Why can’t learning be fun?
May 23rd, 2007 by B.
Two things to know about me… first, I have the attention span of a sugared up 2 year old. Second, my deutsch is really, really shitty. I swear I knew more when I first got here. Trouble is, I find german lessons tedious, boring and, well, tedious bears repeating. I’ve had two tutors and skipped out on both after only a few lessons. I’m thinking it was the approach… I mean, I’m sure there’s a reason why everyone uses those stupid ‘Berliner Platz’ workbooks. Still, I don’t want to learn how to introduce myself at the airport, I want to learn how to order chicken nuggets at burger king, or how to yell “back off bitch, that’s my parking space!” or what the lady who rings up my groceries at edeka is saying to me (I’m pretty sure with all my smiling & nodding she thinks I’m a complete retard by now).
I mean, why can’t someone just come over and hang out and we’ll try to have a conversation and when I say in english “Ok, I have no effing clue what you just said…” the person can laugh, tell me I’m hopeless, and repeat it slowly until I get it. Or why can’t I meet my tutor at a restaurant and he/she can make me order the whole meal and then say in german to the waiter “forgive my friend here, she’s trying to learn german… stupid americans, they should just go back where they came from”… and we can both giggle when the waiter walks away. Or even just meet at albertplatz and we’ll hop the tram, sit in the back, and make fun of everyone in alternating german and english. Right or wrong, this is my kind of learning… more a friendship and less a “genau, birgit, now let’s turn to page 3…”
The one thing I do know is we’ve got– at very least– another year and a half here… and judging by Jim’s enthusiasm for all things german, probably a lot longer. I’d love to blend in a little more. Yesterday my neighbor dropped a container full of water in the hallway and I just kept walking because I had no idea how to say “I’m sorry, would you like me to help clean that up” or “I can run upstairs and grab a towel” or even “man, it sure sucks to be you right now…”
I guess I just need to (finally) act like a grownup and force myself to attend boring, stupid lessons and actually pay attention… and who knows, if I ever have to introduce myself to a travel agent at the airport, pages 1-17 of the berliner platz series will really come in handy… sigh.
there is a reason i still can recite the preamble… or know what an adverb is… when you make learning fun by setting it to music… it sticks.
all learning should be schoolhouse rocked.
Soll ich meine Kommentare nur noch auf Deutsch schreiben?
My favorite way of (re)learning French currently is reading news in the internet with an one-click-translator ready to hand. http://dict.leo.org is a nice online translator, too.
Another (maybe silly) idea: In Dresden you have a local radio station called MDR Info (106,1 FM or webradio). It’s a (very good and entertaining) news-only station and many segments are repeated hourly over the day, so you can listen to it repeatedly. But… absolutely no idea if that works.
I like reading/listening/watching news from another countries, also to have a different view on the world and on what’s beyond one’s own nose. Maybe that’s also why I’m here
Or do your DVDs have German dubbings available? I like to use English with German subtitles to improve my (rusted) listening comprehension…
How about making some good use of iTunes? Deutsche Welle has some great -and did i mention free?- podcasts. Just go to Podcasts -> Education -> Language Courses. You can also find some podcasts for absolute beginners there.
It´s USING it with a human, not a page, DVD, or ?. Useful PERSON who is understanding and not looking at a wtach watching the € mount.
For your neighbor across the hall …
wann es regnet, gießt es
ya know… i have heard from numerous people that they learned to speak english from watching tv and movies…
now that does sound like my kind of learning… i say, in the name of learning… you should organize your own german film festival… throw on some tykwer and call it studying.
If it makes you feel any better B, I got a speeding ticket today……You’ll be just fine I’m sure
Jeanni- Heh…
As your body grows bigger
Your mind grows flowers
It’s great to learn
Cause knowledge is power!
Sebastian- Here’s my guess at what you wrote… and it’s a complete guess: ’so I shouldn’t leave my comments in german’. was I even halfway close?? I always listen to BBC radio because it’s easy for me, but I guess taking the easy way out is what has me not understanding more german. It would be really interesting, I think, to buy an english tv or movie dvd that’s dubbed in german… I usually avoid that. Good tip.
Ritter-Sport- Hey, good to hear from you again! I hate sound like an idiot or technically illiterate or anything, but what the hell is a podcast anyway? I’ve seen them mentioned on iTunes before, but I just bypass it and go back to buying songs and shows. I’ll go check it out though…
Lee- Well put. I just need to pay someone to be my friend… heh.
Remus- Something about rain? No clue really… lol
Jeanni- I do love Tom Tykwer, and I did just order The Lives Of Others from the u.k. There are worse ways to spend my time, that’s for sure…
Lisa- I did that last week!
Classes/tutors can be boring, that’s for sure. I think it’s worst in the beginning though. I did German 1 — 4 at U. of Md when I was there, and the first 2 were like holyshitletmeoutofhere, but by #3 (dative verbs and all that fun stuff) things were clicking and I could actually communicate. That point where things “clicked” and I could string things together to sound coherent, if toddler-like, made all the difference. Stick with it!
Are there any language groups in your area, where people do meet just hang out and practice language skills?
I’m crap at German and I should be a helluva better as I’ve been here 13 years! - I guess the easy way is to watch TV in German. I rarely watch TV in English. It means I understand a lot of German, but I need to practice it more often. Being lazy really has its downside at times!
Um-I think you and I have much in common on this front! I’d be happy to sit in a cafe and try to sprechen deutsch with you any day!
My one sentence translates:
“This is a white snowman.”
Seriously.
Hah! Esther
I suck at German too. I can’t stand it. My listening is 500 times better than my speaking, though still sucky. Watching TV or reading the newspaper or listening to the radio do not improve speaking, they only improve listening! If you’re just sick of looking like a complete fucking moron all the time to the point where you just try to avoid interacting with anyone….it sucks. I only need 3-4 more weeks of intensive course to get the ground-level certificate…but it’s hard to bear the classes. I hate only communicating on a 4-year-old level for hours ever day. I totally hear you.
Good luck.
Just a thought: I learned my first German at the Tandem Lang. school in Munich. They offered a language partner service after you’d completed the first three weeks of class. You’d be assigned someone who wanted to practice english and together you’d meet for conversation and split the time between languages. It really did make a difference. Tandem has a school in Dresden (http://www.sprachmobil.com/german/) or you could go without the school and advertise for a partner somewhere, like on toytown: (http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67036)
I chose Tandem because it was the cheapest and the classes were small. I found classes much better than tutoring, because I could relax and listen instead of always having to be ‘on’. I took actual lessons for a total of four months and went on my own from there. You’d need even less for what you’re looking for. Don’t give up, it’s a great feeling being able to order food and tell people to go fuck themselves. Totally worth the effort.
A podcast is like talk radio by subscription. If you want to get your feet wet, search on Ricky Gervais and download his 3 free podcasts from last year. It takes a listen or two to get used to his sense of humor and the accents, but now we eagerly download and listen to them when we’re on long car trips. You can also download (free) weekly NPR podcasts on iTunes, including my all time favorite This American Life.