German learners' society

Hey Ich bin OK - ich habe nichts interessant gemacht. Ich musste heute Staub saugen und unser Abendessen kochen, weil meine Eltern in Scotland sind (nur für drei Tage) - spannend, oder? Ich sollte mehr für meine Bewerbung machen, aber ich bin zu verwirrt und gestresst. Und du? Hast du etwas Interessantes gemacht?

Nein, ich habe gar nichts heute gemacht, und ich langweile mir sehr

Warum bist du so gestresst?

Das war eine sehr lange Post Und auf Deutsch Ich bin stolz

I'd say "ich kann heute Abend nicht mehr als 200 Posten machen".

My German is deteriorating; it's too late at night Jetzt muss ich ins Bett gehen... Gute Nacht!

Yes, that's correct - except that you'd say 'Posts' (internet-German again).

Hi generalebriety. I studied German years ago (for about a year) but when I moved I had to take French at GCSE which I could never quite get the hang of! I'm currently on my gap year and I'd really like to gain a qualification in German (a GCSE or something similar - quite a few unis prefer a C or above in a MFL). I'd also like to learn a language for the sake of learning! Do you know of any online courses? Can you recommend any starter packs?

Any advise would be much appreciated

Would it be rude of me to ask for a short list of basic TSR-style words in German? Like 'post', 'thread', 'reply', 'edit'?

Are we talking German or French here? The Hugo "In Three Months" course for German I found excellent, but it very much overprepares you for GCSE (and is a lot of hard work!). There's tons of stuff online too, or you could just grab a textbook of any description, learn some stuff, and ask us when you get stuck. Having conversations with people who are better at the language than you are is always the best way to learn; it's how I learnt German. I knew nothing, and I went to Germany and I just listened and spoke... and ten days later I came back, took a mock exam and got an A*. So maybe simply coming here and speaking and asking for corrections will do you good?

See the thread in my signature for all sorts of lovely information I compiled on learning a language.

Sorry I wasn't very clear back there - I'm talking German. Did you take GCSE German outside of school then? How much did you have to pay to sit the examinations? I'm up for The Hugo course... I enjoy a challenge! I wouldn't mind being 'over prepared' for GCSE - German has always been a language I've wanted to learn. I've just put it off for some strange reason. Worried I wont be able to get my head around another language perhaps. Thanks for your help... perhaps you could help me gain an A*; that is pretty impressive!

I self-taught German, but sat the exams in school. The German teacher gave me a load of textbooks and set me a mock exam, and corrected the mistakes in my oral presentation for me, but other than that it was all the time I spent in Germany. Barely touched textbooks. Yeah - try the Hugo course (or without CDs), but most important of all is that you talk, so I strongly encourage you to come back here and talk in German and ask German questions, whichever course you choose... that's the point of this soc.

Hugo course doesn't stick to any particular syllabus, by the way, so you might need to do a bit of vocab learning before taking a GCSE, but it prepares you to a level of fluency required for A-level if you use it properly, I'd say. I couldn't say how rigidly it stuck to the syllabus though.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go and will try to sign up for some sort of GCSE course. If you know of any good sites that offer online courses please let me know. Do you think it would be a good idea to learn the basics first I.e. vocab and then to attempt the Hugo course? I'll keep on visiting here then. What do you guys do - type up what you have learnt from memory? Thanks again.

I'm not sure what I meant either. I'm very tired! I should have just read through the previous posts and figured it out for myself. I meant on this forum - do you talk about what you've learnt/the problems you're having getting to grips with the language etc.