Learning German is not an easy task, it requires focus, determination, and patience. You need to consistently keep practicing German daily to fully grasp it and become fluent.
You need to set your goals right away before starting to learn. First of all, determine the reason why you want to learn German, and then devise a study plan. A study plan also helps you to monitor your performance and manage your available time. You need to think about your personal goals and why learning German is important for you. Write it down on a piece of paper and every time your motivation drifts away, have a look at it.
German words are easy to learn and memorize as most of them are similar to English. German uses the Latin alphabet. It has, however, an additional consonant: the ß, called “Eszett”. It is pronounced as ‘s’. When learning German, you should start by learning some common words and phrases that are spoken in English or your native language and see how they are said in German.
Let’s look at such words and phrases:
Good morning – Guten Morgen
ach so – I see
Wie geht’s dir? – How are you?
Bitte – Please/you’re welcome
Danké – Thank you
wo – where
Junge – Boy
Mann – Men
Memorize at least 15-20 common words and phrases like this each day and maintain a vocabulary list that you can carry anywhere.
German grammar is not very tricky as it seems. In German, all nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter. This is called gender, and it’s just a way to sort sounds! In English, we say a man, a woman. But in German words like a change depending on the noun’s gender.
Masculine – ein Mann
Feminine – eine Frau
Neuter – ein Kind
Also, remember that all nouns always start with a capital letter. And the word ‘the’ is always used differently with different words; die, das, der are all different forms of the. You’ve probably noticed that articles are very important in German. So, when you study the vocabulary you should always consider the correct article. It’s not just “Haus” (Eng.: home) but “das Haus”. If you do that right from the beginning, it will save you a lot of work afterward. Additionally, I would recommend learning the plural form right from the start. In this case that would be: “das Haus” and, “die Häuser”. (Eng.: “the house” and “the houses”.)
You can learn German with the help of various resources available online. You can also find a tutor who can teach in the best way possible. Watch movies in German, listen to some Latin or German music, and most importantly read a lot of books in German. Apps are a great way of learning a language. There are lots of apps that you can use. The most popular one is Multibhashi, you can learn basic German through this app. To learn German with the help of videos of native people of German, you can use Memrise. Getting the right tools is essential to learn any language. Make sure you have everything you need.
What is the use of learning a language if you don’t have someone to speak with? Do you have someone in your family or among friends who speaks German as a native language? Arrange some meetings or start a pen friendship. You’ll definitely find some groups or forums that deal with German as a foreign language and who knows, maybe thereby you find some new possibilities to improve your German skills. Join these groups and take action as a user. Ask questions or try to get some useful advice. The purpose of these groups is the exchange of ideas or approaches, which might help you to get a better understanding of something.
