Is there an easy way to learn German?
German or Deutsch, a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe, is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a co-official language of Luxembourg, Belgium and parts of southwestern Poland, as well as a national language in Namibia.
German is most similar to other languages within the West Germanic language branch, including Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German (Low Saxon), Luxembourgish, Scots, and Yiddish and exhibits close similarities in vocabulary to Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, although these belong to the North Germanic group.
One of the major languages of the world, German is a native language to almost 100 million people worldwide and is spoken by a total of over 130 million people. Most spoken native language within the European Union, second most widely spoken Germanic language after English, German is widely taught as a foreign language, especially in Europe, where it is the third-most taught foreign language after English and German.
It is the second most commonly used scientific language and among the most widely used languages on websites.
German Language Traits
German is an inflected language, with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs.
The majority of its vocabulary is derived from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share is partly derived from Latin and Greek, along with fewer words borrowed from German and Modern English.
Today we will be discussing the topic. Is there an easy way to learn German! We are all well aware that there are no shortcuts to accomplish something great in life. The same goes for learning a language. Because learning a language is, learning their socio-economic culture, their festivals, their religious beliefs, their social beliefs, cuisines, history, their idioms, their slang, their way of life, and a whole lot of other things!
As a beginner, it might be a really good idea to get a hang of what the language hears like when spoken. So we recommend you go online and find some free apps like Duolingo, Multibhashi, Busuu that will give you a few of their lessons free of cost. By using these apps you will get an idea of the German language and then you can pursue it further confidently. Since German and English both both Germanic languages and are very closely associated it is easy for English learners to learn German.
We emphasize listening and speaking as a way to learn any language
The best proven, possible and only way through which you will be able to learn your target language, and in our case today, German, is by listening and speaking German! Now you may be curious to know how, without learning a language, can we understand what anyone is talking or start talking to them? I support my suggestion by giving an example from our life. Most of us have children. When our children were born we did not teach them any language to talk to! Instead, they learn the language by watching us talk to them in short words – children registered our speech, and their brain replicated the same speech patterns to talk back. Initially unaware of what a sound actually means the child grows up to identify each sound with the object it is associated with! So you all agree, our children started talking to us in the same languages, even before they went to school!
A natural way of learning!
Therefore the first method of learning a language is to learn by listening to it!
You could start your list from audiobooks from podcasts online or through songs or even through conversation partners that you can get online. You may not be able to speak with your partner in the beginning but as they talk you will be able to hear them talk. Another good way to train yourself is to watch talk shows movies food channels fashion tv anything that on the subject of your interest. The best way to watch a movie would be by watching a German movie in English subtitles and an English movie in German subtitles so while you watch you are able to hear the speakers use German. You will not be able to write or capture words from it, however, you will be able to imitate their accent and that is exactly what is the intent of listening to these videos for TV shows. We recommend you hearing them repeatedly trying to repeat after the speaker in the exact same manner as they spoke, in order to facilitate copying their accent or dialect. repeat practice until you get the accent correct. use earplugs if needed to hear them carefully, closely. Once you get the accent right, we recommend you read the transcript and this time watches the same video reading the words while maintaining the accent learnt. practice this as many times as required as you may need quite some time sometime to fit the words in the accent used.
Listening and Speaking do three fourths of the wonders!
So, if you did not realise the first method of learning any language is listening when your mind registers all that you hear and want to retain along with its accent and speech patterns. At the same time, we also recommend you to make a small journal or keep a diary handy to note down commonly used phrases greetings which will help you build your own independent conversation.
The second method is more of a copy-paste method where what you heard is, what you speak! We recommend you sing along to music, we recommend you talk along with the dialogues, we recommend you practice as many times that it looks like its you who is delivering the dialogues or singing the songs in a German same accent. Spotify could give you a nice German playlist and Netflix and the likes could give you nice German movies.
To find a conversation partner we would first recommend you to see around in your neighbourhood if you have a native German speaker if you do the job is done if you don’t have somebody around you in your so in your known circle then we recommend you search for online resources such as MeetUp language exchange programs, and italki( you can get a German trainer as a conversation partner) etc To get a holistic experience to create a mini Germany in your home by posting pics with their German names. Label items inside the home such as furniture commonly used objects in the kitchen, study with their respective German names written on post-its. Read German literature classics Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Hesse and Franz Kafka. You don’t need to live in Germany to immerse yourself in the German language. It can all be achieved by staying right here! Change your device and social and networking media language to German to get used to the language.
Setting up realistic goals for learning and fluency is very important
Define your learning goals and develop realistic expectations. It’s also a great way to set realistic goals and determine an achievable plan for reaching them. A goal to learn to speak German at an advanced level in just one month by studying only two hours per week is not a realistic expectation! However, if you plan to achieve an advanced level by studying and practising German for multiple hours a day, over the course of three months, that might actually be doable. If you are not sure how to study the integral aspects of the language, start by learning the rules.
Fluency in German is a need-based personal opinion. Language proficiency or linguistic proficiency is the ability of an individual to speak or perform in a language. For some being able to hold an understandable basic conversation with their business clients or friends could mean fluency, for others, however, it could mean being able to manoeuvre their way around while travelling, or an advanced skill level that allows you to engage in meaningful conversations, and for the others fluency could we actually talk like a native German speaker. Whatever be your personal parameter or need, it is important to note that there are different levels of fluency available!
Finally,
Capable and serious learners can find a job in a German company or people could take a sabbatical to indulge in travel immersion and speak with natives as you travel in the heart of Europe.
As for the rest of us, we have the option to learn with full or partial immersion methods from the confines of our homes by joining an online class! No love lost!