
I've come a long ways in
learning German over the years, so I thought I'd offer some tips to
learning German which are derived from my own experiences. I was pretty much on my own when I learned German, so for me it was like blazing a new trail in the wilderness. Many times I had to learn things the hard way, but often this helped me discover easier paths. So if you are a beginner or fairly new to the German language, then maybe you can learn from my experiences with a few of my tips to
learning German. I hope they will make your adventure into the German language smooth and pleasurable.
The first of my tips to
learning German is: get started the way I did - with a classroom textbook, that's right, just a plain-ole textbook. I got my start
learning German when I took a beginner course at a college night class while stationed in Savannah, Georgia in the U.S. Army. I will admit that I only took the course for a month or so, the language seemed hard and I didn't learn much. I soon got out of the U.S. Army, but realized I did still want to learn German. So I picked up my textbook from the class and just started going through the book on my own. It actually was a very good, no-frills book which taught vocabulary and basic grammar such as past, present, and future tenses, etc. That plain-ole college textbook was my launch into the German language. Within a year I had made great progress. So I recommend that you find yourself a good textbook, which teaches the basics like: verb conjugation, verb tenses, nouns, definite articles, etc. If you take this tip to
learning German and get down these basics, you'll have a great foundation upon which to later build more advanced German. See if you can find a good, basic textbook at a local college bookstore. If one is not available in your area, try German Made Simple: Learn to speak and understand German quickly and easily, by Arnold Leitner. It could make a good substitute for a no-frills, basic classroom textbook.