Every German Learner Faces these 5 Temptations [HOW TO BE PREPARED]
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
- Get My FREE Hands-On German Grammar Mini-Course: free.germanwithlaura.com/5-te...
If you've never learned another language before, it's natural to assume (without even realizing it!) that things are going to work the same way.
An English-speaker learning German often tries to learn German according to subconscious presumptions ... and they're wrong!
Have you been feeling frustrated by tiny changes you don't understand? Or by multiple words to say the same thing? Or by words that aren't where you think they belong?
Stop just translating English! It's time to start thinking like a German.
![Are You Using 'MEHR' Wrong (Like Most German Learners 😬)? [ I'll Show You What To Use Instead]](/img/n.gif)
This video is so spot on in ways you can’t imagine. To anyone watching this video and reading these comments. Take it from me and many others who have taken the step into German with Laura courses you will not be disappointed. So if you are on the fence or thinking wow I want to make this happen in my life for what ever reason you have to learn German, these courses will set you up with the tools that are so important to make your dream become a reality.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm so glad to have you as a student!
Another thought. Learning good to excellent pronunciation of German is crucial, the closer to a native speaker’s the better. Naturally this is difficult. But one shouldn’t beat oneself too hard over the head knowing that there is a staggering diversity of regional accents and dialects in German speaking countries. And then there is Swiss German which even Germans have a hard time understanding. But in large cities like Berlin and Munich one will be quickly measured by one’s accent. Accents are, after all, one of the proverbial first impressions. Ask the British or the French. The Germans are no different. I actually think this is a good thing; otherwise, with the internationalization of so much and with the ever growing incursion of English everywhere, something could be lost. Actually, there are genuine arguments that something has been lost already. The German language, which is so rich, deserves protection.
Please read this if You want : 1) Ich bien in Supe - 2) Ich bin bei maine Opa. - 3) Ich bin am Ende mainer kräfter. 😊
Being stuck in trying to translate from English, or put differently, to force German into English, is a very difficult habit to overcome. In particular, wanting to use prepositions as we do in English in German, where they don’t belong in German. That’s bad enough to keep anyone away from fluency. But worse even is the fear of making mistakes, of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person, of coming across as stupid before native speakers (or non-natives who are already fluent). The possibilities for humiliation are endless and this is why attempts to acquire fluency feel like high-wire acts with no safety net down below. What this video describes is absolutely true. There is no use learning German (or any other language) without first acquiring a solid foundation of the grammar. I have been utterly puzzled by some experts who have told me that all this grammar will only get in the way of fluency. But thankfully I never took their word for it. I just can’t imagine being able to cope with a complicated language like German without that foundation. Do you really want to make yourself “sound” fluent but with all manner of uneducated and embarrassing mistakes all over, not really knowing up from down? No way! Some here have complained about Pimsleur and Duolingo. I don’t know the latter but do Pimsleur, which I currently use to help me learn some elemental day to day phrases and to help me also with pronunciation. Since I subscribe to their lowest-price version (I don’t have time to also engage in completing exercises and doing additional reading), their method has proven very beneficial to me to date. But only because I already have a fairly solid foundation in German grammar. Otherwise I’d be totally lost, especially with the ever-changing determiner and adjective endings. This may be why some of you feel at a loss with these apps. As for me, I look forward to the day when I can dip my toes in the water, in the wild. I don’t know how or if I will overcome my fear, though. Wish me luck.
2 minutes in and I said wow this is so spot on. I’ll keep watching now. Thanks for a new video
Laura's courses are well worth the small investment.
Ich bin froh dass Sie zurück sind
I've been studying German off and on for almost 50 years and I still struggle with temptations 3 and 5.
As a native german speaker and a rellatively good english speaker I just can subscribe to every sentence of this video. Often I struggle to find the right words to express what comes into my german mind when speaking english, searching for unkown words and ending up with a list of translations, that feel so icredible wrong because there is just one word for all the different words that I could use in german. And its hard or even impossible to explain the subitile differences in their meaning ore even feeling. At least for me. So yes, its not easy and I am happy to have learned german as a native and english in school and not the other way round.
My husband is Austrian and it would be great if he had studied his own language better, since he is incapable of explaining "why you say something in a particular way" to me. His response is usually, "...because it is so." or "German is so easy---even little babies can speak it." I appreciate that you appreciate the difficulties of learning it.
I think a native speaker has only in rare cases intrest in the whole grammer thing of a language that he can speak already. Why bothering with all the complicated rules when you soaked the feeling for what is right or wrong with mothers milk?
I alwas was good in german at school, except when we did grammer and should EXPLAIN WHY something is like this or that …
@@CabinFever52
Thank you!
Thank you so much for great videos Laura ❤
Can I ask for a german vowels pronunciation lesson with phonetics? 🙏🏼
Thanks for the suggestion! I will make sure to mention it to Laura. :)
-Nicole, GwL Team
I’m having a problem with pronunciation. For example, I can’t get the correct sound for the end of “milch”
That -ch sound is a really tricky one to master, for sure! I'd recommend trying to listen to a lot of German audio (podcasts, audiobooks, movies, etc) to get a better feel for it. Just keep in mind that some regions of Germany can have some nuances to their pronunciation.
They taught me to perform this sound by doing the mouth-tonge shape for an /i/ (that is sticking the tonge flat to the palate) and then blowing through the gap the tongue makes. I hope I explained properly and that helps :)
Your videos Are like heaven...., Dein Videos sind schön ... I'm learning still GERMAN .. it's very good language.. thanks from 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 india 🤗
Ich freue mich über deine Rückkehr zum Kanal
Tried duolingo for months, now I'm speaking like a german toddler XD
Ha!! I love your German toddler analogy! I've been using Duolingo too for a couple of months now and it's always frustrated me because it focuses on word memorization and parroting back pronunciations with no explanations as to why things are done the way they are, then they hold you accountable for producing the correct answers on the spot! Now that I've seen what Laura has to offer I'm kicking Duolingo to the curb! I want to one day participate in grown up conversations with other grown up German speakers and impress them with my fledgling skills in their "muttersprache". 😎 I like Laura's quiet, calm teaching style and the way she helps make sense out of what at first seems like random German nonsense. Under her guidance I look forward to achieving my goals as a German student, and one day sharing my future German vacation videos and photos with her! 😁😁😁😁
This made me smile! I hope you continue with me so that you can speed up your learning journey.
I think this is an awesome goal and I know you can do it!
Danke schon@@GermanwithLaura!! If I had a German keyboard I could do umlautes and eszetts!! 😇
Ja!!@@GermanwithLauraI don't feel like I need to be in a hurry; I live in Florida now and don't think I'll be able to visit Germany any time soon, but who knows what the future holds! 😍
you back?
This is exactly what I struggle with
I bought your foundation course but I need some other sources to work on along with grammar. Would you suggest any books?
Schaum's workbooks are some that I've worked with before. You might enjoy them. :)
@@GermanwithLauraSchuam’s book deals with grammar. Do you recommend any books for reading, writing, and listening? I’m learning with Starten Wir but not sure if that’s the right book to start.
Oh, I'm sorry! I misunderstood your question. I really like the books from André Klein. They are easy readers and a great place to get started. They also have audiobook versions (on youtube, I do believe) that you can listen to while reading!
@@GermanwithLaura thank you Laura🌱
"Think like a German." I have heard this phrase before and I do not understand it all. How?? How do I even do that? I absolutely do not understand how this is possible. 😕
I hear you! I'm doing good to think like an American most days! LOL! We just have to trust Laura and her process and we'll get where we want to be before we know it!
I'm sorry for any confusion. My point is that as long as we’re stuck translating, we won’t develop a separate German brain, if you will, and will never become fully functional in German. There’s a lot that goes into learning how to think in a German way versus translating. But on a meta level, it boils down to not translating by falling prey to those five temptations that I mentioned in the video.
I love to earn German. Thank you
Ok one of my big hang ups to this point is when I do see the German words I think of English to translate them. Is this because I’m still thinking in English at not German or is it because my mother tongue is English. I really want to know the answer to this because it’s really bothering me. Thanks to German with Laura and German Foundations for helping make things so much better.
I'm not an English native and this happened to me when I started to learn it, as well as with other languages. The tendency at first is to look for a connection that makes sense to us, hence translating to our mother tongues. But afterwards you just assimilate the new language and think in its particular structure and vocabulary. Yes, this happens to every language learner in every language, regardless of the differences or similarities between the objective language and our mother tongue could be. I hope this helps. Happy learning! :)
@@sthenotheG yes thank you for this explanation it helps me. One thing I have just been told by a very talented German language teacher is when you see a German word example der Tisch don’t say to your self the table, but bring up an image of a table. I really like this and have already been applying it.
@@flonations1323 Yes, that's great advice. To think visually rather than verbally helps A LOT to improve quicker. I found quite useful to add movement, as well, (though you might feel silly doing it) while studying particularly verbs. That way I skip the step of translation and feel that the meaning imprints better in my mind.
@@sthenotheGomg I do body movements too!!
Hi Laura
Love your show.
We are launching our new online radia in Perth Western Australia and would love to restream your show, with your permission.
Regards
Michael
101 Media Group
Hey there,
Would you be email my team at hallo@germanwithlaura.com with this request?
I have been struggling with this exact thing, and where to start/get beyond the basics. i hate the way Pimsleur and Duolingo just make you learn a bunch of random crap. its frustrating since i'm headed to Germany in a few weeks and really should be fluent as long as i've been trying to learn the language!
I can definitely understand that frustration! While it won't be enough to get you to fluency before your trip, I would love to have you get started with my free mini-course to jumpstart your learning!
Click here -> germanwithlaura.com/unlocking-german-grammar/
The mini course is what got me to get German foundations also the top notch teaching that goes along with all this from German with Laura. You will not be disappointed.
👍👍👍👍
Hi Laura, Does your roommate have a couch? translate to Hat deinen Mitbewohner eine couch?
You would need to say something more like this: Hat dein Mitbewohner eine Couch?
Hello, mam I am from Pakistan working as Horticulturist, did my Masters from Thailand and now want to continue my PhD from Germany. I love Germany watching many UA-cam videos every time. Kindly, help❤me find a PhD scholarship in Agriculture University in Germany please.
That sounds like a wonderful plan, but, unfortunately, I don't have those kind of contacts. I wish you the best.
Ich schreibe und lese Deutsch, aber Spreche nie.
OMG... Think like a German 😂
Sounds like a better go to Germany and hang out for a while.
Well, you could certainly try living in Germany for a while, but I'd wager that if you get stuck in the habit of translating (and not fully thinking like a German) it will prevent you from becoming truly fluent. :-P
I like you to come and visit Germany, but as an english speaker you will not learn german there, exept you will go into a systematical course. Most germans are speaking english on level B1 to B2 and will speak english with you as soon as they recognize that you cant speak german.
Danke!