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FelixKatze’s German Log! | ||
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| FelixKatze Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3955 days ago 20 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 14 04 February 2014 at 9:31pm | IP Logged |
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I started learning German 23rd of June 2013. Apologies if this post is hard to read, I wasn't sure how best to arrange it. This is what I've done so far, in no particular order:
a) Assimil German with Ease (completed, will use for shadowing in the near future). b) FSI German, which I completed but I rushed through the second volume, as I couldn't bear leaving it unfinished, but also could no longer stand using this course which I hated so much. c) Living German (1950's edition), which I finished though didn't use the exercises as my used copy is missing the answer key. d) Duolingo, completed tree. e) English Grammar for Students of German, completed. f) Deutsch, Warum nicht? podcasts, I'm currently near the end of the 3rd series. g) Anki, into which I'm inputting Langenscheidt's Basic German Vocabulary, with audio grabbed from Forvo. Downloading all those pronunciation files one-by-one is beyond mindnumbing, I'd be interested to hear whether others think including native audio for all my cards is worth the extra effort? I also listen to German music, read, and watch episodes of Fokus Deutsch. I'd say my current level is about A2 overall, I'm participating in the 6WC here, and these are the things I'm currently working on, or will be soon: h) Essential German Grammar - Martin Durell, et al i) Schaum's Outline of German Grammar j) Using German: A Guide to Contemporary Usage - Martin Durell k) Teach Yourself German (1955 printing), which should be a relative quickie at this point, just for revision. l) Books + audiobooks m) Lang-8 Plus, I'll continue to use Anki (which I've only just started, really), Duolingo, and Deutsch, Warum nicht?. In the less near future, I'll add GLOSS, and Hammer's Grammar, at some point. I welcome any questions, comments, or advice! Edited by FelixKatze on 04 February 2014 at 9:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| FelixKatze Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3955 days ago 20 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 2 of 14 04 February 2014 at 9:39pm | IP Logged |
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Did all the Dialang tests earlier today, getting these results:
A2 Listening A1 Writing B1 Vocabulary A2 Structures A1 Reading All roughly what I'd expect, except for reading, in which I think I'm A2, as with reasonable comfort I read simple native materials almost every day, with decent comprehension of at least the gist. I'd put the low score in this category down to being tired. For vocabulary, that score is fine passively, but as for active production-- I'd say it's more like A1. :/ Edited by FelixKatze on 04 February 2014 at 9:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4324 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes  Studies: German | Message 3 of 14 04 February 2014 at 10:12pm | IP Logged |
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Sounds like you are really getting into it. I've been studying German for just over a year longer, June 2012.
WRT the audio on Anki I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think actively listening (i.e., not just having music on in the background, but actively watching a movie say) will help a lot. You'll pretty quickly start hearing the words that you have studied in Anki if you do that, and it's a lot more fun/painless. I would think about starting to read real books in the next few months. The Super Challenge is starting up again in May so you might want to take part. I, and the others who completed it, all found it really helpful. The sooner you start actively using native materials the faster you'll learn. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5656 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 4 of 14 05 February 2014 at 1:13am | IP Logged |
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I also rushed through the second half of FSI German. The 2nd half is just awful! The grammar notes are interesting, but i couldn't handle all the translation drills and government vocab anymore. It's definitely the most boring FSI course i've done...
You did the entire Duolingo German tree and still only feel like you're at the A1/A2 level? Is it shorter than the others? It seems like you've done a lot already. For me personally i've always felt that the vocabulary was the hardest part about German. I can follow along complex sentences pretty easily, but i have such trouble with the vocab... Anyway, it'll be nice doing the Dialang tests later on and having a little confirmation that you've improved quite a bit! EDIT: I also agree with what patrickwilken said about the audio. It can be nice, but i doubt you really have trouble with how German words are pronounced. Perhaps where to place the accent, but i don't know if it's worth the effort looking up every single word. Perhaps if there were a tool that pulled the word automatically for you.. Edited by Crush on 05 February 2014 at 1:31am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| FelixKatze Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3955 days ago 20 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 5 of 14 05 February 2014 at 8:25pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the feedback you two.
I think I will go ahead and forget about adding audio from Forvo to all my cards, as it drags out the process, and encourages procrastination in card making. I've also decided today, to drop the Teach Yourself book, as a redundant and (probably) inefficient use of my time. I'm already getting grammar instruction from dedicated grammar books, and the exercises are too similar to what I get from Duolingo. Speaking of which, Crush, so far as I know, the various Duolingo trees are all comparable in terms of length and content-- but in my experience, it's very much a beginner's tool, and I imagine I will have outgrown it by the time I've reached a decent intermediate level. For now, having completed the tree, it's mostly functioning as a basic supplementary SRS. About the Dialang tests, I plan to take them again after the 6WC has finished, hopefully seeing some gains. Finally, Patrick-- thanks for mentioning the Super Challenge! May is good timing, for me. I had planned to start reading more extensively in German anyway, the SC should help with motivation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5656 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 6 of 14 05 February 2014 at 11:35pm | IP Logged |
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That's a bit of a bummer, i thought it would take you a bit further than that. Thanks for answering, though.
I don't remember what the test makers said, just be careful about taking the Dialang test again too soon. You'll get some of the same questions and your familiarity with it might skew your score a bit. I look forward to reading about what you thought of some of the other materials, especially once you get to the intermediate stage. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Tollpatchig Senior Member United States Joined 3798 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Maltese | Message 7 of 14 05 February 2014 at 11:44pm | IP Logged |
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Yay! A fellow learner of German!
Personally I found Duolingo too repetitive and slow so I quickly abandoned it. One thing that I'm going to start trying to do is watch more movies and TV shows. Patrick kinda put it in my head when he told me about the May Super Challenge. I'm not sure that I'll have enough time to devote to such a challenge but I think that I need to be doing more than just podcasts for my listening practice. Anyways, I wanted to share this website called www.myspass.de There's a wealth of native material ripe for the listening. Too bad there are no German subtitles :( 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| FelixKatze Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3955 days ago 20 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 8 of 14 12 February 2014 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
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I forgot to mention in the first post, that I also went through the Michel Thomas German course, which I liked, but has so little content that I can't imagine it is worth paying the rather high price to buy it, as opposed to checking it out from the library.
Anyway, I've recently finished the third series of Deutsch, warum nicht?. I've neglected Anki. Caught up with reviews just now, but the real pain is actually making the cards-- even without bothering with audio, it takes soooooo long, and I almost can't believe that I only have 288 cards, after what feels like a gigantic amount of mind-numbing tedium. It would be faster if I just did word cards, and didn't bother with example sentences, but I'm not sure I get much out of cards without sentences. I had a look at some of the shared decks earlier today, but none of them really impressed (at a glance). Perhaps someone might have a recommendation? Sorry for the whining, heh, I won't make a habit of it. Oh, and thanks to Tollpatchig for that site suggestion. Edited by FelixKatze on 12 February 2014 at 4:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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