How to Learn German Fast (7 Steps Guide)
German is an inflected language having four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and strong and weak verbs. More than 90 million people use German as their first language, making it one of the most widely spoken languages on the planet. German is a widely learned foreign language and one of the primary cultural languages of the Western world.
To begin with, let me inform you that there are no shortcuts to learning! Learning is a process that brings the best of you out for your own benefit. It is a journey that takes for you to go step by step and missing any steps would only create inadequate, improper information for you to register. So in my blog today I will be sharing the top tips that can help you learn German faster, smarter!
My first suggestion: Learn German for a few months/days through free resources online to gauge your interest level, your comfort with the language, your intention and drive to continue learning the language. Ideally, you should have a compelling reason to be able to learn it effectively so that it keeps you motivated, but if you don’t have one go with the flow above. And if you hopefully settle with the decision of learning German and are able to build that conviction in you to do it, never look back! Look for apps like Duolingo etc that are free to begin with.
My second suggestion: Once you decide to move in the direction of learning German, I suggest you go full speed ahead to first master the speaking, with romanized words and phrases. Watch German movies in English subtitles and if possible the same titles in English with German subtitles. You are not expected to understand the German speech at the moment, so go ahead and repeatedly hear what the speaker is saying as many times as you like; the idea is for you to familiarise yourself with the sounds of the German language, the words, pronunciation, the cultural tone used and understand how different the German accent is from the other languages.
My third suggestion: Create realistic (not over-ambitious) study plans and set short and long term goals that can be measured for effective learning. Divide your learning into shorter chunks, prioritizing topics that you want to target first. Ensure you study consistently using the Pomodoro technique – studying for multiple short intervals in a day rather than studying for longer hours on weekends. Most importantly eliminate all distractions that bother your studies such as calls from friends or visiting guests; start keeping your phone switched off, and room locked requesting not to be disturbed while studying to improve the quality of your understanding and learning.
My fourth suggestion: Use the internet to its best ability. Gather authentic, reliable audio and video resources to study from. These could be YouTube playlists, Spotify playlists, Podcasts, German movies, Music, News, Audiobooks, Online Blogs, Magazines, Articles, PDF files, anything that you can safely learn from! Further your learning by employing the shadowing technique when watching a movie or video. It will work wonders for you. Start using flashcard apps like Memrise and Anki, by creating your own decks or using the pre-existing decks to increase your vocabulary and learning.
My fifth suggestion: Writing a journal, or a diary, to capture most of the phrases and words that you heard repeatedly in audio or video resources, thus increasing its practical usage. A good idea could also be to collect conversation connectors and fillers that would later help you build your first conversation. Read authentic German literature to identify words and their pronunciations. Readout German loudly in front of the mirror or to my pet or my plant to practise pronunciation and speaking.
Above all, remember all this is invalid without a strict studying regime!
Finally,
German is the official language of Germany and Austria, as well as one of Switzerland’s official languages. German is a part of the Indo-European language family’s West Germanic group, which also includes English, Frisian, and Dutch (Netherlandic, Flemish). The earliest known interaction of Germanic languages speakers with the Romans occurred in the first century BCE. At the time, there was only one “Germanic” language, and small dialect variations persisted for several centuries. One can only speak of a “German” (High German) language after the sixth century CE.
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