Tips to Learning German - And Making the Best Start

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.



Its time to move to the second of my tips to learning German, now that you feel you have a pretty good grasp of the German basics as mentioned above. To lock down basic German in you mind try this tip to learning German: Write German. That's right! There is probably no better way to ingrain German in your head than by writing it. Do you have a friend or know someone who speaks German? Or are you familiar with a German forum? Get into a habit of writing someone or just posting on a forum in German. Write your friend a note or letter. It does not have to be anything long - just try to express what you can in German. The reason writing German is so effective is that it makes you work your brain and actually implement what you are learning. I write a column in a German newspaper and each time I write an article its a learning experience. I know what I want to say in English, but to put it into German, I have to really dig into the language to express those same thoughts in German. But with each article I write, I am learning more German. This is probably the most effective of the tips to learning German and is how my German language skills rocketed up so quickly.

I'm saving for last my most favorite of my tips to learning German: reading German. Yep, reading German is fun and constructive and the horizons are endless! Reading German for beginners or advanced students is a great way to learn vocabulary and expand German skills. Whatever some of your favorite topics are, such as sports, adventure, nature, politics, history/military, novels, poems, etc., just pick a category and get started. If you are a beginner try to find books and material written on a children's level, as the language will be easier. Some of my most enjoyable books were children's stories. Reading is where you will expand you vocabulary - German will become more and more useful to you, the more you learn the words to speak it. I recommend, that when you read in a certain category, stay in it for a while to learn the vocabulary for that category before moving to another category. For instance, wildlife will have one certain vocabulary, politics will have another, sports will have another, and so on. Stick in one category for a while to really lock down those words. Also, stay with the same author for a while, if you can. He'll probable use the same or similar vocabulary in his various writings. These last two tips to learning German, writing and reading German, will help you not only learn German, but maintain German. Nothing is worse than to learn a language, then, for failure to maintain it, lose it. Even if you don't have opportunities to speak it often, if you read German and write German on a continuous basis, you'll not only never forget it, you'll continually improve on it. And isn't that why you started out on your adventure into the German language?

Now I did not include speaking German in my tips to learning German, because your speaking skills will come as your grammar, writing and reading skills improve. The biggest challenge in speaking German is pronunciation of the words. I highly recommend Rocket German [http://www.Quick-Basic-German.info/], with its audio training program, to be used in conjuntion with a textbook to help you out in your grammar and word pronunciation. Besten Wunsch beim Deutschlernen!



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