Learning any language needs consistency more than hard work. Don't crush 20 hours of your weekend. Think about the time you have tried to burn the midnight oil the day before your dreaded test.
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Have SMART(Specific Achievable Measurable Realistic and Time-Bound) goals. e.g. Having a goal like reading 2 articles a day from Economist for the next 30 days is better than a goal like reading everyday hereafter. Trust yourself and never give up.
Here are some resources for learning German smartly, using the 5 ways for communicating: Reading, Watching, Listening, Speaking and Writing.
Readingđ
Get a text book. E.g. https://lnkd.in/dpG-sKt
Read from different sources. If you want to achieve greater fluency in a shorter amount of time, you need to challenge yourself by reading high-quality content. If you feel it is too challenging, read for 5 minutes a day and build your stamina until you get used to it.
Learn new vocabulary: When you learn new vocabulary every single day, let it be 10 words a day, you could see good progress within a couple of months. One option is to use the Anki app: https://lnkd.in/dr_V5hF , https://www.ankiapp.com/
German News: It contains high-quality content which is a B2/C1 level. Yes, it is difficult but it is worth reading. 30 minutes a day is ideal.
Use the auto-translate add-on on your laptop to learn faster. E.g. https://lnkd.in/dD-AVUN
Watching
TV: Watch German channels. Especially begin with programs such as sports or games, or programs which you have already watched in English before where you donât need to focus too much on the words being spoken e.g. Friends
Online streaming services: German shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Some popular ones are How to sell drugs online, Dark, Dogs of Berlin etc.
Online Videos: By the time one reaches A2, one should move from listening to language teachers online to listening to new academic content e.g: Economy, sports, politics, etc, and many more.
Listeningđ§
The German accent is difficult to understand unless you are not actively listening. 30 minutes a day goes a really long way.Check out the following link: https://lnkd.in/dhPB7qP . Watching and listening are the best methods to pick up colloquial German (Umgangsprache).
Speaking
Public German classes: German classes from your universities or register for institutions like DeutschAkademie, Goethe or MĂźnchner Volkshochschule.
Private German classes
đ§âđŤOnline tutorials: Yes, take a class or get a native German speaker. A teacher will make you talk and correct your mistakes(yes.. she will help you in the Grammar part too ). Check out the following link: https://www.rypeapp.com/, https://germanwithlaura.com/
Online forums: Deutsche Gym https://www.languagegym.com/
Tandem partner: In this concept you befriend a native German speaker from whom you will learn German, and in exchange you will teach your native language
Pick up the phone: The biggest leap you make is when you pick up the phone, make calls and stop requesting the other person on the line if they speak English. Without body language or facial expressions to your rescue, you would be forced to deal with words, and this can result in a significant boost in your ability to understand and speak. At first, this might be rather uncomfortable, but it certainly gets better with time.
Writing
Write an email about any random topic and get it corrected from your teacher as a weekly assignment.
Note of Caution
German is a gender oriented language. Every noun has a gender and there is no rule for it. However, gender has a significant impact on grammar. The form of words changes based on the gender of the word. You would often find advice to ignore the genders, and just focus on speaking to get comfortable with the language. While this has the advantage of losing inhibitions of speaking early, it would become much more difficult to learn it or catch up with it at a later stage. At some point, you would be required to communicate occasionally in professional business German - if not spoken, then at least in written. So do give importance to gender and grammar, if not, at least be aware of the possible disadvantages in the future.
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