How to teach yourself German

German major students came uninvited~

Some people may say that German also belongs to the European language family, and it will definitely be easy for me to learn it as I have a certain foundation in English.

If you think so, classmate, you are so naive...

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You have so many complex expressions in German, and even more Forget about other words and grammar.

During my last self-study, I heard a little brother spelling and reciting German words in the corridor as he recited English words. From the perspective of a professional student, if you recite German in the same way as English, you may I have memorized ten of them, but the students who have mastered the inner rules of German have already memorized a hundred.

In the summer vacation before my freshman year, I looked for some books to read aimlessly, but when the semester started, I found that they were useless. Later, I consulted my senior sister and found out that there are rules to follow in German learning. If you ignore the rules of German and learn it, you will get half the result with half the effort.

From the perspective of how to systematically self-study German, combined with my own learning experience, I summarized a set of learning methods for reference~

1. Understand the unique pronunciation rules of German

Friendly reminder: When you first start to learn German, it is recommended to put English aside. I still clearly remember the "German English" interspersed with German and English in the CET-4 exam composition. If you plan to learn German on your own, it’s best to give your brain a signal and free up the corresponding position so that your brain can memorize a new thing.

Let’s talk about the pronunciation rules of German. It is recommended not to listen to the teaching videos blindly, because some people’s German will be mixed with some accents. For example, the pronunciation of Austrian German, Swiss German and Standard German is different.

Here is an introductory German app that provides a system and is supplemented by standard German pronunciation: Mr. Lu speaks foreign languages. The basic part of this app can be read at any time, allowing you to quickly supplement missing knowledge. The built-in human voice in the software also has standard German pronunciation, which is perfect for beginners to learn.

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The pronunciation rules are also introduced in detail

Other introductory apps, such as Global Talk, have non-standard German pronunciation. As a beginner, it is best to use Focus on pronunciation learning of standard German.

2. Learn grammar step by step

It is said that grammar is the framework of language, and German is no exception. For example, no matter how long a German sentence is, its verb is always in the second position. These are the particularities of German grammar. German grammar also needs to be learned step by step.

For example, German verb conjugations include the second subjunctive, past tense, first subjunctive... With so many types of verb conjugations, do you not know where to start? In fact, learning the second subjunctive tense will become easy after mastering the past tense. However, when self-study, you often learn the parts that interest you first, which consumes more time. The correct learning sequence can improve learning efficiency.

We still take the app Mr. Lu Speaks Foreign Languages ??as an example. The grammar summary part of its basic course will be advanced step by step according to the difficulty level, and the summary will tell you what content to learn at what stage. When you don’t know where to start learning grammar, Teacher Lu will be a good guide in speaking foreign languages.

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In the study of articles, it will be suggested to learn the definite article first and then the indefinite article

If you prefer the paper version, you can also Buy Contemporary College German. This textbook is a commonly used learning material for most professional students. However, the whole book is mainly in German, which may be a bit difficult for beginners, but you will not go wrong if you study at the pace of professional students.

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3. Speak more

Speaking is really important! Whether it’s German, English or other languages, even if you can’t speak a complete sentence in the early stage, you must have the courage to speak more. This will play a key role in cultivating your sense of language.

When you have mastered the pronunciation rules, you can start reading some simple sentences. Even a simple sentence like Mein Name ist Joachim can be read back and forth several times. For self-study students, reading along with recordings and listening back to your own reading are both good ways to practice speaking. Listen to the example sentences again, record your own reading, and then listen to your own reading to compare with the example sentences and correct your shortcomings. Many learning apps on the market, such as Mr. Lu’s Foreign Language Speaking, Global Talk, etc., have built-in recording and playback functions. These convenient functions can be used flexibly when studying.

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Take Mr. Lu’s foreign language speaking as an example. The three steps of training can be completed on one page, which is very convenient.

If you want to expand some extracurricular reading, you can Download a daily German listening product as an auxiliary learning product to develop your language sense. The software updates German articles of various difficulty levels from time to time, so you can listen to them with headphones before going to bed. (It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. What’s important is the influence of a language atmosphere.)

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But the basics still come first. Only with the foundation can you learn and expand content. As a beginner, laying a solid foundation is still your first priority.

The above are some of my suggestions for starting to learn German~

The learning methods are all listed, all you need is perseverance.

Maybe getting started with German will be a bit difficult for you, but as long as you take every step steadily, mastering it will be a matter of time~

Viel Spa? beim Lernen!

You are also welcome to ask me any other questions about German learning!