Comments on: Making learning languages fun

By: bg

bg — Fri, 30 Apr 2004 01:38:05 +0000

I’d like to second “Das Experiment.” Saw it on cable a few nights ago w/ subtitles. It’s excellent.

By: mccoll

mccoll — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 16:09:39 +0000

I enjoyed “Funny Games” (dir. Heneke): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119167/

By: Chris Bertram

Chris Bertram — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 07:19:56 +0000

So many great suggestions! Thanks. I’m afraid the “get a German girlfriend” strategy, though possibly effective, will face decisive objections from someone close to me. (On the other hand, if I explain that it was just for educational purposes, maybe she’ll understand….)

By: Motoko Kusanagi

Motoko Kusanagi — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 05:02:40 +0000

Of course it also helps to put a Reclam in the pocket of every coat. Try Prinzessin Brambilla, which is fantastic.

By: boogster

boogster — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 05:01:08 +0000

Just to add another vote to the Learn-To-Sing Party, I offer the anecdotal evidence that 15 years after spending a year studying Portuguese, I can remember barely a single word that is not in the original version of Girl from Ipanema (O Sol de Ipanema) and yet still can sing it beginning to end in Portuguese. Not useful, precisely, but the only practice I’ve had . . .

By: alf

alf — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:57:49 +0000

A great german movie is Das Experiment. It’s based on the stanford prison experiment and is the best psychological thriller I’ve ever seen. I don’t understand german and I saw the movie in german without subtitles, but I still thought it was great. I don’t know why it’s not more popular worldwide.

By: Tobias Schwarz

Tobias Schwarz — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:50:25 +0000

For a great new German band performing German lyrics try “Wir sind Helden” – http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001FX97U/qid=1083037365/sr=2-2/ref=sr_aps_prod_2_1/028-0310234-5369346 Aurélie – “Aurélies Akzent ist ohne Frage sehr charmant Auch wenn sie schweigt wird sie als wunderbar erkannt Sie brauch mit Reizen nicht zu geizen Denn ihr Haar ist Meer und Weizen Noch mit Glatze fräß ihr jeder aus der Hand Doch Aurélie kapiert das nie Jeden Abend fragt sie sich Wann nur verliebt sich wer in mich Aurélie so klappt das nie Du erwartest viel zu viel Die Deutschen flirten sehr subtil … Ach Aurelie du sagst ich solle dir erklärn Wie in aller Welt sich die Deutschen dann vermehren Wenn die Blumen und die Bienen in Berlin nichts tun als grienen Und sich nen Teufel um die Bestäubungsfrage schern …” In addition to Deutsche Welle, there is German tv on satellite and also in some US/Canadian cable networks featuring German made German language tv series and tv-movie productions – http://www.german.tv/ This year’s Berlinale winner, Fatih Akin’s “Gegen die Wand” (intl. title “Head on” – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347048/) is quite a good movie although I wouldn’t say it’s “Rock and Roll” like Francis McDormand did.

By: JXBrown

JXBrown — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:09:57 +0000

Audio books from http://www.amazon.de. Buy a copy of the book and read along with the narrator.

By: eszter

eszter — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 02:37:27 +0000

When I was learning English the first time I lived in the U.S. I watched a ton of TV. That was really helpful, especially for colloquial terms I wouldn’t have picked up in classes. Don’t you have access to German language stations? I used to watch Sat 1 and RTL all the time in high school justifying it as “language study”. I also used to read really silly teen magazines from Germany with the same justification. I think listening to music can be especially helpful. I remember getting this tape from someone for precisely that purpose. It’s not the kind of music I’d listen to otherwise, but it was especially helpful because the guy sings incredibly clear German. When I was learning French (and when I was teaching English to friends), I’d sometimes take the pains to write down the lyrics of a song. You sure learn the song well! And now with the Web, you can then check if you got it right. What I would’ve given for this option back then… Tonton David’s songs are not the most straight forward to transcribe… For a German movie, have you already seen Good-Bye, Lenin!? By the way, I would listen to it in German and have the English subtitles on (when I saw it, it was in German with Hungarian subtitles which I preferred to the reverse), because that way you’re hearing the German. Otherwise, it’s too easy not to read the subtitles and just go with what you’re hearing and understanding anyway. Plus I think it’s harder to read subtitles in a language you don’t speak that well (yet:) so you’re likely to get more of the movie this way.:)

By: John G. Fought

John G. Fought — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 02:32:39 +0000

Berlin Alexanderplatz is a good and long, long series, made for German TV and available on VHS, at least. For any such project, by the way, you should watch good segments over and over, reversing and replaying while you imitate. You could also tape these sessions and listen to yourself to get a sense of how close you’re getting to the rhythm and the pronunciation. You have to do the learning actively. Just watching and listening won’t work well. I’m a retired linguist, as it happnes, best at pronunciation, and lazy about learning all those damned endings. The great American linguist Leonard Bloomfield once commented on the ‘get a girlfriend’ strategy that the resulting vocabulary is too limited.

By: John Isbell

John Isbell — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 02:20:02 +0000

Katharina Blum is by Boell, Blechtrommel is by Grass, and Deutschstunde is by Lenz. Schloendorff likes famous modern novelists (specifically the Gruppe 67). Schubert’s Winterreise, sung by Fischer-Dieskau, is amazing if you don’t mind bleak. Marlene Dietrich is quite fun in 3 languages.

By: multitimbral

multitimbral — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 23:51:40 +0000

the subtitle by dvd method will only work if you get european dvds—american dvds never seem to have the german subtitles. i’m sure the european versions of even american films do, though. my advice is to read what you enjoy in german, and often. kiddie books are for kiddies, but comics might be more palatable. get a solid proficiency in the language, then read read read. don’t spend too much time looking up each individual word until relatively late in the game. strangely, proficiency happens relatively quickly, but not so fast that it’s noticeable—like puberty. there are also streaming german tv stations on the net, assuming you have high speed. i also enjoyed the recent ‘nirgendwo in afrika’……….

By: asg

asg — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 23:32:44 +0000

The absolute best way to improve your German, if you like playing board and card games, is to go to http://www.brettspielwelt.de, download the client program, and join up. It’s entirely free and you can play dozens of different German board and card games. Since about 80% of users are German you can converse a lot and really help your vocabulary, and of course all the games are in German so you will have to learn that vocab as well. I am a boardgame hobbyist and would use BSW extensively even if I spoke no German at all, but using BSW and having dict.leo.org open at the same time has really helped me keep my skills sharp and of course the games are a lot of fun too. If anyone is curious about BSW and wants more details or anything, email me.

By: Mitch Mills

Mitch Mills — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 22:55:34 +0000

digamma, I find watching a movie or TV program in the target language with subtitles helpful. Subtitles in the target language is best, but English subtitles helps too. While in general I hate the practice of dubbing, watching a movie or TV program you’ve seen before in English dubbed into the target language is also very helpful. Children’s programs and cartoons in the target language are good: simple, understandable language, although often in annoying “cute child voices”. Soap operas too. Newscasts, especially radio newscasts, are also good: clear enunciation about topics you’re probably at least somewhat familiar with. If you’re in a country where the target language is spoken, getting off the beaten track and away from touristy areas or areas where a lot of foreigners live helps you find people who don’t know English or don’t know it very well. For example vegetable markets, greasy spoons, etc. Some there will be patient and work with you, others won’t. Of course it’s much harder to find non-English speakers in, for example, Germany than in, say, China.

By: yabonn

yabonn — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 22:40:09 +0000

Corrolary : Avoid “inspector Derrick” at all costs.