Parrots Receive Thier Names From Thier Parents

I once attended a lecture by a guest speaker at UMASS. He talked about his research recording monkeys, pointing out parts that might be considered grammar or syntax. At the end of his talk he admitted that all of his research could be for nothing, and that he could be completely wrong.

In under six minutes this video conclusively covers something more fascinating. An ornithologist from Cornell was able to conclusively show that parrots receive their names from their parents by switching eggs in nests. Even after this is done, the newborn parrots' names more resemble their foster parents' names.

Livemocha Unlimited Free Content

I posted about this before, unfortunately in that case the premium content was limited; you had to spend points that you were rewarded through grading other users' submissions. There is however, a way to receive unlimited premium content:

Hi Carm,


Thank you for applying to become an Apprentice Livemocha Expert! It is definitely not too late and we are pleased to invite you to join our force of Expert Reviewers. This is a special type of Livemocha membership that gives you unlimited access to our premium learning content in exchange for helping others on the site.

Expert Reviewers provide a consistently high caliber of feedback that students can trust. A key part of the position is providing words of positive encouragement to remind students that they are on the right track. Language learning can be daunting, which makes it hard to stay motivated - so you will play a key role in spreading enthusiasm and confidence.

Another important aspect of an Expert Review is helping the student improve grammar and pronunciation. Sometimes free reviewers provide incorrect suggestions, and it can be difficult for language learners to decide whose suggestions they can trust. Your feedback will be marked as an Expert Review so the student knows they can count on your accuracy.

Now for the nitty gritty details:

You will receive unlimited, uninterrupted Gold Key as long as you complete at least 10 quality Expert Reviews each month. An Expert Review typically takes anywhere from 5 - 15 minutes depending on the complexity of the student's exercise.

This of course, means that you have to spend some time grading users until you get to this point, but in the meantime you can practice whatever language you want to learn as well. This is "free" in the sense that you do not have to pay any money, and the fact that other users will be evaluating your submissions as well makes the system seem more fair than, "hey, come work for us for free!"

Verben Mit Präposition Übungen

Last week my Schriftlich Übungen professor gave us a work packet that he printed off from the Internet in order to have us practice German prepositional verbs. The file can be found here, and is hosted at Universitas Pendidikan, and Indonesian university.

Unfortunately, there is no answer key, so I have taken it upon myself to provide one at the bottom of the post! Have fun!

Previously: List of German Prepositional Verbs









Übung 1: 1.f,c 2.j,e 3.i,k 4.b 5.g,a 6.h,l 7.l,d  Übung 2: 1.darüber 2.damit 3.dafür 4.danach 5.damit 6.darum 7.darüber 8.daran 9.daran,darüber 10.daran Übung 3: 1.an ihn, 2.an ihn / daran 3.darauf 4.damit 5.darauf 6.darüber 7.dafür 8.darüber 9.nach dir 10.danach, damit an  Übung 4: 1.über, mich, auf 2.auf 3.damit / mit ihn 4.Woarn, An, über 5.bei 6.Worüber, Auf 7.darüber 8.mit ihr 9.darüber 10.bei, auf

Livemocha Giving Away Premiuim Conent To Contributing Users

January 22, 2012 - I have a new article on becoming an Apprentice Livemocha Expert.

Livemocha, a language learning website, is giving away their premium content to Contributing users. Considering other users grade your submissions, you really should return the favor anyways. It's fun too, you listen to records others have made, you have to think about your language, as well as how this person can improve their language ability, and if you find someone who is a good grader/reviewer you can friend them!

If you haven't checked this site out yet, this is honestly a good reason to start now.

Vocabulary Practice

I am sure many of our more Internet-seasoned readers know about Free Rice. It is a website where you can answer questions in different subjects, and each correct answer gets ten grains of rice donated through the WFP.

One of the subjects that Free Rice has available is foreign languages. You can answer vocabulary matching questions in German, Spanish, Italian, French, and English (or Chemistry, Geography, or Math for that matter). If you are just beginning a new language, this can be a good way to build your vocabulary. What I like the best is that the German vocabulary also includes the case with the word, something I have seen other flash-card websites not do. The site also reintroduces words you answered incorrect more often, so that you are more likely to learn those words.

German Cases Short and Sweet

I am constantly frustrated with how many grammar websites out there there make German cases more complex than they need to be. Well actually... they are complex, but you still need launching pad in which to learn the complex stuff. A few months ago, when I was frustrated with wrapping my head the cases, I made a post about them. To reiterate myself; one of the hardest parts of the German language for English speakers to grasp is the cases, simply because they don't exist in English. Yes, the word whom is an example of case in English, but the last person to have ever used the word whom was thrown off of a gorge for being a douchebag by people who thought they liked him.

Unfortunately you still have to memorize this chart:

Chart originally from About.com .

Here are the German cases short and sweet, I promise not to use any words more technical than verb, or noun. If you're as dumb as me, you should be ok. PLEASE NOTE: I am only covering the basic concepts of cases. If you have no idea whats going on in you German class, this will help, but not teach you everything you need to know. (For example, a genitive case for German pronouns exists, and is not covered here).

Nominative: Used for basic sentences.

I like cats.
Ich mag Katzen.

The noun that is doing something is in the nominative case. I like cats, I is nominative.

Accusative: Used when you have two nouns and one is acting upon the other.

Bill loves the King

Bill Liebt den König. 

The noun that is on the receiving end of the verb is in the accusative case. The king is on the receiving end of Bill's love, so it is accusative. That means in German, the word transforms from Der König (masculine) to Den König. If you still have not figured this out, I suggest scrolling back up to the top, and staring at the chart.

Dative: In terms of this post, the best way to describe this case is that you have a giver (nominative), a receiver (dative), and something that is being given (accusative). For example:

Bill gave the king a gift.

Bill gab dem König ein Geschenk.

This time "the king" is in the dative case, and "the gift" is in accusative. If we look at the chart above we see that the indefinite article (a or an) for a word that is neuter and accusative, is ein.

Genitive: Denotes possession. Here is an example from the Wikipedia page on genitive case:

 

The book of the schoolgirl.
Das Heft der Schülerin.

You can also use -s to denote possession (without the apostrophe). Pretty simple compared to the other cases, huh?

 

Hopefully if you have been having trouble with learning the cases in German, this will help. Leave me a comment, and let me know if this was helpful.

 

 

 

German Genders

edit - 9/20/2011 added some more.

When I first started studying German I was told that there was no way to inherently know the gender of German nouns. You just have to learn the with the word. A year and a half later I was told that some words have certain genders if they end a certain way. What the fuck? Anyways I compiled a list of words which are easy to remember the gender for, or to know just by looking at the word.

If you're a beginner, all you need to know is that there are three genders (not counting plural, which is den). Masculine (der), feminine (die), and neuter (das). Although for the most part, you will have to memorize the genders for most words. Good luck! Don't worry, with time it comes naturally!

• Words ending with an e are usually feminine, think die. An exception to this is the word Der Käse (The Cheese).
• Words ending with a r are usually masculine, think der.
• As long as they are used as nouns, numbers are always feminine.
• The same is true for letters, although they are neuter.
• Any nouns with these suffixes are feminine: -ei, -ie, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -ung, -et, -ion, -ik.
• Days, months, and the seasons are always masculine.
• Compass directions are always masculine.
• Many towns, and countries are neuter.
• Any nouns with these suffixes are masculine: -ier, -ismus, -ist.
• Nouns that end in -chen are always neuter. This is why the word das Mädchen (the girl) is neuter.
• The words fork (die Gabel) , knife (das Messer) , and spoon (der Löffel) are all different genders.

Studienforum Berlin

Two years ago I went to Germany for the first time through a program called Studienforum Berlin. At the time I was attending Nazareth College of Rochester, and I was disenchanted with the school. With about half of the students commuting, and being located in a wealthy suburb outside of Rochester New York; my weekends were usually filled with video games, talking to dining hall staff, roaming the empty campus out of boredom, and snow. I applied to transfer to the The University of Massachusetts the next academic year and I received deferred enrollment, which meant I would have to spend another semester at Nazareth.

A friend of mine, a German Literature major, suggested that if I was bored at the school I should consider going abroad. He said that the school's German program was really good, and the classes would count for my general education requirements. He set up the appointment for me to meet with the German Professor at Nazareth, and I signed my name on the dotted line the day we met to speak about the program. What I was getting - for the same price of tuition that Nazareth charged (sans Nazareth's room and board, i.e. a lot of money) , was four classes, an internship, and a stay with a host family in Berlin. I was also given a form to fill out as to preferences as to what I was looking for in terms of living. There was also a handwritten essay I needed to turn in along with some other additional paperwork.

I selected to take German history, German literature and an European business course, on top of a German language course which ran for the first month. These classes are taught in English (outside of the language course, of course). After that the three courses would start, and then for the final month we would be attending our internships. The professors for the classes were fantastic. The language courses were taught by the teachers hired by the language school. However, the professors for the other classes were supplied by Studienforum. I would go as far to say that the professors were overqualified. One of my favorite classes I ever took was 20th Century German Theater, Literature and Caberet. The professor had taught at Smith College, Wellesley, and had edited an academic journal on East German culture and society for a number of years.

During the program our group traveled to Erfurt, Weimar (also Buchenwald), Dresden, Prauge, and Fankfurt Oder (to walk into Poland). All of the travel coasts were covered by the price of the program. Over time I did feel like the traveling was a little much, and that I did not have as much free time in Berlin as I wanted. Although I did get out - see: yesterday's post. Sometimes I was so exhausted that I just needed a free day to rest. However looking back I am thankful that I got to see so much of Germany while I was there. Compared to the program that I am currently in, there are no excursions built into the program. Last week for example I paid extra money to go to the Black Forest. The excursion was actually the group of students being chartered around to different tourist destinations on a bus. You should have seen how upset I was when they woke me up to see the world's largest cuckoo clock.

For my internship I was placed in an English speaking school, with the tech guy. Originally I was supposed to work in a production room, but the they said said that my language skill at the time was not competent enough. When I transferred to UMASS, I was informed that they have a policy of not counting transfer credits from internships. Oh well, neither of these things are the program's fault. Other places students were placed elsewhere based on their majors or interests; and included a museum, the Bundestag, and classrooms.

When we did have free time there was naturally a lot to do just because we were in Berlin. I got to see a ton of shows, films, plays, museums, and performances. Also many of these things were at a discount price because I was a student. Often times we went to performances and museums for the history and literature classes. I am sure the same was true for the music course. The program also had a German person who was a little older than us come along with us on excursions, and would go out with us. Had she not been around, I am certain one of us would have died.

My only complaint about the program would be the lack of language immersion. Yes, you are with a host family, but in all your classes you are with the other Americans in your group. This is also true for the excursions, which take up a considerate amount of time. As a result you probably are not speaking a lot of German. On the other hand, this is something I like about the program I am in now, I am essentially on my own. It's scary, but scary fun; you know the kind of scary fun where if you don't have enough money in your German bank account by a certain time you could lose your housing! Actually something similar to that almost happened to me the last time too...

I am aware of students from other schools other than Nazareth going to Germany through Studienforum Berlin. I also know they offer programs at other times of the year, although I know nothing more than what is listed on their website. If you are interested in either program, you can e-mail them through the site, although the program I was in was during the fall semester, so you may have to wait a year. I would highly suggest the program, for all the reasons mentioned above. Although immersion was sort-of a problem you can always just distance yourself from "the group"; and unlike me, if you've taken German language courses before you go, you probably wont get placed into a school (unless you want to be).

I don't want to review the program I currently with now because I have only been here for two to three weeks, and well... I am currently with them, so right now I can't make a judgement call on it. Maybe in another two years.

Once again, here's the link - http://www.studienforum-berlin.de/index.html

More Videogame Translations

I had posted about videogame translations before. While searching for German language versions of Super Nintendo games I rediscovered a website I used to frequent for English Translations of Japanese games, and emulators. The site is called Zophar‘s domain. They have over forty fan translations of SNES games that you can use to patch your ROMs with. As well as patches for almost any other language. I should note that these files are not the games themselves, but simply the files to change the language.

Official German translations of Games can be hard to find sometimes. PAL versions of SNES games are worth two to three times as much as their North American counterparts simply because of their limited distribution. RPG games, which depend on a storyline, and rich dialouge tend to also be valued by collectors. This means somebody has to have the money to purchase the more exspensive PAL (RPG) game, and the know-how to dump the memory of the game onto a computer, compile it as a ROM, and then distribute it. It does not help that this all exists in a legal gray area. One also takes the risk of depreciating the value of the game cartridge now that it will be avaiable for free download.

Still, the online game translation community is a stomping ground for budding computer-savy translators to build their translation portfolio (same link as above). Sometimes there are parts of the games that can be glitchy, or untranslated, but if you’re trying to learn a new language or understand a game you want to play you really can't go wrong.

Awesome Free Language Lessons!

Yesterday I posted a cute video on the pronunciation of ö in German. Finds out that the video is part of a series created by The Language Resource Centre at Newcastle University. The program is designed to tailor to (young) people through multimedia which can be accessed on the go (Ipods, Iphones, smart phones, etc). Most importantly though, the materials are completely free!

You can find all the German videos here. I have linked to a few below. They also have separate lessons specifically concerning pronunciation, grammar, and specific phrases! They even have an RSS feed! If German isn't your thing there are lessons in Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Swahili! For the low price of nothing, how can you go wrong? Especially when compared to the price of Rosetta Stone, or even Muzzy.

The amount of resources on the site is fantastic. There is a teacher's toolkit complete with lesson plans, as well as content submitted by students (click one of the dates at the top of the page).The content of the videos is also diverse. The German videos for example cover all the cases individually. For most of the languages, the Language Resource Centre has over one-hundred videos.

Each of the short videos revolve around The Angry Family, a cast of bizarre cartoon characters. I am reluctant to admit it, but I don't think I would like these videos as much if they were not weird!

Point made? Anyways I really suggest watching a couple of these each day. Keep up the awesome work at Newcastle University!

The Umlaut

On first sight one of the things that throws off many people when they see the German language is the Germanic umlaut. To them it is a weird symbol reserved for metal bands;

If you're reading this site, you're probably more familiar with something like this.

An umlaut is really a way to let you know that a vowel should be stressed more like following vowel. In German the word umlaut is a compound of the words "um" - "around" , and "laut"- "sound" . I went a little nuts the past couple days trying to find the IPA symbols, and pronunciation for vowels with the umlaut. While not a vowel, the German letter ß ( sharp s) for example is pronounced [s] .

The sharp s is a pretty cool letter in itself.

These pronunciations do exist and Wikipedia does list them on the page for German grammar. However simply knowing the chart is not enough because there are special rules regarding syllable stress, and of course exceptions for certain words.

I don't think I should really be surprised after searching out for something I thought I really wanted, that it's not what I wanted at all. The chart still is important though, because you are going to want to know when someone is using an umlaut. The use of the umlaut can help designate past tense "fallen - fällen" "to fall - to fell" , "Fuß - Füße" "foot - feet" , "lang - Länge" "long - length" . Although rules for written and spoken German can be different.

In my search for videos on pronouncing these letter, I was bombarded with videos of different bands named Umlaut. I wish I was fucking kidding. I did find a cute video that covers the pronunciation of German words with the umlaut in them. It sort of supports the suggestion that has been made to me concerning the pronunciation of them; which is to stress any vowels that have an umlaut above them.


                                  

Part of me now thinks that the pronunciation and inflection of words is impossible to teach through the format of text because there is so many different ways people say, or can say words. There's the classic example of "ghoti" spelling the word "fish" . Hell, I pronounced the word "pint" like "stint" until the junior year of high-school! While I lay awake in bed and contemplate German phonology, check out that video, and leave a comment or e-mail me if you have something interesting to say!

A Different Study Method

I was on the phone with my friend today. We were talking about German and he asked me "Carm, when are we going to have a full conversation in German"? I professed that I had not been studying much over the summer. We started talking about new study methods, and he gave a great suggestion I tried out today.

Find a podcast, music video, movie, or show in the language you are trying to learn, something you haven't seen before. Start writing out what you're hearing (in the language you are hearing it in), then write a summery of what you have heard. He said that this was an important skill because your incorporating passive and active listening skills.

When I do try to speak German to someone I often get flustered. It becomes hard for me to express my wants, feelings, thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively. When practicing, I'm usually talking to people online, and that gives me time to go back, make corrections and even spell check what I am about to say. I may be communicating, but I'm not doing as much thinking as I probably should. 

The method he suggested worked well for me. I listened to one of the news stations that is streamed on Itunes. Incidentally the report was on the American government, but I still wrote everything out in German on a scrap piece of paper. I am going to stick to this for a few days and see what comes of it.

Do you have any study methods that have particularly worked for you?

Mental Benefits of Learning a Second Language

Learning a new language isn't just a way to meet new people, it is also healthy exercise for your brain! For example, people who are bilingual are beter at multitasking, or more specifically; better at editing out irrelevant information and focusing on important information than monolinguals. Another study, by an independant research group showed that learning another language can help stave off dementia and alzheimers on an average of about four years.

I have always thought of the brain as a muscle of sorts. The more you use certain parts of it consistently, the stronger those parts of the brain get. The added benefit being added cognitive ability in whatever cortex you are working with (see this post).

If you don't practice a language now, why aren't you? There are plenty of people in the U.S. who speak a another language at home, 47 million to be exact. I know in previous posts I have suggested Livemocha and even Okcupid in order to find speaking partners. Your school or university is another place to look. I know the German department at my school offers kaffeepause every once in a while. Another site to look for conversational groups is meetup.com. By speaking with people in a casual environment, you will be without the stress of tests and quizzes that you probably remember from high school Spanish class, and you can work at a pace you're comfortable with!

Foreign Radio

One of the things I cannot stand when I listen to the radio in a different country is the amount of English language music that is played. In Mexico it was Bob Marley, and in Germany it was sixties music like the Beegees. You expect to hear a lot of music in the native tongue but that is not really the case. I guess it has to do with the fact that American culture is an exported good. On the other hand the 2600 Magazine editors have an episode up on their radio show Off The Wall on Norway and Norweigen radio. Throughout the episode they play songs from the radio there, which has a surprising variety of music. Maybe I'm just not going to the right places?

You can usually get away with listening to news radio. Itunes, under "radio" and then "news/talk radio" or "international/world" has a huge amount of foreign radio stations which are streamed to your computer. For some reason though you cannot search the lists, which is kind of a pain in the ass. Hopefully they will update this in the near future.

There are plenty of free language learning podcasts out there. I know a fair amount of German ones. Some of my favorites are put out by Deutsche Welle, which is more or less news site for German language learners. They also put out German news podcasts which are spoken spoken slowly which is great for intermediate learners. Do any of you know of any other good podcasts or news sites for language learners?

Meeting Forigen Language Speakers Online

It's easy to start a conversation with people on Livemocha

I have mentioned the language learning site Livemocha before. There you can practice learning another language and have other native speakers grade your work. Higher level courses cost money. However, the biggest benefit of the site is the that you can start up a conversation with almost anyone who is trying to learn English, or the language you are trying to learn. People are there to learn and practice so anything from a simple "How are you?" or "What's up?" works! You can message people or even chat in real time. Furthermore the site is always suggesting new "friends", and once you have "friended" someone you can help each other on correcting each other's submissions and so forth. The website seems to have a large Portuguese speaking population from Brazil, so if you are inclined to learn some Portuguese or meet Brazilians under the guise of teaching them English, this site might work for you.

Okcupid

In my attempts to meet new people I tried out using Okcupid as a means to find German speakers. The site actually has a search function that will let you search for people based on what language they speak, among other things. 

From what I have noticed, messaging people in another language that you both speak nets you better results than just messaging them in English. However, searching for people in the particular language where that language is spoken will yield you much fewer results. Perhaps it is because these people have the premonition that they are there to meet other people through the site. But hey, you could do a lot worse with your time online then not socializing.

If you are self conscious about creating a dating site profile because people you know might see you (in the process of looking for partners I found one of my TAs as well as a fellow students who was looking for casual sex) you can always say at the top of your profile page that you're only interested in talking with, or possibly meeting people who speak the language you are trying to learn. Your profile can also say that you are in a relationship or seeing someone. Of course if you are seeing someone, it wouldn't hurt to let your significant other know what your intentions on the site are.

Foreign Language Books

If you have no one to practice with when studying a foreign language, reading is one of the best ways to go. Fortunately the Internet offers us plenty of news sources and public domain books on many different websites. Still as you progress through learning you will eventually encounter and accumulate books in that particular language. This post is essentially me showing off some of my German language books I have that are interesting for one reason or another

When I had time off during a semester in spent in Berlin, I would spend a lot of time on Unter Den Linden, people watching. Not only is Unter Den Linden where the Brandenburg Gate is, it is also part of the city where the Berlin Wall was constructed. Today it is a huge attraction with a lot of shops and has people from all over Europe as well as the world. Humboldt University is there as well, and during certain days they have a used book sale out front.

It is there that I got this book for five euro:

 

a German copy of All Quiet on the Western Front published in 1929. Other than the fact that it smells like musty cigar, there is nothing unusual about the book. What is interesting is that the Nazis would have burned this book had one of them, or a sympathizer found it. It is only a little ways down Unter Den Linden, at Bebelplatz, that the infamous Nazi book burnings took place in 1933.

Another interesting book I have was actually purchased in a used book store in Massachusetts. The store had purchased all the books of a deceased professor at an estate sale, and now were selling each of the books individually. A great deal of them were in German, or dealt with contemporary issues (at the time of the writing of the books) in German society. Here is one that I purchased: 

Do You Love Germany? Feelings on the Situation of the Country

Published in 1985, each chapter is an essay written by a different person. The very first chapter is aptly entitled "Nein".

I also have a copy of the infamous Struwwelpeter.

While hopefully no one would read this book in a serious context to their children today, I found the last copy in a children's book store in Germany. This copy has all the original illustrations and is intended for children with it's binding and thick pages. I should also note the children's books are a great way to start off reading when you are first learning a language.

Finally the last book I want to show you is the Prager Spukgestalten. It has a bad spine, so I can't hold it open to take pictures, which unfortunately is a shame because every other page has a great illustration to accompany the traditional stories told on each accompanying page.

Sweet monster guy on the back of the book

It is from Prague in the 60's, and in German. I also purchased this from the used book store. Unfortunately I have not read much if it so I can't comment on the contents. A lot of the illustrations are entertaining. It will be interesting to see the context of these stories based on the time and place of their publication. Perhaps in a future update?

Learning Motivation

One of the things I hate is when people say they can't do something. "You're learning a language? Great! I could never do that". Well duh, with that attitude like that you can't do anything. While this post is mostly concerned with language learning, it can be applied to anything. Just replace language learning with exercising, reading, quiting smoking, ________ .

It is tougher for adults to learn a language, we do know that. Once psychologists thought that adults could never learn a second language. We now know that even adults have brain plasticity, not as much as developing children, but it's there. If we did not have plasticity, we would not be able to learn anything new. Once in a while a book on Linguistics will argue that a native speaker can never fully learn a new language. My personal stance on that is that while we do not fully comprehend how children are able to grasp language, other than the fact that their brains are developing at incredible rates during the critical period, we therefore can not fully understand whether or not a non native speaker can fully grasp a new language.

Nevertheless I still struggle learning German, and to learn a new language in adulthood is a pain in the neck. That doesn't mean that someone cannot do it. But telling yourself you cannot do something before even trying will not get you anywhere.

Take for example this study conducted by a graduate student in 1939, completely unethical by today's standards

In 1939, University of Iowa graduate student Mary Tudor began an experiment with local orphans, warning them that they were showing signs of stuttering and lecturing them whenever they repeated a word. The children became acutely self-conscious, and many began to stutter, fulfilling the theory that “the affliction is caused by the diagnosis.”

The article is actually about how one of the subject wrote her a letter years later accusing her of being a monster and how the study ruined his life. Jesus Christ!

Nonetheless the study goes to show that "the affliction is caused by the diagnosis."If you say you cannot do something, you cant. Tell yourself you know you can. Not only that, but use positive thoughts and motivation not only but your self, but others! What have you got to lose?

Free FSI Language Courses

The United States Foreign Service Institute is an institution within the United States government that is responsible for training the Department of State in preparation for going abroad. They develop a multitude of courses in almost any language available.

The website, FSI Language Courses, lists all of the courses that have fallen into the public domain. The website is unaffiliated with the government:

This site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. This site is not affiliated in any way with any government entity; it is an independent, non-profit effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages. Courses here are made available through the private efforts of individuals who are donating their time and resources to provide quality materials for language learning.

 I remember in high school Latin our teacher got the FSI tapes for Italian from the library when a group of students in the class were going on a field trip to Italy. It is possible that the library editions of these materials could be newer, but most likely not considering all of there materials are in the public domain.

I would suggest you keep in mind some of this information is old, cultural terms may be out of date. For example the word "fraulein" ("little Mrs.") is used in the German materials. While it did use to be acceptable to call an unmarried young woman this in Germany, doing it today without the intention to cheesily flirt, will only get you dirty looks (if you're lucky). Results may vary by language, consult your local native speaker for more information.

Nevertheless for the very low price of free, how can you go wrong?

Once again the site's URL: http://fsi-language-courses.org

Learning Languages in Videogames

It is surprising that with the success of "edutainment" games like Oregon Trail, Math Blaster, Where in The Word is Carmen Santiago and the Jumpstart series; that there is not a bigger market for more games like these. I dream of the day someone will create a computer game that teaches calculus. Perhaps in an alternate dimension, where I have mastered calculus and programming, but that would also mean that there may be another alternate dimension in which I suck cock for crack rocks. Not cool man!

One of the things I have started doing is playing games I used to love, but this time they are in German. Most computer games already have a built in language setting to simply switch the language over to whatever you want. One of my favorite games to do this with is Civilization because there are so many different technologies, people, places, and phrases you get to learn while playing the game.

This is also a great thing to do on emulators. I really like playing old games from my childhood because I have an idea of what is being said, and it is easier to make inferences as to what new words might mean. It will make you feel like a genius! Try it out! Who hasn't played A Link To The Past at least thirty times? Any idea what is being said here?

OH MY GOD YOU CAN READ GERMAN

Almost any rom site has the roms in different languages listed in brackets. However the only ones I know of are:
(U) Universal
(E) English
(G) or (D) German

Sometimes the rom with a [!] might be required, but I digress. Of course the only way you will learn anything is if you actually take the time and read the dialogue. If you have played through the particular game before, it is pointless to scroll through everything just because you know where the next dungeon is. On the other hand, if you want to try a new game, I suggest having a dictionary nearby or a translation website. Also I suggest finding games that tend to be text heavy, such as strategy games or RPGs. Good luck and have fun!

The Cases Against Learning German

 The most studied foreign language in the United States is Spanish. What is interesting about that, is a majority of Americans identify with a German ancestry. German is the fifth most studied language in the United States though. On the surface one may think that is a little odd, however there are obvious explanations to that; these people are only ethnically German. Generation after generation less and less of them probably learn the language. Meanwhile there is an ever increasing number of Spanish speakers in the United States. Some of which may not even speak English.

When I decided I wanted to learn a second language before I entered college, I originally picked Arabic. "Great!" Everyone said. "You will get a job with the state department no problem!" They were obviously missing the point, but I will get to that later in the post. Here is a hint: it has nothing to do with the fact that I believe governments of the world solely exist to keep people separated, and therefore ensuring government has a job.

For native English speakers the hardest concept for them to grasp when learning German is that of cases. Cases used to exist in Old English, they don't anymore except for the word whom and the last time someone amongst your friends said "whom" they most likely were ostracized. I have often had arguments with other German major friends because I believe that it is easier for a native German speaker to learn English than a native English speaker learning German because one does not have to grasp new concepts that do not exist in their mother tongue.

Deciphering this chart should be the first priority of a German language student

In German there are four cases, on top of that they modify the article (think a or the in English, in German they are der, die, and das) of the word. You need to know the gender of the word right off the bat or you are going to have to make an inference about what is being said. I do not want to tell you something wrong, so I am not going to give a comprehensive review of the  cases. Instead I am going to pull up some specific example that I borrowed from the book Brief German Reference Grammer by Nora Wittman.

Take for example the dative case which is actually Latin for "to give". Had I known this earlier and not simply because I read it in a book on psycholinguistics a week ago I probably would have stopped thinking it was a case that denoted when something happened. The dative case is used in three different contexts:
1. As the indirect object of a verb:

Er gibt dem Chemiker das Salz

2. As an object of certain prepositions, verbs and adjectives:

Wir helfen unseren Nachbarn.

3. To denote possession when referring to parts of the body or to articles of clothing:

Sie wäscht dem Kinde die Hand.

Number three is an exception to the genitive case, which is used to denote possession. Confusing, no?

German is not any more tougher than Latin, and I remember my Latin high school teacher telling the class that one of the finals he had in college was translating copies of Latin notes taken in shorthand.

Just fucking kill me now

Besides the fact that German may be perceived as less useful than Spanish. I wonder if less high school students study German simply because they know / think that it is tough. But then why learn Latin? We saw that an understanding of Latin can help you understand technical words, such as the names of cases. Is studying German too much work? Doesn't every language have it's own quirks? Unfortunately I do not have an answer to these questions. 

Of course if you make the decision not to learn a language based on how tough you perceive it to be, you are in the wrong mindset and you will never learn the language. Everyone I have met, from my high school Latin teacher to foreign university students in the US have loved the language they study; and to a certain extent obsess over it. If there's on thing I have noticed it is that the foreign student who tell me that they want to learn language because it will be useful when they have a career never speak as well as the students that have a general interest in the language. Take that as you will.Take a language that you're interested in, and if you don't care about learning one then just take whatever is going to get you an A.