I've decided to list some of the MOOCs from iVersity here for anyone that's interested using my Ambassador links because, if you're interested and you sign up, I might get an iPad mini which would come in very handy for my current app development which is language related and will be announced here when it's released. It won't help you with your German studies, but it will be free :-)
Below are the links to all the current German language courses, with translated titles and overviews in English where necessary. I think that even if you're familiar with the topic area it could be a really good way to learn the associated vocabulary in German in a way that should stick better than just using a list. Good luck to anyone who wants to have a go!
Introduction to Probability Theory: I will be joining this course whenever it starts next.
Mathe-MOOC: Think mathematically! Mainly about Geometry and Algebra and applying them to problems, I believe. There's an example lesson here which I've yet to check out: MatheMOOC example chapter (and check out the computer at the bottom of the page - ancient history!)
Web Engineering I & Web Engineering II: From the basics to HTML5. Looking to get into Web development and improve your German? Here's your chance :-)
Algorithms & Datastructures: A "foundations of programming" style course. Whatever programming language you intend to use or start with, you should know all the stuff in this course.
Chagemaker MOOC - Social Entrepreneurship: This is an interesting one. The first sentence of the description says: "In the Changemaker MOOC you will learn how solve a social problem starting from an idea."
Foundations of Marketing
Introduction to Business Administration.
Sectio chirurgica - 'Interactive Anatomy':
International Agricultural Management
Hi I really find your blog posts very helpful for me to learn German!! It's been a huge help. Thank you for that. I was curious about what you mean by try not to gather too many intermediate podcasts. Would DW's Top Thema counts as intermediate level because it's listed as B1? I find myself still not knowing a lot of words on it even after finishing my Assimil a while ago.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
best,
Keita
Hallo Keita! I'm really glad to hear that my posts have been useful to you. To answer your question, in rough terms A1-A2 are beginner, B1-B2 are intermediate and C1-C2 are advanced. I've mentioned earlier that although I loved using Assimil, it's not all you need to get to B2. I think in terms of solid familiarity with the B2 level grammar it's probably mostly there, but the vocabulary you need for B2 is much greater than 1 book could hope to give you when it has so much else it needs to teach you too.
DeleteIn other words, don't feel bad about needing to learn more words. I'm still learning words in English (my native tongue) after close to 4 decades. It never ends :-) One thing that could help you specifically is my latest post about my recently shared Anki list.
The Top Thema resource from DW looks like a really good early intermediate resource if the topics interest you. If not, I'd say go find something that interests you to read and just look up the words you don't know, memorising them however you like (via Anki, maybe).
Best of luck, and feel free to ask any more questions.
Hi Crno! Thank you so much for the quick response! That helps a lot!! Your Anki list is absolutely amazing.
DeleteHaha English has been a huge challenge for myself as well since I only moved to Canada 7 years ago. It's interesting to hear that you are still learning, haha. I'm currently studying German with a couple novels and DW's podcasts in order to apply for an art school in Leipzig, for which I need to pass the Test DaF.(guessing B2 is good enough)
At this level where I can kind of understand the general content of news and podcasts, what do you think would be absolute necessary materials for me to reach B2 level?
Thank you so much for your help again!
Also I noticed that you Anki has both frontal and reverse cards. Can you just change the setting to make the reverse version to show up as well?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete(couldn't edit msg, so just decided to delete it and repost with correction)
DeleteYou never stop learning new words or phrases. If it's your own language, you also get to be part of the process of creating them :-)
Check with the school you're looking to get into, but I think you'll find that the TestDaF gives you a score which shows where you are between B2 and C1 (if you pass it). I suspect that C1 is actually the level you would need to achieve. I haven't sat a C1 test, but you'll need to be able to understand some reasonably fast audio and have a good vocab. Also, since you're doing a test, study grammar and drill yourself on it because not only will it help polish up your rough edges, but it will give you some easy points in an exam. You won't need to figure out some complicated sentence or fast audio, but just recall memorised facts.
To my mind, I was above the level of audio comprehension I needed for pass the B2 exam (I got 100% in that section) because I spent time with parallel translations of real audio spoken by radio presenters. It's moderately fast and clear, unlike what you hear in movies which is really my next big hurdle.
Push on and read articles, adding to your vocab list as required, and just keep going till you understand 90% of what you read in, say, Der Spiegel. Don't worry if you have trouble with FAZ.net :-)
As for Anki, it works for me (or, at least, it used to!) but Anki 2.0 did an excellent job of breaking a lot of older features :-) See the tips here and let me know how you go. Reviewing both sides is pretty important. If you make any updates to the Anki list to fix the problem for all cards, could you please let me know and share it too?
Oh my god, you are a true savour, haha. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI actually fixed the problem by going into 'browse' then edit the cards, then push "cards" bottom. there is an option to create a reverse version for all the cards in the deck.
This is really great. Yes, I was looking into the school's website which said I needed only one of many language proficiency proofs. http://www.hgb-leipzig.de/index.php?a=studium&b=bewerb&c=direkt& It only says DafTest, so it might be C1 for sure. I've heard that german secondary art education only requires B2 but I'm not quite certain on that. Maybe I should just ask.
I'm so glad that I read your blog posts on learning German. My current routine is starting with an assimil style shadowing plan with parallel translations, one hour skype conversation with a german friend once/twice a week, and then put every phrase I learn from the conversation into Anki. I should definitely add more reading practices if I want to pass the language test though, right?
Anyways, that parallel translation practice is a killer! I'm currently doing it with DW Top Thema. It really helps me improve my vocab, listening as well as speaking. Hopefully I can move onto more difficult potcasts soon.
I can't thank you enough for how much your blog helped me on this! Thank you so much again :)
Thanks for the info on how to get the reversals to show up! I will post it up on the original article to make sure everyone knows.
ReplyDeleteI checked the link you sent - you were right. They require TDN 3 in every section, which is B2. I wrote a short new post to compare TestDaF to the CEFR levels.
When I had finished "German With Ease" (or almost finished??) I started trying to listen to the German news. I decided to use DW's "Slowly Spoken News" which is an excellent resource. However, the first time I listened to it I was completely blown away by how fast they spoke and how many new words there were! I was crushed! But I wrote out the translation for a specific episode and listened to it several times once I knew what everything meant. I then listened to the same news at full speed and found that it just made a lot more sense all of a sudden. I only ever did a handful of these translations really and they all made a massive difference to me. I'm pretty sure that if I keep doing that with focus and consistently, my listening ability will continue to grow.
Speaking ability needs its own practice, however. You seem to be on a good track chatting with your friend online (only in German, I hope!), so good luck with that. When are you sitting the TestDaF?
Thanks again for such a useful post on the Testdaf and your response!!
DeleteYes, I was pretty blown away by a number of DW's resources that say B1 or B2, because I was expecting to understand a little when I was done with Assimil. (Which I was wrong about)
My speaking partner and I do one hour of German and one hour of Japanese as a language exchange session. I should look into maybe paid tutors on italki.com. This is the site I found many German speakers who are learning either English or Japanese.
Thanks again! I still have one year and half(It's been ten months so far) to study up for the test. Do you have any email address by chance, so I can write you an update or question sometimes? You saved my energy and time so I would love to tell you when I do pass the test.
If you do regular 1 hour sessions every week for the next 1.5 years you will be much better prepared than I was for the exam. I wish I had started earlier, to be honest. I was pretty confident of that section in the end, but it could have gone horribly wrong. Good for you!
DeleteIf the speed and vocab of the B1 and B2 resources are scaring you, fear not. Get (or make using Google Translate) parallel translations and listen to the articles several times until you understand what you're hearing at full speed without referring to your cheat sheet. Then do the same thing again on different audio. If you do that once a week for 1.5 years, I think you'll be really well prepared. The other half of the problem is to make sure you have enough vocab which I personally measured by being able to understand all the content in a B2 targeted reading book (Lesetraining B2) and practicing answering the questions within the time limits.
I'd love to hear your updates - see my profile page for my email address.