Today is exactly 10 days since I learn German. Rather, UCHU is loudly said. As I listen to the dialogues, this is the first exercise of a whole program for beginners. In my readers of this blog, I wished each of you to make a list of real goals for this year and prescribe an action plan to achieve them. I shared with you some of my goals for 2014, one of which is: to learn German at a level sufficient to communicate with foreigners abroad on general topics.

I thought about the methodology of learning German and decided that I don’t want to learn the language the old fashioned way and I won’t. I do not want to get bogged down in a pile of textbooks and notebooks, as it was at the university, where I studied English for 5 years. And if you also remember the school, then the desire to learn a foreign language disappears completely!

I went the other way. Last year, I wrote about my impressions of a visit to which polyglots spoke and talked about various methods of learning languages.

None of them obsessed over books, as we used to learn at school. In my opinion, this is where the dislike for learning languages ​​comes from - it was completely uninteresting to read about some kind of Ivan Petrov, John or Steve and Mr. Smith, who get up every day at 7 in the morning, wash, have breakfast and go to school or work . At the university it was already more interesting, of course, but still I don’t want to bury myself in textbooks at all))

In our time, thank God, a lot has changed: audio and video tasks were introduced into the methodology of learning foreign languages, and the textbooks, of course, which are now being produced, we did not even dream of at that time. BUT, as I mentioned above, I don’t want any textbooks - my childhood memories are too strong))) And, besides, I don’t want to spend a lot of time learning the language: not an hour, let alone 2 hours a day not ready to give. I know that many people go to courses about 2-3 times a week and spend 1.5-2 hours studying in a group or individually. DON'T WANT!)))

And to follow some of the advice of polyglots speaking on that one, I am also not ready yet - for example, a very popular method is communication with a native speaker via Skype. Being an absolute zero in German, I still have no idea how I will communicate via Skype, for example, with a real German)))) I will leave this method for later. I decided to postpone this, because. I have absolutely no base, no-one at all. I did not learn German and, as they say, only a couple of words are heard.

But at the same conference, I learned that in order to learn a language at a more / less normal level for communication, All it takes is 30 minutes a day! This is what I need!!! Half an hour can always be found. But there is one BUT and very important: you need to do this EVERY DAY. Those. every day for 30 minutes and the result will not keep you waiting.

And the most important thing: it is desire and motivation. Moreover, the desire must be very, very strong, otherwise you will give up in a week!

And in the meantime, to lay a base, I bought a beginner CD from the "Talk to Me" Platinum series. They produce such discs for learning 5 languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. I have the most basic German course, although it sounds like "beginner-intermediate", but in any case, the number goes 1. The program is installed on a computer - everything is intuitively simple. You can even set your own individual language learning plan. But I did not do this, I started from the very first exercise. When you pass it, the next blinks, and so on in turn, until you complete everything. Naturally, as you progress through the material, they will become more complicated.

First exercise- these are mini-dialogues on the topic of getting up, greetings, getting to know each other, how is who doing, who is how old, finding out the details of the family (who is married, who is single, whether there are children, etc.), who lives where (in which country, who owns which house or apartment) and so on.

Each dialogue consists of only 4 sentences, and I have already gone through 13 such dialogues, I think there are 3 or 4 left to complete this first exercise. I really like it and so far, really, this method of studying is suitable. Completely relaxed: you listen and memorize words, intonation, you can see the translation, there are pictures for the topic (photos), it is also possible to practice phonetics by listening and repeating words.

It’s very difficult for me personally with phonetics: somehow it’s not very good to repeat everything correctly - complex sounds in German ... Or is it still out of habit? Something is given, but something is not very ((There are differences from English .... By the way, the correctness of your reproduction of sounds is displayed by a 7-point scale (I usually display an average of 4-5 points, rarely which words go as much as 7 points!))) Well, nothing, phonetics - of course, is not the biggest problem in learning foreign languages, although I want to speak beautifully! Apparently, I will work it out with foreign speakers, looking into their mouths and watching the movement of the tongue

Grammar is also affected, of course. And by clicking on the word of interest, you can see information about it, for example, conjugation of verbs. But I don't pay attention to it, but I teach as it is in the phrase, without going into details, why a different ending appeared in an already familiar word. Decided to learn the language like a child. After all, when a baby is born, no one explains to him that this word is a verb and he conjugates like this)))) The child simply hears words and phrases and correlates them with the action, with what is happening around him and remembers ready-made expressions, without all sorts of explanations, declensions and conjugations. I decided to follow the same path and not clutter my head with grammatical rules. Let everything take its course.

Maybe in this program there will be separate lessons devoted to grammar, I will tell you later, because. I decided to describe the whole process of learning German directly on the blog. It's kind of an experiment! I have set a goal and I want to achieve it: to learn to understand and speak German in a year. I want to be able to communicate with foreigners on simple topics in the summer, that is, now for the next six months I have a subtask - first to master conversational German.

So, during those 10 days:

• I spent a minimum of my time (I practiced 30-40 minutes a day), listening to the dialogues and repeating the words after the speaker (by the way, the pace of speech in the exercises is fast, lively!). They speak in both male and female voices. In my opinion, during this time I missed 2 days in the program, i.e. I didn’t listen to new dialogues and didn’t repeat old ones, but these days I gave myself a dictation and wrote down the words I had already learned so as not to miss a single day in the study. Thus, the required 30 minutes were actually worked out every day anyway. And here I made one important conclusion for myself: if I want to quickly achieve the desired result and start talking as soon as possible, then, naturally, I need to quickly go through all the exercises (and there are sooooo many of them, I can no longer afford to stretch each exercise for 10 days), so I increase the daily time for learning German instead of 30 minutes to the exact 40. 40 minutes is also quite a bit a day, but on the other hand, for these additional 10 minutes, you can repeat each sentence 10 more times, and it will definitely be remembered))))
• Words must be learned! They won't get into your head. Therefore, after each dialogue, I write out the words and “learn” them during the day - not that I teach, I just look at them: I put a piece of paper in front of me on the table and no, no, but look at it, read one, second word, so they are remembered, i.e. I don't cram myself. But I arrange dictations))) I divide the sheet into 2 halves: on the left I write words and expressions from dialogues in Russian, on the right I translate, then I check. This must be done if you want not only to be able to speak, but also to write words correctly. For me, writing is also important, so I remember how words are spelled.

My vocabulary is 66 words. Of course, this is very little and I will actually increase the time of learning German to 40 minutes a day to make things go faster. But, if you look from the other side, this is ALREADY 66 new words + brain work)) Learning foreign languages ​​prolongs life and brain activity! And this is already a big step forward, because 10 days ago I had no idea about the German language, and if I hadn’t started learning it, I would have remained at the same level, not knowing where to start and how to start learning the language ... so I would have put it off all the time.

• And there is another important point in learning a foreign language - this is the creation of a language environment around you, which was also discussed at the conference. I started by listening to the radio, but they speak little German there, of course, a lot of music, and moreover, English-language songs, unfortunately ((So, I went further and set up an online television in my computer (although not everything goes like online broadcast, many broadcasts in the recording), but it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that you constantly hear German speech. So, every day I hear this language and I ALREADY catch the words and expressions I learned in their speech. I am very pleased)) The general meaning I still I don't understand.

P.S.: I really like Austria, so I listen to and watch radio and TV broadcasts from Vienna. I don’t know if the Austrian language differs much from classical German, but I think that on radio and television the language sounds very close to pure German, although this doesn’t matter to me ... I’m just more interested in the Austrian version of German

Read on to learn German.

Hello my dear readers and guests! Let me introduce myself once again (suddenly you don’t know), my name is Marina Schatz (Marina Schatz).

A1-2. Start.

It all started when I met a handsome young man on the Internet. Later it turned out that he lives in Germany. I fell in love. Over the ears. And I started to get interested in the German language. I decided to learn it on my own, then German appeared at my institute, I tried very hard, did all my homework, but the mess remained in my head! So I got to the level between A1 and A2.

Later I passed this test with excellent marks Start Deutsch A1 (. Certificate in hand. Happy.

B1. The next important step

We have been actively communicating with the young man all this time (not in German haha). He even came to a meeting in Russia. And then it dawned on me to go to German courses in Germany and at the same time meet him there.

Signed up for the B1 course for about a month. I attended the course for a whole month and met after it with my lover ... oh, it was a carefree and fun, and romantic time!

After my classes in Germany, I received only confirmation that I studied at that school. I didn't pass the exam.

And so ... in the winter before my departure home on the bridge, my dear and beloved made me an offer of marriage. Voooot I was happy..iiii I had an even greater incentive to learn the language! We started collecting documents (by that time I had graduated from the university), I received a fiancee visa, having an A1 certificate.

After moving to Germany, I went to integration courses at a fairly good school at B1 level. Passed the exam. Certificate received. I'm glad. But this was not enough for me. I went further.

Materials for the German level B1 see here >>>

B2. It's hard, but you work on all your Skills!

I chose the B2 + Beruf course because I wanted to work. And my knowledge on B1 did not give me the confidence in communicating with the Germans that I wanted. In general, my poor brain haha ​​.. I studied every day in the morning at school for 4 hours, after 4 hours at home. Plus communication on the street, a la in the store.

Yes, this level was difficult, but it gave me a lot. Many knowledge of grammar was well fixed, the porridge went out of my head, a fairly good (but not perfect) vocabulary appeared. In general, B2 + Beruf pumped my knowledge of German.

C1 + Beruf. Well Vapscheee. For what?

A so that all certificates are in the collection. Haha))))

In fact, I got the opportunity to make this level for free and of course I took advantage of it. Plus, I heard from many that they take a good job with a level from C1. And I needed a good job hahaha... well..

So, this level is just AHTUNG! I thought I wouldn't give it up! It was very difficult. Yes, this is a type of repetition of the entire grammar, but there is still a lot of vocabulary, moreover, specific, for work. It was necessary to compose a lot of dialogues, essays, to speak on all sorts of topics. In general, only a few people passed this level from the course, along with me. I still remember this exam with goosebumps and how stupid I was there. So, there is a certificate!

Articles for levels B2-C1 here >>

C2 Level. Have you completely lost your mind?

Yes, I must have gone crazy. But I need this certificate. Now I will tell...

After I received my C1 + Beruf certificate, I got a job as a teacher in a German school and still work here. I teach all the subjects that students learn. At first it was difficult to integrate into German society. Although I had this C1, I still didn’t understand a lot of what my colleagues and children were saying. I constantly had to listen to what they were saying with strained ears and brains. This is tin. But quietly I got used to it and learned a bunch more words in addition, and fixed other speech expressions. And what can I say, at work or in a university, you learn German faster and you start speaking not like a turtle, but normally.

Why do I need C2 now? Simply because, to raise their level in work. I need it.

Now I don't even know if I can pass C2 or not, but I'll try. For now, I'm thinking of preparing on my own because I don't have time for courses because of work and a baby. Eh ... but I would like to!

What helped me to learn German?

1. In the first place, of course, I will put - DESIRE. Great burning desire. Interest in language.

No interest? Get interested, understand WHY you need this language! If you want to live comfortably in Germany and work at a normal job, then you have an interest in learning it, or a necessity. Necessity is also very motivating.

2. German courses in Germany(either at least at the Goethe Institute at the embassy, ​​or as an option, a native speaker teacher). Detailed experience here>>

The courses discipline, give the opportunity to communicate in German not only with oneself and the teacher, but also with other course participants.

3. Reading.

Reading books helped me a lot. I read aloud almost every day. Even my husband sometimes forced me. Poor guy, his ears must have curled up hahaha. Reading aloud greatly improves your speech, and silent reading improves your thoughts in German.

He is quite lively this series, light and very informative in terms of vocabulary. I really loved watching him and repeating after them what the characters said. I wrote down phrases that were interesting to me. It is very important to repeat like a parrot (but consciously) after native speakers. Be monkeys and parrots, repeat all the interesting phrases in German that native speakers say.

5. Cards.

I learned a lot from cards that I made myself. These were cards with both vocabulary and grammar. You can work on them every day. I even compiled my A1-2 vocabulary cards for my readers (). They are also very good on the road, I printed it out for myself, put it in my pocket, you go and learn, fix it.

6. Communication with native German speakers.

It can be a teacher from courses, a friend / girlfriend of your half, and best of all, colleagues and work or university and students. Language is best learned at work and at university.

7. Additional materials.

I bought various courses, textbooks, both online and in print, audio CDs, downloaded all kinds of word lists, magazines in German. By the way, I can recommend the magazine Deutsch Perfect ().

8. Radio and German music.

In the car, I was constantly listening to the radio, German music, news, radio shows. Yes, at first I did not really understand anything. But, believe me, when you listen to the same phrases every day (for example, from the inserts of the show), they just already sit in your head and you yourself say them together with the radio presenters. All radios here

9. Applications on a smartphone.

There are a lot of all sorts of different applications for learning the German language. Just type Deutsch lernen into the search and you will get so many applications! (list of interesting applications)

10. Wortschatz.

Learn words not separately, but in phrases/sentences! So much more efficient! Every day 5 offers! Who can do more - I applaud!

I hope you don’t have this question ‘How to learn German’ again! It would be great if YOU in the comments here told about your experience of learning the language and what level is at the moment. Thank you and wish you success!

Learn German with fun! And I will try to help you with this 😉

Ecology of life. People: He is 35, and now he is already mastering the eleventh language. Italian Luca Lampariello admits that being a polyglot is cool, but disagrees that it is difficult. Here are some of the lessons he learned from learning languages: English and French, German and Spanish, Dutch and Swedish, Russian and Polish, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese.

He is 35, and now he is already mastering the eleventh language. Italian Luca Lampariello admits that being a polyglot is cool, but disagrees that it is difficult. Here are some of the lessons he learned from learning languages: English and French, German and Spanish, Dutch and Swedish, Russian and Polish, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese.

I want to take you off the beaten track. No need to ask yourself the question of how to learn a language - askyourself, why are you teaching him. Experienced polyglots know that it's all about motivation.

Learning languages ​​is not about spending many hours reading textbooks. It's about traveling to beautiful places, meeting amazing people, savoring delicious food and getting to know yourself. That's what fuels my motivation. The knowledge of languages ​​helps me to bring all this to life.

LESSON 1

Language cannot be taught, it can be learned. It's great if someone helps, but let it be a guide, not an instructor.

I started learning English at the age of 10, in 1991. It was a required subject. At first things didn't go well: I didn't like the teacher, I didn't understand grammar, the material seemed boring.

When I was 13, my parents hired me a private tutor. It was a charming woman. She did not train, but helped me discover the language. There is nothing better for learning a language than learning to love it..

I began to read English books avidly, every day I watched films without translation, and once a week I studied for two hours with a teacher. As a result, at 15 I was fluent in English, and with a strong American accent.

LESSON 2

Language opens the door to a new world. You need to forget about all the barriers and just fall in love - with the language, with the country, with the people, even with the national cuisine.

I started learning French around the same time as English, and I had the same problems with it. Everything changed at 14: every day I started watching French TV for two hours. It gave me more than the previous three years of school. By 15 I already knew French quite fluently.

In 2010 I went to France for three years. French culture made the deepest impression on me: history, traditions, the whole cultural context.

LESSON 3

There is no one method of learning languages ​​that suits everyone. Find your own and you can learn any language on your own. Experiment!

LESSON 4

A foreign language helps us better understand our own. When you learn a language related to your own, immediately start speaking. It's easier than it might seem.

Italians have a myth that Spanish is a very easy language: you just have to speak Italian by adding an "s" at the end of every word. Structurally, they are indeed close, but there are fundamental differences in pronunciation, intonation, and the use of idioms.

In 2007 I was on an exchange in Barcelona. Mostly I was surrounded by Catalans, in addition, I lived with a girl from Malaga and used every opportunity to communicate with the Spaniards. And the tongue just imprinted on me.

LESSON 5

There are no unnecessary languages: any one will come in handy someday. Don't give in to stereotyped judgments, be guided by your own interests and beliefs.

We met Lotta from the Netherlands in Sardinia. She did not speak English very well, and although we had a great time together, we were still very frustrated that we could not fully communicate. So I decided to learn her language. And although we broke up with her, I now have Dutch in my luggage.

I knew it would come in handy one day, and I was right. Now I speak it every day with my Dutch neighbor. I improve my knowledge easily, effortlessly and with interest. In a word, you don't have to go to a country if you want to learn its language.

LESSON 6

Work on pronunciation from the very beginning so as not to reinforce blunders.

I was thinking about learning some Scandinavian language, and my Italian friend took and gave me a Swedish tutorial for my birthday. Due to its special intonation, it sounds like music to me, but at first I could not grasp it.

In 2004 I went to Stockholm for the first time and was captivated by the Swedish culture. I tried to speak more Swedish, watched Swedish films and read books, mostly thrillers that Scandinavians are famous for.

What is especially great If you know Swedish, all Scandinavians will understand you.

LESSON 7

If the language doesn't work for you and you're ready to give up, consider how to rekindle your interest in it. Go to the country, find interlocutors, watch a movie, make a video on Youtube. Something will work.

After the Romano-Germanic languages, I wanted something new. Russian seemed exotic: incredibly rich, sophisticated and bewitchingly complex.

Thinking in Russian was like solving a mathematical puzzle. I couldn't comprehend how the Russians deal with this every day. There was no one to help me, and after 8 months I began to think that I was mistaken in choosing this language. I didn't see much progress. For the next three years, I did little. And then I decided to post a video on Youtube where I speak Russian.

The response stunned me. Even in my wildest dreams, I could not imagine that I would receive so many positive comments. Russians consider their language difficult and inaccessible to foreigners, so when they hear someone say a couple of phrases in Russian, they are delighted. After that, I took Russian seriously and gradually began to get used to the labyrinth of Russian grammar.

LESSON 8

If you plan well, you can learn two languages ​​in parallel.

I started learning European Portuguese at the same time as Mandarin Chinese. Before that, I had never had to learn two languages ​​at once, so I set some rules for myself.

Portuguese, like Spanish, I learned by myself. I just had to pay attention to pronunciation., not everything is easy with him. Unstressed vowels are almost swallowed there, and sometimes it seems that the speech consists of only consonants. Therefore, it sometimes sounds like Russian.

I am sometimes asked why I chose European Portuguese and not Brazilian, which is much more common. But the fact is that often I do not choose the language. I let the language choose me.

LESSON 9

Travel is a great motivator. Travel wherever you can as much as possible: it pushes you to learn languages.

In 2012, I visited Poland for the second time and just fell in love with this country and its people. In addition to using my own translation technique, my Polish acquaintance Michal and I regularly peer learning classes. I highly recommend this approach if you are learning Slavic languages ​​and already know one.

Although Russian and Polish are quite different in many ways, they are structurally very similar, and knowing one makes it much easier to learn the other.

LESSON 10

Don't be intimidated by learning languages ​​that have a reputation for being "difficult".

I heard that Chinese is terribly difficult, and I did not even intend to learn it. But I was spurred on by the success of my first Youtube video and started looking for a new challenge. I began to learn Chinese on my own, and it really was a challenge!

But if someone tells you that you can't learn Chinese on your own, don't believe it. It has its own complexities, but something turns out to be easier than you might expect. The main thing is to master the tones and hieroglyphs. Otherwise, Chinese is not more difficult than other languages.

This will be of interest to you:

LESSON 11

Some languages ​​are really quite special, so keep your approach flexible. If your usual learning method doesn't work, change it. Do not give up!

I saw learning Japanese as another challenge. But I didn't even know it could be so hard. I couldn't build a simple sentence, Japanese is so different in structure from any other language I know. At first I thought that this was a temporary problem and could be solved with regular conversational practice, but it turned out that this was not the case.

Japanese is still my biggest challenge to this day, but I can handle it anyway. Need only reconsider your approaches and immerse yourself in it. published

Note: this is a translation of an article by Alexander Svanevik. The author describes personal experience.

This article is a summary of an experiment I started in January 2015: learn german in 30 days.
Before starting, I will make 3 reservations:

• “Learned German” means that I am able to speak on simple topics and understand this language (both spoken and written). I did not become fluent in German during this time.

• I do not claim originality for all the ideas in this text. I was inspired by the books of Barry Farber and Benny Lewis.

• My native language is Norwegian. This gave me an advantage as it is linguistically close to German.

If you want to go faster, read on. In addition to general advice, I have created a couple of useful files for learning the language.

Every day I exercised for 30-60 minutes for 30 days (month), so I didn’t spend too much time.

5 Principles of Effective Foreign Language Learning

I have a hypothesis that there are 5 principles of language learning. The purpose of the experiment is to test them for “strength”. Here they are:

1. Set a clear goal.
2. Talk from day one.
3. Focus on frequently used words.
4. Dive into the language.
5. Follow development.

Below I will explain how I used these principles.

1. Set a clear goal.

I followed the goal setting approach. The goal is to learn German as well as possible in 30 days. In detail, I was going to accomplish the following key goals:

1. Learn the 1000 most used words.
2. Learn 10 songs by heart.
3. Be able to talk about everyday topics with friends.

Points 1 and 2 are good because they are measurable. But the main point for me was point number 3, although it was vaguely worded. To make it tangible, I booked a ticket to Berlin and decided that all weekend I would only speak German with a friend.

Once I decided to follow the plan, I told everyone that I would learn German in 30 days. The purpose of such an act is purely psychological. I followed the plan so as not to look like a complete idiot. For 30 days, I was always asked: “Well, how is learning German?”. I answered: “Sehr gut, danke!”.

(Unbeknownst to others, I had the idea that I would record a video in Berlin in which I would speak Deutsch. Which I did on day 29. But I will spare you the embarrassing video already posted on Facebook.)

2. Talk from day one.

The biggest mistake I could make when learning a language is putting off speaking it "until I'm ready." The tongue is like a muscle. As long as you go to the gym, you're fine. The rest is procrastination and laziness.

To fulfill point number 2, my task was to make friends who speak or study German. I warned them that I would be online for 30 minutes every day at 20:00 on appear.in and uploaded my URL. I managed to collect 5 people. None of them were native speakers, but some were fluent in German (which is extremely important!), the rest were just getting started.

In order to stay within the target language and not switch to English or Norwegian, I created a Cheet Sheet that contained the necessary phrases. This sheet did not let me fade away and was useful to me in online conversations.

Following the “language is muscle” analogy, I loudly repeated everything he heard or read in German in self-study. Compared to passive listening and reading, such repetition is imprinted in the brain.

3. Focus on commonly used words

If you don't know Zipf's law, then you'll be surprised by this fact: the 100 most used words make up 50 percent of the vocabulary in German films. Take a break and reflect on this fact. It means that almost every word in a German movie is in the top 100.

Illustration for Zipf's law

I found a list and created a file in GoogleDocs with the 1000 most used words. They make up 75% of all words in German subtitles. Task: memorize their meaning up to 30 days. I memorized 30-35 words a day. As far as possible, I used my kinship with English and Norwegian to learn them. Once a week I exported them to Anki and trained on them.

The "frequency" sheet is one of the cool ideas that came to my mind. It served as an anchor for my later learning.

For a vocabulary test, I tried to read German newspapers and books, underlining the words I didn't know. After reading a page or a paragraph, I counted the number of words known and unfamiliar to me (calculating the coefficient words known / total words in text). At the end of the study period, the ratio was 80-85% - related words with English, Norwegian and context helped me raise 75% of the top 1000.

4. Immerse yourself in the language.

Changed the language to German on Facebook. Watched a bunch of videos on Yabla.

When I learned the lyrics, I listened to them and hummed whenever I had free time. I even recorded attempts to play songs on the guitar. I won't show you the video

It's hard to remember just by listening to the song. Therefore, at first I reread them 5-10 times without remembering. I used Lingq and easily determined which words in the song were unfamiliar to me when I listened to a new song.

5. Follow development.

The great thing about the Top 1000 Words spreadsheet is that at any given time I knew how much I had already memorized. Since I knew the frequency of each word on the list, I calculated the “volume” of German that I had already learned.

I also kept a simple diary in Evernote with a description of the activities during the course of the lesson. Only one day out of thirty I did nothing.

Other points in learning German in a month

I took the RocketLanguages ​​course but only completed the first 3 modules.

On day 27, I installed Duolingo and passed the level 10 knowledge test. Class!

I didn't study grammar. It was the right decision. I did not have the task of learning to speak like a full-blooded German in 30 days. To master the cases, I came up with the following scheme. I memorized a set of 4 sentences like: “The man gave the book to the boy” - one sentence for each gender plus the plural. Memorizing four sentences is many times easier than tormenting yourself with a case table.

Conclusion

Summing up, I will say - I achieved the goal.

I learned 1,000 commonly used words (let's add the ones I didn't keep track of on the chart).

Now I know 10 German songs by heart.

I went to Berlin and had a great weekend there with my friend Daniel. He taught me how to fly a kite.

If you want to try this approach yourself, then here is a table for you.

That's all! Either this article will inspire you on a 30 day language adventure or you think I'm crazy. In any case, let me know what you think of my experiment!

Some have asked how I learned the language so quickly (from zero to C1 in ten and a half months). I am happy to share my experience, as well as techniques and tips that helped me.

I hope they will help you too, but I warn you - there will be no easy recipes.

To begin with - the initial data

When a couple of years ago I had a dream - to enter a university in Germany - I knew, at best, a couple of phrases from Rammstein songs. It so happened that neither at school, nor after it, I never had the need to learn German. True, I have wanted this for a long time, but there were always other, more important things to do.

When I found out that I needed a TestDaF certificate for admission, there was not much time left.

Simple arithmetic: submission of documents for the winter semester - until July 15 (as a rule); the exam is held several times a year, and you need to wait 5-6 weeks for the result; before the exam, it would be nice to take a special course that lasts 4 weeks. That is a total of 10 weeks. Let's add another two weeks for the preparation and sending of documents (at least, although this is very short) - 12 weeks.

It turned out that at least three months before putting my signature on the coveted Zulassungsantrag (application for a place at the university), I had to speak German at a level not lower than B2.

Cozy patio Uni Stuttgart

Advice. Find out as accurately as possible how much time you have. Find out in advance all the deadlines at the chosen university, the dates of the exam and the deadlines for enrolling in courses (sometimes you need to sign up several weeks in advance and pass preliminary testing). Do not forget also that all this time you will have many other concerns related to admission - preparation of documents, financial and organizational issues, and in addition - basic studies or work. What? Oh yes, personal life. She will have to be forgotten. Okay, just kidding - it's not all that scary.

So, I had less than a year. Before, I had read other people's stories about learning a language at an accelerated pace. This one, for example, inspired me a lot - four and a half months, impressive, isn't it? But I had to proceed from what is - I could not afford any classes in the morning and afternoon, daily five-hour intensives and the like. I had to work five full days a week, if only then, to pay for the courses. So the program was next.

On June 2, 2012, I came to my first lesson, A 1.1, at the Alpha-Intensiv center in Kiev (hello, my beloved school!). The name speaks for itself - intensive short courses, four to six weeks per sublevel. I didn’t study anywhere else, only preparation for the TestDaF took place at the Goethe-Institut. Worked with textbooks Hueber-Schritte International. At the first level there were three classes a week for three hours.

Advice. Choose the best school you can afford - it will pay off, especially if you really don't have much time. Look for group sessions that focus on a communicative technique, where you need to actively use the language and do a lot of exercises. Yes, and do not feel sorry for yourself - the more you have to work, the better :)

Hueber Tutorials

From the very first days, I determined for myself some rules that I followed throughout my studies, so I can recommend them as effective. Here they are:

1. ALWAYS do ALL your homework.

I had to learn lessons at home at night, on the subway, at lunchtime at work, and even in a dark train car to write almost by touch. I often did even those exercises that were not mandatory, and I still consider it indecent to come to class with unfinished or unfinished homework.

2. Do what the teacher says.

The teacher, as a guide, must be trusted, without this nothing will work. Repeat the question "What's your name?" and say your name ten times in a row, sing a children's song, play sellers and buyers - all these seemingly simple exercises are actually very important. In the classroom, I often noticed that adults are trying to ignore them - they say, we already understood everything, we are not children. In vain. What you hear is forgotten, and games and dialogues help you feel that you are really using the language. So, if they say to write a letter to a fictitious girlfriend about how you spent the weekend, sit down and write.

3. Obviously, but not so easy in practice - do not be afraid to say something wrong.

I still painfully perceive my mistakes, because I do not like careless handling of languages, and even more so with German, my favorite. But I noticed that when I happened to say something completely stupid in class, and they corrected me at the same time, I memorized a word or a rule very well. Hence the conclusion - it is better to say stupidity and be corrected than to remain silent, tormented by the consciousness of one's own imperfection, and continue to live with mistakes.

4. Get knowledge not only from textbooks.

I also got hold of the book Wortschatz & Grammatik A1 and when my homework ran out, I did the exercises from there. There are answers, so you can check yourself.

Advice. Even if you do not live in a German-speaking country, there is a lot of German around you, believe me. Truck signs, supermarket items, labels, instructions, signs... Carry a dictionary with you and open it when you see a new word. A little trick - if you use an electronic dictionary, then resist the temptation to select a word from the drop-down list of hints. Always type the word in full so you remember it faster.

A1.1 classes ended at the end of June, and A1.2 began in July. I continued to study in the same mode, but I realized that this was not enough - I still wouldn’t have time to go through all the levels in a row. In addition, I did not get to A2 in August according to the schedule (it was during the day during working hours).

Then I decided to go straight to B1 (there was a suitable group). I found two books Schritte International A2.1 and A2.2 and during July I went through them on my own, sorted out grammar, did exercises and learned words. I didn’t manage to get through everything, and then, for a few more weeks, I had to fill in the gaps.

To be honest, I still do not think that doing this is very good and right.

If possible, you need to go through all the levels one by one, especially the initial ones, because there is a lot of important, fundamental knowledge there.

I was sorry that many topics had to be reviewed quickly and superficially - so much of the pleasure of learning a language is lost, and the knowledge acquired in this way is unstable. Something was forgotten, had to go back and repeat. But there was no choice.

From the end of July, B 1.1 began. At this level, quite long, complex texts are already written, such as life stories or reviews of films and books. At night, I wrote essays, and at the same time tried to finish the missing grammar. At first it was not easy, but now I am glad that everything turned out this way - it was a serious incentive, I had to stretch all the time in order to keep up, and the group then got up great, it was very interesting to study.

So the summer passed. During the day - work, in the evening and on weekends - German. B 1.2 started in September, and here I met a native speaker for the first time - our classes were taught by a teacher from Germany, Kord Peters. Starting from this level, we followed the EM Neu textbooks. The first two or three lessons were a serious test, but then I got used to it, and then I was already convinced that I was not lagging behind my classmates.

Autumn Intensive-2012

The long-awaited moment has come when the accumulated knowledge began to take shape into something whole, and it was very pleasant to feel how the language being studied becomes an obedient instrument.

Along with studying the textbooks, I constantly tried to find some additional sources of inspiration for myself. I really like songs in German, and I translated their lyrics.

I'll tell you a secret that my favorite songs became less and less. It turned out that such nonsense is sometimes carried there ... but how it sounds :) At the same time, I was preparing to enter the university, and therefore, I had to read a lot on this topic (rules for submitting documents, course descriptions, and much more). This was important information, so it had to be studied very carefully, and at the same time vocabulary was also accumulated.

Advice. Please yourself with something. Love fairy tales - buy a beautiful book of fairy tales in German. Crazy about music - go to a concert of your favorite band. Watch good films in the original, find friends with the same interests. After all, you learn a language for a reason, but to do what you like - to study, work, communicate. Feel that your dream is getting closer.

Fairy tales are good material for learning a language. Benefit and fun :)

In the process of studying, from the first lessons, I kept something like a diary - a notebook with notes about what I learned during the day. She wrote down rules with examples, new phrases, drew diagrams. Another important point is that I never write a translation of German words into Russian or another language, but I try to explain new words with familiar ones. At first, when words were still not enough, I drew or pasted pictures.

At the higher levels, I switched to word cards - and then I really appreciated this method, which I had neglected before. The fact is that cards are often used incorrectly. Write down one word and the translation on the back. I did not use the translation, but replaced it with a synonymous word in German or an explanation, and also added a couple of phrases for example, which exactly evoked the necessary associations. Now I can say that this method turned out to be quite effective. While preparing for the TestDaF, I learned the phrases necessary for the written and spoken parts in the same way.

Advice. You need to not just make cards and be glad that you have them, but constantly carry them with you and sort through them in your free time (how, do you still have it?), Until you remember the word, barely looking at its designation.

2012 ended with course B 1.3. Three and a half months remained before the exam, but in fact, even less - in March, the preparatory course began, and in order to get into it, level B2 was required.

Then I went to courses B 2.1 and B 2.2 in parallel. One course was three days a week, the second - two. A total of 60 hours each. Two more days remained to prepare all the tasks that I did not have time to do in the process.

In January and February I didn't seem to have a single free minute. In the mornings, before leaving the house, I read aloud, which I hung in my room in a conspicuous place. On the way to work, I learned words or repeated grammar. During the break and after work, before leaving for the course, I did exercises. In the evening I ran to class. After classes, late in the evening, I came home and sat down for homework. On weekends, in order to relax a little and not lose time at the same time, I watched films in German.

Saturday morning in class. Short break - and back to study!

The end of winter was not very successful. I got sick and spent about a week at home with a high fever. The situation was complicated by the fact that it was necessary to pass the test to enroll in the TestDaF course. I didn’t think very well then, and squeezed into the framework of the requirements with a terrible creak. When I saw my test essay, with a huge number of errors, I wanted to say “This is not mine, they threw it on me.” It didn't add confidence.

Advice. Learning a language at an accelerated pace is hard work that requires not only discipline (there is no perfection in it), but also strength. Simple physical forces, a limited resource that can end at the most inopportune moment. So think about how to save energy. Take a shortcut to home or school, put some projects on hold, or delegate some of your worries to someone. You can’t do everything - you have to choose and be content with what happens.

It is also worth giving up any activities that take a lot of energy, and, moreover, bring stress - it will be enough anyway. Reinforced training, diets, showdown - all this you cannot afford. It may seem obvious, but you need to eat well and get enough sleep.

It is very important not to cross the line, after which fatigue kills interest, and you just don’t want to do anything. Having wasted forces, the body will scoop them “in debt”, and you will have to pay.

So B2 was finished and the exam preparation course began. And this is where fear took over. Not even fear - horror-horror! I must say that I have always been very calm about exams, but here everything was different. I understood that there was almost no time left, that my knowledge, acquired at such a pace, is still very shaky, that I make many stupid mistakes, and there will only be one attempt - there is no time to retake.

Once I even woke up from a nightmare - I dreamed that I mixed up the verbs in the description of the graph steigern And stagnieren. All my answers seemed so weak and uncertain to me that for the first two or even three sessions it took a lot of effort to force myself to speak. Neither the fact that I could understand the course taught in German without any problems, nor the assignments that I completed successfully, nor the approval of the teacher - nothing helped me overcome the growing panic.

Fortunately, I realized in time that if this continues, I will not pass the exam, and it does not matter what level of preparation I have. Fear does not help make things better. It makes it impossible to use what is - although this is usually enough.

Advice. Do not be afraid. Exams and interviews are, of course, very important events, but fear can ruin everything. Don't give him that opportunity. If you studied conscientiously, if your homework did not cause you any particular difficulties, you took into account all the recommendations and, in principle, you can speak and write on any topic so that you will be understood, then you have every chance of success. Almost everything that can be found in tests is passed in the learning process. So it is unlikely that something extraordinary awaits you - the main thing is to calm down and lay out the knowledge you already have to the maximum.

Extreme student set:

1. Die Lehrbücher (Textbooks)
2. Warum nothing? (Audio course)
3. Die Hausaufgaben (Homework)
4. Wortschatz und Grammatik (additional textbooks on vocabulary and grammar)
5. Schriftliche Aufgaben (compositions, letters, and so on)
6. Das Lerntagebuch (Study diary)
7. Die Tablette (tablet - to constantly carry a dictionary, textbooks and reference materials)
8. Die Kärtchen (Word Cards)
9. TestDaF Vorbereitungskurs (exam preparation materials)
10. Starke Verben (Table of strong verbs)

Separately, I want to say about communication with others during such an extreme study. I was lucky - my relatives reacted to my fanaticism with understanding, supported me as best they could, or at least did not interfere. It is important. Explain to your friends that you are fulfilling the dream of your life, therefore, do not be offended if you do not watch the series with them or comment on their photos on social networks.

Perhaps there will be those who will say that nothing will come of it. That there is little time, and at school in English you always had triples. What you need is a special talent and superpowers that are inaccessible to mere mortals. Don't argue. Just practice, every day, every free minute. And with those who, with a smart look, say “Do you need it?”, It’s better not to talk at all.

Everything ends one day. Yes, you need to study all your life, but otherwise, fortunately, there are deadlines. On April 18, I passed the exam. When I saw the results, at first I could not even be glad - I just wanted to lie down and sleep for a whole year.

Results

What happened next? After all, getting a certificate is not an end in itself, but only the beginning of the path. How do the grades correspond to the real level and how do extreme A students like me feel when it comes down to it - that is, before coming to Germany and studying at the university?

I hasten to reassure you - the knowledge turned out to be real. At the new place, I had to solve many important issues on my own - enroll in the course (pass immatriculation), get insurance and a bank card, find permanent housing and conclude an agreement. And also to face a thousand household trifles, in which one cannot do without German - write letters, go shopping, ask for directions ... And everything worked out. Yes, it's not that easy. Even now, a year later, I still make mistakes in simple constructions when I am very tired or in a hurry, and when they speak quickly in Swabian or (horror!) Bavarian dialect, sometimes I do not understand anything at all. But in the vast majority of cases, from the very first days I felt confident and knew that I would not be lost.

Studying is a little more difficult, but if you think about it, the language barrier has nothing to do with it. At the beginning there was a lot of disorientation associated with various organizational issues (the German education system is very different from ours). Also, some subjects are not easy for me even in my native language - for example, mathematics. Not all teachers have perfect pronunciation and Hochdeutsch - you also need to get used to this. To go to the board for the first time, I had to muster up the courage. And for the second time. And in the third. But Übung macht den Meister, and the lack of knowledge is quickly compensated, there would be a desire.

The reward for a good job is another job. The coveted student's degree has been received, and soon the TestDaF will seem like child's play

And the last. A good school, good textbooks, additional interesting classes, high goals and self-discipline - all this, of course, helps to achieve success. But there is another, very important component. Her name is Love.

I really love German. I love the sound of this language, its strict beauty and harmony, like in classical music, and even its oddities - separable prefixes, articles, irregular verbs.

When I still did not understand a single word, I was fascinated by the texts written in German - they seemed to be a delightful, mysterious pattern, the meaning of which I really wanted to unravel. And all this year, my motivation rested on this love, which turned out to be stronger than fatigue and fear. Every minute of classes gave me so much happiness and inspiration that it was enough to cover such expenditures of energy. I rejoiced at each new word, feeling that I was gaining wealth, incomparable to anything, and it would remain with me, whatever the result of the exam or something else.

Therefore, I can not advise anything to those who are simply trying to force themselves "because they have to." Maybe it will work. But if you find love in your activities, not duty, then it will turn out for sure.

Olga Chumakova, Deutsch-online