2115/2020 40 Imaginative Ways to Leam German at Home | FlientU German
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oy NATASHADOUGL AS
10 Simple Yet Effective Ways
to Learn German at Home
Round and round we German learners go.
Where we stop? Nobody knows.
Thate to break it to you, but language learning is all
about repetition.
Repetition, practice and immersion.
Sometimes it can feel monotonous and never-ending.
Like you're just spinning around in circles.
Are you starting to get dizzy?
Fear not!
That just means it's time to get creative.
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There are so many ways to spice up your language
learning and make real, tangible progress with your
German. Here are just a few ways to mix things up and
get a little wacky.
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convenient and portable PDF that you can take
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10 Imaginative Ways to Learn
German at Home
Looking for a fun way to learn a language?
How about online language immersion with FluentU?
1. Turn vocab learning into an art project
According to hip-hop artist Mos Def, “Good art provides
people with a vocabulary about things they can’t
articulate.”
So why not, if you're struggling with articulating
yourself in German, transform your vocabulary into art?
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Ok, perhaps that wasn't exactly what he meant, but
think about it: this way you get the double whammy.
Lots of people are very visual learners, and others are
visual learners to a certain degree. Thinking about
words visually, or associating words with specific
images in your mind, can be a very useful tool for
making vocab really stick.
So get out those old coloring pencils and draw a
picture of a Végel (bird). Or maybe write the word
Bundestag over and over again in the shape of the
German parliamentary building. You won't go forgetting
its name if you've written it forty times. And when
you're done, don't forget to stick it on your wall for
everyone to admire (and to reinforce the vocabulary
every time you look at it!)
2. Learn to recite a children’s poem by
heart
Learning by rote memorization has kind of gone out of
fashion recently, but actually it can be a really useful
tool in language learning. In fact, you could argue that
the whole process of learning a language is simply
indirect rote learning, or rote learning which takes
place on a larger scale.
Learning something like a poem by heart helps improve
your vocabulary and fluency: you'll find that the words
and phrases in the poem are always on the tip of your
tongue. You have a context for the new vocabulary, and
therefore it’s more likely to stick. It also makes you
really cool if you can recite German poetry on request.
‘Who knows when that might come in handy?!
And think about it: there are many reasons why foreign
language poetry is great.
It takes a while for someone to get to the level where
they can read a novel in a foreign language. Even when
they're perfectly capable, it takes a lot of time and
commitment to get through a whole novel. That's not to
say it's not worth it It totally is. Check out our post on
German Classics if you're interested.
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But in many ways, poetry is more accessible. It's
shorter, for one. You can read a Heinrich Heine
poem, translate all the difficult words it contains and
deconstruct all its interesting grammar in much less
time than you can, say, do the same with Thomas
Mann's “Der Zauberberg.”
And children’s poetry? Well, that’s even better. It's
usually fun and relatively simple, and if it rhymes and
has a strict rhythm—which children’s poetry often does
—then it’s easy to learn by heart.
So, where do you find poems to learn?
The internet is full of poems just waiting to be read. For
example, “Die Deutsche Gedichtebibliothek” and
“Project Gutenberg” have loads of poems that you can
browse for free.
But to start you off, here’s a lovely little poem by Irmela
Brender. It’s all about friendship—a useful one to quote
in your German best friend’s birthday card message. To
help you as you read along, we think the guys in this
video do a very cute rendition,
3. Plaster the bathroom walls with
grammar
Grammar can be a pain. It can also be exciting and cool
and make things make sense, But I'm not going to lie:
there's a lot to learn. And the best way to do that is to
repeat and reinforce. How many times do you go to the
bathroom every day? (That's a rhetorical question, no
need to email in with the intricate details of your
lavatorial habits). My point is, if you stick the
conjugation of sein next to your mirror and read it over
and over as you clean your teeth, you'll have it sussed
within a week.
Bits of grammar that work particularly well as bathroom
wallpaps
+ Verb conjugations
+ Tables of der/die/das and adjectival endings
+ Present, imperfect and perfect tense forms of
irregular verbs—e.g. bringen—brachte—gebracht
(you can find lists of these all over the internet)
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4, Binge-watch your favorite TV
program...in German
It’s everyone's guilty secret, but it doesn't have to be a
guilty one any longer.
Put German subtitles or dubbing on, and suddenly you
can relive your favorite comedic moments, watch your
OTP fall in love over and over (OTP refers to your
favorite fictional couple, by the way—oh, the shame of
admitting | know these abbreviations) and generally
immerse yourself in the bliss of fictional lives, whilst
also being productive.
Watching TV in a foreign language is actually really
useful—surprisingly, it's not just the illusion of
productivity, this is the real thing
Even if the program wasn't originally in the target
language, dubbing and subtitling can be very useful
tools for language learners. Dubbed programs allow
you to get a feel for the language and improve your
pronunciation and your listening skills. Watching
something in English with German subtitles improves
your vocabulary and your written German. And ifit's a
program you already know really well, you're likely to
pick things up more quickly and forget them more
slowly. Win.
5. Chant verb conjugations while you're
waiting for the kettle water to boil
Verb conjugations can be a pain, and there’s really no
way to learn them except repeating them over and
over.
That's where old-fashioned chanting comes in handy.
Ifyou can get a specific rhythm in your head for
repeating the conjugations of a verb, then learning it
becomes a lot easier. For example, take the verb haben
{to have). The conjugation of haben is as follows:
ich habe
du hast
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er/sie/es hat
wir haben
ihr habt
Sie/sie haben
Thave a certain way of chanting that conjugation, to a
certain made-up rhythym:
You'll need to develop your own way.
The important thing is that it's the same each time. A
specific rhythm and intonation (that's the way your,
voice goes up and down as you speak) can be really
useful for making it stick.
The key is repetition. Attach each chant to a particular
activity: waiting for the kettle to boil, climbing the stairs
or waiting for your toast to pop up in the morning
whatever you choose, get chanting.
6. Watch children’s TV
We all know that watching TV and films in your target
language can be really good for developing new
language skills, but there’s just something special
about watching children’s TV. It’s relaxing, in its own
way.
Sometimes your brain just isn't up to watching
something deep and meaningful...but a slightly surreal
kids’ show with crazy characters and silly voices?
Perfect.
There doesn’t tend to be much fast-moving dialogue to
keep up with in children’s programs, so they're often
easier to watch.
Watching children’s TV as an adult can be lots of things:
hilarious, surreal, therapeutic, possibly irritating at
times...but we think German children’s TV is quite
amusing overall. We love “Schnappi” mostly for its
theme song. But there are loads more out there, just
waiting to be watched. You can find many of them on
YouTube.
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So, if you have fifteen minutes to spare sometime, try
watching a show or two.
After all, it's good for your German, right?
7. Follow loads of Germans online
Since social media came into existence about 10 years
ago, it has steadily become an integral part of our daily
lives. | don’t even want to think about how many times |
check Facebook in one day. And can you imagine how
much time we spend on there over the course of a
week?!
But it's not all doom and gloom, and I'm not saying that
social media is a bad thing. Actually, it’s really useful,
and it's easy to make it even more useful, too.
One way to simultaneously enrich your social media
experience and your language learning is to follow
interesting German people or organizations on your
social networking site or app of choice (Facebook,
‘Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram...that's up to you). That way
every time you scroll through your newsfeed you'll be
exposed to the German language, and hopefully you'll
find out some interesting stuff at the same time.
So, who to follow?
Follow people you're going to be interested in reading
—don't just follow and then scroll past their posts every
time they turn up on your newsfeed!
If you're interested in world affairs, follow newspapers
(Die Zeit and Der Spiegel are good places to start)
If you're interested in art or fashion, follow related
magazines and individual artists or designers (check
out the Goethe Institute’s culture portal as a
springboard).
Or just follow that guy that posts weird pictures about
his life with funny captions.
The more you read in German, even ifit's just scanning
the headline of an article that pops up on your
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newsfeed, the more naturally the language will come to
you.
8. Keep a diary...in German
They say keeping a diary is good for the soul, and I'm
rather inclined to agree.
It doesn't have to be a case of documenting the minute
details of your life, but rather to have a completely
uncensored conversation with yourself. It helps with
self-awareness and prioritizing things in your life, and it
also provides the perfect platform for self-indulgent
rants,
Have I converted you yet?
Good. And now imagine what would happen if you
wrote that diary in German. You would be writing every
day without the pressure of getting everything exactly
right: after all, who's going to be reading it?
Writing is so good for every aspect of your language
skills. When you write you can take time to pay
attention to detail, unlike when you're speaking and
feel like you have to talksuperfastallthetime.
9. Change your devices’ backgrounds
It's a bit like the social media thing: how many times do
you look at your phone or computer every day? |
imagine it’s quite a few times, if not constantly.
One of our favorite tricks is to replace the background
on our phones and computers with visual vocabulary.
And what do we mean by that? Well, try taking a word
that you want to learn and finding a way to illustrate it,
For example, you might take the word die Reise (trip,
journey) and find a photo which represents a trip (easy
—just Google it and click on images). Then write die
Reise in big letters over the top and set it as your
background or screensaver. | can guarantee that within
a couple of days you'll know that German word
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It doesn't just work with single words, either. This
technique is one of the best ways to learn idioms, too.
The combination of a visual hook and some words, plus
repeated exposure to that combination, makes this
technignue really effective.
Stes 10, Watch loads of FluentU videos
Well, it's kind of obvious, | know. But it rounds off this
post nicely, and seriously guys: they're there for you to
watch, so don't forget! | know you know how great they
are, but in case you'd forgotten: our videos are great
for improving your pronunciation, listening skills,
vocabulary acquisition and fluency in general.
That's because FluentU takes real-world videos—like
music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—
and turns them into personalized language learning
lessons.
Simply choose German videos that work with your
learning style, skill level and personal interests, and
we'll recommend more for you. i's a great way to figure
out what kinds of German language videos help you
learn best!
Plus, FluentU provides plenty of tools to actively
practice and reinforce your newly-
learned German vocabulary and grammar, like
interactive subtitles, multimedia flashcards and
vocabulary lists. Check it out today and start learning
German faster than ever—for free!
Natasha Douglas is a Devon-based writer and
photographer. She has been learning German for over
a decade, and is an experienced language tutor. When
she gets round to it, she writes a blog about her travels
and experiences.
Download: This blog post is available as a
convenient and portable PDF that you can take
anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
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