Tips for learning German?

[sanpt7777]

Hey guys, has anyone learned a language by themselves? I'm trying German. I like it a lot but there are priorities so I can't pay for language school now. If I make it to university next year, it will be very cheap there, but I want to at least begin to understand it now. I just know basic vocabulary and can write simple sentences, sometimes with Google's translator "help".

I'm trying some YouTube videos and reading stuff in German. I sometimes answer in German on Facebook posts by Mercedes Deutschland and Auto Zeitung for example. Any other tips?

I also tried DuoLingo but progress is slow and it's too repetitive at times, although it was helpful to teach the very basic stuff.

 

[Mr Robert]

See if you can find movies in German without subtitles.

 

[tristatez28lt1]

I know there are German language classes (Goethe Institute in DC) that are pretty cheap and can help you a great deal. Cheaper and almost as efficient as professional language classes that for example Berlitz offers. You could see if something like that exists in your city.

 

[Jayden]

For vocabulary I recommend you Duolingo. I also try to learn German nowadays and found this website very usefull.

 

[DblPen]

I just started learning it too! I bought a book called "learn german in 30 days" and see where it will get me

 

[Giannis]

As an online lexicon for german, I use pons.eu

 

[klier]

See if you can find movies in German without subtitles.

Without?

Would be easier and faster to watch German spoken stuff with subs in your own language. That way you can see what they say and learn from it. At least to start it off.

 

[Gianclaudio]

I know there are German language classes (Goethe Institute in DC) that are pretty cheap and can help you a great deal. Cheaper and almost as efficient as professional language classes that for example Berlitz offers. You could see if something like that exists in your city.

I second the Goethe recommendation. I've many friends who have studied at the Goethe in my city, and with great results and quite cheaply.

Reading books and magazines will help you tremendously, and you can also set your mail, Facebook , etc accounts and your phone and computer to german, so it will oblige you to keep reading in german.

 

[sanpt7777]

Thanks guys.

Yeah there is a Goethe institute here but I thought it was kind of expensive. Never asked for prices though

I'll try changing my setup a to German on my iPhone and FB.

Without?

Would be easier and faster to watch German spoken stuff with subs in your own language. That way you can see what they say and learn from it. At least to start it off.

Well thanks dr dunkel, I haven't thought about movies yet. I've been watching subtitled videos but not full movies. I'll look for movies originally made in German, but I think I'll do it like klier says and use English subs because I'm very newbish and I can only catch some words when I'm listening German.

 

[Mr Robert]

Without?

Would be easier and faster to watch German spoken stuff with subs in your own language. That way you can see what they say and learn from it. At least to start it off.

Without. As this user clearly has a good understanding, the subtitles will only make it harder to learn.

 

[sanpt7777]

Without. As this user clearly has a good understanding, the subtitles will only make it harder to learn.

You have also a point there. I catch myself most of the time paying more attention to reading than listening, and trying to concentrate on both is hard

 

[sanpt7777]

Would you German speakers consider this properly written?

Bremslichter sollte weniger hell, wenn das Fahrzeug stillsteht. Sie können anstrengend sein, um den Anblick, wenn man hinter sich

That was Google translate, by the way xD

 

[Rainer271]

Could you add the sentence in english, please to understand what you want to say and to give you a correct translation.

 

[sanpt7777]

Sorry, here it is
"Stoplights should be less bright when the car is stationary.
They can be tiring to the sight when you are behind"

It's about adaptive brake lights, I posted on an article from AutoZeitung but I rely too much on translators and I fix it accordingly if I notice something's wrong

 

[Rainer271]

Sorry, here it is
"Stoplights should be less bright when the car is stationary.
They can be tiring to the sight when you are behind"

It's about adaptive brake lights, I posted on an article from AutoZeitung but I rely too much on translators and I fix it accordingly if I notice something's wrong

No problem, sanpt7777.

"Bremslichter sollten bei Stillstand des Fahrzeugs weniger hell leuchten.
Sie können anstrengend sein, wenn man sich dahinter befindet."

This is the exactly translation of the english sentences.

But it would sounds better, when you would write:

"Bremslichter sollten bei Stillstand des Fahrzeugs weniger hell leuchten, da sie sonst Personen, die sich dahinter befinden, blenden könnten"

Stoplights should be less bright when the car is stationary, because they could dazzle persons behind the car."
(I hope the english part which I changed myself is not totally wrong.)

 

[sanpt7777]

Thanks a lot, it sounds just right in English the way you wrote it

 

[Rainer271]

Thanks a lot, it sounds just right in English the way you wrote it

You're welcome! If you have problems or questions you can share it with us in this thread or you can send me a PM.

 

[sanpt7777]

I decided to just post it again the way you said haha
It doesn't sound natural when you use a translator like google's

I translated the paragraph you wrote back to English just for fun and this only proves that you can't rely on google translate that much haha

"Brake lights should light up when the vehicle is less bright as they might people who are behind this dazzling, otherwise"

What a mess

 

[sanpt7777]

You're welcome! If you have problems or questions you can share it with us in this thread or you can send me a PM.

Thanks mate, I'll post more useful things here and ask you for help via PM so I don't keep bumping this thread.

 

[Rainer271]

I have used the Google translator in the past. And my experience is for very short sentences (3-4 words) it could be you will get the correct translation.
But you can forget it for longer sentences.
The bad thing is if somebody has no knowledge of a foreign language and he uses this translator maybe at travelling he trust this translations. This could lead to curious situations.