips that you need on my site. Naturally, I don't know where all the test centres are or what the questions will be, or stuff like that - I only give advice and friendly tips!)

I became General Secretary in 2008, coming up with a book on SOPs (standard operating procedures) and also a process of elections, among others. Now I am the President of the society, and very happy about that, of course!

I studied German for the love of it and am in the German society out of passion for my CCA, which I like very much. I have done 3 matric fairs so far, and have been to countless club activities. I am very proud to say that this school year - Aug 2009 - has seen a dramatic increase in club membership and an increase in interest in our society. I am presiding over a change in climate and it is my luck and happiness to be with an excellent team.

So, once again - I am Shawn, welcome to my German language learning site, and thanks for reading and cheers! I'm pretty sure you might want to surf around my site and sites to see what suits you. All the best as you study at NUS, and also all the best as you study and learn German, a most fascinating language indeed.

Shawn Seah
President, NUS German Language Society 09/10

How to learn German Fast - a language learning website

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 9

2009-08-25T08:35:00.001-07:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 9

Once again, I am back after a long hiatus. Somehow, demand has been rising for my German site yet I was too busy to do anything about it; but here I am! :)

In this post, I conjugate German verbs starting with H. The good thing for my tired fingers is that ... there are apparently few verbs beginning with H in German, at least from the point of view of the "Teach Yourself" German Verbs series. I am only conjugating the key verbs and the easier verbs like heissen (who doesn't know "Ich heisse...") are not stated below.

haben - to have
handeln - to act, trade
heben - to lift, raise
heilen - to heal, cure
helfen - to help
holen - to fetch

German verbs starting with H, conjugated:

haben - to have
ich habe
du hast
er hat
wir haben
ihr habt
sie haben

ich hatte
ich habe gehabt
ich hatte gehabt
ich werde haben
ich werde gehabt haben

handeln - to act, trade
ich handele
du handelst
er handelt
wir handeln
ihr handelt
sie handeln

ich handelte
ich habe gehandelt
ich hatte gehandelt
ich werde handeln
ich werde handeln haben

heben - to lift, raise
ich hebe
du hebst
er hebt
wir heben
ihr hebt
sie heben

ich hob
ich habe gehoben
ich hatte gehoben
ich werde heben
ich werde gehoben haben

heilen - to heal, cure
ich heile
du heilst
er heilt
wir heilen
ihr heilt
sie heilen

ich heilte
ich habe geheilt
ich hatte geheilt
ich werde heilen
ich werde geheilt haben

helfen - to help
ich helfe
du hilfst
er hilft
wir helfen
ihr helft
sie helfen

ich half
ich habe geholfen
ich hatte geholfen
ich werde helfen
ich werde geholfen haben

holen - to fetch
ich hole
du holst
er holt
wir holen
ihr holt
sie holen

ich holte
ich habe geholt
ich hatte geholt
ich werde holen
ich werde geholt haben

Just as I've mentioned before, a cursory look at the German verbs starting with H should also lead you to suspect there is an underlying pattern which helps you learn German verbs fast... and there is a pattern to the various tenses as well. More verbs to come in the next post, and I hope I will have more time to write on German. Thanks, and cheers!

Learn how to learn a language - how to learn German fast

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 8

2009-06-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 8

I am back after a long hiatus! Sorry! I was very busy with my other writing and other associated matters, but I am finally back to my German site.

Anyways, in this post I conjugate German verbs starting with G. The verbs that you will learn and see in this post are:

geben - to give
gehen - to go/ to walk
gelten - to be valid, to be worth
geschehen - to happen
gewinnen - to win
glauben - to believe
greifen - to grasp/ hold/ snatch

Here are the fully conjugated versions of the German verbs above:

geben - to give
ich gebe
du gibst
er gibt
wir geben
ihr gebt
Sie geben

ich gab
ich habe gegeben
ich hatte gegeben
ich werde geben
ich werde gegeben haben

gehen - to go/ to walk
ich gehe
du gehst
er geht
wir gehen
ihr geht
Sie gehen

ich ging
ich bin gegangen
ich war gegangen
ich werde gehen
ich werde gegangen sein

gelten - to be valid, to be worth
ich gelte
du giltst
er gilt
wir gelten
ihr geltet
sie gelten

ich galt
ich habe gegolten
ich hatte gegolten
ich werde gelten
ich werde gegolten haben

geschehen - to happen
es geschieht

es geschah
es ist geschehen
es war geschehen
es wird geschehen
es wird geschehen sein

gewinnen - to win
ich gewinne
du gewinnst
er gewinnt
wir gewinnen
ihr gewinnt
sie gewinnen

ich gewann
ich habe gewonnen
ich hatte gewonnen
ich werde gewinnen
ich werde gewonnen haben

glauben - to believe
ich glaube
du glaubst
er glaubt
wir glauben
ihr glaubt
sie glauben

ich glaubte
ich habe geglaubt
ich hatte geglaubt
ich werde glauben
ich werde geglaubt haben

greifen - to grasp/ hold/ snatch
ich greife
du greifst
er greift
wir griefen
ihr greift
sie greifen

ich griff
ich habe gegriffen
ich hatte gegriffen
ich werde greifen
ich werde gegriffen haben

Can you observe the pattern? It is very easy to learn German when you realise that some German verbs have the same pattern, as can be seen in the conjugated versions above, and even the irregular verbs have a certain "German" pattern to them that can be distinguished from the regular verbs.

More to come on my German site in future posts; thanks for reading and cheers :)

Learn how to learn a language - How to learn German fast

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 7

2009-01-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 7

In this section here on my German language learning site, I write about German words starting with F and their various conjugated versions. This is very important for anyone studying German, as learning the various verbs is essential. The German words that I will conjugate today are:

fahren - to go, to travel, to drive
fehlen - to be missing, to be absent
finden - to find
fliegen - to fly
fordern - to demand or to ask for something
fragen - to ask
sich freuen (reflx) - to be glad about something
frieren - to freeze, or to be cold

And without further ado, here are the German words that are conjugated for your language learning convenience:

fahren - to go, to travel, to drive
ich fahre
du faehrst
er faehrt
wir fahren
ihr fahrt
Sie fahren

ich fuhr
ich bin gefahren
ich war gefahren
ich werde fahren
ich werde gefahren sein

fehlen - to be missing, to be absent
ich fehle
du fehlst
er fehlt
wir fehlen
ihr fehlt
Sie fehlen

ich fehlte
ich habe gefehlt
ich hatte gefehlt
ich werde fehlen
ich werde gefehlt haben

finden - to find
ich finde
du findst
er findet
wir finden
ihr findet
Sie finden

ich fand
ich habe gefunden
ich hatte gefunden
ich werde finden
ich werde gefunden haben

fliegen - to fly
ich fliege
du fliegst
er fliegt
wir fliegen
ihr fliegt
sie fliegen

ich flog
ich bin geflogen
ich war geflogen
ich werde geflogen
ich werde geflogen sein

fordern - to demand or to ask for something
ich fordere
du forderst
er fordert
wir fordern
ihr fordert
sie fordern

ich forderte
ich habe gefordert
ich hatte gefordert
ich werde fordern
ich werde gefordert haben

fragen - to ask
ich frage
du fragst
er fragt
wir fragen
ihr fragt
sie fragen

ich fragte
ich habe gefragt
ich hatte gefragt
ich werde fragen
ich werde gefragt haben

sich freuen (reflx) - to be glad about something
This is a German reflexive verb, which refers to itself, or in other words, refers to the subject ...it is quite hard to explain here, but I'll conjugate this German word and you can see that it clearly differs from the other German words and German verbs that you have seen on this site. Also, there are no worries because you can always learn how to use this German word, and it comes naturally after repeated language exposure.

ich freue mich
du freust dich
er freut sich
wir freuen uns
ihr freut euch
sie freuen sich

ich freute mich
ich habe mich gefreut
ich hatte mich gefreut
ich werde mich freuen
ich werde mich gefreut haben

frieren - to freeze, or to be cold
ich friere
du frierst
er friert
wir frieren
ihr friert
sie frieren

ich fror
ich habe gefroren
ich hatte gefroren
ich werde frieren
ich werde gefroren haben

That is it for this post's conjugated German verbs for your German language learning reference. Do try to memorise or learn the rules behind the various conjugated German verbs, and do ask yourself questions on why the German reflexive verb that I covered here on my German site is called sich freuen when the others do not have sich there. What else can you learn from looking at the patterns of the conjugated German verbs?

Thanks for reading and cheers!

Learn how to learn a language - here at How To Learn German Fast

How to Learn German Fast: About Me! :)

2009-01-14T06:38:00.000-08:00

How to Learn German Fast: About Me! :)

Hello!! I am Shawn. I just realised that I have an opportunity to put my link up on the German language society blog, and so I am going to do that, since after all, I have a blog on how to learn German fast.

First up, I am a student at the National University of Singapore and have been in the German society/ German club for about three years already. I have been doing the matriculation fair for the German society since 2007. I am the General Secretary for 08/09, and love what I am doing, for instance, writing about myself, writing minutes for the society, writing on my blog and writing for other blogs and materials, doing the matriculation fair, and running the club administration. Doing this CCA has been a great joy as well as an interesting challenge, both professionally and in terms of leisure.

How did I get into blogging, and in particular, writing a German language learning blog on how to learn German? Well, it all started a long time ago when my then ex-girlfriend taught me how to use Google adsense and how to do html codes and stuff like that. I picked up professional blogging, right there and then, and life has never been the same since. I hope to make money from writing, but then again, life has never been the way we want it, although I do indeed want life to be better.

I am quite optimistic in that I have absolutely no doubt that life will get better and that my German language site will take off, and get more and more visitors, along with all the other interesting sites on which I write many interesting topics.

How did I get into learning German and how about something on my language learning experiences? Here, I let my old posts do the talking for me:
(A little tip, since I am not a techie, and cannot input the right codes, heh sorry ... you can always right click and open the page in a new window or in a new tab, and then you can always access multiple parts of my German language site. But of course you knew that already :) )

My personal experiences in learning German

Tips on Testdaf preparation

What on earth is this site about? I basically teach a system of learning German, and summarise methods and ideas on how to learn a language in general, and German in particular. In other words, this was originally intended to be a site that teaches people how to learn languages. And German was the main focus, without a shadow of doubt.

However later on I got many suggestions and comments that I should expand my franchise, and expand on my writing and all that kind of thing, so instead of focusing (to use business terms) on my core business of teaching people how to learn, I now actually take on the role of teaching German. And I have quite some experience in teaching... but just not that much experience in teaching German. I am a teacher by training. I have taught English and History, and my main teaching subject is Economics.

Without further ado, some self advertising for me:

If you are interested in the following topics, do have a look and see what you can find (I am a professional blogger):

Ideas on how to become rich

Tour and see the world!
Tour and see the world! See Germany! (Particular)

English language resources online

Get Your University Degree Online

If you wish to learn German fast, this is my language learning system:

Summary of how to learn German fast

This is the homepage of How to Learn German Fast :)

(language learning links are all available on the right hand sidebar)

Well, it was my pleasure talking to you and I hope you enjoy using my German language learning site and also reading my other blogs. Thanks and cheers!

Mit herzlichen Gruessen,
Shawn

How to learn German Fast - language learning site

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 6

2008-12-29T07:36:00.000-08:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 6

Here are the next instalment of German verbs for your German learning and German reference! I have adapted these educational materials from Berlitz and the Teach Yourself series, as I have mentioned before. There are many other online resources, both paid and free, for instance the various different sponsors here on my site, among others, and German language platforms (as well as other language learning platforms), that you can also refer to. Disclaimer: I am just calling your notice, so don't please misunderstand. I myself mostly refer to books, but there are many others who are more adept with using the computer. And besides, nowadays language learning with computers and the Internet is commonplace. Anyways.... how did I get on to that?!

Without further ado, here are the German verbs conjugated, verbs starting with the letter E.

The German verbs conjugated in this post are:
einigen - to unite
einladen - to invite
einsteigen - to enter, to board
eintreten - to enter, to join
empfangen - to receive
empfehlen - to recommend
entfernen - to remove
entlassen - to dismiss, to release
entscheiden - to decide
entstehen - to begin, to originate
entwickeln - to develop
erfahren - to learn, to hear, to experience something
erhalten - to get, to receive
erinnern - to remind
erkennen - to recognise
erlauben - to allow
erleben - to witness, to experience
erziehen - to bring up, to educate
essen - to eat

The conjugated German verbs are:

einigen - to unite
ich einige
du einigst
er einigt
wir einigen
ihr einigt
Sie einigen

ich einigte
ich habe geeinigt
ich hatte geeinigt
ich werde einigen
ich werde geeinigt haben

einladen - to invite
ich lade ein
du laedst ein
er laedt ein
wir laden ein
ihr ladet ein
Sie laden ein

ich lud ein
ich habe eingeladen
ich hatte eingeladen
ich werde einladen
ich werde eingeladen haben

einsteigen - to enter, to board
ich steige ein
du steigst ein
er steigt ein
wir steigen ein
ihr steigt ein
sie steigen ein

ich stieg ein
ich bin eingestiegen
ich war eingestiegen
ich werde einsteigen
ich werde eingestiegen sein

eintreten - to enter, to join
ich trete ein
du trittst ein
er tritt ein
wir treten ein
ihr tretet ein
sie treten ein

ich trat ein
ich bin eingetreten
ich war eingetreten
ich werde eintreten
ich werde eingetreten sein

empfangen - to receive
ich empfange
du empfaengst
er empfaengt
wir empfangen
ihr empfangt
sie empfangen

ich empfing
ich habe empfangen
ich hatte empfangen
ich werde empfangen
ich werde empfangen haben

empfehlen - to recommend
ich empfehle
du empfiehlst
er empfiehlt
wir empfehlen
ihr empfehlt
sie empfehlen

ich empfahl
ich habe empfohlen
ich hatte empfohlen
ich werde empfehlen
ich werde empfohlen haben

entfernen - to remove
ich entferne
du entfernst
er entfernt
wir entfernen
ihr entfernt
sie entfernen

ich entfernte
ich habe entfernt
ich hatte entfernt
ich werde entfernen
ich werde entfernt haben

entlassen - to dismiss, to release
ich entlasse
du entlaesst
er entlaesst
wir entlassen
ihr entlasst
sie entlassen

ich entliess
ich habe entlassen
ich hatte entlassen
ich werde entlassen
ich werde entlassen haben

entscheiden - to decide
ich entscheide
du entscheidest
er entscheidet
wir entscheiden
ihr entscheidet
sie entscheiden

ich entschied
ich habe entschieden
ich hatte entschieden
ich werde entscheiden
ich werde entschieden haben

entstehen - to begin, to originate
er entsteht
er entstand
er ist entstanden
er war entstanden
er wird entstehen
er wird entstanden sein

entwickeln - to develop
ich entwickele
du entwickelst
er entwickelt
wir entwickeln
ihr entwickelt
sie entwickeln

ich entwickelte
ich habe entwickelt
ich hatte entwickelt
ich werde entwickeln
ich werde entwickelt haben

erfahren - to learn, to hear, to experience something
ich erfahre
du erfaehrst
er erfaehrt
wir erfahren
ihr erfahrt
sie erfahren

ich erfuhr
ich habe erfahren
ich hatte erfahren
ich werde erfahren
ich werde erfahren haben

erhalten - to get, to receive
ich erhalte
du erhaelst
er erhaelt
wir erhalten
ihr erhaltet
sie erhalten

ich erhielt
ich habe erhalten
ich hatte erhalten
ich werde erhalten
ich werde erhalten haben

erinnern - to remind
ich erinnere
du erinnerst
er erinnert
wir errinern
ihr erinnert
sie erinnern

ich erinnerte
ich habe erinnert
ich hatte erinnert
ich werde erinnern
ich werde erinnert haben

erkennen - to recognise
ich erkenne
du erkennst
er erkennt
wir erkennen
ihr erkennt
sie erkennen

ich erkannte
ich habe erkannt
ich hatte erkannt
ich werde erkennen
ich werde erkannt haben

erlauben - to allow
ich erlaube
du erlaubst
er erlaubt
wir erlauben
ihr erlaubt
sie erlauben

ich erlaubte
ich habe erlaubt
ich hatte erlaubt
ich werde erlauben
ich werde erlaubt haben

erleben - to witness, to experience
ich erlebe
du erlebst
er erlebt
wir erleben
ihr erlebt
sie erleben

ich erlebte
ich habe erlebt
ich hatte erlebt
ich werde erleben
ich werde erlebt haben

erziehen - to bring up, to educate
ich erziehe
du erziehst
er erzieht
wir erziehen
ihr erzieht
sie erziehen

ich erzog
ich habe erzogen
ich hatte erzogen
ich werde erziehen
ich werde erzogen haben

essen - to eat
ich esse
du isst
er isst
wir essen
ihr esst
sie essen

ich ass (actually this is the es-tsett symbol but hey, don't think bad!! :D Editor's note:) )
ich habe gegessen
ich hatte gegessen
ich werde essen
ich werde gegessen haben

Note: Wow that took me a long time to type out and to ensure that I got almost all right! That was hard. Remember to have a look at the German verbs and notice the rules and the patterns inherent in the language. This is a very beautiful language and I love it very much. And another random apropos comment is that German is very similar to the English language (because, of course, they are related) and hence you can see the similarities in the verbs and how these German verbs are conjugated.

More to come here on my German language learning site, so do stay here with me; thank you very much. Thanks for reading and referring, and cheers.

Learn how to learn a language! here at How to Learn German Fast :)

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 5

2008-12-12T23:30:00.001-08:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 5

In this series on How To Learn German Fast, we look at the various verbs and memorise and learn them. Here are more German verbs for your German language learning as well as your educational reference, and I have adapted these educational materials from the Teach Yourself series as well as Berlitz. You may wish to buy these books or gather such materials to assist your language learning and these books can be a great reference whenever you want to look up new German words, although admittedly you can refer to online dictionaries and German wordlists and conjugation lists online nowadays. However, I still prefer German language books, an irony considering the fact that I am using a computer! :)

The following German verbs, starting with the letter D, will be conjugated in this post:

danken - to thank
dauern - to last
denken - to think
duerfen - to allow, to be permitted to do something, etc

Note: There are no letter C words in the series of German verb conjugations here, because my reference book, in particular the German Teach Yourself series, does not have any German verbs for the letter C. This of course does not mean that there are no German verbs starting with the letter C, but this means that there are no common and "user-friendly" verbs starting with the letter C. I can only think of one word off hand and that's "charakterisieren", but that doesn't seem very ordinary! Anyways, this post will deal with the most common and useful German verbs starting with the letter D.

Here are the conjugated German verbs for your learning and ease of reference:

danken - to thank
ich danke
du dankst
er/es/sie dankt
wir danken
ihr dankt
sie/Sie danken

ich dankte
ich habe gedankt
ich hatte gedankt
ich werde danken
ich werde gedankt haben

dauern - to last
er/sie/es dauert
sie dauern

er/sie/es dauerte
er/sie/es hat gedauert
er/sie/es hatte gedauert
er/sie/es wird dauern
er/sie/es werden gedauert haben

denken - to think
ich denke
du denkst
er/sie/es denkt
wir denken
ihr denkt
sie/Sie denken

duerfen - to allow, to be permitted to do something, etc
this is a modal verb and as I have said before here on my language learning blog, this is very important in German as well in any other European language...

ich darf
du darfst
er/sie/es darf
wir duerfen
ihr duerft
sie/Sie duerfen

ich durfte
ich habe gedurft
ich hatte gedurft
ich werde duerfen
ich werde gedurft haben

More German verbs to come here on my German and language learning site, How to Learn German Fast. Thanks for staying here with me, and cheers.

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 4

2008-11-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 4

In this series on How to Learn German Fast, we examine the various conjugated verbs. Here I provide a reference to conjugated verbs starting with the letter B to assist you in your German language learning, as well as a simple easy learning reference.

Little short notice: As an administrative aside, this is the first time I have also added new advertisements and new sponsors to my How to Learn German site, so do have a look around to see my latest supporters - Nuffnang company. My language learning site has picked up in recent weeks for some reason or another, so in addition I must thank all my loyal followers and loyal readers who have been following my language learning site. Thank you very much! :)

The following German verbs, starting with the letter B, will be conjugated in this post:

bauen - to build
bedienen - to earn
befehlen - to order
sich befinden - to be, to feel
behandeln - to treat, or to handle
bekommen - to get, receive
besitzen - to own, to possess
bestellen - to order something, like in a shop or restaurant
besuchen - to visit, to attend
bewegen - to move
bezahlen - to pay
bitten - to plead, ask for, request
bleiben - to stay
brauchen - to need, use
bringen - to bring

Here are the conjugated German words, in the order of appearance in the abovementioned word/ vocabulary list:

bauen - to build
ich baue
du baust
er baut
wir bauen
ihr baut
sie/Sie bauen

ich baute
ich habe gebaut
ich hatte gebaut
ich werde bauen
ich werde gebaut haben

bedienen - to earn
ich bediene
du bedienst
er bedient
wir bedienen
ihr bedient
sie/Sie bedienen

ich bediente
ich habe bedient
ich hatte bedient
ich werde bedienen
ich werde bedient haben

befehlen - to order
ich befehle
du befiehlst
er befiehlt
wir befehlen
ihr befehlt
sie/Sie befehlen

ich befahl
ich habe befohlen
ich hatte befohlen
ich werde befehlen
ich werde befohlen haben

sich befinden - to be, to feel
NOTE that this word is very much different from the others - it's a reflexive verb, which means in English that the word "refers" to "itself", put loosely - just observe how it is done and you can always work out the general rule or the general idea on how to use this word/ type of word...
ich befinde mich
du befindest dich
er befindest sich
wir befinden uns
ihr befindet euch
Sie befinden sich

ich befand mich
und so weiter......
ich habe mich befunden
ich hatte mich befunden
ich werde mich befinden
ich werde mich befunden haben

behandeln - to treat, or to handle
ich behandele
du behandelst
er behandelt
wir behandeln
ihr behandelt
Sie behandeln

ich behandelte
ich habe behandelt
ich hatte behandelt
ich werde behandeln
ich werde behandelt haben

bekommen - to get, receive
ich bekomme
du bekommst
er bekommt
wir bekommen
ihr bekommt
Sie bekommen

ich bekam
ich habe bekommen
ich hatte bekommen
ich werde bekommen
ich werde bekommen haben

besitzen - to own, to possess
ich besitze
du besitzt
er besitzt
wir besitzen
ihr besitzt
Sie besitzen

ich besass
ich habe besessen
ich hatte besessen
ich werde besitzen
ich werde besessen haben

bestellen - to order something, like in a shop or restaurant
ich bestelle
du bestellst
er bestellt
wir bestellen
ihr bestellt
Sie bestellen

ich bestellte
ich habe bestellt
ich hatte bestellt
ich werde bestellen
ich werde bestellt haben

besuchen - to visit, to attend
ich besuche
du besuchst
er besucht
wir besuchen
ihr besucht
Sie besuchen

ich besuchte
ich habe besucht
ich hatte besucht
ich werde besuchen
ich werde besucht haben

bewegen - to move
ich bewege
du bewegst
er bewegt
wir bewegen
ihr bewegt
Sie bewegen

ich bewegte
ich habe bewegt
ich hatte bewegt
ich werde bewegen
ich werde bewegt haben

bezahlen - to pay
ich bezahle
du bezahlst
er bezahlt
wir bezahlen
ihr bezahlt
Sie bezahlen

ich bezahlte
ich habe bezahlt
ich hatte bezahlt
ich werde bezahlen
ich werde bezahlt haben

bitten - to plead, ask for, request
ich bitte
du bittest
er bittet
wir bitten
ihr bittet
Sie bitten

ich bat
ich habe gebeten
ich hatte gebeten
ich werde bitten
ich werde gebeten haben

bleiben - to stay
Also observe this very interesting German word - if you are an intermediate or advanced German speaker, or even a native speaker, this should come as no surprise - what is the learning point, and what am I referring to?
ich bleibe
du bleibst
er bleibt
wir bleiben
ihr bleibt
Sie bleiben

ich blieb
ich bin geblieben
ich war geblieben
ich werde bleiben
ich werde geblieben sein

brauchen - to need, use
ich brauche
du brauchst
er braucht
wir brauchen
ihr braucht
Sie brauchen

ich brauchte
ich habe gebraucht
ich hatte gebraucht
ich werde brauchen
ich werde gebraucht haben

bringen - to bring
ich bringe
du bringst
er bringt
wir bringen
ihr bringt
Sie bringen

ich brachte
ich habe gebracht
ich hatte gebracht
ich werde bringen
ich werde gebracht haben

More conjugated German verbs to come in following posts here on my language learning site, which teaches you how to learn language in general and German in particular.

Also note that the German conjugation tables that I offer can also be used a form of word lists for learning and memorising. There are many possibilities for learning which can be explored here.

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 3

2008-11-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 3

I've been busy studying for my exams and didn't have much time to blog, but here I am once again on my language learning site, with a series on German verbs conjugated. Sorry and sincerest apologies to all my loyal readers! I'll be doing more writing soon on various interesting and wideranging topics, ranging from German to English, to tourism, to finance and investment matters.

Anyways, this series in How to Learn German Fast has conjugated the German verbs sein, haben, gehen, fahren and kommen so far, and as I have said, you can learn how to conjugate verbs effectively if you see and observe the rules and the patterns, regularities and the endings of the verbs. Remember to always check for more effective ways of remembering the various conjugations of German verbs to make your learning faster and more effective. In any case, the following verbs will be conjugated in this post here:

anbieten - to offer
ankommen - to arrive
annehmen - to accept, or to assume
anrufen - to call, to ring someone, to telephone
antworten - to answer, to reply
anziehen - to put on, to dress
arbeiten - to work

All the verbs have been compiled from various German language resources, out of which the teach yourself series and the Berlitz series of language learning resources are two of the most important sources that I use in my learning when I was learning German as well as my writing, current and past. Without further ado, the conjugated German verbs are here for your learning pleasure and easy reference :

BASIC "A" VERBS; GERMAN VERBS STARTING WITH "A"

anbieten - to offer

ich biete an
du bietest an
er/es/sie bietet an
wir bieten an
ihr bieten an
sie/Sie bieten an

ich bot an
ich habe angeboten
ich hatte angeboten
ich werde anbieten
ich werde angeboten haben

ankommen - to arrive

ich komme an
du kommst an
er/sie/es kommt an
wir kommen an
ihr kommt an
sie/Sie kommen an

ich kam an
ich bin angekommen
ich war angekommen
ich werde ankommen
ich werde angekommen sein

annehmen - to accept, or to assume

ich nehme an
du nimmst an
er/sie/es nimmt an
wir nehmen an
ihr nehmt an
sie/Sie nehmen an

ich nahm an
ich habe angenommen
ich hatte angenommen
ich werde annehmen
ich werde angenommen haben

anrufen - to call, to ring someone, to telephone

ich rufe an
du rufst an
er/sie/es ruft an
wir rufen an
ihr ruft an
sie/Sie rufen an

ich rief an
ich habe angerufen
ich hatte angerufen
ich werde anrufen
ich werde angerufen haben

antworten - to answer, to reply

ich antworte
du antwortest
er/sie/es antwortet
wir anworten
ihr anwortet
sie/Sie anworten

ich antwortete (yes it's true, this is the German conjugation for replied - you might want to have a look at the German conjugation for arbeiten and see the similarities - so as to enhance your learning and see the rules/patterns/regularities...)

ich habe geantwortet
ich hatte geantwortet
ich werde antworten
ich werde angewortet haben

anziehen - to put on, to dress

ich ziehe an
du ziehst an
er zieht an
wir ziehen an
ihr zieht an
sie ziehen an

ich zog an
ich habe angezogen
ich hatte angezogen
ich werde anziehen
ich werde angezogen haben

arbeiten - to work

ich arbeite
du arbeitest
er arbeitet
wir arbeiten
ihr arbeitet
Sie arbeiten

ich arbeitete (see the similarity?)
ich habe gearbeitet
ich hatte gearbeitet
ich werde arbeiten
ich werde gearbeitet haben

In the next post, I will be posting up German verbs here starting with the letter "B" for your easy reference and easy learning, so do stay tuned for more German language resources here on my how to learn German fast and effectively site, cheers! Thank you for reading.

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 2

2008-09-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated, part 2

Here on my How to learn German fast and efficiently site, I am doing a series on conjugating German verbs. Having conjugated the most important German verbs SEIN und HABEN, I shall now give the other important German verbs, but not conjugate them in the way that I did the other time. I will do the present tense, past tense and the PII, the same way as most other textbooks or reference guides. The point is so that you can learn German not just by memorisng alone but by learning key points and key ideas.

There are many ways of learning German and one way of learning German verbs effectively is to note that there are rules and commonalities in the way the verbs are conjugated. That is, one can learn German when one notes that the ways in which the verbs change are sometimes regular, and sometimes irregular. In addition, some of the German irregular verbs have... wait for it... regular methods of conjugation. That's the key point of this post.

Therefore: analyse and have a good hard look here at the various examples given...

I will conjugate these German verbs: GEHEN, FAHREN, KOMMEN

GEHEN (always in this order - present tense, past tense, and then perfect tense)

Ich gehe, er/sie/es geht,

Ich ging, er/sie/ es ging,

ist gegangen

FAHREN

Ich fahre, du fährst, er/sie/ es fährt

Ich fuhr, er/sie/es fuhr

ist gefahren

KOMMEN

Ich kommen, er/sie/es kommt

Ich kam, er/sie/es kam

ist gekommen

In this case, the rest of the conjugation are:

past tense:

du kamst

wir kamen

ihr kamt

sie kamen

Do you see what I mean? To learn German verbs and conjugate them beautifully, it is key to note that there are regularities in the verbs - st, en, t, and en. This can be seen by reference to sein and haben as well.

Do remember to observe, learn and memorise the verbs, but also learn German by using the regularities within the word conjugations. Have fun observing and taking notes, and there will be more word lists to come in future posts on conjugating German verbs. Stay tuned, thanks!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated : SEIN, HABEN

2008-09-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - key verbs conjugated : SEIN, HABEN

Small Note: Recently I have become more "famous" and there are many new visitors who are following my language learning blog! Thank you for your support and kind readership. I sincerely hope that the tips, ideas, plans and German language support help that I provide will help you realise your goals of learning German fast and efficiently, and to your own satisfaction. Thank you for your kind support! Danke!

This series here on my language learning site will be on key verbs conjugated - for easy reference in your German language learning.

SEIN und HABEN
(to be and to have)

ich bin
du bist
er/sie/es ist
wir sind
ihr seid
sie sind

ich war
du warst
er/sie/es war
wir waren
ihr wart
sie waren

ich bin gewesen (Perfekt or PII tense)

ich habe
du hast
er/sie/es hat
wir haben
ihr habt
sie haben

ich hatte
du hattest
er/sie/es hatte
wir hatten
ihr hattet ? (probably unused - grammatical only?)
sie hatten

ich habe gehabt (PII)

Note: this is a very important German language note - sein and haben are going to be very important key verbs in learning this language, or for that matter, to be and to have are very important key verbs in learning any Indo-European languages.

Second Note:
Ich habe _____ is the common phrase for perfect tenses, or Partizip II, in German.
It's like: I have done, I have gone, etc.

Ich bin ______ is also similar, and it seems to be : I am / I have in English.

The key is that sein + partizip II is used for movement/ change in state.
Ich bin gegangen.
Ich bin gefahren.

More verbs to come, as well as verb lists and other important language assists here on my language site. Stay positive and remember to do a lot of revision - the sidebar on the right of this site should help you with all the resources and also the key point of this site:
A System of Language Learning on How to Learn German Fast and Efficiently!

Cheers.

Learn how to learn a language! :)

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings 4

2008-09-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings 4

Here as promised is the last instalment in this series of German language resources. There will be more German language resources in future posts to help you revise, learn and improve your German language skills and the command of the language. As I've said, language learning is assisted by the memorisation and learning of various phrases and proverbs. Here is the last instalment in this series for you, right here on my How to Learn German Fast site. Enjoy and learn!

German sayings that will help you learn German, the last instalment of German language proverbs and phrases:

Viele Hände macht leicht Arbeit.
Many hands make light work

Vier Augen sehen mehr als zwei.
Four eyes see more than two.

Vom Regen in die Traufe.
Out of the rain and into the eaves.
(English equivalent: Out of the frying pan and into the fire.)

Von nichts kommt nichts.
From nothing comes nothing.

Was dem einen recht ist, ist dem anderen billig.
What's right for one, is fair for the other.
(English equivalent that we always use when speaking the English Language: One man's meat is another man's poison.)

Was der Bauer nicht kennt, das frisst er nicht.
What the peasant doesn't know, he doesn't eat.
(This German phrase can be used to criticise someone who refuses to learn and to adapt to something new.)

Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen.
Don't postpone things you can do today to tomorrow.

Was nicht ist, kann noch werden.
What isn't yet can still become.

Was man sich eingebrockt hat, das muss man auch auslöffeln.
What one dishes out, he must also eat.

Was Hänschen nicht lernte, lernt Hans nimmermehr.
What Hänschen (this is German for "little Hans") didn't learn, (the fully grown up same) Hans will never learn.

Wasser unter der Brücke.
Water beneath the bridge.
(It is in the past.)

Wem der Schuh passt, der zieht ihn sich an.
He whom the shoe fits puts it on.
(If something (usually bad) true has been said about you, better to accept it than to disagree/ lose your temper. This one I found most amusing.)

Wenn der Reiter nichts taugt, ist das Pferd schuld.
If the horseman is bad, it's the horse's fault.

Wenn Gauner sich streiten kommt die Wahrheit ans Licht.
When scoundrels argue, the truth is revealed.

Wer A sagt, muss auch B sagen.
If you say A, you have to say B as well.

Wer nicht will, der hat schon.
Who wants not, has already.
(He who does not want something already has enough.)

Wer zuletzt lacht, lacht am besten.
He who laughs last, laughs best.

Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt.
Who wagers nothing, he wins nothing.

Wer anderen eine Grabe gräbt, fällt selbst hinein.
Who digs a pit/ grave for others falls into it himself.

Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst.
Who comes first, grinds (his grain) first.

Wes' Brot ich ess, des' Lied ich sing.
Whose bread I eat, that's whose song I sing.
(This is something I say all the time! Haha: He who pays the piper calls the tune.)

Wer die Wahl hat, hat die Qual.
Who has the choice, has the suffering.

Wie man in den Wald hineinruft, so schallt es zurück.
Just as one calls into the forest, so it echoes back.

Wie man sich bettet, so liegt man.
As you put yourself to bed, so you will lie.
(As you made your bed, so lie in it.)

Wie Pech und Schwefel.
Like pitch and sulphur.

Wenn zwei sich streiten, freut sich der Dritte.
When two quarrel, the third rejoices.

Wer nicht hören will, muss fühlen.
He who doesn't want to listen will have to experience.

Wer rastet, der rostet.
He who rests, will be rusting.

Zeit ist Geld.
Time is money. (Henry Ford)

Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen.
Hit two flies with one fly swatter.
(Be efficient. Come on, this is a German thing, isn't it? :) )

I've not included in this list of proverbs those that are vulgar, non traditional, uncommon, unnecessary and also those that are in German dialects or in German language variations. Do take note! Nonetheless, the pedagogy and learning are not negatively affected, so there are still lots of things to learn and revise here. Thank you, danke.

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings 3

2008-09-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings 3

Here on my site on How to Learn German Fast are more famous German sayings, important or common German phrases and proverbs that are worth learning. German language learning is easier if you can a lot of memorisation, which will definitely help your language learning because you can gain a lot of grammar, a lot of German vocabulary and therefore improve your command of the language. Some of these can also be memorised as part of your German language programme and can be even used in essays or speeches. At the same time, German is more fun and you can assimilate the German language and culture by these means... so have fun memorising the following German proverbs and German sayings:

German sayings that will help you learn German 3:

Kräht der Hahn auf dem Mist, ändert sich's Wetter oder 's bleibt wie's ist.
If the cock crows on the dung heap, the weather will change or stay the way it is. (Wikipedia takes this German phrase to mean that proverbs are not useful, but since I am preaching the use and learning of proverbs on my language blog, I'll not use that kind of translation!)

Kehre vor Deiner eigenen Tür.
Sweep the ground in front of your own door.
Don't bother to mess with others' business, better take care of your own.

Kleider machen Leute.
Clothes make the man.

Keine Antwort ist auch eine Antwort.
No answer is also an answer.

Kindermund tut Wahrheit kund.
The mouthes of children proclaim the truth.
(Almost exactly: From the mouths of babes.)

Klug zu reden ist doch schwer, klug zu schweigen noch viel mehr.
It's indeed hard to talk cleverly, still harder to be silent cleverly.

Koste es was es wolle
To achieve something by whatever it will cost

Eine Leiche im Keller haben...
To have a corpse in the basement!
(English equivalent - Skeletons in the closet)

Leichter gesagt als getan.
Easier said than done.

Lügen haben kurze Beine.
Lies have short legs.

Lieber das Messer ablecken als den Löffel abgeben.
Better to lick the knife than to give up the spoon.
(It is preferable to face hardship and adversity than to die.)

Man soll das Fell des Bären nicht verkaufen, bevor man ihn erlegt hat.
One shouldn't sell the bear's fur before it has been killed.
(Well, doesn't this sound familiar? We have something like this in English, called Don't Count Your Chickens...)

Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben.
One shouldn't praise the day before the evening.

Mit den Wölfen muss man heulen.
With the wolves one must howl.

Mit solchen Freunden braucht man keine Feinde mehr.
With such friends, one doesn't need enemies anymore.
(With friends like these, who needs enemies?)

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund.
Morning hour has gold in the mouth.

Man schlägt den Sack und meint den Esel.
Hitting the bag, but actually aiming at the donkey.

Man ist, was man isst.
You are what you eat. (This is a pun in German, because of the ist and isst)

Morgen, morgen, nur nicht heute, sagen alle faulen Leute.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, just not today, all the lazy people say.
(Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.)

Neue Besen kehren gut...
New brooms clean well...

...aber der Alte kennt die Ecken.
...but the old one knows the corners.

Nur tote Fische schwimmen mit dem Strom.
Only dead fish swim with the stream.

Ohne Fleiß kein Preis.
No diligence, no prize.

Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold
Talking is Silver, Silence is Gold.

Rom ist auch nicht an einem Tag erbaut worden.
Rome wasn't built in a day.

Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude.
Joy from others' misfortune is the best joy.

Schnee von gestern
Snow from yesteryear. (or snow from yesterday, meaning that something has long passed)

Setz nicht alles auf eine Karte.
Don't bet on only one card.

Schlafende Hunde soll man nicht wecken.
One should not awaken sleeping dogs.

Steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein.
A steady drop will carve the stone.
(Continuous effort will eventually lead to success.)

Das kommt mir spanisch vor.
It seems Spanish to me.
(There's something strange.)

Träume sind Schäume.
Dreams are foam.
(A dream has nothing to do with reality.)

Übung macht den Meister!
Practice makes the master!

Vertrauen ist gut, Kontrolle ist besser!
(attributed to the famous communist Lenin)
Trust is good, but verification is better!

Viele Köche verderben den Brei.
Many cooks spoil the broth.

Viele Wege führen nach Rom.
Many roads lead to Rome.

There will be one last instalment on this series on memorising German proverbs and German sayings, here on my language learning and language resources site. Stay tuned!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings 2

2008-09-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings 2

This is the second instalment on learning German fast and efficiently by memorising German sayings, proverbs and common sense. It is interesting, helps you understand the grammar (because the phrases are sharp, consise and very clear, as opposed to longer, harder sentences), and also serves as a memory test, memory exercise and vocabulary builder. Here, without further ado, is the second instalment for you to learn and incorporate into your German language learning - more German sayings!

German sayings that will help you learn German 2:

Das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiß ist.
Strike while the iron is hot.

Die dümmsten Bauern ernten die dicksten Kartoffeln.
The most stupid farmers harvest the biggest potatoes.
(Dumb people are often very lucky.)

Durch Dick und Dünn gehen.
To go through thick and thin (with someone, through good times and bad - note that many of the sayings have English equivalents that are exact or very close)

Das letzte Hemd hat keine Taschen.
The last shirt has no pockets. (When you die, you cannot bring money with you.)
Unter den Blinden ist der Einäugige der König.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king (my mother's favourite saying).

Einbildung ist auch eine Bildung.
Vanity is also an education (a pun on the word -Bildung; get it? Haha!).

Ein blindes Huhn findet auch mal ein Korn.
(Even) a blind chicken finds some grain once in a while.

Einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen Sommer.
One swallow doesn't make summer.

Ein Unglück kommt selten allein.
A bad luck/ bad thing seldom comes alone.

Ein Tropfen auf den heißen Stein.
A drop (of water) on a hot stone.

Ende gut, alles gut.
All's well that ends well.

Erst denken, dann lenken.
First think, then steer.
(Think before you act.)

Es ist nicht alles Gold, was glänzt.
Not all that glitters is gold.

Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen.
A master has never yet fallen from the sky.
(No one is an expert rightaway without any practice.)

Es kommt wie es kommt.
It comes as it comes.
(Or the more famous: que sera, sera.)

Gebranntes Kind scheut das Feuer.
Burned kid avoids the fire.
(Once bitten, twice shy.)

Gleich und gleich gesellt sich gern.
Like and like love to join.
Birds of a feather flock together.

Gelernt ist gelernt.
Learnt is learnt/Learnt means learnt!

Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof!!!
I only understand the word "Train Station"!!!
(It's all Greek to me!!!)

In der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen
If in need, the devil eats flies.
(Beggars cannot be choosers.)

In der Kürze liegt die Würze.
In briefness lies the spice.
(Be concise.)

Bei Nacht sind alle Katzen grau.
In the night all cats are gray. (You cannot differentiate between stuff in the night or under impaired judgement, for instance/ also, bad vulgar meaning as well... don't ask me!!)

Sich nicht um ungelegte Eier kümmern.
Don't worry about eggs that haven't been laid.

Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat.
If time comes, advice comes.
(You become smarter and wiser with time.)

More on German sayings, German proverbs and wise, famous sayings to come in the next post. Stay tuned! Learn how to learn German fast, effectively, and efficiently, while also simultaneously making it fun and enjoyable as a learning experience here on my language site. Cheers!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings

2008-08-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - memorise famous sayings

Welcome to a series of additional advice on how to learn German fast; for loyal readers, my site here poses a system for learning language in general, and learning German in particular, and for all intents and purposes was actually a site to teach people here how to learn a language rather than providing resources for German.

However, having said that and done that, I've decided that the original intent of the site to provide just a language learning system is not enough, and that I shall augment my language learning site with quite a bit of German resources and German language resources for people to learn it as a foreign language.

Simply: this blog is about how to learn German - a system on how to learn German fast, effectively and properly. Click here to see the important summary on How to Learn German Fast and Enjoyably.

At the same time, merely giving a system and writing lots of examples about it and the various steps I took to acquire the language is not enough, so I've decided to include actual German resources as well.

This does not mean that the blog has changed - it is still primarily about a language learning system in general, and how to learn German in particular, but now it shall incorporate more German resources for foreigners rather than July's series on simple phrases (see the right sidebar, or click here for simple German phrases).

Without much further ado, memorising famous sayings will be useful in learning German fast, especially if they are applicable sayings. In this post, I will give you some famous German sayings and proverbs, and then in the next post, I will give you some more German proverbs.

German sayings that will help you learn German:

Aller guten Dinge sind drei.
All good things come in threes.

Alles Gute kommt von oben.
All good things come from above.

Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei.
Everything has an end, only the sausage has two. All good things must come to an end.

Alte Liebe rostet nicht.
Old flames don't die.

Anfangen ist leicht, beharren eine Kunst.
To start is easy, to persevere, an art.

Auf jeden Regen folgt auch Sonnenschein.
There is sunshine after rain.

Aus Schaden wird man klug. (Darum ist einer nicht genug.)
From bad things you learn to be smart. (One of that is never enough :P)

Bäume wachsen nicht in den Himmel.
Trees do not grow in the sky. (There are limits to some things.)

Bellende Hunde beißen nicht.
Barking dogs don't bite.

Besser ein Spatz in der Hand, als eine Taube auf dem Dach.
Better to have a sparrow in your hand, then a pigeon on the roof.

Betrunkene und Kinder sagen die Wahrheit.
Drunks and children speak the truth.

Blut ist dicker als Wasser.
Blood is thicker than water.

Der Teufel steckt im Detail.
The devil is in the details (very similar to English, nicht wahr?)

Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm.
The appel won't fall far away from the trunk of the tree. (Children resemble their parents/ Offspring resemble their parents.)

Der Appetit kommt beim Essen.
The appetite comes when you're eating.

Der erste Eindruck zählt.
The first impression counts (the most).

Der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt.
Man proposes, God disposes.

Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache.
German language, difficult language!

More proverbs and interesting German phrases to come here in the next post... This is the beginning of German language resources for my site, so stay tuned here for this month's series on German proverbs and German sayings that you can and should be able to commit to memory and use to learn the language. Cheers!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 3

2008-07-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 3

Here are the other two sections on How to Learn German Fast on simple German phrases for memorisation and learning.

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 1
How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 2

Remember to use the language learning and revision techniques and language learning skills in order to master the new vocabulary and phrases introduced. These posts in this series are for beginners who need to acquire a basic command of the language and not for experts or advanced learners of German. For intermediate learners or students who have learnt German for some while, this series will be an invaluable revision opportunity for revising German.

In this post, I will be covering the most important and the hardest basic phrases and words. This means that there are many basics to know, and these words and phrases here that you should memorise and learn are the hardest German language words and German language phrases of this series.

The three topics to be dealt with are: shopping phrases and vocabulary, getting around phrases and vocabulary, and miscellaneous words and phrases.

German language: Shopping phrases and vocabulary

Ich moechte...
(ITCH MOSH TER)
I would like....

Kann ich Ihnen helfen?
(KANN ITCH IN NEN HELL FERN)
Can I help you (offer of service from the salesman to the customer)?

Sonderangebot! Reduziert!
(ZON DER ARN GIR BOAT/ RAY DOO ZEE ERT)
Special offer! Reduced prices!

Das ist zu teuer.
(DAS IST ZHU TOY YER)
That is too expensive.

Nehmen Sie Kreditkarten?
(NAY MERN ZEE CRAY DIT CAR TON)
Do you take credit cards?

Ich nehme es/ ihn/ sie.
(ITCH NAY MER ES, IHN, ZEE)
I will take it.

Bitte/ Danke.
Please/ Thank you.

die Kasse
(DEE CAR SIR)
cashier

auf Wiedersehen!
(OWF VEE DUH 'SAIN)
bye!

German language: Getting around phrases and vocabulary

geradeaus
(GER RAD DER OWS)
straight

links/ rechts
(LINKSS/ REXS)
left/ right

Entschuldigen Sie, wie komme ich zum/ zur ...
(ANT SHOOL DEE GERN ZEE, WEE KOM MER ITCH ZHUM / ZHUR)
Excuse me, how do I get to the ...

Post/ Platz/ Flughafen/ Bahn
(POST/ PLATZ/ FLOOG HAR FERN/ BUN)
Post office/ Place (park)/ Airport/ Station

U Bahn/ S Bahn
U station/ S station

Gehen Sie geradeaus, und dann links.
Go straight, and then make a left.

Gehen Sie geradeaus, und dann rechts.
Go straight, and then make a right.

Tut mir Leid, ich habe keine Ahnung.
Sorry, I have no idea.

Ich weiss nicht/ Das weiss ich leider nicht.
I don't know/ I don't know, sorry.

(To get around, you can always use this German phrase or this quick start phrase ...
Entschuldigen Sie, koennten Sie mir bitte helfen?
Excuse me, could you please help me?)

German language: Miscellaneous,
to be used in conjunction with the other two sections learnt today as well as the other two posts in this series on learning words and phrases.

Other German words that you may need to know, or that are good to know:

essen to eat
trinken to drink
Das Essen Food
Milch Milk
Bier Beer
Das Wasser Water
Das Hotel hotel
Kaffee/ Tea coffee/ tea
Information information counter
Achtung! Attention/ Alert!
Zimmer frei room available
Rauchen Verboten smoking banned
Eingang/ Ausgang entrance/ exit

Sprechen Sie Englisch?
Do you speak English?

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
Do you speak German? I speak a little German.

Tut mir Leid.
I am sorry.

Tschuess!
Bye!

Just for reference, I have also included the top twenty German verbs that I wrote about earlier in another post on learning, here on How to Learn German Fast. Here again are the top twenty German verbs, in my own opinion, that you may need to know of.

The top twenty verbs that you will need to appear fluent in German, or to pretend to be good in German, for that matter :)

1. sein to be

2. haben to have

3. muessen must

4. sollen should

5. duerfen allowed/ should

6. essen eat

7. gehen go

8. fahren drive

9. hoeren listen

10. sprechen speak

11. kommen come

12. denken think

13. sehen see (however, the Germans like to say gucken see)

14. lesen read

15. glauben believe

16. bleiben stay

17. wohnen stay someplace

18. trinken drink

19. sagen say

20. laufen walk/run

This concludes the basic and introductory phrases course of German, here on my language learning site. The German language, just like many other languages, has its basics, and then later on you can learn and master the harder phrases and vocabulary.

All the best, and I hope I helped you with the basics of German and some easy phrases. For advanced learners of German or intermediate learners, hope these refreshed your memory and helped you revise a little bit. Cheers!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 2

2008-07-16T07:00:00.001-07:00

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 2

In the last post here on How to Learn German Fast, I gave some simple German phrases to do with Greetings in German, numbers in German, and days and months in German. Now, in the second part of the "simple German phrases" series, I introduce more important phrases in German to help you get a general idea of some more basic language phrases and structures in German. Bear in mind that this is a website mainly for learning how to learn a language learning system, and this language learning system specialises in how to learn German fast and effectively, while still enjoyably. If you want to learn a language learning system that enables you to learn German fast and enjoyably, my system is what I recommend and preach here on this site. My language learning system can be used to learn most languages, and is particularly effective for learning German fast and enjoyably in particular.

I must stress that what I teach here, in terms of German language phrases and words, does not replace your German courses. It is not enough to learn German just knowing a few words and phrases here and there. You should look around for additional German courses and additional German sites and language learning programmes if you are serious about picking up German, and you know your language learning goals and so on. Motivation, self actualisation, initiative and much more are all very much part of your own personal education and personal self development. For advanced and hardcore German learning in terms of technical terms and technical German at a high level or advanced language level, look around and research on other avenues of learning. If, however, you wish to know and learn some conversational German, my series of simple German phrases will assist you greatly and give you some basic understanding. Have fun in learning German and here are the basic German phrases for this post:

More basic German words and phrases, continued from the last post

German words and phrases for relationships and knowing people

Ich heisse...
I am called...

Frau/ Herr
Mrs or Miss/ Mr

Wie heissen Sie?
What is your name?

Wie heisst Du?
What is your name (informal)?

Wie geht es Ihnen? Wie geht es Dir?
How are you? (formal and informal German)

Ich komme aus ...
I come from ...

Australien/ Europa/ Grossbritannien/ die USA/ Singapur/ China/ Japan
Australia, Europe, the UK, the USA, Singapore, China, Japan

Ich bin ___ Jahre alt.
I am ___ years old.

Wann haben Sie Geburtstag? Wann hast du Geburtstag?
When is your birthday?

Ich bin in _______ geboren.
I was born in ________.

Sind Sie verheiratet? Sind Sie single?
Are you married? Are you single?

Ich mag _________
I like/ enjoy doing ______________

Fussball/ Tennis/ Sport/ Klavier spielen, und so weiter
Football, tennis, sport, playing the piano, and so on

Colours in the German language

weiss white
schwarz black
rot red
gelb yellow
blau blue
grau grey
orange orange
braun brown
hell light
dunkel dark
hellblau light blue

Question words in the German language

Wo where?
Wann when?
Warum why?
Was what?
Wer who?
Wie how?
Wieviel how much?

The weather in German - basic German weather words and phrases

Es ist sonnig
It is sunny

Es ist kalt
It is cold

Es ist heiss
It is hot

Es regnet
It rains

Es ist windig
It is windy

Es ist neblig
It is foggy

Das Wetter
the weather

Remember to refresh your memory and re read the previous post with other basic words and phrases that you need to learn and know. Bear in mind that learning a language involves repetition, revision, recitation, overlearning and other principles of learning that have been already covered in this language blog. In the next post on How to Learn German Fast, I will do more advanced phrases involving shopping, getting around and the key skills and ideas that need to be learnt while learning any language, German included. Stay tuned for more German phrases and German language learning here!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 1

2008-07-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast - simple German phrases 1

In this site, I teach how to learn German fast and effectively using a system to learn languages. A simple glance around will see many articles on language learning, memorisation, German language skills, tips and ideas, and the like. This language learning system can be effectively applied to learning any language, and here is the link that you should be visiting here, if you want to have an overview of an effective language learning system that helps you learn German fast and enjoyably:

Summary: how to learn German fast and enjoyably

I have a travel blog called Tour and See the World, and I have visited Germany already. There are several requests for German tips, German travel tips, German culture and German language tips and the like, and so I have decided to give a series here on How to Learn German Fast on simple German phrases that most travellers and language learners should know. For beginners, this might be quite tough, but try your very best to learn. For intermediate language learners, this might be relatively easy, but do take it as revision, and besides overlearning is one of the key principles of language learning. For advanced German language learners, you may actually skip this section and instead review and revise the language learning system that I advocate here on this site.

Simple German phrases that you need to know (German - English)

NB The German language is pronounced exactly as the words are spelt, so with a basic command of the German language alphabet, one is able to pronounce almost anything that is German. It is really that simple, and the hardest aspect of the learning is learning the sounds of the alphabet at first.

Greetings and Simple phrases in German:

Guten Tag! Guten Morgen! Guten Abend! Gute Nacht!
Good day! Good morning! Good evening! Good night!

Es tut mir Leid.
I am sorry.

Entschuldigung/ Entschuldigen Sie!
Excuse me!

Wie geht es Ihnen? Wie geht's dir?
How are you (formal and informal)?

Danke.
Thanks.

Bitte.
Please and welcome.

Hence: "Danke!" and you answer "Bitte."

Ich verstehe nicht.
I cannot understand.

Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch.
I know a bit of German.

Ich weiss nicht.
I don't know.

Ja/ Nein
Yes/ No

German numbers and numerals:
eins 1
zwei 2
drei 3
vier 4
funf (there is an umlaut above the U) 5
sechs 6
sieben 7
acht 8
neun 9
zehn 10
elf 11
zwolf (there is an umlaut above the O) 12
dreizehn 13
vierzehn 14
funfzehn (there is an umlaut above the U) 15
sechszehn 16
siebzehn 17
achtzehn 18
neunzehn 19
zwanzig 20

German language: Days of the week
Montag
Dienstag
Mittwoch
Donnerstag
Freitag
Samstag
Sonntag

German language: Months of the year
Januar
Februar
Maerz
April
Mai
Juni
Juli
August
September
Oktober
November
Dezember
das Jahr the year
der Monat the month

More to come on German words and German phrases in the next post in How to learn German fast! I am having a series on German quick start phrases and simple German phrases and this is only the first post on this series. More will come soon.

Do remember to look around this language learning site and read all about my German language learning system, and learn for yourself how to learn a language effectively and enjoyably here. Thank you.

Learn how to learn a language!

Summary: How to learn German fast and enjoyably

2008-06-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Summary: How to learn German fast and enjoyably

This is a summary of how to learn German fast and enjoyably, the system of learning languages that I have used to learn German. I speak fluent English, Mandarin and German. I've included this summary today instead of adding additional articles on German culture and German language tips for the benefit of people who want a brief overview before jumping into my really good posts in the archive on how to learn German fast. The interesting and educational additional articles on Germany will come in later posts, so please stay tuned!

I strongly believe that it makes more sense to learn how to learn a language before you actually do learn a language, and my system can be used to learn any language to a high level in general, and learn German in general. Of course, the tips and tricks and sites to visit, movies to watch, German programmes to listen and watch, German books to read, and other reviews will benefit you if you seeking to learn German and not any other language here. That is, my system guarantees that you can learn a language, and German is the focus of How to learn German fast.

Here is the summary for your ease of reference:

Determine your goals and aims before learning any language. What does it mean to "learn a language", and what does it mean by "fast"? Are you referring to an expert command of the language, or a basic command, or business German, or conversational German? Do you want to learn how to speak German, or to write in German, or both or more than just that? What is the time factor to you? Are you doing an examination in one year, or two years? Does fast mean 3 weeks, 6 weeks or 9 weeks for you? There are many important factors to consider for language studies. Set up your language learning goals and objectives and parameters first before going on to study anything.

Secondly, learn the basics of German grammar. Grammar is the foundations of any language. The basics of German such as Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ, and Genitiv have to be learnt as well as the present and perfect tenses, which are always commonly used. Master the basics of German grammar before going on to the next step, which needs lots of memory work.

You then memorise basic German vocabulary associated with the goals and parameters that you have set for your German language learning. Which topics do you need? Which words do you need?

Having memorised some basic German words, you can now start memorising sentences. These German sentences will suddenly make sense to you because you have learnt German grammar and you have some basic German vocabulary. The structures and the words will come together and you will understand.

Next, all you do is to step up the tempo. You learnt basic German grammar, you learnt basic German words, you learnt basic quick start phrases and simple sentences - and now you just improve on those and learn more advanced grammar, words and sentences.

I recommend then using the Internet and online learning - and these can be either paid courses or free, and of course being a very thrifty person, I would go for the free German courses and the free German websites. Nonetheless, for learners who want accelerated German learning, then you have to pay money. Learning languages is an investment of time and effort and money into an important enterprise. My How to learn German fast website has many resources and suggestions for you to act upon, if you want to go for paid courses. There are many suggestions and ideas on various posts here on my site, so do explore and do your own research. I recommend youtube as well, because it is free, easy and fun to learn German with.

I also add in my How to learn German site an additional "On Memory and Memorisation" section, which helps you improve your memory and learning processes.

Then after that, you should do fun stuff with German, so as to make it enjoyable and fun for you. Be creative and find something fun to do with German. My site offers suggestions on German comedians, German shows, German TV and German magicians and more. You can speak German to foreigners, you can speak German to your friends, and you can even join a German society or German club.

The last two steps are quite optional: you prepare specifically for an examination and then after that you maintain your German language skills.

Some people visit How to learn German fast because they have to complete examinations, so this is key to them. There is a section on my site entirely on the TestDaF so that you can prepare for the German language examinations. There are language exam tips and techniques for exam preparations all around here, so do feel free to explore How to learn German fast.

Maintaining your language skills takes time and effort. I would say that it might come naturally to you, because since you worked hard and long at acquiring German, now you would not want to forget all the German you studied and learnt. Your German language skills are for you to keep for life and they belong to your achievements and personal development.

That was the system I advocate to learning German. It was that simple and that complex, simultaneously. Do visit all my various German articles and articles on Germany. More to come on German culture, German history, German language tips and more on How to learn German fast!

Shawn Seah, author

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast - watch German movies

2008-05-29T14:59:00.001-07:00

How to learn German fast - watch German movies

In my How to learn German fast blog I have covered many topics from how to prepare for the Testdaf to a Brief History of Germany. That is in addition to my system on how to learn German fast and enjoyably. Today I will be talking about German movies and in particular the one that I just watched, (yes, I know, I know, I am several years behind, but bear with me...) Der Untergang (Downfall).

One way of learning a language is to watch movies and shows associated with the language and in that particular language. I have recommended German anime, German shows and TV programmes and online programmes and online courses, and yet have not mentioned any German films. This post will remedy the lack of films and I will be talking about German movies that I have watched.

I have watched many German movies, because learning a language is not just simply about learning words and grammar, but also about acquiring culture, ideas and a whole host of other interesting things as well. That means simply that learning German is not simply about German vocabulary and German grammar, but more than that, German culture, history, tradition and more. For instance, I have watched Fritz Lang and his various movies, very interesting and artistic movies, I must honestly add; I have watched many modern German movies as well, and the one I just watched off the Internet (well, nowadays you can apparently watch anything off the Internet, can't you?) was very interesting.

Here is some name dropping, in case you have seen any of these German language films: The Tunnel (Der Tunnel); Vollidiot; 7 Zwerge, Eins, Zwei, Drei, ... and I can't remember the titles of the other German films that I have watched while learning and studying German. All of them contributed one way or another in the learning and acquisition of the German language and German culture.

As for Fritz Lang, wow. Fritz Lang is a real phenomenon. He has made so many culturally important and defining movies in German and I have had the good fortune to watch some of them: Metropolis, M for Murder (the German title is M - eine Stadt sucht einen Moerder), and Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse. They are all black and white and very interesting culturally and artistically. In addition, it's rather interesting to hear the characters call each other "Mein Herr" and stuff like that. At least to me. Most of those were great and I enjoyed watching them immensely because they were riveting and very exciting.

I was going to talk about "Downfall", the German language movie that I have just watched. It is very interesting and depicts the final days of Hitler's life in his bunker, just as the Allied troops are converging on Germany in the West, and the Soviets are already in Berlin and converging on Germany in the East. All looks bleak, and things are going badly. (A brief look at my post here on my How to learn German fast blog should remind you of Germany's history, if you need.) The really interesting thing about watching this German version of events is that it protrays Hitler as someone who is very human and very feeble. The issue of Hitler in German history and in the German culture and in Germany today is very very sensitive. Many do not like to be called Nazis; there is a real threat of a small but very virulent neo-Nazi group; the Germans have spent years coming to grips with their history. "Downfall" is nothing more than an amazing reawakening and opening up of Germany. I found the movie far more interesting than I had expected, because all I did expect was to see Hitler lose, and we all already know the plot, whether we know our German history or not. He got defeated in the end and killed himself. The end.

For my recommendation on German language movies, there are lots of German language films being produced every day, and as I have said, all shows in Germany are always dubbed and translated into German, so there are lots of opportunities for you to use your German skills and practise your German listening skills. Use every chance to improve or use your German. Listening to characters speak German is a very challenging but rewarding task, and you can improve on your language skills and language abilities by watching more and more. Even if you don't understand most of it, and you have to get by just by cheating and looking at the subtitles, don't be disheartened. You will be happy to know that it takes a lot of German language training, and lots of experience with speaking, writing and listening to German to be able to watch and appreciate a German film without difficulty.

In addition, I would strongly recommend that you start out with Ehrensenf, TV Total, youtube and the other recommendations that I made earlier first, then jump into the deep end of the German language pool. By starting out to understand German through those means, when you finally come to the German language movie, the understanding of the German words and the German sounds will come naturally to you. Listening to German passively can indeed help you to learn German, but it won't come to you naturally immediately, but only after a period of time and exposure to the language.

Current and further recommendations to help you improve your German language skills (be it listening or reading or watching shows):

1. Try German movies and films, and pay attention to the German words and phrases as well as the German culture and tradition portrayed

2. Vollidiot, 7 Zwerge, Der Tunnel and Der Untergang can be some starting points as you set out to improve your German or to enjoy and utilise your German language skills

3. Perhaps think about the German culture, phrases, words, language, ideas and history that you have seen and watched and ask yourself questions... this is something creative and good for your learning.

Cheers!

Learn how to learn a language!

Denglisch

2008-05-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Denglisch

This is a How to Learn German Fast blog, and deals mainly with a system and ideas and tips on how to learn German fast and enjoyably, which can be applied to any languages that you may wish to learn, but of course, German in particular. In other words, this here is about language, and in particular, German. I share my language learning system that I used to learn German with you, and also at the same time tell my tips and stories of how I came to learn German fast and enjoyably. Deutsch macht wirklich Spass und man kann viel lernen.

At the same time, this How to Learn German Fast website also deals with German culture, history, tips, examinations, fun stuff, and other stuff related to German, Germany and obviously language. Today's topic is Denglisch, and if you are here to this website to learn how to speak German fast and enjoyably, you should be visiting these pages:

How to learn German fast part 1
How to learn German fast part 2
How to learn German fast part 3
How to learn German fast part 4
How to learn German fast part 5
How to learn German fast part 6
How to learn German fast part 6.5
How to learn German fast part 7
How to learn German fast part 8
How to learn German fast part 9

Those pages will help you learn the learning system and have a clear understanding of how to learn German, from the basics of getting to know why you want to learn it to what level and how long you wish to spend on learning German, all the way to learning about how to take and pass your German language examinations. Read them slowly and surely to have a better understanding and do apply what you have learnt or gleaned from the information and ideas.

Alright, now on for today's post on a very interesting cultural phenomenon hitting Germany:

Denglisch - Deutsch und Englisch

My first exposure to Denglisch came during a German course lesson, with my teacher Frau Verry. She said: "Ich habe ein paar Seite geskippt" and then my ears pricked up, because I was wondering if there was a word called "geskippt" (til today I have absolutely no idea if there is really a German word called skippen meaning to skip pages). My German teacher Frau Verry started laughing and then started telling us this story which apparently happened in her class:

Student: Haben Sie schon meine Hausaufgaben gedownloadet?
Frau Verry: Falsch! Nicht gedownloadet. Trennbar! Downgeloadet!

Student: Have you gedownloadet my homework?
Frau Verry: That's wrong! It's not gedownloadet... because the word is separable, the rule is "downgeloadet"!

And so that was how I was introduced to Denglisch. Welcome to the world of Denglisch, where English and German collide, Englisch und Deutsch zusammen, and we have Denglisch, not Germglish, for goodness' sake. More examples of Denglisch are:

Angela Merkel ist ein smartes Maedchen.
Die Software ist gecrasht.
Ich muss den Computer unbedingt rebooten.
I have keine Ahnung.
Hitler hat ABC gejoined.

smart... crashen... rebooten... i have... joinen...

It is very fun and interesting to learn German, and it's even more interesting to know that the formal and clear cut German language that we learn in schools, in German language courses and in formal settings is made into this very interesting language called Denglisch in real life. There is a major controversy surrounding Denglisch. Some older Germans are very upset with it because from their point of view, Denglisch is corrupting the purer and more German form of the German language. In addition, Denglisch is sometimes invented, English instead of German, and Denglisch is something that older people or purists really detest. There are many things wrong about Denglisch to them.

On the other hand, many youths in Germany today are familiar with English and they speak it rather fluently. Not all speak English of course, and certainly not all German youths are fluent in either English or German or both. Yet to a large extent many Germans are speaking Denglisch informally. English seems to have taken over the world in a sense, because the cultural legacy and strength of English seems to have permeated everywhere. And also, Denglisch seems to be more expressive than formal German or the standard Hochdeutsch.

The use of Denglisch has been disputed, as I already mentioned, by people who hate it and people who use it for their daily expression. The issue is even more complicated, because the version of Denglisch that I have just spoken about is only one definition of Denglisch. There are apparently many many types of Denglisch, from the high brow to the low brow, from computer speak to normal everyday speak. There are many ways of looking at Denglisch and it is more than just a mere influence of English words or English words with German grammar. Denglisch has now spread to ...

English words replacing German words entirely, like Taskforce, Shopping, Service, und so weiter... (replacement of German by English)

English words conjugated with German grammatical rules (the examples that I have mentioned are usually of this nature)... (German grammar with English words)

English being used instead of German, or German being mixed with pure English sentences... (English and German hand in hand)

German being used purely, but with English grammatical rules and with the German grammatical rules being shoved aside and changed to suit the English language... (German words with English grammar)

The list is endless.

Learning German is very fun, but then again, why not learn a bit of Denglisch? It is fun too and it might also help you communicate with the Germans, especially the youth, since some Denglisch does not correspond to a mere influence and one-to-one exchange with English. As the example of downgeloadet shows, you still have to take separable verbs into effect and so on. It might be quite fun!

Nonetheless, German is a beautiful language and you should learn it to the best of your abilities, because after all, when all that's said and done, a language has a certain beauty to it. Communication wise, it is usually OK to know a bit of Denglisch in addition to your Hochdeutsch (which is definitely very useful in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other countries). Note that standard German ensures that you are understood everywhere, regardless of youth language and youth culture.

At the same time, let's not make Schiller, Goethe and Nietzsche upset, and let's learn Deutsch the proper way and with the proper words and grammar.

We all know English is a rather beautiful language and that English is dominating the world currently. That is an undeniable fact. At the same time, German is beautiful too, and we have to appreciate this good and beautiful language too, after all.

If you're interested on this topic, I strongly recommend surfing the Net and looking around to find out more Denglisch words and more on Denglisch. Nonetheless remember to speak good German when you're in Germany! German, properly learnt, grammatical and fluent, will be invaluable to you.

Cheers.
-Shawn Seah Li Song

Learn how to learn a language!
Denglisch is fun, true... but correct German is expressive and beautiful too :)

Fun things related to learning German

2008-05-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Fun things related to learning German and Fun ways of learning German

Introduction/extract:

More tips to come on this post on how to learn German fast and enjoyably... On my How to learn German fast blog I have had a section already on ideas on how to do fun stuff with German, in How to learn German fast part 6 and How to learn German fast part 7. This is an entire post dedicated to learning German by using fun and interesting ways. If you have a lot of time to learn German or would like to learn German in a fun and interesting way, one way would be to learn it experientially and slowly by experience.

Fun things related to learning German and fun ways of learning German

I have already recommended some interesting websites to go to and some interesting singers, celebrities and the like for you to enjoy your German language learning.

Here I will share more about fun stuff related to learning German.

Have you ever tried German comedy? My current favourite is Oliver Pocher, and you might want to try him out. He acted in a movie called Vollidiot in 2007, I think, and acted as a very desparate German lad out to get laid, or in particular wanted this girl who didn't like him. Or something like that. Back then when I watched Vollidiot I didn't like Oliver Pocher very much and he certainly didn't attract my attention. Then came the powers of youtube to save his reputation in my jaundiced eyes... I saw him on "The Next Uri Geller". I kid you not.

Oliver Pocher, German comedian and actor, appeared in "The Next Uri Geller" as a fake magician/ psychic called Morta Deller. The reason why I knew he was fake was that his magic consisted entirely of making bread jump out of toasters, making foolish predictions like the phone would ring and stuff of that nature, and also because he memorably managed to use his powers to stop a train... as it was coming into the stop. Morta Deller was one funny fellow, and I laughed so hard, that I had to find out who it was. And it was Oliver Pocher. So that was how I got interested in Oliver Pocher and his German comedy. You might find him funny too, if you can get his rapid-fire and very fast German. Oliver Pocher loves to make impersonations of German famous celebrities like Oliver Kahn, Lucas Podolski and others. I would say that watching German TV, not just comedy in particular, would definitely be a fun way of learning German fast and enjoyably.

As regards anime, as I understand it, in Germany all the shows are dubbed into German and few, if any at all, are in the original Japanese. This is bad for the Japanese, but good for Germans and definitely good for learners of German. Anime is simpler to understand than movies and TV shows, for one, and there are many repetitions of common phrases for you to link the words strongly in your mind. I watched Sailor Moon and Detektiv Conan, and even now, the phrase: "Ich werde euch bestrafen" and "Es gibt nur eine Wahrheit und ich werde sie finden" can ring in my ears, even now!

Note that even if I got the grammar wrong (which I didn't, I am sure) the point is that when you watch cartoons and anime, the phrases that the protagonists keep on repeating will stick into your head. If the words are "Scheisse" and "Scheisskerl", then you're in a bit of a pickle, but if the words are good like "Gerechtigkeit" (Sailor Moon is pretty big on stuff like that), then you acquire a good command of certain vocabulary words and grammatical forms. You can definitely learn German from watching anime, because after all, isn't that how normal German children acquire their colloquial German to begin with? In our case as foreign adult or older learners (teenagers included), watching repetitive shows with common repeated German phrases will force us to focus on the words and the grammar. I suggest not watching it to absorb things passively, but actively listen and look out while watching the shows.

One Piece, Dears, Detektiv Conan, Sailor Moon, and many more anime shows are very popular on the Internet, especially youtube. You might want to do some research and exploring and find out other stuff, rather than just take my word for it. However, taking these ideas as starting points you can get very far in watching enjoyable cartoons in German.

Comics are fun ways of acquiring the German language too. I really do not know which are the best German comics. I grew up reading DC, Marvel and the like and not strangely they are all American companies. Nonetheless, I read Hagar the Terrible in German as well. Haegar der Schreckliche is quite funny. I also read Detektiv Conan comics as well, and I have found that they have improved my German immensely.

Now I have to say that there is an interesting thing to be gleaned from this: when you read comics like Haegar, which are one-liners or simple strips, you acquire German humour and you acquire German grammar structures that are simple and common and colloquial. Interestingly enough, when you read comics like Detektiv Conan, which are detective or mystery stories, you find that the grammar is harder and more complex and that the stories are very convoluted. It takes more effort to keep track... and that's when your German improves. It improves slowly with Haegar and the like, and very rapidly and very thoroughly with Detektiv Conan. Some people always forget to put the Partizip II verb at the end, "Ich habe etwas gegessen" but the moment they get through a mystery novel or a Detektiv Conan comic, successfully, they can remember all the different uses of the Partizip II, they can tell the difference between the Passiv and the other forms, and they can even use the Plusquamperfekt form perfectly, no pun intended.

Learning from singing or listening to CDs is also a good idea. I have already recommended Nena, Annett Louisan, Oli P, and Yvonne Catterfeld. They are not the only German singers around - you might want to try others. But now go further and do something better.

Sing Deutschland ueber alles. Sing the DDR anthem. It actually has meaning and isn't all propaganda. It will definitely help you learn German, and learn history as well.

Here is the song because I kind of like it a lot, although I know that Germans don't agree on whether they like it or not:

The DDR National Anthem

Auferstanden aus Ruinen
Und der Zukunft zugewandt,
Lass uns dir zum Guten dienen,
Deutschland, einig Vaterland.

Alte Not gilt es zu zwingen,
Und wir zwingen sie vereint,
Denn es muss uns doch gelingen,
Dass die Sonne schön wie nie
Über Deutschland scheint.

Glück und Frieden sei beschieden
Deutschland, unser'm Vaterland.
Alle Welt sehnt sich nach Frieden,
Reicht den Völkern eure Hand.

Wenn wir brüderlich uns einen,
Schlagen wir des Volkes Feind!
Lasst das Licht des Friedens scheinen,
Dass nie eine Mutter mehr Ihren Sohn beweint.

Lasst uns pflügen, lasst uns bauen,
Lernt und schafft wie nie zuvor,
Und der eignen Kraft vertrauend,
Steigt ein frei Geschlecht empor.

Deutsche Jugend, bestes Streben
Unsres Volks in dir vereint,
Wirst du Deutschlands neues Leben,
Und die Sonne schön wie nie
Über Deutschland scheint.

(borrowed from Wikipedia and edited by Shawn Seah)

There are also German folk songs, German music, German classical music (which will not be useful for language learning but very good for relaxation purposes) and much much more to help you with your German studies and enjoyment!

Simply: at the end of the day, what are some extra enjoyable ways of learning German and what fun stuff can one do to learn and enjoy learning German?

1. Comedy: Oliver Pocher recommended.

2. Anime: One Piece, Dears, Detektiv Conan, Sailor Moon und so weiter

3. Comics: Haeger der schreckliche und so weiter, the harder the standard of German the better it is for your learning, the lower the standard and the difficulty, the less you learn but the more you will enjoy

4. Songs: not Oli P or Nena again, but national anthems, national songs, folk songs, and other kinds of German music.

5. Other ideas:

- German newspapers! German games, or switch your games to the German language! German film festivals! German movies in general, or German movies from genres that you love. There are so many ways to skin a cat.

Have fun while learning German experientially and the time while whizz by as you improve your language skills and interest in German. In my next post I will be talking about Denglisch, a very interesting topic in Germany. Stay tuned!

Learn how to learn a language!
Learn German fast and enjoyably :)

Tips on TestDaF preparation

2008-05-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Tips on TestDaF preparation
Or: tips on Testdaf preparation

(In the course of this article, I will refer to the German language examination TestDaF as Testdaf, because it is simpler for me to type it out here in this post in this particular manner "Testdaf".)

Many students worldwide are interesting in learning tips and ideas on how to prepare for the Testdaf, the Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache. In my How to Learn German Fast blog, I have outlined a system of learning German for beginners or intermediate learners. Now I will be giving tips and ideas on how to prepare and study for the Testdaf, because that is one of the more common foreign language tests for foreigners who want to work or study in Germany, and also because the Testdaf was the test that I did for my German language proficiency. I myself have done the Testdaf and it was a very interesting and useful examination for me, personally.

I will outline my personal journey and personal preparation for the Testdaf examination, and then offer a system or suggestions that you may wish to follow or adopt for your examination preparations.

Firstly, I found out all about the Testdaf examination, information, format and rubric from the Testdaf Institute. This was in December 2005 (I did the examination in April 2007). You can visit the Testdaf Institute at this website http://www.testdaf.de/.

It is important to know the rubric of the Testdaf, the sections and the requirements for the various differentiated gradings, and the like. The results are either 3, 4 or 5 for each section, where Testdaf level 5 is the highest, and Testdaf level 3 is the lowest possible, since 2 and 1 are not graded and not shown on the results slip. Testdaf level 5 means that you have an excellent command of the German language and that your skills are above and beyond what is required. It is a good idea to aim for all levels 4 and 5 when you take the Testdaf. The sections are: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, writing and oral/ speaking. These four subsections in the Testdaf examination all carry a grade from levels 3 to 5. You can see my own personal Testdaf results here on this post. In any case, all the Testdaf levels (Niveau) are available freely on the Internet along with the requirements, criteria and description of the examination levels and what they mean, and, in addition, there are many online German courses and German programmes that you can choose to have a look at, some dealing with the Testdaf and others dealing with the German language.

Secondly, I started preparing for the various sections. I did this individually and separately. By the way, if you have not read how to learn German yet, my system on how to learn German fast offers insight into a training programme that is viable and fun, and that involves technology in terms of courses and youtube and entertainment via the Internet, among other tips and ideas. If you have read my articles and my system on how to learn German fast already, then you can focus on the tips and ideas part of this post and perhaps skip my personal Testdaf journey.

To prepare for the reading comprehension section, I read the Der Spiegel Nachrichten every day, choosing articles that had themes and ideas similar to the Testdaf examination topics. I also borrowed books and magazines from the University library in order to familiarise myself with formal and standard German. It was a rather interesting and enjoyable academic time!

To prepare for the listening comprehension section, I stepped up my youtube entertainment programme and also listened to many podcasts by Angela Merkel and Der Spiegel TV Online. I also listened to Ehrensenf and TV Total and tried to pick out what they were saying. Later on this proved invaluable to me because the listening comprehension section of the Testdaf is actually read and recited much slower and more clearly than are the programmes on actual German shows and TV. In addition, Der Spiegel Online is extremely useful. Preparation for the Testdaf was interesting and fun.

To prepare for the writing section, I wrote an essay every day. The thing about the Testdaf is that the section on writing can be simply prepared for if you know how to. There will always be a form of graph or diagrammatic explanation, and so you will need to prepare for that. There will always be some argumentative essay or topic to write on, and so you should prepare for that, but this time, instead of writing in your first language, try writing it all out in German. The planning, the preparation for the essay, and the thinking and linking processes are all the same, whether it is English or French or Spanish, but this time you remember to express yourself in German. One good thing about the Testdaf is that it does not test you for your German grammar per se, but tests your fluency and command. Hence, not knowing the articles of some nouns won't be as detrimental here as opposed to many other European administered examinations.

To prepare for the oral section, there are only two ways to do so, in my opinion. I recited many texts aloud. And I also spoke German as often and as many times as I could. That was how I did it and how I prepared myself for the Testdaf.

A System or Suggestions on Preparing for the Testdaf:

1. You could do what I did, and that might work for you, as it did for me. I did a sectional and very thorough preparation for the Testdaf and that might do wonders for you too.

2. You could implement the strategies and systems outlined in my How to Learn German Fast system and programme for learning languages in general, and German in particular.

3. Do an online course that specialises in preparing you for the Testdaf. Many are paid courses that require you to pay a fee and some are free, but those are rarer. I'd say you should have a good look around and evaluate a few sites and a few courses - do your own personal research before committing to any online courses or programmes.

4. If you have time, a long term approach is best: read more, listen to more German, speak more German and find more chances to express yourself verbally and orally, surf and check out the Internet slowly and surely day by day. Languages are not acquired in a week, despite what some people say, like "you can learn a language in a few days etc".

5. If you have not much time, and the Testdaf will be soon upon you, the best way to learn and prepare for the Testdaf is to memorise all the key expressions that you will use for your writing and speaking sections. That way you will ensure that you can pass two sections well. "This graph shows", "This suggests", "increasing and decreasing trends" and the like are all the phrases you need to memorise and commit to your memory if you wish to ace the Testdaf. Memorise anything and everything you need for the writing and speaking sections of the Testdaf and dump those words and key phrases every time and every chance you get to do so. This is a common examination technique employed not just by desparate Testdaf students but by language students and other exam takers all over the world.

6. Listen to the German news often - Der Spiegel is not the only source. Try Deutsche Welle, the Austrian and Swiss News Services, try any podcasts that you can lay your hands on. This will help you in your listening... partly. For the other part, the writing down part, be sure that you can write down things as fast as you can catch them, as you hear them.

7. Get German tuition or some assistance for the Testdaf from your university teacher, professor, friends, German friends, or coursemates. It's better to work and prepare in a team rather than suffer alone in silence, perhaps.

All in all, good luck for your Testdaf if you intend to pursue it. You can read about examination techniques in general in this post, How to Learn German Fast Part 9, where you can also read about where to go once you have mastered my system for learning German.

Learn how to learn a language!

A Brief History of Germany

2008-05-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

A Brief History of Germany

You can find many English or German articles on the Internet about the history of Germany but many of them tend to be long and rambling and very few actually give you the heart of the matter. Or some English and German articles on German history tend to be boring. In any case, here in one single post here on my blog, is the brief history of Germany simplified for your understanding. Either you already know the history of Germany and just need a brief reminder, or you don't know the history of Germany and a bit of history will let you know about the interesting and chequered history of this beautiful but rather unique country with its dark history. The German language is interesting, and just as interesting is Germany herself.

Germany was born in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, when Bismarck's troops attacked France. Under Bismarck, military modernisation had taken place and Prussia became a very powerful state, attacking Denmark in 1864, and then Austria in 1866, and then finally defeating France in 1870-1871. Prior to 1871 there was never any Germany, because what we know Germany as today was merely a collection of little little principalities and states that were all separated and disunited.

After the unification of Germany, Germany became powerful and then eventually started an arms race with the other European powers. They feared a powerful upstart, and here, Germany was richer and more powerful than them. The First World War was its result. We know today that it was not entirely the Germans' fault, but in those days, with the War Guilt Clause at the Treaty of Versailles, everyone thought that Germany was responsible for the War. That is a rather controversial issue, although the von Schlieffen Plan was a rather damning piece of evidence that showed that Germany wanted to invade France through Belgium. One day we shall know the entire truth about Germany and the War.

The Interwar period of 1919-1939 was rather interesting as well because there were many communist uprisings throughout Germany, but eventually the communists did not take power - the fascists did. This was the Nazi party and it came to power basically in 1933, due to the Great Depression, a lot of cheating, and some good luck. But come to power they did.

Under Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazis, Germany was plunged into totalitarianism and darkness - starting a war again in September 1939. His Thousand Year Reich paved the way for the massacre and murder of 6 millions Jews in the Holocaust, or what Hitler termed very euphemistically the Final Solution. Germany's past seems very dark and evil given this knowledge, but that is not the end of the story.

Eventually Hitler was defeated and Germany was split into 4 parts. The eastern part under the Soviet Union eventually became the DDR (the German Democratic Republic- which was not democratic at all) and the 3 other parts under Britain, France and the USA became West Germany.

An economic miracle took place under good leadership in the West and Germany finally became an important member in the world's international community. In 1989 communism started falling throughout Eastern Europe and eventually East Germany rejoined West Germany. After a long time, the two Germanies were once again reunited and today Germany is a powerful and rich country once again, but unlike the past, does not have the urge to dominate and destroy the world in order to pursue some lofty ambitions. Germany has apparently found her rightful place given her strength.

Here on my How to Learn German Fast blog, I will also be giving additional posts (apart from a Brief History of Germany) on German language tips, German culture, some travel tips on Germany and the like. The most important thing to remember is to have fun while learning German and enjoy every part of it! And even Germany's dark history can be taken to be a good learning point for all of us.

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 9

2008-05-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast part 9

You've finally learnt German - how do you maintain your German standards or how/where do you continue from here?
(Also: tips and good ideas on how to take examinations)

You've finally learnt German and mastered it to your own satisfaction according to your needs and your timings, if you have followed my system on how to learn German. Just to do a simple and very quick recap of my system on how to learn German fast and enjoyably, here are the key points that we have covered in my learning language course:

1. you first decided for yourself what "fast" and what "learn German" meant to your own satisfaction, and why you were going to learn German and for what purposes and intentions, and whether or not you were going to do it to a high level

2. secondly, you then learnt the basic grammar - you learnt the grammar because the grammar means the rules that the language is based on, and how it operates, and that is the fundamental part of German

3. thirdly, you then learnt some basic vocabulary, to flesh out the grammar with words and words and then more words...

4. forthly, you learnt and memorised some quick start phrases and some common things that you can always say in any situation - simple and key phrases that everyone should know... and you also learnt how to memorise the words to make them last in your long term memory

5. fifthly, you learnt and memorised all the advanced grammar and the needed vocabulary for your purposes and can speak German fluently and rather accurately (note that by this stage, even if you do make some mistakes when speaking the language, you have already come a long way from knowing nothing about the German language to being able to speak some basic phrases confidently and knowing a lot of grammar and vocabulary pertinent to your own personal purposes)

6. sixth, you did online courses or did online learning, either paid or free courses, both formal and informal learning or classes, and in terms of formal German and informal colloquial German

7. seventh, you did a lot of fun stuff to further improve your German skills and your language abilities

8. you prepared for an examination that you were supposed to take, ensuring that it was an examination that has good and high standards and that is well recognised

9. you can now speak German and are going to learn here on this blog how to continue and where to go from here.

But before that, I promised some examination tips, so here they are for you to improve your language examination taking skills:

1. Always find out the rubric of the examination early and in advance.

2. If it is a language test that is standardised, make sure you do as many practice questions that you can find.

3. Always visit the website or any online course, as that might give you an added advantage.

4. All good language examinations, either the Testdaf or TELC will always have a verbal/oral component, written component, listening component and a reading comprehension component, for that is the basis of language examinations... so prepare for those sections. Are you better at reading? Then focus more on writing. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Do you speak well but cannot listen to what others say? What can you do, and what can you do better?

5. Go beyond. This is the simplest and best tip. What this means that if the test has a need for you to know about politics or writing on statistics, don't be contented knowing a bit. Know all about German politics, German politicians, ideas and everything in German about political systems and political economy. For statistics, don't be contented with a mere "this is increasing/ decreasing", but memorise more phrases that you can throw into an exam paper with confidence.

6. Have faith and confidence in my language learning system and in your own abilities. Think about all the postive and good times that you had learning German and how you have improved and how you can improve further. See the test or examination in a positive light and have faith in your own test taking abilities.

7. Have common sense - like bringing your proper equipment and stationery to the test, having enough sleep, not drinking too much or partying the night or even a few days before, spending equal times on equal parts of the paper, not panicking about not knowing everything on the examination and the like, etc. Don't take risks during your examination - it's time to show the examiners how good and how fluent you are in German and what you have learnt.

There are many things you can do with your German and many ways to maintain your language abilities. Note once again that all the tips and knowledge that I have with respect to learning German also apply to mastering French, Spanish, Chinese and all other languages. This means also that the following tips can also enhance other languages apart from German.

To maintain and keep your skills and abilities in German you might want to do the following:

You may want to finally visit Germany or stay there so as to use your newfound fluent linguistic skills.

You may want to do another examination in German so as to ride on your initial successes. Try another course; try another examination that is different and has a more professional backing to it, perhaps, rather than a purely language / linguistic examination?

You can continue to do fun stuff like watching anime, watching TV Total, Ehrensenf, Der Spiegel und so weiter; you don't have to stop learning. Learning and experiencing German on the net can be a very good experience and very fun yet educational.

Talk as much as you can to people who are learning German or who know German or who are German. You can impress and improve at the same time. Impress them, and improve your German. You can make friends along the way too.

Use German as much as you can and in any other creative way that you can think of. Perhaps read this blog again to see what you might have missed.

All in all, I do hope that you have had a great time learning how to learn a language in general and German in particular, and do continue to improve and keep on learning and developing.

In later posts here on this blog I shall be giving more tips on various scenarios, and more on Germany. Culture, history, language tips, ideas, and more, all to come on my how to learn German fast blog. Stay tuned for more entertaining and educational posts!

-Shawn Seah Li Song

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 8

2008-05-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast part 8

Prepare for the examination if you are taking one - part one: choosing an examination to take, or, what are the German examination options available?

There are many German examinations if you intend to take one, and there are many good reasons for you to consider doing any one of the German examinations actually. First, it will be a good guage of your ability; you may wish to work and live in Germany, and then again the most common reason is that you might want to study at a German university or a German institution, whatever the case may be. Nonetheless, the very first step that you should have done already, if you've read my blog up to this point, is that you will have decided what you wanted and what you intend to pursue, especially with regards to time, standards and which German examination you wish to complete.

The really important and necessary German examinations that you need to be aware of are listed below:

Zertifikat Deutsch (ZD)
TestDaF
TELC

and for business German examinations here are the really important and necessary ones that you need to be aware of:

Zertificat Deutsch fuer den Beruf (ZDfB)
Pruefung Wirtschaftsdeutsch (PWD)

I will be ignoring the rest of the German examinations because they are not important for the case of this blog and my course on how to learn German fast, but they are all freely available on the Internet, so do look around. Remember to always look around for more information and be sure that you know what you are doing, and so on.

I myself did the Testdaf, which is spelt TestDaF but I am too lazy to do so, and this is one of the better tests and I would recommend it. It is basically a German language examination that grades you based on oral skills, listening skills, writing skills, reading and comprehension skills in four different components. You can see my German testdaf result in an earlier post.

Here in this post I will be looking at the various language examination possibilities and what you can do and what you can take, and the choice and ideas are all up to you. Here goes the evaluation:

The Zertifikat Deutsch is rather good as a German examination, and consists of one written expression section, one reading comprehension section, one listening comprehension section, structures and vocabulary sections and a oral examination. It can be used to apply for German citizenship indirectly and hence is rather useful, because it is accepted as proof of German language ability when applying for citizenship. It is good for everday situations and is one of the more common German language tests. I would suggest it as one of your key choices, as many other German teachers would do also.

The testdaf is a very good German examination and lasts for hours with many sections, testing verbal oral skills, hearing and listening skills, writing skills and reading and comprehension skills. It is one of the best German examinations to take and I strongly recommend it. It is a standardised test and is implemented worldwide and is very stable, and provides highly academic testing that ensures quality. It lasts for life and can be used to apply to any German university.

The TELC is also like the testdaf and based on the Common European Framework of Reference for languages by the Council of Europe. I would say that this one would be something to consider if you don't intend to take the Zertifikat or the Testdaf, although it is my own personal preference to choose the Testdaf. Note that the TELC is more general because it offers all sorts of languages for the German language test, meaning that you can do this if you're from Portugal, France, and so on. I will honestly say that I don't see any difference between this and the Testdaf, except that this TELC intends to make different language examinations to teach and examine German, whereas the Testdaf seems to me to be entirely German, and German only. You can make your own mind up once you have done the research into the reach of the particular examination.

Don't take my word on any of the German examinations, but also do some research into them and look around, in terms of German examinations and German online courses that help you to prepare for them, because these here on the various exam options are only my own opinions. I had already intended to take the Testdaf last time when I was doing it, and in any case, my system is to teach you how to learn a language fast and efficiently, in particular, how to learn German fast, and I am not an expert in German examinations, but only contributing some ideas that might help you in your research. So please stand warned. It's sometimes as important to know what information is useful and what is not as useful, what is positive and factual, and what is normative and opiniated, and what test to take is definitely not my field, but your own personal choice.

That said...

For the business German examinations I am unable to provide much knowledge in the way of writing about them, but they are similar to the testdaf and only focused on business situations and commerce fields. There are structures and grammar sections as well, but not as much as in other German examinations and for obvious reasons. I hardly need to say that if you're considering doing business in Germany or learning professional business German, the two German examinations of ZDfB and PWD will prove invaluable to you - just choose one good one.

Having chosen an examination, there will be examination tips on how to study for German exams in the next post. Stay tuned!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 7

2008-05-11T01:55:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast part 7

How to choose an online course for German/ How to do more fun stuff with German

I am going to conflate both parts 6 and parts 7 of my course about the German language into one single, gigantic post. Firstly I will deal once again with the Internet, but this time talk about some online German courses, both paid and free, and suggest some websites and resources about the German language that you might want to visit, and which will help you in pronunciation, speaking, listening, reading and writing. Having done that, I will go on to offer more fun suggestions on how to improve your German.

By this stage, you should know

why you are studying German and what level you wish to attain along with how long you want to study it,

have mastered the basic grammar and know the basic rules and tenses and cases of the German language,

memorised some vocabulary related to both colloquialisms and what you want to learn or study (your field, basically),

memorised a whole lot of phrases to kick start your language learning,

mastered the advanced grammar rules and the advanced vocabulary,

at least listened to TV Total, Der Spiegel Online, gone to youtube, or surfed the Internet for some available courses to augment your language learning and then now... you need to make some decisions regarding what kind of German courses you will want to take to advance your knowledge, if you want to pay for them, and if you don't want to pay for the course online, then where to find the free materials.

How to choose an online course for German? I have already suggested Linguaphone and Rosetta Stone for language studies in general and German in particular, but there are other courses as well in the paid German course arena, all reflected on my website and also all reflected in my earlier posts, where you can see which online courses and which German courses I recommend (my favourite being Berlitz actually). How does one choose a course then?

For a paid course, I suggest evaluating and having a look through all the options, especially Linguaphone and Rosetta Stone before making a decision to pick one. Maybe you would like to look at the costs before starting an online paid course? Maybe you would like to find out what books and materials are needed for a paid course that is not online? Maybe you would like to find out more about Linguaphone and Rosetta Stone before making a decision about which one is better? Ask yourself questions, and then ask some more. Look around.

For non paid courses, like those I have suggested as free sources online, you don't have to worry so much in the way of costs, but in the way of which sources and which courses online that are free would help me best? One that detailed all the rules of grammar would not be as effective for someone seeking to learn basic communication for leisure and holidays in Germany, and another website that offered lots of quick start phrases would be useless for someone seeking to do the Testdaf.

As a final suggestion, re-read this post and then the How to learn German fast part 6 once again, and then you should have a good idea on how to pick a course online, paid or not, and you should have by now a firm grasp of all the free or cheap sources, depending on your budget. Maybe bear in mind that the more money you pay and the more costs you incur, the language learning will be faster in terms of the resources that you acquire. Some free websites are free but only offer a teaser, and stuff like that, so beware sometimes.

How to do more fun stuff?
There are lots of fun things to be done to improve your command of the German language, and here are some of them suggested by me.

Here's up to your imagination:

Write German poetry and submit them to Yahoo Answers, and see what people have to say, especially Germans

Part of the fun is listening to how the Germans speak and interacting with them, so everytime you meet someone German on the streets where you come from, talk to them... ask questions, say simple things, ask for help and advice

Find something that is fun and enjoyable... after a while, youtube and Ehrensenf and TV Total do get boring, don't they? Take things further. Apart from Nena, there's Yvonne Catterfeld, Annett Louisan, Oli P, and more to listen to; there's the Next Uri Geller, there's all sorts of programmes old and new...

Why just watch and listen to the news with Der Spiegel online? Try a Swiss or an Austrian news service...

Go to your local library and look for German books; or go to your local bookshop and visit the foreign language section

You might want to have an immersion programme in Germany... by yourself, in a class, or with a group of friends!

Join the local German club and be a member where you can share and speak German, for instance, at the National University of Singapore there is the http://die-deutsche-sphaere.blogspot.com/ German society...

Lots more things that you can do, but I don't want to scare away my readers by writing more and more ideas on how to have fun. I am sure that you know how to have fun, and trust me, it's more interesting to learn language this way. Perhaps print out the lyrics to Eve by Annett Louisan and sing along, then try to do it without the lyrics to guide you, and sing by ear. That will help your German pronunciation. Maybe try 99 Luftballons, as that's a very famous song by Nena ... lots to do. Have fun experimenting!

Experiment, experiment, and then experiment again.

Learn how to learn a language, with lots of fun!

How to learn German fast part 6.5

2008-05-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast part 6.5

On memory and memorisation

There are many things about memory and memorisation that need to be dealt with before you progress in any language course, especially German. This will be a short and intense article on memory and on memorisation with respect to language.

As I have said, the way to memorise is actually this, in terms of the old school of thought:
repetition, recitation, revision, overlearning, and testing.

This method can help you literally grind terms into your long term memory by brute force, but here I will talk about how the memory works with respect to language learning and then on memorisation in particular with respect to language learning as well. For those of you with perfect memories or excellent knowledge of learning techniques, you may wish to skip this section.

As human beings, our memory with respect to language learning functions using sight, sounds and kinesthetic movement. These are all my opinions backed up by medical science, common sense and experiences. Note that we have five senses - sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing, and touching, smelling and tasting are not of use with respect to language learning for the purposes of this post, here on this blog.

Sight is for things like the written word, where we can see how the word looks like. It is also related to pictures and when we see pictures, we can get a mental image. This operates by sight. Sound is for our sense of hearing, when we hear a word and can understand what it means. In addition, when we speak we can hear ourselves and thus that also helps us with our language learning, because when we speak we can also hear ourselves while picturing images or words in our minds. Kinesthetic movement is not that important, but for some people, moving their hands and legs enables them to learn language faster and more efficiently.

Now, when we understand that sight and sound play an important role in our memories, we can now analyse why the old and traditional brute force memorisation method actually works:

reading something, we get to use the sight of the words to help us remember

reciting something, we get to hear the word, and if we are looking at the page, we see the word, and if we articulate the word crisply, it is a form of movement that enables us to move our lips in the correct position for the word

overlearning means that we see and hear the word more often than we should, and that makes it familiar and more easily memorised

and so on. That shows that there was some wisdom in the rules of brute memorisation after all, with respect to language learning.

Now I will suggest two more ways of memorisation that appeal to sight and sound and are not brute forces:

1. mental images

2. exaggerated sounds

The first method of memorisation with respect to language learning is to create a mental image of that object and then attach the word to it. If you have a good imagination, see the object in your mind and then attach the German word to it, or for that matter, attach any word to it, and you will find that the word and the image go hand in hand.

The second method is to exaggerate. Note that you can indeed have exaggerated images in the first method of memorisation, but in this second case, exaggerate the sound of a word, or a phrase. This works out well initially and will help you imitate language better in future when you meet native speakers.

For instance, ich bin hier.
EEEEECCH (screeching sound without the s), BIN, as in dustbin, and "HERE". You will remember this exaggerated sounding phrase for life.

Or ausgezeichnet (how the heck does a total beginner work this out, let's say?)

Break it down:
aus ge zeich net

Then apply the exaggeration:
OWS GER ZEI shhhh NERT

and wunderbar! even a beginner cannot forget this word.

There are many other ways to learn a language and memorise the many words that you need to do. All the best, and stick to the programme; it'll work out fine.

How to learn German fast part 6

2008-05-09T00:31:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast part 6
Using the Internet and Online learning

Having done a lot of advanced grammar and having improved your vocabulary of German up a notch, it's time to take things further and more fun. There are many ways to study German online and here I suggest two different methods that can be either employed one at a time or simultaneously. The first idea is to use free, accessible, easy to use and online resources that can help you with increasing your experience with German. The second idea is to use online, perhaps paid, resources such as Rosetta Stone language services or any other similar language computer programmes or online services (or my favourite Berlitz) to learn German specifically and for examinations. By the way, of course the online programmes and language programmes will be able to teach you any subject and any language you choose, except that you choose German if you want to prepare for that examination. I will expand on these further.

The first idea is to use free, accessible, easy to use and online resources that can help you with increasing your experience with German. For me this means services that are free to access but do not teach you German per se. You will be surprised, but now here is the really fun part that allows you to learn German and enjoy at the same time. Trust me and do follow the programme if you can.

Youtube, Der Spiegel Online, TV Total, Ehrensenf, und Hauptseite Wikipedia ... what do all these sites have in common? They are basically free to use and accessible to everyone, and they have German resources. We can all understand the other sources being in German, but what about youtube? That's where you need to find something that you are interested in. Let me explain.

If you type Nena Kerner or Stefan Raab into the search function of youtube, you'll get a lot of German songs and German videos. The point is that this first key idea to learning German is NOT to become a German singer or to learn massive number of songs (unless you want to, of course) but to get a feel for the language. How does the language sound like? How does German feel and sound when it is sung, and when it is spoken? Can I understand what is being said in the youtube video? These are the questions you'll ask yourself. You can type in many searches by the way, so don't type in "the German language", try Udo, try Lustige Sache, try Hindenburg, try DDR, etc. You can do anything you want and anything that interests you.

In addition, do you like anime? There are many German anime series on youtube, whether legal or not is not my business to say, but you can basically watch German anime like Sailor Moon, One Piece, Gundam Seed, etc (actually it's Japanese anime, but dubbed in German, but I was too lazy to type the whole phrase out...).

Der Spiegel Online is a news service, and is the one that I use the most to listen to the German language. Of course there are many other news services that you can use and they are all valid and very interesting too. Deutsche welle was the one I literally grew up with all those years ago, because in Singapore they had an international radio selection and it was on 96.7 or something like that. With the rise of the Internet, simply visit any news website, although I'd recommend Der Spiegel, and then either read the news articles or look through the podcasts. Most of you know what podcasts are, but for those who don't, podcasts are just videos, soundclips, and links that sort of allow you to view the news, as if it were some kind of TV. You probably won't understand anything on your first try; you won't understand most of it on your second try; but by your third try listening and watching the same podcasts and online TV you'll get the hang of things. Trust me. It usually takes a while for this effect to kick in, but it eventually will - a sense of understanding the sounds and cadences of the language. The German language is hard but NOT that hard.

TV Total and Ehrensenf are basically entertainment sections. You can laugh your head off once you understand these shows, but when you first start watching them you'd probably be lost. I suggest watching TV Total first because sometimes they invite English-speaking guests, and having a show half in German and half in English would probably boost your morale a little bit. Then, try Ehrensenf - it's totally fast, they speak like bullet trains, the language is both formal and colloquial at the same time, and then you can enjoy the show after a while. You can take my word and try out these programmes first, and then after that progress to go on to other sites. Now I will talk a bit about online courses and German programmes on the net.

Linguaphone and Rosetta Stone are rather famous online language companies. As we all know the Rosetta Stone was a stone that had language on it and convinced archeologists that they could transcribe and learn Egyptian, I think. Nonetheless, if you are serious about learning German, you can try an online programme or a real course. There are many resources for you to explore, some are online courses that are free and some are online courses that have to be paid for. I must warn you a little bit that usually the free courses are for beginners and not really for intermediate users of the language, and since you're here in the part 6 of my How to Learn German Fast course, you're probably quite advanced by now (I wouldn't imagine total beginners listening to Angela Merkel or watching anime auf Deutsch). Linguaphone and Rosetta Stone both try to make language learning fun and easy and efficient at the same time, so I'd say that they probably have programmes to suit your needs. They teach all sorts of languages including the German language and so I would say that they are recognised, accredited and trustworthy. I learnt German on my own and at the National University of Singapore, so I had a real teacher to assist me, so I never really experienced any of those courses. By the way, you don't have to take my word for it; just experiment and explore and settle on something that you choose.

In the next post, we will learn and go through ideas on how to do fun stuff that will definitely improve your German while feeling just like fun and enjoyment. Cheers!

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 5

2008-05-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast part 5
Advanced German Grammar and Advanced German Vocabulary

This is one of the easier bits of learning German in my how to learn german course. Suprisingly. Having gone through the difficulties of basic grammar and having studied some words and key phrases, that you will need and you will use in everyday situations and your targeted situations (exams, leisure, business situations), you will now have a degree of satisfaction. Here comes the work for improving your command of the German language.

The next step is to just step up this progress. I recommend two books: Eurolingua Deutsch handbook for grammar (The Learner's Handbook) and the Teach Yourself series. There are many books available and online resources around as well. Get yourself some nice textbooks and step up the learning. This will be fun and enjoyable for you now that you already have a basic understanding of the language.

Do not worry if you don't understand everything about the German language yet. Look on the bright side: what do you know? What can you do currently? Are these words familiar? Advanced grammar usually works on basic grammar.

Look, for instance:
Ich muss essen.
All modal verbs, like "must, shall, can and will" will be followed by the infinitive form of the word.

And then you learn advanced grammar:
All the verbs following werden, IF USED IN THE SENSE OF FUTURE, will take on infinitive forms too.
Ich werde essen.

See? Nothing to it.

For passive forms:
Er wird beobachtet.

What is the rule? Why is it Partizip II? It differs from the future form because this form is the passive form, that's why. It's similar to English. He was observed, see? This means that if you know what the sentence is in English, you have a colossal advantage in learning and mastering German. Ask yourself more advanced questions. If you can puzzle over the advanced rules and get the "click" to come on and the lightbulb comes on brightly, with a light clicking suddenly on in your head, then you have learn German to a suitably high standard. I feel that working it out for yourself can be very illuminating and interesting.

In addition, for passive forms:
also learn and memorise, present tense, past tense, perfect tense, past perfect tense, future tense, and future perfect tense. They all have rules and they all have patterns. Pay attention to them!

For vocabulary, especially for the German language, get a specialised dictionary or a specialised vocabulary book for German. You will find it immensely helpful. Also, you can try the following online dictionaries. This is good: http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ and I also use this translator: http://freetranslation.imtranslator.com/.

WARNING! Not all online translators are good, and online translators have the problem that they do not know anything about the language -after all they are just robots and computers. Hence take what they say with a pinch of salt sometimes. This translator I recommend is good for the German language as well as many other languages, like French, Spanish and Italian.
Cheers!

Learn how to learn a language :)

How to learn German fast part 4

2008-05-07T00:39:00.003-07:00

How to learn German fast part 4
Quick start phrases

The next step to learning German fast is the memorisation of quick start phrases. Now that you have a basic understanding of the grammar of the German language, which can be said to be the rules of the language, and since you also have a basic knowledge of some verbs, nouns and other vocabulary associated with what you intend to speak and hear, then you can start memorising some quick start phrases of the the German language.

I know that many teachers go about teaching German with quick start phrases immediately rather than grammar and vocabulary. This is a wrong approach, in my opinion. It ensures that the student has no idea what is going on and does only encourage blind memorisation. If there is no understanding of how the grammar works, and then no understanding of how the words look like by a memorisation of vocabulary, then one cannot understand why some phrases are written one way and some in another.

Example:
Ich gehe in der Schule.

Now, isn't school in the German language die Schule? But if you know your rules, it's Dativ and hence must be in der, as the question is "wo" (where). If there is an actual movement towards the school, then it's die, because of Akkusativ. My example shows that it is better and more efficient to learn the grammar and some vocabulary first, before going on to memorise phrases and learn how to join it all together.

Now learn some key phrases related to everyday conversation, and then some key phrases related to your tasks that you intend to do. I mean learn some key phrases that are related to the topics and fields that you intend to go into, and perhaps make up cards for those. Several learn German fast online websites actually have cards and other materials, resources and e-books that you can use to build your stock of phrases.

Always have a stock of phrases, or even better, a stock of questions. Maybe even have some questions to ask about the German language, so that you can better your grammar and ideas and concepts while talking to strangers, who will be happy to elucidate "Gentiv, deklination, Verben und so weiter".

Remember, learn the grammar, then the basic vocabulary (and please memorise those gender words!) and then some phrases. The hardest part of the learn German fast journey is now over. Fun and enjoyment will set in and make your learning journey so much better from now onwards.

Memorisation of a few basic rules, memorisation of some words, and then memorisation and learning of some phrases - tough indeed. But if you did that well, via...

repetition,
overlearning,
revision,
recitation,
and testing yourself again and again,

in a short time you should have made progress with the German language. Don't give up, because the fun is about to begin.

A SHORT NOTE ABOUT THE SKILLS OF MEMORISATION

I am going to talk a bit about memorisation. There are many ways: mnemonics, imagination, and the like, but I will focus on what I have told you:

repetition,
overlearning,
revision,
recitation,
and testing yourself again and again

repetition means to look at something again and again

overlearning means to repeat something till you know it so well... and then more

revision means to re-read what you know already... and is another word for repetition and overlearning

recitation means to recite and say something out loud over and over again

and testing yourself again and again means to test again and again....

what are we doing here?

MEMORISATION is merely doing something so many times that you get good at it. Period.

Practice makes perfect and makes permanent too! OK, the hardest part of the course is over, well done! :)

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 3

2008-05-07T00:39:00.001-07:00

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.

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.

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 2

2008-05-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

How to learn German fast, part 2
Learn the basics of German grammar

Alright, a bit of technicality here for readers who are total beginners. For those of you who are intermediate, or even advanced, you can skip this section entirely. Before you can learn advanced grammar, you need to know the basics of German grammar. This will enable you to learn German really effectively and enjoyably, since the grammar is heart and soul of the language.

The key to understanding German grammar is ... case.

What is case?

There are four basic cases that you need to know for the German language: the nominative case, accusative case, dative case and the Genitiv case. Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ und Genitiv. These four cases determine a German sentence.

Nominativ is "the boy", "the girl", commonly known in English as the subject.

Now here's the beautiful part. In German, "the" is not a single word. It is der, die or das depending on the gender of the noun. I often get asked, how do I get around gender in the German language?

And the answer is: just memorise.

Sometimes the gender comes naturally, where die Frau is obviously a female, and das Auto is definitely neutral. The rest of the time, either memorise or learn a few simple rules:

most words ending in -e are feminine (not all!): die Giraffe, die Gitarre

all words ending in schaft are feminine: die Freundschaft

all words ending in buch are neutral: das Englischbuch, das Woerterbuch

and so on. I cooked these up from the back of my head. Actually my opinion is, if you want to do German to a higher level, just take the end section of any good German book with all the vocabulary words and memorise them. Will give you immediate hardship, true, but you will know all the genders. To learn German gender fast, memorise! Repeat, recite, review... memorise! It's that simple.

Now, back to the nominative case: if you think the case is nominative, then

"the" is always der, die or das. Der Mann, die Frau, das Auto. Simple! "A" is always ein Mann, eine Frau, ein Auto.

Akkusativ is the object (quite obviously since the nominative case is already the subject). It's the direct object, so just memorise the following: den, die, das.

"The" is now den, die, das. den Mann, die Frau, das Auto.
"A" is now einen, eine, ein einen Mann, eine Frau, ein Auto.

Dativ is the indirect object, or the noun to whom something is given. I give a book to Tom: Tom is in the dative case, and the book which is being given is in the accusative case.

Memorise: "the" dem, der, dem... dem Mann, der Frau, dem Auto
"a" einem, einer, einem einem Mann, einer Frau, einem Auto

Genitiv means, well, something like an apostrophe. Who does something belong to? Possession. That's Genitiv. Shawn's book, for instance.

Memorise: des, der, des das Haus des Mannes, das Haus der Frau, das Haus des Autos (OK, I know that the house of the car is nonsense, but this is just an example!)

and eines, einer, eines das Haus eines Mannes, das Haus einer Frau, das Haus eines Autos

(note that you have to put an "s" at the back... unless it's feminine).

Having survived such a gauntlet, what's the point? The point is this:

Der Hund beisst den Mann means the dog bit the man.
Der Mann beisst den Hund means that the man bit the dog. So grammar is very important.

Basic grammar that you need to learn:

first, German cases... done!

second, declining adjectives - when the adjectives are put behind a noun, they are declined... this is hard now, but will prove to be very useful in future, trust me...

third, how to conjugate verbs in the present tense, past tense and perfect tense... this is also hard now, but with hard work, you can memorise perhaps top 20-30 verbs that you will need and start sounding like an expert already...

top twenty verbs that you will need (in my own opinion)

1. sein to be
2. haben to have
3. muessen must
4. sollen should
5. duerfen allowed/ should
6. essen eat
7. gehen go
8. fahren drive
9. hoeren listen
10. sprechen speak
11. kommen come
12. denken think
13. sehen see (oh, the Germans like to say gucken see)
14. lesen read
15. glauben believe
16. bleiben stay
17. wohnen stay someplace
18. trinken drink
19. sagen say
20. laufen walk/run

Learn these and you will look very professional already. You're well on your way to learning German. Of course, you will find that it is simpler than it looks, because most of the verbs have a certain pattern or rule to them. My opinion is, find the pattern and it will always be easier. For instance, all the perfect tenses have "haben" in front except for cases of movement, where you use "sein".

Easy, isn't it?

Ich habe gegessen (I have eaten - no motion), und ich bin gekommen (I have come - movement).

fourth, prepositional phrases and objects

Dativ: aus von zu seit nach bei mit
(my favourite way of learning this is ALL VISIT THE ZOO TO SEE THE NINE BEAUTIFUL MONKEYS)

Akkusativ: durch fuer ohne um gegen bis
(Dinosaur finds orange and understands Google's business!)

and that should be it, for a basic understanding that will definitely allow fluent communication if done well.

I have often reiterated that my blog here is just to teach you how to learn a language and not to provide German resources. You can find German resources from online programmes and online systems, paid or otherwise free. I only teach how to learn German. By the way... German speakers who have spotted any unlikely mistakes in my grammar, please contact me at once. Danke, und tut mir leid.

Learn how to learn a language!

How to learn German fast part 1

2008-05-06T07:29:00.001-07:00

How to learn German fast, part 1

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

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.

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.

Learn how to learn a language!

Notice: how to learn German fast

2008-05-06T00:49:00.001-07:00

Notice on "how to learn German fast"

This is a notice, by the way: I am in no way replacing your German courses. I am also in now way able to replace your search for good quality German courses or any language courses for that matter. I am here to teach and suggest to you methods of learning German fast. So, I will be really honest with you and say that while you will be getting a lot of

Testdaf tips,
Spiegel Online tips,
learning language tips,
studying for examination tips,
which German shows and TV programmes are the best for learning,
how to pick a good German course,
how to pick a good language teacher,
and other related stuff like that,

you won't be getting much in the way of Dativ, Akkusativ, Nominativ and all those sort of stuff. Yes, it is true that I will refer to them occasionally and by the by. But the focus of this blog is: how to learn German, and in particular, how to learn German fast, and even more specifically, my system of learning German fast and enjoyably. It's nothing to do with grammar, although you can possibly find language grammar programmes through other websites that offer those programmes. Mine is a how to learn language and how to optimise your learning programme, rather than a dedicated German German course.

You will basically learn how to learn a language here.

The first way to acquire language is for you to throw yourself into a country for perhaps 10 years, after which you will be speaking that language rather fluently. For, say, in the case of 5 years or less, you might speak a grammarless version of that target language with many mistakes, but you will definitely get by... if all you did was live in a country that spoke your target language and did not do any online research or online education, etc. You'd have a terrific accent, with rhythm and cadence, but little in the way of formal language.

The second way is more dedicated, intensive and far more effective. You will gain a real grammar, real vocabulary, and the rhythm and cadence of the language. You'd appear educated, and you would still have all the colloquial terms at your command too. This is the overview of the system that I will recommend.

0. Know why you're here, what you want to achieve, and how you're going to do it. I can only help you with "how to learn German" and "fast", and the goals and achievement level is entirely up to your own motivation and personal goals and inclinations, perhaps.

1. Learn the basics of grammar first. Yes, I might do a little bit with you to show you what I mean.

2. Learn the basic vocabulary.

3. Learn some quick start phrases.

4. Learn the advanced grammar and advanced vocabulary.

5. Do online courses, which can be paid online courses or even free online courses. I will show you which ones are good and which ones are not so good, and you can make your choices between free online courses and paid online/ e-book language courses.

6. Do some fun stuff ... that's where I have lots of tips that will make you wonder, why didn't I think of that before?

7. Finally, prepare for the examination or whatever it is you're doing.

8. You've learnt the language! Now you need to maintain.

These 8 tips (0 is a tip, but a background tip) will help you learn any language, like French and Spanish and even Mandarin, if you have the interest, but since this blog is about German, and the German language, you will find that the general tips that apply to learning all languages will also have specific examples, tips and tricks for German language websites and books.

In short: yes this blog is for tips on learning languages, and in particular the German language. All the tips can be applied to French and Spanish, and so on, but the specific references on this site apply to German culture, TV, books, online programmes and other programmes. I am not running any grammar courses, yet I feel that I am providing a more important service by pointing you in the right direction, to conserve your energies for optimal learning.

Cheers, and stay with me :)

Learn how to learn a language!

My personal experiences in learning German

2008-05-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

I know that usually some success stories will encourage us; when we hear that others have learnt a language successfully, it will usually inspire us to try to learn that language successfully as well. "If he/she can do it, so can I".

My personal story: I learnt German when I was in Secondary School, that is, from 12- 16 years old. My mother picked the subject for me and I had little choice. I did the "O" level German examination and got A1 for it, that is the top score. I had to study pretty hard for it and that was over 4 years.

Then after that major examination, I didn't study German for the next 2 years when I went to Junior College.

I didn't study German after leaving Junior College either, when I went to the Army to serve my country for 2.5 years. Without studying German for almost 5 years, one would probably forget everything right? Not really.

I went on to do a one year course in German and passed my Testdaf on the first try.

I'll try to post my credentials up on this blog one day, but since I am unable to do so at the moment, here's my examination results email.

Lieber Shawn,

wir können Ihnen jetzt die Resultate der TestDaF-Prüfung mitteilen: Leseverstehen: 5
Hörverstehen: 4
schriftlicher Ausdruck: 4
mündlicher Ausdruck: 5

Die Zeugnisse werden am 29.5. verschickt, d.h. dass Sie Ihr Zeugnis ab Mitte Juni bei uns abholen können. Bitte kontaktieren Sie vorher Jelene Wong: 6735 4555.

Mit besten Grüßen
Andrea Schäfer
Goethe-Institut Singapore
Leiterin der Sprachabteilung /Head of Language Department
163 Penang Road #05-01
Winsland House II
Singapore 238463
Tel. 6735 4555
Fax. 6735 4666
www.goethe.de/singapur

I will tell you all the tips and tricks to making your learning fast, efficient and enjoyable. Stick with me here on my blog :)

Important and good reasons why people should learn German

2008-05-05T11:07:00.001-07:00

Important and good reasons why people should learn German

Why should people learn German? That is the question. In my opinion, there are many advantages to learning German. This article is intended to show that there is a need and/or an advantage in knowing a foreign language, in addition to English, and in particular German.

Perhaps you might need to learn German because you want to do business in Germany and have trading partners who are German, and hence, wish to know them better, and also read all the contracts (since the contracts in Germany are written in German, and formal German at that!).

Perhaps you might need to learn German because you are taking an examination, or the school forced you to pick a foreign language, and of course you picked German because of its resemblance to English (and we all know how frightening some German teachers can be, or for that matter, all teachers can be frightening...).

Perhaps you might need to learn German because you happen to be a Foreign Office officer or overseas scholar and hence would need to communicate in formal German, or give lectures in German (and since they posted you to Germany you have to pick up the language quick and fast...).

There are many other scenarios, but in which case, you'd know why you wanted to learn German and would wish that this author would hurry up and get to the important bit: how to learn German, and fast and enjoyably, as he promised.

Bear with me for a moment while I deal with those who need reasons to convince them:

1. Germany is one of the largest economies in the world. According to Wikipedia in 2007, it was the third largest in the world, although normally Germany is usually ranked third or fourth or even fifth largest economy in the world. Doing business with Germany would require a command of basic German, or perhaps some Business German.

2. Academics. Germany produced a lot of literature, from Karl Marx to Goethe, Nietzsche to Hegel. Reading all this literature in English can be really stimulating and interesting, but imagine reading it in the original, and appreciating it better. Not to mention, for scholastic and academic purposes, the huge advantage one would possess for knowing the German language while studying most philosophical subjects, literature, and music. German poets, German literature, German scientists, German philosophy - all their minds are open and clear to yours, if you can read their language. If you are a student intending to study in Germany, the importance of German is immense to you. If you are an academic who wants to teach in Germany, German universities will look at you with respect if you are multilingual rather than just merely English speaking. Although it is true that many German universities teach in English, still a strong command of the language would put academics in good stead.

3. Personal pride and enjoyment. Sometimes people who know a foreign language seem better - they are more eloquent in their own language; they appear smarter; they appear even sexier. You have the ability to charm and amaze all your friends by applying interesting techniques to learning German and enjoying yourself along the way. Besides, even if you did speak German badly (to the eyes and ears of a native speaker), you'd still impress all your peers and friends.

4. Occupational opportunities and benefits. Knowing a foreign language in this globalised world is a key asset. If your company expands overseas to Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland or even Russia, your German language abilities are going to be ever so important and ever so versatile in this new knowledge based economy. My friend, who wanted to become an air stewardess, became an air stewardess easily despite stiff competition for limited jobs, all because of her German knowledge. Imagine further that you were now looking for a job: Mercedes, BMW, Deutsche Bank... all these companies would be available to you, and you could apply to these companies. Your CV would look great to them with a command of German.

5. Travelling and leisure. A simple command of German will get you a lot of enjoyment travelling throughout Europe. The Swiss, Austrians and many other Europeans speak German, either as a first or second language. Not everyone speaks English all around the world. Furthermore, those who speak English in Europe may not speak it as fluently as you do and there could be intercultural mis-communication. Learning a few phrases could greatly enhance your travels and leisure times, and German speakers would easily and readily help you.

These 5 reasons are, to me, the best and most important reasons why people who don't learn German should learn German. If not, at least a foreign language of their choice as well, I do suppose.

In summary: German is important, as Germany and Europe are important. Some of us need to learn German by circumstances, others need convincing. These 5 reasons should be enough to convince you that German is important enough for you to learn it, and it will confer advantages, opportunities and enjoyment on you.

All the best in your language studies,

Cheers,
Shawn

PS: For those of us here who already know why we need to learn German, knowing your goals and your aims is one of the key ideas that I will be talking about. Precisely. My website here is all about learning German, and how to learn German fast and enjoyably. I will talk more about knowing goals and knowing what you want later, so stay tuned!

How to learn German fast!

2008-05-05T07:19:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my website: "how to learn German fast"!

Hallo, und Herzlich Willkommen!

Welcome to this website here. I am Shawn from Singapore and I can speak fluent English, German, and Mandarin and am currently learning French. If you have come to visit my website, it is a high chance that you

1. speak German already

2. want to learn how to speak German

3. want to learn how to learn languages in general

4. speak a bit of German but want to accelerate your learning and learn some German of an intermediate level, or

5. you got lost in the World Wide Web.

Well, you've come here to the right place! I will be sharing my ideas with you and how I learnt German. For people who can already speak German, you shouldn't be coming here to learn how to learn German, and I have an English language website which can be found on the sidebar on the right, or can be accessed here:

English Language Resources Online: http://englishlanguageresourcesonline.blogspot.com/

The thing is, there are two key ideas for this blog: one, how to learn German. And two, how to learn it fast.

In addition, there are two key questions that you should ask yourself before embarking on this herculean/easy/simple/long task.

Firstly, what does "learn German" mean? Does it mean a simple command, or does it mean mastering the language to a high level? Does it mean perfect grammar and correctly conjugated verbs, or does it simple mean basic or good grammar and verbs that carry some meaning, although conjugated wrongly at times? Does it mean simple business communication, or does it mean leisure communication? I feel that it is important for you to decide.

Secondly, what does "fast" mean? Some books and online courses tell you that you can learn German in weeks. That's fast. Learning German fast could also mean one month to get a basic understanding; learning German fast could also mean doing it for one year in order to communicate fluently; learning German fast could mean mastering the entire language in, say, 4 to 5 years (as opposed to some native speakers who spend their whole lives mastering the entire language, from literature to culture to Germanistik to obsolete poets before Goethe. I do feel that you as a person will have to decide for yourself before embarking on a course that you want to do.

In my next post, I will be writing, here on this website, important reasons why you should learn German. Of course, it is my happy experience that people who want to learn German, or in the case of my website here, people like yourself who want to learn German quickly, already know why they want to learn German. That post on good "Reasons to Learn German" will be to encourage those who are sitting on the fence to join me and read my ideas and recommendations, so that based on my suggestions they can find the right courses, modules, and right course of action for themselves.

Please note that this blog is not a substitute for any language programmes, it certainly won't allow you to pass the testdaf in one go, it certainly won't help you do well for that German examination you're due to take in one month, etc. It is to augment your studies, and hopefully connect you correctly to learning German fast and efficiently. You will learn German fluently, efficiently, and enjoyably if you stick to my programme.

All my advice and suggestions are free, of course, but you may also want to visit my other blogs/ websites/ webpages to see my other interests and other ideas on various diverse topics.

Ideas on making money and how to become rich

My personal travel blog

My personal blog, if you want to find out more about me and what goes on in my multifarious, almost insane, but very cunning and clever mind...
Considering an online degree or MBA programme?

Finally, thank you very much for visiting my website here, I am sure that you will succeed in learning German fast if you put your mind to it and follow the suggestions and ideas that I have for learning this beautiful and sometimes very inscrutable and apparently impenetrable language.

All the best for your language learning, and welcome once again to
How to learn German fast - the best website on the web for this topic.

(At least, that's what I'd definitely say, being the author ;) )

Cheers,
Shawn Seah

Learn how to learn a language!