Learning German or Learning Anything: Week 1
By: Keith
Parents too often put the desires of their kids before their own personal goals. I spend a good portion of my day homeschooling my boys, driving them to and fro, and entertaining them, all of which, despite the occasional feelings of servitude and drudgery, have elements of personal gratification. The pride I take in watching my kids grow and learn is different, though, than a pursuit that I would take up even if I didn’t have kids. Parents need to maintain contact with the person they were before they had kids. What did I like to do before kids? I liked studying cultures and languages. I shouldn’t give it up just because close to 100% of my waking hours are spend with the kids. For the sake of my own sanity I should keep a semblance of who I was before kids. Besides, I’m a better parent when I can feel confident that everybody, including myself, is getting what they want and need. Being a better parent sometimes entails not parenting, leaving someone else to do it for a few hours, giving yourself time to reflect and grow in your own right.
My Plan isn’t your Plan, But it’s Good for Me:
Twice in the last 3 years I’ve tried to learn Japanese. To my credit I have a functional understanding of sentence structure, and I can ask directions and order food in Japanese. That alone is more than most people can say. But, to truly learn Japanese (Speaking is not enough for me) would require an in depth Kanji learning curriculum for which I don’t have the time now. I did, however, take two years of German in college, and I already have a good foundation. English, underneath it’s bastardization of French and Latin, is a Germanic language. That means that the two languages have a lot in common both in vocabulary and basic structure. Learning German, therefore, is a doable goal for me. Languages might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but everybody should have something. What’s your thing?
How is This Going to Happen?
I will hold my own feet to the fire by writing a weekly update on my language progress. I have two hopes. I hope that this weekly update will keep me inspired so that I can realize this goal of mine without slipping. I also hope that, perhaps, by watching me struggle with my goals, by watching me make an ass of myself, you will be motivated to make a similar ass of yourself for the betterment of your own development. I’m going to sound dumb, and I’m going to make mistakes — but anything worth learning is also worth going through growing pains for.
I’m going to use a unique, several pronged attack. I have the Rosetta Stone Level 1 German on which I’m going to spend two or three weeks for the purpose of reviewing what I should already know. After several review weeks, I’m going to incorporate my old college German Grammar book. Then, I also have Barron’s Mastering German, the complete course. Rosetta Stone and Barron’s use completely different techniques. Rosetta Stone employs what they call dynamic immersion, whereby the goal is to slowly grow into a language in the same way an infant would grow into his native langue. Barron’s, on the other hand, takes a sledge hammer approach to language. The goal with Barron’s is repetition, repetition, repetition. It’s the method I prefer for actually speaking the language. It doesn’t teach to write or to read, it just teaches how to speak, and it does it really well as long as you don’t mind repeating yourself 1000 times. For reference, I have my dictionary and my verb book. Those will go hand in hand with the third prong of my attack which is children’s books and movies. Immersion means that I will have to devote at least a portion of my real world to the German language. Thankfully, Germany has a rich history of quality movies; Wolfgang Peterson and Fritz Lang are among my favorites of any nationality. Children’s books are another great daily practice. I’m going to start with Wo die wilden Kerle wohnen.
That’s it; that’s my plan. I’m going to take an hour or two away from my day every day until I have a solid proficiency in the German language. I’m going to see if the one German friend I have would be willing to talk to me once in a while for the purpose of mocking me, and I’m going to write this weekly update to the world (world might be a bit of an overstatement) as a means of motivating myself and whoever else might have an unfulfilled goal they want to realize.
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Good luck. Our son is starting in a German preschool program at the beginning of February. My wife is 100% German and speaks it, but is so far removed from daily use that she can’t really teach it to him. We both want him to have a solid understand of what is half of his heritage. Plus I think it will be really cool if he blurts out some German when his Oma and Opa are visiting. That might blow their minds.
Only somebody who has tried to learn Japanese, or any other Asian language for that matter, can empathise with students from the Far East who struggle with English. I spent some time at a language school in Shizuoka and worked hard on all things Japanese. Not only the language and its rather easy grammar were drilled into me, moreover the cultural does and don’ts were given even greater importance. I take my hat off any Asian student who mastered a European language; they must find it equally hard.
Keith, I agree with you to take it easy at the beginning with German. Let it grow on you. Listening to on-line radio or TV helps me when I learn another language. It doesn’t matter that I don’t understand, for example, the weather forecast or simple news bulletins. What matters at the beginning is the rhythm and flow of the language. Language teaching is not my profession but I’m happy to help if you get stuck. As you know, teaching is the best way to learn. Besides, you couldn’t be a better role model for your kids by sitting down and doing for once your own ‘homework’.
I noticed quite often that children of friends tend to do better at school when one parents studies at adult courses. For those kids, studying seems to become a part of normal life rather than something imposed on them. It’s just my anecdotal observation but I’m sure role modelling works, provided it’s done with sincerity.
Jorg: Very well said. Yes, I think it’s true that kids who see their parents working on something to which they can relate would have greater confidence in their own work. That’s an excellent point. Thanks for the encouragement, and the offer to assist. I may take you up on it!
Good luck with learning German Keith!
May I recommend adding Michel Thomas audio tapes to your learning materials library? With almost minimal effort you will learn enough German to be able to communicate effectively in simple situations. It’ll also give you the confidence to speak to others in German.
If you need any help, don’t hesitate to let me know
Regards,
Amr
!hola! ¿Cómo estás amigo? yo estoy aprendiendo español.
anyways i am also using RS and i am on level 2, i feel that it’s working but it’s just level 2 i have to complete all 5levels and i’d expect some level or fluency or atleast i’d gain some understanding of this language.
As far i remember it’s advised by RS that we should not supplement ourself other than movies or songs pero está bien, espero que vas a hacer muy bien.
entonces hasta luego.
I wish you luck. I have been studying German for a couple of years now. I helped build a VW plant in the USA and have visited Germany for a total of about a month in that time.
I am just starting the Barrons book with the FSI recordings so I cannot give a review of it yet. The FSI recordings are available for free, online, since it is now in the public domain.
However, I can give a review of Rosetta Stone. I did not find Rosetta Stone to be anything other than a very expensive flash card program. Vocalex Deutsch can do the same thing for $20 without the frustration.
I am just finishing up the complete Pimsleur course of 100 lessons. I learned more in the first ten Pimsleur German lessons than I did in the entire three levels of Rosetta Stone. Pimsleur is available at Public libraries also.
Deutsche Welle has a radio based course called “Deutsche, Warum Nicht?” that is pretty good at making the grammar rules easier to tolerate. Of course, you said that you have had two years of German instruction so you may be too advanced for that.
Auf Wedersehen.