Sorry to say, but I still haven't found the time to post my post-mortem. Hopefully I'll get more time soon!
In the meantime, I wanted to point you to a source of free audio books which I recently found:
http://www.sprechbude.de/
I guess all the material is out of copyright. There's some poetry by Heinrich Heine (of "Die Lorelei" fame) and works by Goethe and Kafka. Speaking of Kafka, how about reading and listening to "Der Prozess" to get the ball rolling:
Der Prozess (audio)
Der Prozess (text)
I haven't started on it yet, but it's quite famous and I believe it's worth a read and/or listen. Anyone who gets into it, please let us all know what you think in the comments. Personally, I still plan on reading Das Parfüm next, properly this time, including adding a lot of the new vocabulary to my Anki list. I haven't started yet because I've been reading some English language books that have been missing out on my attention due to my German studies.
In other news, everything is ticking along. We're still having a Stammtisch at work once a week, I still listen to podcasts (SWR2 Wissen podcasts are my current favourites) every day, and read articles in FAZ every few days.
Oh, and I keep up with my Anki list, of course! I'm adding words much more slowly these days, both due to a reduced necessity and reduced effort :-) Some recent additions have been words I've heard in Podcasts and which I later remembered well enough to look them up (several hours later) so this indicates an improved level of comfort with German. I still have to put in some really focused effort to bring up my listening comprehension to that 95++% region all the time. I'll let you know what I work out for that in the near future!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Unheilbar
Today I learnt a new German word: "unheilbar". It means "incurable", which I was given as a translation for the word "terminal" as in "terminal lung cancer". It came about during my weekly Stammtisch with my Austrian work colleague as I described the diagnosis my mother recently received from her doctor. She's never smoked, though her own mother did. Still, she left home 50 odd years ago. Shitty news.
Anyway, this partially explains why I haven't yet posted my post-mortem or future plans, along with having to prepare for the upcoming mother's day and my wife's birthday. Priorities!
I have still been listening to plenty of podcasts, and keeping up with my Anki. Lately I've realised that I really want to bring my listening level up to "perfect". I understand pretty well a lot of the time, but never 100% all the time. Well, 98-99% all the time would do me :-) I feel like my speaking has been better lately, though I would need to find more opportunities per week to improve.
At the moment though, with all that's going on, that's not going to happen. I also found out a couple of months ago that, come November, I'll be a father for the second time! Much better news! I never want to say to my kids that something was impossible for me because of having them, so I'm sure it won't stop me. It might slow me down a little though for a while once they're born, so I'd better make sure I use the time I have now!
Hopefully I'll have those other posts ready soon. Bear with me if it takes a while...
Anyway, this partially explains why I haven't yet posted my post-mortem or future plans, along with having to prepare for the upcoming mother's day and my wife's birthday. Priorities!
I have still been listening to plenty of podcasts, and keeping up with my Anki. Lately I've realised that I really want to bring my listening level up to "perfect". I understand pretty well a lot of the time, but never 100% all the time. Well, 98-99% all the time would do me :-) I feel like my speaking has been better lately, though I would need to find more opportunities per week to improve.
At the moment though, with all that's going on, that's not going to happen. I also found out a couple of months ago that, come November, I'll be a father for the second time! Much better news! I never want to say to my kids that something was impossible for me because of having them, so I'm sure it won't stop me. It might slow me down a little though for a while once they're born, so I'd better make sure I use the time I have now!
Hopefully I'll have those other posts ready soon. Bear with me if it takes a while...
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
"How Tom Recovered Time" and Khorshid Verlag books
Just a really quick post today to let everyone know about a children's book that my former German teacher (for all 8 or 9 lessons! :-) ) from Germany, who happens to be a children's book author, has just released what I believe is her first e-book. This isn't an affiliate link or anything - I'm just recommending it on the basis of her having been very helpful to me out of the goodness of her heart, which I really appreciated. I don't have any Apple devices, so I can't give a proper review. For those that do, here it is:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/
There's also an English version! That means you (or you and your children) can look at them side-by-side and use them to learn German (or English :-) ). Just a thought...
I also mentioned her website once before, but it was down then, so here it is again: Khorshid Verlag. You may find something you like there - there are kids books, etc. I don't know if you can buy direct from the website. If there's anything you want to order but can't find, either contact the author direct through the website, or let me know in the comments below and I'll ask her for you.
In the youth book section there's a book called "Der Letzte und der Erste Almani". I read a few sample pages from this a while ago and it was pretty good, though at the time my German wasn't good enough to really get into it, and I started part way through the story, so I didn't know what was going on :-)
I just wanted to make sure that I spread the word about someone who has helped me. If you do pick anything up from the website, let me know in the comments below what it was and what you thought of it!
Coming soon... "Passing the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2: a post-mortem" :-)
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 BESTANDEN!!!
[EDIT on 08/01/2013: To anyone planning to do the B2 exam soon, please also check out my post-mortem where I examine what went right and what went wrong]
Finally got my results yesterday, and I passed!
I emailed during the day to ask when they might be available and was told that they had got sent out last Friday and that I should get the certificate soon. The email also told me that I passed with the grade "gut".
You wouldn't believe how happy I was! Well, ok, you might. It wasn't like getting married, or seeing your child be born, but it was a pretty awesome feeling. It was like finishing a long distance race. The finish line is the actual exam, the time while you await your results is like when you're recovering your breath from that final sprint, and then when you get the results, it's like when your sense of achievement finally kicks in from the run, along with the endorphins :-)
So, without further ado, here it is (personal details deleted, of course):
(Sorry it's not a scan - I don't have one available at home)
In case you can't read the scores in the image, they were:
Leseverstehen (reading comprehension): 22/25
Hörverstehen (listening comprehension): 25/25 (Lucky! I guessed one of the answers!)
Schriftlicher Ausdruck (written expression): 19/25
Mündlicher Ausdruck (oral expression): 23/25
Total: 89/100 (one point off the top grade of "sehr gut"!)
The score is a dream come true, really. It's absolutely no lie to say that I would have been completely satisfied with a pass. Well, almost completely. I prepared really hard, but I didn't expect to do so well. The reading comprehension score is roughly what I expected from my practices, and I was quite happy to get this much considering that the first question seemed a lot more ambiguous than any of my practice ones seemed, and the section that has those silly "does the author see this as positive or negative/sceptical" questions always trips me up, even when I understand the text and the question 100%. Maybe there's some special technique I'm missing with these, but who cares now :-)
The listening comprehension was a complete shock - 100% right! Well, ok, maybe not a complete shock. It all felt good except one of the 2 point questions in the first section which I missed somehow. I was glad I had practised so much though because one thing I learnt doing the test exams was to not dwell on a missed answer. If you miss it, cut your losses. If your attention is stuck on it when the next answer is said, you'll miss more answers. I managed to avoid that.
So how did I get it right if I didn't hear the answer? Well, it's a bit crazy, but I guessed. HOW CAN THAT BE? How can you guess the answer for a fill-in-the-blanks exercise in the listening comprehension part of an exam. Well, luckily it's not context free - the question requires you to fill in some specific blanks in a timetable of events on specific dates, at different places, etc. Someone leaves a message on an answering machine, or whatever, and you have to listen to the recording and fill in the blanks with the corrections. In this case, the answer I missed was a slot where the blank was above a date. In every other place in that column, the blank above the date just had the day of the week in it. It turns out this one was no different! This meant I was able to work out the day of the week from the dates in the same column. Pretty tricky, hey?
All I can say is, never give up :-) I knew I had the wrong answer (I just wrote something random during the recording) so as I was copying my answers I had a good look at the question sheet to see if I could figure something out, and I did. Bit of a lucky break, really...
My lowest score was in the written expression, but I'm not disappointed at all. It was still a good score, after all! I think that maybe I might have got 2 to 4 of the grammatical corrections wrong (just guessing here) and so maybe my written composition got 11 to 13. No idea really, this is just pure speculation. I know I got one of the grammatical corrections in the second question wrong. Considering that I didn't really start any form of writing practice until less than 2 weeks before the exam, I should count myself lucky. NOTE: This is not enough time to practice this component! Also, I always thought I could write OK, but until you actually compose something and get a native speaker's corrections, you've got no solid foundation to base your assessment on.
The final section was probably the biggest surprise. I was worried I might not pass the exam because I felt I might not get the required 60% (15/25) on the oral exam. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. An almost perfect score in the B2 oral exam is probably the best part of all for me. The day after my exam I had a phone call from my Austrian friends with a terrible phone line, and I suddenly felt like I'd forgotten how to speak German, and I had more trouble than usual understanding them. My confidence wasn't high after the exam...
But then today I had my once a week Stammtisch at work and I felt really good. I took a minute or two to really warm up, but I felt like my understanding was better than normal and I felt confident and relaxed while speaking. I normally try to be relaxed and not worry too much, but today it just clicked better. I guess everyone has their "ups and downs" from day to day, but the results gave me a confidence boost which actually improved my speaking. It was a nice little positive feedback loop (more confidence -> better speaking -> more confidence -> etc). I know the negative feedback works just as well: lack of confidence makes you dwell on your mistakes, which are thereby amplified. It makes you hesitant, and your confidence sinks. I don't think there's a single answer to break this cycle and get into the positive feedback loop - some days things just won't feel right.
I think the most obvious answer is to start out confident, assume your mistakes don't matter and that you can do it. This isn't a new idea, but it makes sense. Your current "real" level of speaking ability at the start of any conversation will be the same, no matter what your self-assessment of your abilities on that day is. You need to accept mistakes even as you try to minimise them and don't worry about how other people perceive you. It may very well be that you're torturing your speaking partner a little (I have often felt like this in the past with my Stammtisch partner!), but you're only going to be worse if you focus on it. Be bold, and push on! I've generally been successful in applying this strategy, and it's been a real winner for me. I still stumble, I still feel silly at times, but worrying about these mistakes just doesn't help.
As the wiseman said: don't worry, be happy!
In coming posts, I hope to do a post-mortem of my learning strategies to this point, and also to talk about where to go from here. I'll need to set some more firm goals I think to keep me motivated and focused, but I also just want to enjoy the process more and more. Also, there are other languages I would like to get to at some stage, and I want to work out where these could fit in to the overall scheme. Stay tuned...
And finally, to all those still awaiting results, or who have just received them, I hope you all get the marks you know you deserve!
Bis gleich!
Finally got my results yesterday, and I passed!
I emailed during the day to ask when they might be available and was told that they had got sent out last Friday and that I should get the certificate soon. The email also told me that I passed with the grade "gut".
You wouldn't believe how happy I was! Well, ok, you might. It wasn't like getting married, or seeing your child be born, but it was a pretty awesome feeling. It was like finishing a long distance race. The finish line is the actual exam, the time while you await your results is like when you're recovering your breath from that final sprint, and then when you get the results, it's like when your sense of achievement finally kicks in from the run, along with the endorphins :-)
So, without further ado, here it is (personal details deleted, of course):
(Sorry it's not a scan - I don't have one available at home)
In case you can't read the scores in the image, they were:
Leseverstehen (reading comprehension): 22/25
Hörverstehen (listening comprehension): 25/25 (Lucky! I guessed one of the answers!)
Schriftlicher Ausdruck (written expression): 19/25
Mündlicher Ausdruck (oral expression): 23/25
Total: 89/100 (one point off the top grade of "sehr gut"!)
The score is a dream come true, really. It's absolutely no lie to say that I would have been completely satisfied with a pass. Well, almost completely. I prepared really hard, but I didn't expect to do so well. The reading comprehension score is roughly what I expected from my practices, and I was quite happy to get this much considering that the first question seemed a lot more ambiguous than any of my practice ones seemed, and the section that has those silly "does the author see this as positive or negative/sceptical" questions always trips me up, even when I understand the text and the question 100%. Maybe there's some special technique I'm missing with these, but who cares now :-)
The listening comprehension was a complete shock - 100% right! Well, ok, maybe not a complete shock. It all felt good except one of the 2 point questions in the first section which I missed somehow. I was glad I had practised so much though because one thing I learnt doing the test exams was to not dwell on a missed answer. If you miss it, cut your losses. If your attention is stuck on it when the next answer is said, you'll miss more answers. I managed to avoid that.
So how did I get it right if I didn't hear the answer? Well, it's a bit crazy, but I guessed. HOW CAN THAT BE? How can you guess the answer for a fill-in-the-blanks exercise in the listening comprehension part of an exam. Well, luckily it's not context free - the question requires you to fill in some specific blanks in a timetable of events on specific dates, at different places, etc. Someone leaves a message on an answering machine, or whatever, and you have to listen to the recording and fill in the blanks with the corrections. In this case, the answer I missed was a slot where the blank was above a date. In every other place in that column, the blank above the date just had the day of the week in it. It turns out this one was no different! This meant I was able to work out the day of the week from the dates in the same column. Pretty tricky, hey?
All I can say is, never give up :-) I knew I had the wrong answer (I just wrote something random during the recording) so as I was copying my answers I had a good look at the question sheet to see if I could figure something out, and I did. Bit of a lucky break, really...
My lowest score was in the written expression, but I'm not disappointed at all. It was still a good score, after all! I think that maybe I might have got 2 to 4 of the grammatical corrections wrong (just guessing here) and so maybe my written composition got 11 to 13. No idea really, this is just pure speculation. I know I got one of the grammatical corrections in the second question wrong. Considering that I didn't really start any form of writing practice until less than 2 weeks before the exam, I should count myself lucky. NOTE: This is not enough time to practice this component! Also, I always thought I could write OK, but until you actually compose something and get a native speaker's corrections, you've got no solid foundation to base your assessment on.
The final section was probably the biggest surprise. I was worried I might not pass the exam because I felt I might not get the required 60% (15/25) on the oral exam. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. An almost perfect score in the B2 oral exam is probably the best part of all for me. The day after my exam I had a phone call from my Austrian friends with a terrible phone line, and I suddenly felt like I'd forgotten how to speak German, and I had more trouble than usual understanding them. My confidence wasn't high after the exam...
But then today I had my once a week Stammtisch at work and I felt really good. I took a minute or two to really warm up, but I felt like my understanding was better than normal and I felt confident and relaxed while speaking. I normally try to be relaxed and not worry too much, but today it just clicked better. I guess everyone has their "ups and downs" from day to day, but the results gave me a confidence boost which actually improved my speaking. It was a nice little positive feedback loop (more confidence -> better speaking -> more confidence -> etc). I know the negative feedback works just as well: lack of confidence makes you dwell on your mistakes, which are thereby amplified. It makes you hesitant, and your confidence sinks. I don't think there's a single answer to break this cycle and get into the positive feedback loop - some days things just won't feel right.
I think the most obvious answer is to start out confident, assume your mistakes don't matter and that you can do it. This isn't a new idea, but it makes sense. Your current "real" level of speaking ability at the start of any conversation will be the same, no matter what your self-assessment of your abilities on that day is. You need to accept mistakes even as you try to minimise them and don't worry about how other people perceive you. It may very well be that you're torturing your speaking partner a little (I have often felt like this in the past with my Stammtisch partner!), but you're only going to be worse if you focus on it. Be bold, and push on! I've generally been successful in applying this strategy, and it's been a real winner for me. I still stumble, I still feel silly at times, but worrying about these mistakes just doesn't help.
As the wiseman said: don't worry, be happy!
In coming posts, I hope to do a post-mortem of my learning strategies to this point, and also to talk about where to go from here. I'll need to set some more firm goals I think to keep me motivated and focused, but I also just want to enjoy the process more and more. Also, there are other languages I would like to get to at some stage, and I want to work out where these could fit in to the overall scheme. Stay tuned...
And finally, to all those still awaiting results, or who have just received them, I hope you all get the marks you know you deserve!
Bis gleich!
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