german a level

Hi does anyone know any good resources, books, or youtube videos to learn german at a level independently without going to college or school?

Reply 1

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

22

The only channel that seems to be auspicious for your ambitions is this one here:

Learn German With Anja

I can give you another ones when I have found them.

Reply 2

tiredgiraff

11

Hey! I tutor German a pevel and I would recommend the following:

Textbooks:
Das Kompakt neu A2- B1.2 (these books are entirely in German but that does help you practice once you get used to it. The listening exercises on the app are also really handy)

Upgrade your German by Silke Mentchen and Annamarie Künzl-Snodgrass (good for understanding grammar in particular and designed by Cambridge teachers for A level students)

Hammer’s Grammar is a good grammar compendium but it doesn’t have exercises and you can probably find most/all of the info online

Books
Read books you know in translation. For instance, I read Harry Potter in German because I knew he stories well enough that that would help me with the reading process in German, and that meant I picked up lots of vocab along the way.

YouTube

Easy German
Maybe ‘Alpha Uni’ although I don’t know much about it, just one a few students have told me about. The videos seem short and are about studying different subjects at uni.

Music
Disney songs you know and can learn to sing along to more easily https://open.spotify.com/track/6fkcf27MCcnDLBm2e6SL23?si=sXQ70smLS52B8gRJdCHgGg

Haller https://open.spotify.com/track/2S5FeDvQmmI9iLq8SdCsB2?si=3NqXWhmeRo-Utkdef5ywgw

Ginsberg zu Knyphausen https://open.spotify.com/track/3OEJnylQDDsOrYsgKM8ZHO?si=QnrvC-7bTgKX1btlGAA77w

Faber https://open.spotify.com/track/2W7nMKupO83NI2eih8l1qv?si=8cGGeMcBTmav6KoUGffmQQ

Honestly what I’d recommend will depend on your current level a lot, but some of these will hopefully get you started. I’ve assumed you have gcse level already. You should also remember you’ll have to study a book and a film or two books, so you’ll need the relevant exam board guides for those as well as the exam board textbooks to take you through all the themes and key words. Good luck!

Reply 3

tinkerbell223

OP

4

Original post by tiredgiraff

Hey! I tutor German a pevel and I would recommend the following:

Textbooks:
Das Kompakt neu A2- B1.2 (these books are entirely in German but that does help you practice once you get used to it. The listening exercises on the app are also really handy)

Upgrade your German by Silke Mentchen and Annamarie Künzl-Snodgrass (good for understanding grammar in particular and designed by Cambridge teachers for A level students)

Hammer’s Grammar is a good grammar compendium but it doesn’t have exercises and you can probably find most/all of the info online

Books
Read books you know in translation. For instance, I read Harry Potter in German because I knew he stories well enough that that would help me with the reading process in German, and that meant I picked up lots of vocab along the way.

YouTube

Easy German
Maybe ‘Alpha Uni’ although I don’t know much about it, just one a few students have told me about. The videos seem short and are about studying different subjects at uni.

Music
Disney songs you know and can learn to sing along to more easily https://open.spotify.com/track/6fkcf27MCcnDLBm2e6SL23?si=sXQ70smLS52B8gRJdCHgGg

Haller https://open.spotify.com/track/2S5FeDvQmmI9iLq8SdCsB2?si=3NqXWhmeRo-Utkdef5ywgw

Ginsberg zu Knyphausen https://open.spotify.com/track/3OEJnylQDDsOrYsgKM8ZHO?si=QnrvC-7bTgKX1btlGAA77w

Faber https://open.spotify.com/track/2W7nMKupO83NI2eih8l1qv?si=8cGGeMcBTmav6KoUGffmQQ

Honestly what I’d recommend will depend on your current level a lot, but some of these will hopefully get you started. I’ve assumed you have gcse level already. You should also remember you’ll have to study a book and a film or two books, so you’ll need the relevant exam board guides for those as well as the exam board textbooks to take you through all the themes and key words. Good luck!

Thank you so much - this is really helpful. I will check those books out. I haven’t studied gcse German but I though the first year of a level German on the specification says it’s recapping gcse and doing the gcse content and the second year is a level - what books do you recommend for gcse . Also do you know if there are practice questions and papers online ?

Reply 4

tiredgiraff

11

Original post by tinkerbell223

Thank you so much - this is really helpful. I will check those books out. I haven’t studied gcse German but I though the first year of a level German on the specification says it’s recapping gcse and doing the gcse content and the second year is a level - what books do you recommend for gcse . Also do you know if there are practice questions and papers online ?

So it’ll be useful to know about the European languages certification framework. Essentially, it’s measured on a scale from A0 (no knowledge of the language) to C2 (very good, as close to native as you can get really). As far as GcSE and A level go, it’s like this

A0 - no knowledge
A1 - low grade GcSE
A2 - high grade GCSE
B1 - A level
B2 -
C1
C2

So any language resources that get you up to B1 German will help. Other apps and things I’d recommend would be

DAs Kompakt neu A1-B1
AQA German gcse textbooks
Italki - platform to find native speakers and tutors to help you at relatively low rates a lot of the time
CGP German textbooks
BBC bitesize German
The news in slow German
There are chrome extensions like readlang that help you keep track of new vocab when you’re reading websites in german, and where you can find texts in German at beginner level to help yourself get going.

If I were you

•

start by reading the German Wikipedia page. It sounds weird, but it will give you and overview of concepts and key words that will come up in grammar when you learn German, as well as some history abot it. This will put you into a good position when you start actually learning. It’s not a necessary step but I always do it when I start learning a language to help give myself a boost at the beginning.

•

Next, learn basic phrases - how are you, hello etc. Don’t worry about the grammar to start with, just learn the phrases and learn how they sound, practice saying them and even ask questions to a friend, dog, or pet rock to practice saying the words out loud.

•

Find some German songs you actually like to add to your playlists. You want to be hearing German every day and this is a good little ‘language-snack’ as it were. A tbh series would also be great BUT this can be quite a commitment before you know a language well.

•

Choose one textbook and go with it for a bit. Lots of textbooks will have lots of different methods but honestly there is no point switching between them every session or you’ll just get confused. Find one that works well enough for you and go with it.

•

Vocab is key. If you try to learn at least 5-10 words per day you’ll be on for a winner. The best way I find tk learn vocab is to start off with an app like memrise or quizlet but then to write sentences using the new vocab.

•

Even if you don’t want a tutor generally, it might be helpful to find an italki tutor you can see every few months at least to ask abot anything in particular you’re particularly confused about or that you don’t understand.

Also there are lots of past papers on getrevising.com but also on all the exam board websites, you can just google them.

(edited 4 months ago)

german a level

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