and still learning German. Or trying to. If I find the holy grail of language learning I'll let you know... I am occasionally drifting off/away into other things and languages. I have decided not to post too much crap er, interesting news items I find online. Anyone following (if you're still alive) is probably not hitting the refresh button every five minutes anyway :)
Ok, I have discovered German podcasts (where have I been?). I've been listening to a lot of that - (computers, cars, politics, you name it). I find it very useful. I'm mostly listening in the afternoon, while walking. During the day I can sneak some passive listening. Evenings are tough. I was bad during the last two-three weeks, very little done language or otherwise. I will try to remedy that. I am enthusiastic about the content. I have completely lost any desire to discuss language learning methodologies. I have not touched a language course or a grammar. Not asking for approval/disapproval here. I need to do some real reading. I did manage to listen through several audiobooks. I am not keeping track of what I do - it's a chore. On the other hand when I do it I do get motivated (I did all that?).
Look who's alive! Welcome back to life.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, that first comment has about 30 links in it. I'd call it excessive spam. (just in case you didn't notice)
Now that you're back, let's get down to business and discuss the holy grail method. :)
The holy grail method entails a very deep and profound desire to learn a language in a way that is both spiritually fulfilling and... (looks like this needs a post of its own)
Good luck with your real reading and motivation.
I like the Birkenbihl-approach! (But I don't learn german by it, my german is already very good ;-))
ReplyDeleteMore informations on english you can find here: http://www.birkenbihl-insider.de/PDF/MethodEnglish.pdf
And if you understand enough german also here: http://sndrsch.blogspot.com/2010/04/vera-f.html (in this post there are many links to more information about Birkenbihl)
Hey, Keith
ReplyDeleteI may have my doubts about different methods but clicking on Chinese spammers' links is not the best way to learn Chinese. There's about a billion of them and they're increasingly online. I do not wish to moderate comments.
Are we back to love and spirituality? :)
Hi Sandra, er, Ms. Schroeder
I tried reading about the method in the past. I fell asleep. The website is too... boring. The basic principles are very commonsensical. Decoding - hehe, fancy. Yeah, you need to decode the stuff. Someone might disagree with the use of translations but whatever. No isolated vocabulary. Grammar study unnecessary but not damaging. Whatever. You can learn a language using variations of this approach, avoiding excessive translation etc. Speaking and writing - the fourth step is a bit fuzzy. And that's the biggest problem with most methods.
Which German podcasts have been commanding your attention?
ReplyDelete