Are you interested in learning German? Whether you plan on moving to Germany one day or you simply want to pick up the language, here are some useful things you can do to start learning German today.
Get Textbooks and Computer CDs in German
German is one of the most popular languages to learn and you won’t have any problems finding quality texts that will teach you basic German grammar and help you to pick up new words. There are also numerous computer programs you can run which teach German in fun and interactive ways.
If you can study German somewhere local to you, ideally that would be best, next to actually living in Germany. Being able to get immediate feedback while learning a language will speed up your progress and set a solid foundation for you.
Read German Newspapers
Once you start to get the basics of German, then it would be good to start reading it in text form. Reading newspapers will do wonders in helping you to learn German. You will see how sentences usually flow and if you keep a dictionary near by, you can build your vocabulary at the same time.
You can go online and find a quite extensive list of the major newspapers online and their articles at onlinenewspapers.com. Some newspapers you might want to look into include Die Ziet, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Listen to German Radio Programs
The next step in your journey in learning German is to listen to how it sounds conversationally. Being able to read and write German is relatively easier because you have time to process sentences. Once it’s in conversation form, words are simply rolling out. You can find radio stations online that have streams of their programs and which also have archives of previous shows.
You can go to NDR.DE for shows, and alternatively, can load them onto an IPOD or MP3 player. This way you can learn German while you go about your ever day activities.
Watch TV Programs, Internet Shows or Movies With Subtitles
Being able to watch German TV shows and movies adds a new element of entertainment into your Germans studies. You can go to 3sat.de for recorded programs.
As an alternative, you can watch movies and follow along with the subtitles. That way, you can compare what you thought you heard with the translations, and it with help you get a better feel for common expressions.
Speak German to People, or Use Skype
Most cities have a language exchange so you can find someone to speak German with. If you’re taking German classes, then you could simply speak German with a friend. If both these options are difficult on your schedule or are hard to arrange, you can look at Skype’s language exchange groups. This way you could even possibly speak German to a native speaker.
Continually Read, Write, Speak and Listen to German
To become fluent in German, these four factors are actually important, and everything above outlines these. A lot of people who can speak German are not able to write it well because they never really learned grammar. Some who can write can’t use it in conversation because they never trained themselves to do it. If you engage in reading, writing, speaking and listening, you will be on your way to being Fluent in very little time.
