I am so interested in learning languages I have some knowledge of Russian language and English language. I am from Egypt and I would like to learn German .. I have learned Russian to the level that I can understand almost 65% :75% of the conversation. And I wish to be more than that ... and as well I want to learn German to be the same level or more. But my problem is that I don't know what is the best way to learn it ? How to start ? What to do first if I want to learn it by myself? I would appreciate if you can help me Thanks in advance for your cooperation ☺☺
2 Answers
Well, the answer is probably the same for any language: learn the vocabulary and grammar in a class. But besides books and people in class, there is something that I found very good for learning English and it sure applies also for German: Watch TV series on DVD. The reasons for this are as follows:
A TV series runs longer than a movie. This gives you time to adapt to the characters voices and accents. So it is not a problem, if there is a certain character who's hard to understand. You'll ease into it.
The episodes are somehow always the same (there is the same main plot). In movies, each movie has its own story and different settings, and maybe special vocabulary. This makes it hard to learn the language. The repetitive elements in TV series are a great benefit in this case.
This point is a strong plus when you want to learn German: All TV series in Germany are aired on TV in German - they are all dubbed. This means, if you buy the DVDs on the German market, they'll have German audio tracks and (most time! You should check that before you buy anything) and the original English track. Also, there are subtitles. If you don't understand something, you can watch the same scene again in English and/or have English/German subtitles switched on.
I am quite sure that there is no Egyption TV series that is dubbed and broadcasted on German television. However, maybe there is the other way around: Maybe you can get a German DVD set with subtitles/dubbing in your language. However, I doubt that this exists, too, since German TV series are just of bad quality and probably noone is interested in watching them ;)
Well, to learn vocabulary and grammar in a class is boring and strenuous. My method is different. I begin with simplest children's stories for 5-year-old children. These stories are interesting, they are illustrated in colours with one or two sentences on each page and they are short. Furthermore they often contain dialogues.
Of course, I need a dictionary and a grammar for beginners in order to work the text through. After some time I can begin with normal stories and at last I can read a normal novel. At first I often have a translation of this novel. In any case that method is more fun than learning vocabulary and grammar in class.
