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Started By
Message
re: Anyone here ever learned German? New Year’s resolution was to start learning a language.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 8:53 am to _Hurricane_
Posted on 1/3/25 at 8:53 am to _Hurricane_
If you’re serious about learning, delete Duolingo and Rosetta Stone now.
German is probably the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn since English is a Germanic language. I’ve been learning Greek every day for about 6 or 7 months and it’s been an awesome journey.
The first thing I would do is download “Language Transfer” app. It’s free and the creator is a polyglot who is a native English and Greek speaker and formed this method. It’s so much better than memorizing flash cards and playing games.
The other great way to tag along side this is the YouTube channel Easy German. They do a lot of street conversations and discuss random things with natives. They also have times where they speak slowly.
One thing I’ve learned is you really have to speak it and not just listen or be passive with it. It’s frustrating but it’s also very rewarding. It takes a lot more time that you expect, so I’d either dive in or not at all. I practice for a minimum of 45 minutes per day but it usually around an hour and a half.
German is probably the easiest language for a native English speaker to learn since English is a Germanic language. I’ve been learning Greek every day for about 6 or 7 months and it’s been an awesome journey.
The first thing I would do is download “Language Transfer” app. It’s free and the creator is a polyglot who is a native English and Greek speaker and formed this method. It’s so much better than memorizing flash cards and playing games.
The other great way to tag along side this is the YouTube channel Easy German. They do a lot of street conversations and discuss random things with natives. They also have times where they speak slowly.
One thing I’ve learned is you really have to speak it and not just listen or be passive with it. It’s frustrating but it’s also very rewarding. It takes a lot more time that you expect, so I’d either dive in or not at all. I practice for a minimum of 45 minutes per day but it usually around an hour and a half.
0
Posted on 1/3/25 at 9:18 am to _Hurricane_
Ja, ich bin flüssig
Posted on 1/3/25 at 9:20 am to _Hurricane_
I majored in German in college
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:31 am to _Hurricane_
Haven't tried to learn it myself, but I have heard that it is easier to learn as an English speaker because it follows a similar sentence structure.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:35 am to _Hurricane_
Proud to have studied under Frau Goodman, Tara HS class of 73 
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:36 am to _Hurricane_
I might try this.
Would be great for understanding Rammstein songs better.
Would be great for understanding Rammstein songs better.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:44 am to Skeauxbie
quote:
more difficult to learn than Spanish
Definitely. I thought French was more difficult than Spanish, which is counterintuitive -- modern English is primarily derived from French; there are very few direct borrowings into English from Spanish, other than food items
This post was edited on 1/3/25 at 10:46 am
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:48 am to _Hurricane_
My brother is a German citizen and just made 8 years there, I believe.
He is functionally fluent but doesn't believe that a non-native German can every achieve true fluency. Too many little nuances and quirks
He is functionally fluent but doesn't believe that a non-native German can every achieve true fluency. Too many little nuances and quirks
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:53 am to tarzana
quote:
there are very few direct borrowings into English from Spanish
wtf? This is not true at all
quote:
modern English is primarily derived from French
Posted on 1/3/25 at 10:56 am to Carson123987
quote:
He is functionally fluent but doesn't believe that a non-native German can every achieve true fluency. Too many little nuances and quirks
Maybe, but I know there are some non native English speakers that I couldn’t tell learned later in life if it weren’t from them telling me.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 12:05 pm to nugget
quote:
This is not true at all
Other than Spanish names for foods or prepared dishes, it is true.
These a the only ones I can think of not related to food:
Poncho
Sombrero
Aficionado
Hacienda
Ranch (adapted from Spanish "rancho")
Place names-- Colorado, Nevada, Puerto Rico, Florida, etc.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 12:08 pm to northshorebamaman
Might want to start learning Arabic. That’s what they are teaching in Germany now.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 12:37 pm to tarzana
Words ending in al came from Latin/spanish. Same with words that end in -ant or -ent
Normal/ president are examples.
Normal/ president are examples.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 12:53 pm to nugget
quote:
Normal/ president are examples
The words "normal", "president" and "example" are all direct borrowings from Latin, not Spanish. Spanish, being a direct descendant from classical Latin, retains many words unchanged from the original form.
I remember we used to have a motto posted on the wall of our middle-school gymnasium: Mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body). As an eighth grader, I remember thinking this was Spanish. It's not, and is a direct quote from the Roman poet Juvenal, in classical Latin. It turns out that the Spanish translation of the quote is quite similar-- una mente sana en un cuerpo sano.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 1:09 pm to tarzana
Well I can see where the difference is. Spanish, by those studying languages and language history, consider Spanish to be modern Latin.
I thought you were saying those distinctions from my previous post were absent.
I still don’t understand, though, why you think English is mostly derived from French.
I thought you were saying those distinctions from my previous post were absent.
I still don’t understand, though, why you think English is mostly derived from French.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 1:12 pm to _Hurricane_
Ich lebe in Deutschland. Mein Deutsch ist so lala. Hüren ist okay, verstehen ist okay, sprachen ist mein problem. Meine frau sagt, " Du must Deutsch sprechen" und "schimpfwöter sin schlecht." Ich sage fich dich und lech mich am arsch.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 1:13 pm to HailHailtoMichigan!
Of all the major langauges Dutch is the closest to English. But it's even less useful than German.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 1:20 pm to jizzle6609
quote:
Might want to start learning Arabic.
I tried the first Duolingo lesson for Arabic and was completely lost.
Daughter is taking German in high school now. In some respects I think she likes it but has said several times she wishes she had taken Spanish.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 2:02 pm to Bestbank Tiger
quote:
It's actually easier. Structure is similar to English, with fewer verb tenses and minimal conjugation.
but you have to decline the nouns based on case and gender. i don't know Spanish (except for donde esta el bano?), but don't think that Spanish has noun declensions. i did Latin and Greek in undergrad, German in grad school. learning Latin and Greek first made German a lot easier.
Posted on 1/3/25 at 2:08 pm to nugget
quote:
still don’t understand, though, why you think English is mostly derived from French.
I thinks it’s evident when you see French written. I asked chat gpt for a sentence using English cognates. This is what it gave me.
quote:
Le président et l'ingénieur organisent une réunion importante pour discuter du projet innovant de développement économique et écologique."
I see a lot of overlap there.
Second example:
quote:
Le professeur prépare une présentation exceptionnelle sur l'histoire moderne et son impact culturel dans les sociétés contemporaines
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