M E M B E R S O N LY

2016

JANUARY 01
INNER CIRCLE
THIS MONTH
GET A BIG HEAD START WITH YOUR
LANGUAGE PROFILE CHEAT SHEET
 Welcome to the Inner Circle,
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• listeners.

Tried and tested The Inner Circle is exclusively for

those of you who took on our 2016

learning methods to
Challenge.

It's a monthly, no-holds barred

help you reach your

newsletter giving you tried and
tested learning methods to help
you reach your language goals

language goals
this year.

Last year, I set out to reach 30

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
minutes of Spanish conversation
by December 31st, 2015. I ended
up hitting 45 minutes. Why that
goal specifically? Well, compare it
to a goal like “become fluent in
Spanish.” When will you be fluent
by exactly? Will you learn with
books? Somehow? Someday?
It’s too vague!
Speaking for 30 minutes by December 31st, 2015
had 3 points that guaranteed success:
1 It was small and realistic as a yearly goal.
I wasn’t aiming for big, vague “fluency.”
2 It was measurable. Either I hit 30 minutes or
I didn't. I’d always know.
3 It had a deadline. Instead of waiting for
someday, I set a strict date. Either I hit the goal
by that date or not.
If you haven’t set a New Year’s resolution or a
goal, there’s still time. You can learn all about
setting successful goals in January 2014’s Inner
Circle edition.
A NEW YEAR, A NEW LANGUAGE,
A NEW GOAL.
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
This year, I’m learning German. If you’re wondering
“why German,” it’s because I took on Spanish, Italian
and in the past Chinese. And Japanese was the first
language I have arguable mastery over. This time, I
wanted a language that was similar to English.
German and English have a lot of points in common
which should make learning easier this year.
And my goal? I’m aiming for 30 minutes of German
conversation by December 31st, 2016. Normally,
when one starts learning a language, I recommend
writing out a self-introduction and your list of
interests in that target language. Why? We all talk
about ourselves. We all introduce ourselves. This
time, I also built my language profile. What’s that,
you ask? It’s the topic of today’s Inner Circle.
So, in this Inner Circle Lesson, you will learn...
Why You Need a Language Profile
When You Start Learning

MY PRO
FILE
How I Started Learning German
in 2016 with this Method

How You Can Make Your Own

Language Profile Cheat Sheet
 1
WHY YOU NEED A LANGUAGE PROFILE
WHEN YOU START LEARNING
What exactly do I mean by a language profile?
And why should you make one when you start
learning a language?
As mentioned above, normally I suggest starting
out with these two steps:
∞ Writing out your self-introduction in your
target language
∞ Writing about your interests
That’s simply because you’ll be introducing yourself
and talking about yourself with every new
conversation you have. These give you immediate
talking points to use and get you speaking from day
one, whereas most learners just read page one of a
textbook.
Now, a language profile is your personal cheat
sheet of relevant and practical phrases.
What do I mean by that? Well, let’s take myself into
consideration. I’m 40 years old. I’m busy. I have kids.
What kind of phrases and conversation topics do you
think I use because of this?
I’d want to know these in German.
Similarly, consider a 20-year-old learning a language.
A college student. They’ll have different topics they
want to talk about. A future career, for example.
They’ll want to learn slang.
The point is, what they’re learning won’t be
applicable to me and vice versa.
So a language profile is your personal cheat sheet
of relevant and practical phrases. With it, you...
∞ Get relevant phrases and lines that deal with your
interests and personality
∞ Don’t have to use plain textbook examples
∞ Skip expressions that are outdated or simply don’t
Sehr
fit the context erfreut

And the last point is important. Because when I

started building my language profile, I started off
with a book with thousands of expressions per topic.
As, you know, there are tons of ways to express one
idea. That’s the first problem. We don’t need that
many to start off with.

The second problem is...which is the right one?

What’s not useful to you? What if one’s mostly used
by women instead of men...or mostly used in writing?

You wouldn’t know.

But by building a profile, you develop a list of phrases

and expressions that fit you. So, how do you come
up with this cheat sheet of phrases?

Let’s get into the second point.

 2
HOW I STARTED LEARNING GERMAN
IN 2016 WITH THIS METHOD.

Now, I still wrote out my German introduction. On to language profiles...

Two paragraphs about myself with the help of I did it the hard way. I went through a book of
GermanPod101’s Top 25 Questions, Survival Phrases German expressions. Thousands of them. You don’t
and Learn in 3 Minutes Lesson series. have to. However, here’s my process:
∞ I chose 20 topics that I wanted expressions for:
And I recommend the same step to anyone. – Common reactions, common answers to “how are
you,” phrases about my family, about my work, etc.
You learn all of the necessary lines needed to talk ∞ I looked each topic up in the book and chose 3 that
about yourself with these lessons. sounded the best to me.
∞ This gave me a total of 60 phrases and expressions to
work with. However, I can’t tell which are the most
relevant to me and which aren’t really used.
SURVIVAL
PHRASES
∞ My GermanPod101 Premium PLUS helped me weed
TOP 3
25 MIN out the unusable phrases and we whittled down the
list to 20 phrases.
So, it just sounds like a personalized list of phrases, These are just a few examples.
right?

The point is... I now have 20 set phrases, most of

Right. But there’s a bit more to it. which I already use in English.

For example, when someone asks “How are you,”
there are tons of ways to answer that. And as a busy,
working man, I almost always answer with “I’m
hanging in there” or “I’m tired.” These are the phrases
that I want to know in German.
More importantly, they’re relevant to me and my
personality. These let me express myself honestly in
German. In fact, you can find my Language Profile at
the end of this PDF Lesson.

Now, what about you?

Here’s another example: reactions. I use “that’s great”
and “that’s awesome” a lot in English. With my
Let’s get into the third point.
Premium PLUS teacher’s help, I was able to get the
German phrases that came close to those.

20 PHRASES
 3
HOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN
LANGUAGE PROFILE CHEAT SHEET

This mostly depends on you, your personality and As you can see, this definitely depends on you,
your interests. Come up with, say, 20 topics. And your age, gender, interests and overall lifestyle. And,
be sure that they’re practical and cover everyday whether you want to speak politely or with a bit of
conversation. slang. A textbook can’t really supply you with the
expressions you need. So, once you have the 20
For example.... topics down...
∞ Your typical answers to “how are you”
∞ Your plans for the weekend Come up with 2 or 3 phrases for each one.
(A 40-year-old and a 20-year-old will have vastly
different answers)
∞ Your common reactions
∞ Answers to “Where are you from”
∞ Answers to “How did you learn this language”
∞ Your future goals
∞ Places you want to visit WEEKEND PLANS REACTIONS WHERE YOU'RE FROM FUTURE GOALS
How can you go about doing this?
There are 4 ways.
1 Ask your teacher, if you’re a Premium PLUS
member. They’ll help you come up with a list of
phrases. In fact, they’ll even translate them
from English to your target language. And
they’ll tell you which phrases are most suitable
and sound the most natural.
That’s one issue we learners have – not
sounding natural by using poorly chosen words
or phrases.
2 Use our advanced lesson search. You’ll find it
in the upper right corner of the site. With this,
you’ll find phrases and lines from our lessons
that are most relevant to you.
Since our lessons focus on conversation, and
vary from casual to polite conversations, you’ll
be able to find lines you can steal for yourself.
For example, the Top 25 Questions series is
perfect for introducing and talking about
yourself. Lots of lines to steal and use.
3 Check out our Vocabulary Lists in the
Resources section. There are a ton of vocab
and phrase lists based on all kinds of topics,
holidays and situations. And we update these
regularly. Look for the phrase lists especially.
These will give you the proper lines to say.
4 Take advantage of our audio and video lessons.
This is similar to point #2. As most lessons are
conversation-based, you’ll definitely find lines
that fit you.
Finally, listeners, be sure to check out my
Language Profile for German and use it as an
example.
So, what's your homework?
∞ Come up with a language learning profile
This was where I focused the most this month. So
much so that I failed my first monthly goal of the
new year – reach 3 minutes of German conversation.
That will be my February goal.
And listeners, make sure to set small, measurable
monthly goals with a deadline as well.
Let’s review goal setting one more time. I
set monthly goals that add up to my yearly
goal as we talked about earlier.

Monthly goals should be small so that

they’re easy enough to do. They should be •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

What are your language

measurable so you know when you reach
them. And they need a deadline. So, either
you hit it or you don’t, instead of hoping to

goals for 2016?

learn “someday.”

Examples:
∞ Learn 100 words by February 29th, 2016.
∞ Speak 3 minutes of conversation by •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
February 29th, 2016.
∞ Finish Absolute Beginner Lesson Series WHAT ARE YOUR FIRST STEPS? EMAIL ME AT:
by February 29th, 2016. INNER.CIRCLE@INNOVATIVELANGUAGE.COM

Also, let me know what are your goals for

2016? What are your first steps to learning?

Shoot me an email at:

inner.circle@innovativelanguage.com

To your fluency,
Peter Galante
Founder, InnovativeLanguage.com
 MY GERMAN LANGUAGE LEARNING PROFILE

Goal: Come up with common expressions and phrases that I normally use in conversations.

Here are 20 situational phrases and their many variations that I’d be likely to use.
Note, as this is an updated version, I now have over 20 German phrases per situation and category.
In the chart you’ll see:
• Category
• Situation
• English Phrases & their German Variations
• Level of Formality & Slang
• Gender-Specific

Daily Life

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

It's delicious. Es ist köstlich x x x

Delicious! Köstlich! x x x
When you eat
1.
something delicious.

Yummy! Lecker! x x

So good! So gut! x x
Daily Life cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

I'm hungry. Ich bin hungrig x x x

I'm hungry. Ich habe Hunger x x x

When you are
2.
hungry.
Mir knurrt
I'm hungry. x x
der Magen

I'm starving. Ich verhungere x x

We'll meet
Auf Wiedersehen x x x
again soon.

When you part your See you! Tschüss x x x

3. friends. (you don't
know when you are
seeing next time) See you soon. Bis bald x x x

See you again! Bis demnächst x x x

Daily Life cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

I'm full. Ich bin satt x x x

When you are full, I'm full. Ich bin voll x x x

4. and can't eat
anything more. Ich platze
I'm full. x x
gleich

Ich kann
I can't eat more. x x x
nicht mehr

Ich habe zuviel

I drank too much. getrunken x x x

Ich bin
I'm drunk. x x x
When you think angetrunken
5.
you drank too much.

I got dead drunk. Ich bin betrunken x x x

I think I drank a Ich bin etwas

x x x
little too much. betrunken
Reaction phrases

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

See. Siehst Du? x x x

When something
6. happened as you Das habe ich
had told someone That's what I said. x x x
doch gesagt
before.
Wie ich es
I told you so. x x
gesagt habe

Is that so? Ist das so ? x x x

When you hear Really? Wirklich ? x x x

7. something that
you didn't know.
Oh I see. Verstehe. x x x

Oh, I didn't Oh, das wusste

x x x
know that. ich nicht.
Reaction phrases cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

Is that true? Stimmt das? x x x

When you hear No way! Kann nicht sein! x x x

8. something you
can't believe.
No kidding? Kein Scherz? x x x

Impossible! Unmöglich! x x x

Ich kann es
I can't believe it. x x x
nicht glauben
When you think
what you heard
9. That's impossible. Das ist unmöglich x x x
couldn't be
happening.
That's terrible. Das ist verrückt x x x
Reaction phrases cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

That's wonderful. Das ist Wundervoll. x x x

Wonderful! Klasse! x x x
When you praise
10. someone's great
work or success.
Awesome! Grossartig! x x x

As expected! Wie erwartet! x x x

Expressions to understand each other

Let's do that. Genau x x x

When you agree Sounds good. Klingt gut. x x x

11. with someone's
suggestion.
Right. Richtig x x x

Let's do that. Machen wir. x x x

Expressions to understand each other cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

Sure. Sicher x x x

Sure. Natürlich. x x x
When you accept
12.
someone's request.
Okay. Okay x x x

Okay. Einverstanden x x x

Zur Kenntnis
When you are not That's fine. x x x
genommen
willing, but agree
13.
with someone's
suggestion. I don't mind. Von mir aus x x x

Please. Bitte x x x

When you ask

14. I'm begging you. Ich bitte Dich x x x
someone for a favor.

I'm begging you. Kann ich bitte... x x x

Expressions to understand each other cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

You are quite right. Du hast Recht x x x

When you agree I see. Verstehe. x x x

15. with what the other
person says.
I see. Achso. x x x

Exactly so. Exakt. x x x

Expressions of emotion

Ich habe es
I made it! x x x
geschafft!
When you are
excited about your
16. I made it! Geschafft! x x x
success, or things
going well.

Yes! Ja! x x

17. When you are happy. I'm so happy. Ich bin so glücklich x x x
Expressions of emotion cont...

When to use Phrase German Formal Informal Slang Male Female

I'm angry. Ich bin wütend x x x

When you are really

18. I got mad. Ich bin sauer x x x
angry at something.

I got pissed off. Ich bin angepisst x x x

When you don't It's troublesome. Es ist lästig x x x

want to something
19.
because it's
burdensome. It's troublesome. Es nervt mich x x

When you are not

sure what to do
20. I'm so happy. Ich bin so glücklich x x x
when you have
some trouble.