Since my recent meeting with a German speaking co-worker went so well, I felt emboldened to write to two more German speakers here. A day has gone by without a reply, however, which doesn't feel like a good start. I suspect they will just ignore me and hope I don't ask again - and there I was with visions of having a German-speaking lunch 3 days a week! Damn :-)
In better news, I finished lesson 13 in Perfectionnement Allemand and since lesson 14 is a review lesson (which I'll read tonight with any luck) I'll be listening to lesson 15 during my trip home today.
I've almost finished another easy crossword (a bit harder than the previous ones this time!) which has been a good exercise. I plan to add a bunch of new words to my Anki list as a result. Speaking of Anki, I've been slack with this over the last few weeks, and have been trying to catch up again in the last few days. Doing it every day is the way to go, for sure, I just don't always get there, which is pretty lazy. And whenever I have a conversation, or try to read a text, and I'm missing useful words from my mental database, I'm reminded of my German classes (all 8 or 9 of them!) in Germany where the teacher would say "Words! You must learn words! Without words, you cannot speak!"
Too true... Damn words!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Review of Perfectionnement Allemand
Now that I'm up to lesson 13 in Assimil's Perfectionnement Allemand (Advanced German), I feel that I have a good enough sample of the whole work to post a review over on Amazon.com. It hasn't appeared there yet, but in any case, it seems worth repeating here. I know I sound like an Assimil fanboy, but I don't think they are the be-all-and-end-all of language learning. I just really believe that their books have helped me immensely, more than any other language course I've tried (and I've tried a few!).
Before the review, my other bit of news for the day is that I met up with an Austrian woman from my work at lunch today for about an hour of chatting. Again, I felt a bit weak in lots of ways, but she never needed to dumb it down (too much) and we had a pretty flowing conversation overall. I tried to ask questions which would elicit long responses because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't dominating the conversation with my bad German, which wouldn't help me, and wouldn't make for a pleasant chat. It looks like we'll be able to meet up weekly, so that's another bit of face-to-face time that I really need. I'm going to try to meet up with another person from work on a different day. At this stage, it's obvious to me that I need all the help I can get!
Here's the review, reproduced from here:
It's sometimes hard to believe that Assimil language learning books are not more popular outside of Europe. They are just a brilliant, yet simple, way of progressing in a language, allowing the development of vocabulary, correct grammar (and phrasing) as well as pronunciation (albeit, you need to self-correct, which can be difficult), through a daily progression. Well, for me it's every few days on these advanced lesson, but still, it's constant exposure and progression in a way that really works. On top of that, you get so much more actual content in the target language than with other courses (2 hours 40 minutes in this course). And it's ALL in the target language. This means that when you're reviewing the lessons purely through the audio, you don't have any other language interrupting your focus on what you are trying to learn.
There are a few variations/interpretations on the Assimil method - I discuss the way I use the Assimil books on my blog (http://yetanotherlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/04/couple-of-new-arrivals.html) so I won't repeat it here.
I only have two small issues with this book (so far - I'm up to lesson 13/56) - one it the format which has changed in the latest iteration of Assimil's books. Previously they had a more robust cover (though it's still fairly hard wearing - which is great for a book that gets dragged everywhere!), and also the lack of a red cloth bookmark. Originally I thought I wouldn't care about that, but it is just the best way for quickly accessing the book in those spare moments. Even on public transport, I often have just a short gap in which to check what's being said, and the built-in red cloth bookmark was invaluable for this. Bring back the cloth bookmark please, Assimil!
The other "minor" problem depends on how good your French is :-) Unfortunately, the advanced German course is only available in French. My own French is not great, and so a lot of the explanation of more colloquial/metaphorical usage is a little lost on me, but overall I feel fairly confident I'm understanding most of the explanations. I just look up anything more complicated online. The great thing about the audio being purely in German is that once you've read the text and understood it (perhaps with a bit of looking up online) you can listen to the audio over and over without the influence of any other language. With other language courses, I imagine trying to do them in a language in which you are not very confident would be pretty much impossible.
When you use Assimil programs though, it is clear why they don't produce all their volumes in all languages - there is a lot of thought and care put into both the quality of the translations, and also in appropriate explanatory footnotes.
If French is not a barrier for you, then this is the book for the advanced German learner. The dialogs are clear and professional, the text is well written and genuinely funny (the same couldn't be said of the beginner's course in German :-) ) and they are worth every penny of their price. You will go past just about any modern "advanced" course in the first half of the beginner's Assimil book.
And one last point - although you definitely need to practice speaking with native speakers to improve your speaking abilities, you will actually develop good conversation abilities (good pronunciation and comprehension) without native speaker practice. However, it won't help you with gathering your thoughts and explaining yourself in your target language - only real-world practice can do that!
Before the review, my other bit of news for the day is that I met up with an Austrian woman from my work at lunch today for about an hour of chatting. Again, I felt a bit weak in lots of ways, but she never needed to dumb it down (too much) and we had a pretty flowing conversation overall. I tried to ask questions which would elicit long responses because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't dominating the conversation with my bad German, which wouldn't help me, and wouldn't make for a pleasant chat. It looks like we'll be able to meet up weekly, so that's another bit of face-to-face time that I really need. I'm going to try to meet up with another person from work on a different day. At this stage, it's obvious to me that I need all the help I can get!
Here's the review, reproduced from here:
It's sometimes hard to believe that Assimil language learning books are not more popular outside of Europe. They are just a brilliant, yet simple, way of progressing in a language, allowing the development of vocabulary, correct grammar (and phrasing) as well as pronunciation (albeit, you need to self-correct, which can be difficult), through a daily progression. Well, for me it's every few days on these advanced lesson, but still, it's constant exposure and progression in a way that really works. On top of that, you get so much more actual content in the target language than with other courses (2 hours 40 minutes in this course). And it's ALL in the target language. This means that when you're reviewing the lessons purely through the audio, you don't have any other language interrupting your focus on what you are trying to learn.
There are a few variations/interpretations on the Assimil method - I discuss the way I use the Assimil books on my blog (http://yetanotherlanguage.blogspot.com/2011/04/couple-of-new-arrivals.html) so I won't repeat it here.
I only have two small issues with this book (so far - I'm up to lesson 13/56) - one it the format which has changed in the latest iteration of Assimil's books. Previously they had a more robust cover (though it's still fairly hard wearing - which is great for a book that gets dragged everywhere!), and also the lack of a red cloth bookmark. Originally I thought I wouldn't care about that, but it is just the best way for quickly accessing the book in those spare moments. Even on public transport, I often have just a short gap in which to check what's being said, and the built-in red cloth bookmark was invaluable for this. Bring back the cloth bookmark please, Assimil!
The other "minor" problem depends on how good your French is :-) Unfortunately, the advanced German course is only available in French. My own French is not great, and so a lot of the explanation of more colloquial/metaphorical usage is a little lost on me, but overall I feel fairly confident I'm understanding most of the explanations. I just look up anything more complicated online. The great thing about the audio being purely in German is that once you've read the text and understood it (perhaps with a bit of looking up online) you can listen to the audio over and over without the influence of any other language. With other language courses, I imagine trying to do them in a language in which you are not very confident would be pretty much impossible.
When you use Assimil programs though, it is clear why they don't produce all their volumes in all languages - there is a lot of thought and care put into both the quality of the translations, and also in appropriate explanatory footnotes.
If French is not a barrier for you, then this is the book for the advanced German learner. The dialogs are clear and professional, the text is well written and genuinely funny (the same couldn't be said of the beginner's course in German :-) ) and they are worth every penny of their price. You will go past just about any modern "advanced" course in the first half of the beginner's Assimil book.
And one last point - although you definitely need to practice speaking with native speakers to improve your speaking abilities, you will actually develop good conversation abilities (good pronunciation and comprehension) without native speaker practice. However, it won't help you with gathering your thoughts and explaining yourself in your target language - only real-world practice can do that!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Quick update...
This morning I managed to finish off lesson 12 in Perfectionnement Allemand and started listening to lesson 13. I haven't read through it yet, but I understood it fairly well, so I hope to progress through it as "fast" as I did for lessons 11 and 12.
Tomorrow I will be meeting up with an Austrian workmate who I hope will feel like meeting up with me once or twice a week for a chat in German, but I'll see how it goes. It really hit me tonight just how little time there is left. One of my other Austrian friends has, as I've mentioned before, offered to give me more directed and focused help than "just" talking, though I have to say that I learn a lot talking with them and it's really helped my confidence, even in just a few meetings. Having said that, she was talking about meeting up every couple of weeks, but I've yet to take her up on it. Every two weeks might be as few as four sessions chatting with her.
Man, I'm feeling the pressure all of a sudden!
Tomorrow I will be meeting up with an Austrian workmate who I hope will feel like meeting up with me once or twice a week for a chat in German, but I'll see how it goes. It really hit me tonight just how little time there is left. One of my other Austrian friends has, as I've mentioned before, offered to give me more directed and focused help than "just" talking, though I have to say that I learn a lot talking with them and it's really helped my confidence, even in just a few meetings. Having said that, she was talking about meeting up every couple of weeks, but I've yet to take her up on it. Every two weeks might be as few as four sessions chatting with her.
Man, I'm feeling the pressure all of a sudden!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
"The Enemy at Home" Exhibition in the Museum of Sydney
Today I visited the Enemy at Home exhibition in Sydney. Not a large exhibit, but it was included in the $10 entry price of the museum, and it was a really quality exhibit. Congratulations to curator Nadine Helmi et al for the great work! I visited it with my Austrian friends and my parents, so a mixed-language group, but this time, unlike with recent disappointing encounters with German speakers where I have just been basically too lazy (and inhibited perhaps?) to speak German, especially in a mixed group, I decided to do my best and did find some good time to just speak German.
I had originally intended to stay to listen to Nadine's lecture/readings in German, but due to time constraints on our group, I skipped it and we had afternoon tea together instead. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon and I can really recommend it for those interested in Australian modern history or of Germans in Australia. I'm not sure if Nadine is planning on doing her lecture in German again - perhaps check out the Sydney German Group on Meetup and see if she posts again on the subject.
As for the conversation - it felt good at times, especially listening to my Austrian friends, even with noisy backgrounds. And, as ever, they taught me some interesting new words and phrases! On the other hand, I almost felt like my German was worse than the last time. Maybe I just had higher expectations, maybe it's because I didn't speak German all the time and so didn't develop such a good flow, but sometimes I would just listen to myself and cringe at my horrible mistakes. It can be hard to block those out, but I really have to, because today I really felt like I was torturing my friends. Not a great feeling...
Come this Monday I'll be meeting up with a native speaker at my workplace, so that should mean the start of a more regular use of German. My Austrian friends have also offered to help me more specifically with my preparation for the B2 exam, which I will definitely take advantage of, even outside of just meeting up for a chat or for the upcoming rogaine in NSW that I managed to rope one of them in to :-) The only problem with taking advantage of their offer of specific B2 exam preparation help is that I don't really know what I'll need to do for the exam! I have past exams, and I need to practice those, and there's probably a million things I don't do right. I was kind of hoping that just improving my German speaking would tie lots of other things together, and I think it's starting to do that. It's also, unsurprisingly, improving my confidence and comfort with speaking (despite my negative feelings at times today). But what I would need to do for specific preparation - well, that I still don't know. I'm probably just too used to studying on my own now, but then it wouldn't be study so much as help refining specific problems while I speak, which is always a good thing!
I had originally intended to stay to listen to Nadine's lecture/readings in German, but due to time constraints on our group, I skipped it and we had afternoon tea together instead. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon and I can really recommend it for those interested in Australian modern history or of Germans in Australia. I'm not sure if Nadine is planning on doing her lecture in German again - perhaps check out the Sydney German Group on Meetup and see if she posts again on the subject.
As for the conversation - it felt good at times, especially listening to my Austrian friends, even with noisy backgrounds. And, as ever, they taught me some interesting new words and phrases! On the other hand, I almost felt like my German was worse than the last time. Maybe I just had higher expectations, maybe it's because I didn't speak German all the time and so didn't develop such a good flow, but sometimes I would just listen to myself and cringe at my horrible mistakes. It can be hard to block those out, but I really have to, because today I really felt like I was torturing my friends. Not a great feeling...
Come this Monday I'll be meeting up with a native speaker at my workplace, so that should mean the start of a more regular use of German. My Austrian friends have also offered to help me more specifically with my preparation for the B2 exam, which I will definitely take advantage of, even outside of just meeting up for a chat or for the upcoming rogaine in NSW that I managed to rope one of them in to :-) The only problem with taking advantage of their offer of specific B2 exam preparation help is that I don't really know what I'll need to do for the exam! I have past exams, and I need to practice those, and there's probably a million things I don't do right. I was kind of hoping that just improving my German speaking would tie lots of other things together, and I think it's starting to do that. It's also, unsurprisingly, improving my confidence and comfort with speaking (despite my negative feelings at times today). But what I would need to do for specific preparation - well, that I still don't know. I'm probably just too used to studying on my own now, but then it wouldn't be study so much as help refining specific problems while I speak, which is always a good thing!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Die Lore-Ley
"Ich glaube, die Wellen veschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn,
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
die Lore-Ley getan..."
Lesson 11 in Perfectionnement Allemand was basically just the poem of the Lore-Ley by Heinrich Heine and a few exercises (as usual), with the goal being to memorise the poem. Lucky for me, I don't find memorising poems to be a great chore. I still remember, after almost 20 years, some poems I memorised from an old Teach Yourself Serbo-Croat (back when they occasionally produced a content rich book instead of now where they mainly seem to be non-threatening, but pointlessly dumbed down to the point of being completely useless):
Mala kucha kamena,
sa tri mala prozora,
zheleni im kapci,
i krov sav od plamena,
a na krovu, vrapci.
(Apologies to any Serbian or Croatian readers for any mistakes - it was 20 years ago!)
I can also still remember mostly what it means. This isn't an accident, poems are designed to stick in your head. They have an internal rhythm (and often rhyming endings in european literature) that mean the memory of one phrase supports another. Well-written music is often like this, although probably more for ballads than other types of song, or at least, I've found ballads and poetic-style lyrics to be the easiest to remember. I know it sounds crazy, but I really feel like Rammstein's lyrics are quite poetic, even in their harshest songs. I guess you just have to find something you like!
I found the time yesterday to do a couple of the kiddie word puzzles I posted about yesterday. I built up my confidence with foods and animals puzzles first. I did pretty well - just one or two things that I didn't know or remember. The puzzles were incredibly easy though :-) I'm now working on a simple crossword of the more traditional style with across and down clues and no pre-filled letters. I would really like to find more simple/kids crosswords, ones without too many references to German actors and sportstars from the 70's and 80's :-)
If any readers know of any good, free sources for a variety of levels of crosswords, please let us all know in the comments!
Now on to lesson 12.
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn,
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
die Lore-Ley getan..."
Lesson 11 in Perfectionnement Allemand was basically just the poem of the Lore-Ley by Heinrich Heine and a few exercises (as usual), with the goal being to memorise the poem. Lucky for me, I don't find memorising poems to be a great chore. I still remember, after almost 20 years, some poems I memorised from an old Teach Yourself Serbo-Croat (back when they occasionally produced a content rich book instead of now where they mainly seem to be non-threatening, but pointlessly dumbed down to the point of being completely useless):
Mala kucha kamena,
sa tri mala prozora,
zheleni im kapci,
i krov sav od plamena,
a na krovu, vrapci.
(Apologies to any Serbian or Croatian readers for any mistakes - it was 20 years ago!)
I can also still remember mostly what it means. This isn't an accident, poems are designed to stick in your head. They have an internal rhythm (and often rhyming endings in european literature) that mean the memory of one phrase supports another. Well-written music is often like this, although probably more for ballads than other types of song, or at least, I've found ballads and poetic-style lyrics to be the easiest to remember. I know it sounds crazy, but I really feel like Rammstein's lyrics are quite poetic, even in their harshest songs. I guess you just have to find something you like!
I found the time yesterday to do a couple of the kiddie word puzzles I posted about yesterday. I built up my confidence with foods and animals puzzles first. I did pretty well - just one or two things that I didn't know or remember. The puzzles were incredibly easy though :-) I'm now working on a simple crossword of the more traditional style with across and down clues and no pre-filled letters. I would really like to find more simple/kids crosswords, ones without too many references to German actors and sportstars from the 70's and 80's :-)
If any readers know of any good, free sources for a variety of levels of crosswords, please let us all know in the comments!
Now on to lesson 12.
Kreuzworträtseln und so weiter...
Just when I should be accelerating, I see that all my posts talk about "slow progress". Well, I don't want to break the mold yet, so here's another one on the same theme :-)
I finished lesson 10 in Perfectionnement Allemand yesterday and started listening to lesson 11, which is Heinrich Heine's poem "Loreley". This is something that I've really been looking forward to - some original texts in German by famous authors. I've flicked through the advanced Assimil courses for Spanish and French and they both seem to have more samples of famous authors than I see on a flick through the advanced German course, but at least the lessons have been pretty funny so far. That's as opposed to "New German With Ease" which is a lot of good things, but funny it ain't ("Haben Sie den von der Erbsen, Mohren und Tomaten gehört?").
I have had a go at some more fill-in-the-blanks style B2 exam questions, and they haven't gone well. This probably shows a few things - that I rely a lot on context, for example, to understand what's happening, but there's also a problem that even when I understood all the vocabulary in the sentence, and I knew the word that was the answer, it just didn't come to me.
So, two problems. The first I will work on by continuing my vocabulary work, but perhaps also by working on more composition in German - after all, the problem is one of finding a word to fill a need, which is somewhat similar to some parts of composition. The second problem will be helped by more composition (i.e., writing in German :-) ) but to supplement this I've decided to do some word puzzles in German, specifically crosswords - Kreuzworträtsel. Here is a website that has a daily crossword as well as others by category and more. And if you're looking for some nice easy ones to build up your confidence first (as I am!), there are ones targeted at children here. This one seems to be a nice example!
I wasted my opportunity at the Eurovision party turned. I did talk to Germans, but they said (to another non-native German speaker) that they wouldn't speak German because we wouldn't understand them, and I let that put me off. Waste! Anyway, maybe I'll meet them again.
I have done more writing in German lately to my Austrian friends as well as to a new Austrian person at my work who I will meet up with for lunch next week. There is also another native German speaker in the office that I'll seek out soon and try to spread my poor German around so that no one person has to suffer to great a burden :-)
Anyone else who has done the B2 exam or later (or anyone else!) who has other suggestions for how to prepare for fill-in-the-blanks questions, please leave them in the comments!
I finished lesson 10 in Perfectionnement Allemand yesterday and started listening to lesson 11, which is Heinrich Heine's poem "Loreley". This is something that I've really been looking forward to - some original texts in German by famous authors. I've flicked through the advanced Assimil courses for Spanish and French and they both seem to have more samples of famous authors than I see on a flick through the advanced German course, but at least the lessons have been pretty funny so far. That's as opposed to "New German With Ease" which is a lot of good things, but funny it ain't ("Haben Sie den von der Erbsen, Mohren und Tomaten gehört?").
I have had a go at some more fill-in-the-blanks style B2 exam questions, and they haven't gone well. This probably shows a few things - that I rely a lot on context, for example, to understand what's happening, but there's also a problem that even when I understood all the vocabulary in the sentence, and I knew the word that was the answer, it just didn't come to me.
So, two problems. The first I will work on by continuing my vocabulary work, but perhaps also by working on more composition in German - after all, the problem is one of finding a word to fill a need, which is somewhat similar to some parts of composition. The second problem will be helped by more composition (i.e., writing in German :-) ) but to supplement this I've decided to do some word puzzles in German, specifically crosswords - Kreuzworträtsel. Here is a website that has a daily crossword as well as others by category and more. And if you're looking for some nice easy ones to build up your confidence first (as I am!), there are ones targeted at children here. This one seems to be a nice example!
I wasted my opportunity at the Eurovision party turned. I did talk to Germans, but they said (to another non-native German speaker) that they wouldn't speak German because we wouldn't understand them, and I let that put me off. Waste! Anyway, maybe I'll meet them again.
I have done more writing in German lately to my Austrian friends as well as to a new Austrian person at my work who I will meet up with for lunch next week. There is also another native German speaker in the office that I'll seek out soon and try to spread my poor German around so that no one person has to suffer to great a burden :-)
Anyone else who has done the B2 exam or later (or anyone else!) who has other suggestions for how to prepare for fill-in-the-blanks questions, please leave them in the comments!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tempis fugit...
and all that...
I do finally have some progress to report, but not much. Pretty bad considering what I need to be able to do in just over 2 months. Today I finished lesson 9 in Assimil's Perfectionnement Allemand. Pretty slow pace so far! I could blame Mother's Day, and all sorts of other things, but the fact is that I just need to get more done, and find the time for it.
I did have a short conversation in German yesterday with a work colleague whose wife is Austrian and so speaks German - not like a native speaker, but still pretty good to have at work! This weekend I'll be going to his house for a Eurovision party, so I'll get a chance to meet his wife and speak with a native speaker for a while. And no, no one is seriously going for the music - the purpose is, of course, to take the piss out of it :-)
I've also heard that my work has a list of speakers of different languages... I'll have to take advantage of that and see if I can't find some native speakers to sprechen mit a bit!
Enough babbling - got to do some study...
I do finally have some progress to report, but not much. Pretty bad considering what I need to be able to do in just over 2 months. Today I finished lesson 9 in Assimil's Perfectionnement Allemand. Pretty slow pace so far! I could blame Mother's Day, and all sorts of other things, but the fact is that I just need to get more done, and find the time for it.
I did have a short conversation in German yesterday with a work colleague whose wife is Austrian and so speaks German - not like a native speaker, but still pretty good to have at work! This weekend I'll be going to his house for a Eurovision party, so I'll get a chance to meet his wife and speak with a native speaker for a while. And no, no one is seriously going for the music - the purpose is, of course, to take the piss out of it :-)
I've also heard that my work has a list of speakers of different languages... I'll have to take advantage of that and see if I can't find some native speakers to sprechen mit a bit!
Enough babbling - got to do some study...
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A brief summary of the "Fluent in 3 Months" method
I had been planning on writing up a brief summary of the key points in the method advocated over at Fluent in 3 Months. From what I've read on his website, Benny wouldn't like it to be called a method, nor does he say it's the only way to go, but just think of it as a convenient label for the little pearls of wisdom on display at his site.
In any case, here's a time where I'm glad I procrastinated, because he's just written a nice little summary himself. I highly recommend reading it, and the links therein. And if you have time, go through the whole site, especially the older stuff which I sort of prefer, for some reason.
I know a lot of what he writes is a bit cheesy but for some reason I can't help but like the guy :-) I think it's because he seems quite genuine, and, perhaps, because we are both engineers, I just get his worldview.
The advice of his that I've followed has been more about just finding people to chat with and keeping a blog. He also lists lots of different ways to find people who speak your target language no matter where you are. Some of the advice, like only speaking in your target language (excellent article, btw - very motivating!), is, like much of the advice out there on the net from polyglots, or aspiring polyglots, not so realistic for people in relationships. For instance, when I lived in Germany, I worked in an English-speaking office (plenty of Germans there though, so I did waste a LOT of practice opportunity), and then I went home to my pregnant wife. That was what I did all the weekdays. On the weekend, we went exploring together, or relaxed together at home. My wife worked with German children who spoke English to varying degrees, and she had to get around all day in German a lot of the time. She did really well, and she enjoyed that, but at the end of the day, and on the weekends, the idea of hanging out with people so I could struggle through some German conversation was less than appealing to her. Since we've got back to Australia I made an effort to find German-speakers here, although I'm very selective because we need to enjoy hanging out, and it has worked out very well for us - we've met up a couple of times, and I have invited them to join in on the sport of Rogaining, since it was invented in Australia, and they are coming to the next 6 hour event in NSW. I will have an English-speaking friend too, and the details of teams, etc, aren't yet finalised, but I do hope it will lead to quite some speaking practice, as well as just hanging out with some cool new friends (and an old one) doing something we can all enjoy. So I see now that we could have done the same sort of thing in Germany, and much more easily of course!
Live and learn...
As to Benny's advice of keeping a blog, I think it's helped push me along a bit, but sometimes I just look back and laugh at my slow progress. Sigh. Still, one foot in front of the other and all that!
Yesterday I finished Lesson 8 of Assimil's Perfectionnement Allemand (Advanced German). I have let my Anki slide a little over the last few days (just a little :-) ) and I find that not doing it for a few days does make it more frustrating. Certainly seems to be more useful when you're doing it every day (like the Assimil method). I started on one of the online sample B2 exams that I mentioned last time but I did it while I was at work and so have only managed to squeeze in 3 of the reading comprehension questions. My scores weren't great (4/5, 3/5 and 4/5) and the 10 mark question seems hard (though I think I'm just not used to the style of question) but my time for the first 3 questions seemed reasonable at least. Obviously still plenty more to do before mid-July!
In any case, here's a time where I'm glad I procrastinated, because he's just written a nice little summary himself. I highly recommend reading it, and the links therein. And if you have time, go through the whole site, especially the older stuff which I sort of prefer, for some reason.
I know a lot of what he writes is a bit cheesy but for some reason I can't help but like the guy :-) I think it's because he seems quite genuine, and, perhaps, because we are both engineers, I just get his worldview.
The advice of his that I've followed has been more about just finding people to chat with and keeping a blog. He also lists lots of different ways to find people who speak your target language no matter where you are. Some of the advice, like only speaking in your target language (excellent article, btw - very motivating!), is, like much of the advice out there on the net from polyglots, or aspiring polyglots, not so realistic for people in relationships. For instance, when I lived in Germany, I worked in an English-speaking office (plenty of Germans there though, so I did waste a LOT of practice opportunity), and then I went home to my pregnant wife. That was what I did all the weekdays. On the weekend, we went exploring together, or relaxed together at home. My wife worked with German children who spoke English to varying degrees, and she had to get around all day in German a lot of the time. She did really well, and she enjoyed that, but at the end of the day, and on the weekends, the idea of hanging out with people so I could struggle through some German conversation was less than appealing to her. Since we've got back to Australia I made an effort to find German-speakers here, although I'm very selective because we need to enjoy hanging out, and it has worked out very well for us - we've met up a couple of times, and I have invited them to join in on the sport of Rogaining, since it was invented in Australia, and they are coming to the next 6 hour event in NSW. I will have an English-speaking friend too, and the details of teams, etc, aren't yet finalised, but I do hope it will lead to quite some speaking practice, as well as just hanging out with some cool new friends (and an old one) doing something we can all enjoy. So I see now that we could have done the same sort of thing in Germany, and much more easily of course!
Live and learn...
As to Benny's advice of keeping a blog, I think it's helped push me along a bit, but sometimes I just look back and laugh at my slow progress. Sigh. Still, one foot in front of the other and all that!
Yesterday I finished Lesson 8 of Assimil's Perfectionnement Allemand (Advanced German). I have let my Anki slide a little over the last few days (just a little :-) ) and I find that not doing it for a few days does make it more frustrating. Certainly seems to be more useful when you're doing it every day (like the Assimil method). I started on one of the online sample B2 exams that I mentioned last time but I did it while I was at work and so have only managed to squeeze in 3 of the reading comprehension questions. My scores weren't great (4/5, 3/5 and 4/5) and the 10 mark question seems hard (though I think I'm just not used to the style of question) but my time for the first 3 questions seemed reasonable at least. Obviously still plenty more to do before mid-July!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)