Guidelines for autonomous learners of German at

Transcrição

Sprachenzentrum
Guidelines for autonomous learners of German at beginner level
You have decided to learn German autonomously. The following guidelines offer you practical tips for
a successful language learning experience.
These guidelines include:
1. Materials that provide learning steps
2. How to learn vocabulary
3. Input: Reading, listening and grammar
4. Interaction and production
5. Timetable and final tips
In the boxes you can find advice on materials in the
Self-Access Center and online. All materials are in the
Resource Pool (www.sprachenzentrum.uzh.ch/slz/infosys).
Please enter the title of the material in the search box on
the right or use the shortlink below the titles. You will then
find the entry with the catalogue reference number or with
the link. At the moment all descriptions are available only
in German. Should you need help, please ask the assistant
in the Self-Access Center for support.
Dialang
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A computer program that combines
self-assessment with test exercises,
including tests for listening, reading
and writing skills as well as for vocabulary and grammar.
Sprachenportfolio
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A tool with which you can assess
your own language competence and
document your language learning
process.
Cornelsen GER-Einstufungstest
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An online placement test to help you
You can find the Self-Access Center at Rämistrasse
find your level of German.
74, room J15. During the semester it is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 until 21:00 and on Fridays from 11:00
until 17:00. During the semester break the Center closes at 17:00 on all weekdays.
These guidelines are for beginners. If you are not a real beginner, you can evaluate your language
skills with the help of the Language Portfolio (Sprachenportfolio): There you can also find lots of
tools to structure your learning, to think about what you are doing and to document it. Should you
need any support during your self-assessment, we recommend the Online Placement Test Dialang.
Knowing your level will help you find appropriate materials in the Resource Pool.
1. Materials that provide learning steps
When learning autonomously, lots of learners find it difficult to set aims and to define what to learn. As
a possible replacement for a regular course with a teacher where you would be given a certain structure and progression, you could buy a course book (or find it at a library) or find an online course. The
course would help you decide which topics you wish to focus on: you could then complement the
chosen topics with other materials and exercises. You should work with a language course that you
like and find interesting.
Text: Anja Gredig, Cornelia Steinmann / Übersetzung: Christine Martinez
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We recommend the following materials (available at the Self-Access Center):
Interaktiver Deutschkurs der deutschen
Welle
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You can use this course as a guest. When you
register – which is free! – the program saves
the work you have done. You can read the
instructions and explanations in German, English and Russian.
Hueber: Miteinander
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Self learning course for beginners with English
explanations, audio CDs, (test) exercises and
key.
Hueber: Deutsch Kompakt
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Self learning course for beginners with a text
book (German) and a bilingual exercise book
(En/Ger), with audio-CDs.
Cornelsen Lextra: Sprachkurs Plus
Self learning course for beginners with a text
book (German), an additional booklet (with
English translations, an answer key, and a
glossary), and audio-CDs.
As you plan to learn on your own, it might be a
good idea to alternate between two different
beginners courses. While different courses will
feature different topics, there will be a lot of
overlap. That will help you to get the necessary
repetition and keep it interesting at the same
time.
The textbooks of the Self-Access Center may
not be checked out nor borrowed but there are
photocopiers available.
In Zurich, the bookshop Orell Füssli (off
Bahnhofstrasse) has a wide selection of good
materials. Books can be ordered in any Swiss
bookshop and are usually delivered within two
days.
All recommended courses are for beginners and
include varied exercise types, listening comprehension exercises, word lists and grammar explanations.
2. Vocabulary
At the beginning, the acquisition of new vocabulary in a foreign language represents the most
important but also the most time-consuming
How to find more
challenge to the autonomous learner. Even
You can find more courses in our Resource
when you attend a course, sooner or later you
Pool: Just click the categories Deutsch, allgehave to deal with the question of how to expand
meiner Sprachkurs and if you wish choose a
your vocabulary. The bad news is that nobody
level (Niveau).
can do the job for you, the good news is that
with a few tips and some information about how the brain works, the whole hard work can be simplified and even be fun!
First, let us have a quick look at how the brain functions. The following simplified model of the brain
will help you understand the language learning process as well as the study techniques suggested
later.
The ultra-short-term memory receives and filters sensory perceptions. Information is perceived extremely fast and then eliminated or forwarded. The storage is physical and happens in split seconds.
The short-term memory takes the information from the ultra-short-term memory, which is then converted into language and repeated slowly, internally and silently. Here the purely physical form of a
piece of information is translated into meaningful words and pictures. The information is stored in
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appropriate (meaningful) files.
This working memory compares the information of the ultra-short-term memory with the stored
knowledge in the long-term memory. This storing process can be both acoustic and visual, it lasts
about 3 seconds per object and it can store about seven objects. The long-term memory adopts information which is repeated several times. Here the different files are linked together, new search
paths are set. The storage is reached through interconnected neuronal pathways and is stored for
ever. The capacity of this third storage is almost infinite.
What does this mean for vocabulary learning and language learning in general?
To make sure that the word or word string is not immediately filtered out by the ultra-short-term
memory, which is something like an entryway, you must make sure that it is supplied with a lot of
learning energy, i.e. you should learn drawing on multiple strategies, you should absorb the new vocabulary through as many senses as possible: reading (silently), reading aloud or silently moving your
lips, making a movement (real or just imaginary), imagining a smell, etc.
Example: You want to memorize the word string den Rasen mähen (to mow the lawn). You imagine
yourself in a garden, sweating, you push the lawn-mower in front of you, it drones, you smell the freshly
mown grass, on the ground you can read ich mähe den Rasen written everywhere in neon colors.
The short-term memory only retains what was structured. This means words must be fitted immediately into corresponding files, semantic fields respectively. For example: Put the words lieben
(love), sich streiten (quarrel), das Paar (the couple), der Partner (the partner) in the file Beziehung
(relationship). As the short term memory has a capacity of seven to ten strings – a string can be a
syllable or a whole sentence – it is much more economical and efficient to learn a whole sentence or a collocation than single words! E.g. ein Formular ausfüllen (to fill in a form) instead of
das Formular (the form).
As exemplified above, linguistic and neurolinguistic insights suggested that foreign language learners
should move away from stubborn learning of single words and their translations. It is more motivating
and above all more efficient to use more creative, varied methods. Therefore, become a creative vocabulary collector and organizer! Do not learn and repeat the vocabulary stubbornly, always following
the same pattern, but vary your style and order the collected words. By reorganizing, you do not
memorize the words in a meaningless order; you integrate the words into your individual pattern of
thought. At every discovery of links, we learn more than just the single words. With the reorganizing
principle we simultaneously learn a recall mechanism. Please find below a few examples of such
reorganizing principles:
Series of actions, e.g. the morning ritual:
Ich wache auf – Ich steige aus dem Bett – Ich gehe ins Bad – Ich mache mir einen Kaffee – Ich schalte den Computer ein.
(I wake up – I get up – I go to the bathroom – I make myself a cup of coffee – I switch on the computer.)
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Gradations, e.g.
nie
(never)
selten
manchmal
oft
meistens
immer
(seldom)
(sometimes)
(often)
(mostly)
(always)
Hierarchical structures, e.g.
Eltern
erziehen
(parents)
(bring)
Kinder
(children)
Lehrer
(teachers)
bilden
(educate)
Schüler/Studenten
(pupils/students)
aus
Arbeitgeber
(employers)
stellen
(hire)
Arbeitnehmer
(employees)
ein
(up)
die Lebensmittel (Pl)
(food)
die Früchte (Pl)
(fruits)
der Apfel (the apple)
die Banane (the banana)
das Gemüse
(vegetables)
die Zitrone (the lemon)
die Papaya
(the papaya)
..........
..........
..........
das Fleisch
(meat)
..........
..........
..........
..........
..........
Causal structures, e.g.
stimulus and reaction
•
e.g.: der Witz – das Lachen (the joke – laughter)
•
action and result
e.g.: schreiben – der Text (to write – the text)
•
producer and product
e.g.: der Bäcker – das Brot (the baker – the bread)
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Opposites or similarities, e.g.
Antonyms
•
e.g.: hell – dunkel (light – dark)
•
synonyms
e.g.: sprechen = reden (to talk = to speak)
You could also buy an exercise book in which you stick pictures and label them (pictures and graphs
support the visual memory), in which you draw, organize your vocabulary thematically or following
other principles and in which you also freely associate the vocabulary you already know, i.e. you
create spidergrams or mindmaps.
Examples:
Mindmap for Train station
viele Menschen
in einen Zug steigen
das Geleis, -e
(the track)
der Zug, - "-e
(the train)
der Fahrplan, - "-e
(What is there?)
(many people)
(the railway schedule)
der Kiosk, -e
(What can you do there?)
(to buy tickets)
Was macht man da?
Fahrkarten kaufen
WKHWLFNHWRI¿FH
Was gibt es da?
der Fahrkartenschalter
warten
(to wait)
sich verabschieden
(to say goodbye)
sich begrüssen
(to welcome someone)
winken
Im Bahnhof
(the newsstand)
(to get on a train)
(to wave to someone)
(At the station)
den Zug verpassen
der Lokomotivführer, -
(the engine driver)
der Schaffner, -
(the train conductor)
Wer ist da?
WKHUDLOZD\RI¿FLDO
(How is it there)
der Bahnbeamte, -n
Wie ist es da?
(the passenger)
:KRFDQ\RX¿QGWKHUH"
(to miss the train)
der Reisende, -n
laut
(loud)
voll
(crowded)
hektisch
(hectic, bustling)
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Spidergram for Switzerland
die Kuh
(cow)
schlechtes Wetter
der Käse
(bad weather)
(cheese)
wandern
die ETH
(hiking)
(the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
die Schweiz
(Switzerland)
die Berge
(mountains)
die Arbeit
(work)
Grüezi
(Grüezi)
die Uhr
(watch)
arbeiten
die Alpen
(the Alps)
(to work)
Create your own exercises with the words you want to learn. From texts you can create your own
cloze exercises. Übungen selbstgemacht is a handy tool to create cloze exercises out of webpages
etc. Vocabulary training exercises (in books or computer programs) offer the possibility to repeat vocabulary creatively and therefore efficiently.
Research-based teaching promotes learning with flash cards as the most efficient method. Different
publishers (Hueber Verlag and Pons) sell pre-printed flash cards and sometimes also flash-card boxes in which you can collect the cards, as shown in the picture on the next page. The biggest advantage of flash cards is that you can carry a small bundle with you anywhere you like and do short
vocabulary repetitions during breaks, in public means of transport, on your way to work. The Language Center Uni/ETH also has vocabulary flash cards for sale for the levels A1-A2.
Flash cards
Front side:
Flip side:
die Tasse, -n cup Ich hätte gern eine Tasse Tee.
I‘d like to have a cup of tea.
reservieren
er reserviert, er reservierte, er hat reserviert. Wir möchten einen Tisch reservieren.
book
We would like to book a table.
If you work with pre-printed cards and complete them with your own vocabulary or if you write and
collect your own cards from scratch, it is important that you stick to some criteria.
The flash cards should allow self-assessment: Use both the front side and the flip side (German
•
on one side, the translation into your first language on the other).
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•
•
•
•
Check the entries on your flash cards accurately for correctness with the help of a dictionary to
avoid memorizing mistakes.
On each flash card write an example sentence in which the new word is used in a meaningful way.
Write down the main forms of the verbs on the card (e.g.: gehen – sie ging – sie ist gegangen).
Write this additional information in such a way that you can test yourself. If you are a beginner,
you can write just the infinitive form and the simple present to start with, but do leave some
space so that you can add the other forms later.
Also write down the gender and plural form to each noun, in such a way that you can also test
yourself.
Flash card box:
Instead of flash cards you can also use sticky slips of paper
®
(Post-it ). Write the name of objects in your room, your flat or
your office on the slips. To every word also add important
additional information, just as on the flash cards. When you
see an object with a slip, think of the word for the object in
the target language or say it aloud. Do not forget the additional information.
Flash cards for levels A1 to A2
can be bought from Martin Amann
([email protected]).
Content: 832 words with English
translation and information on word
stress, approx. CHF 25.–
Instead of labelling the object with its own name, you can write other words you want to learn on the
slips and hang them around your living areas. The position in the room can be an additional learning
help. You memorize for example Das Auto hängt am Kühlschrank (The car is hanging on the fridge)
and you try to visualize it.
With sticky slips of different colours you can also support the learning of articles. Take a different colour for every gender. It does not matter which color; you just have to be consistent.
If you buy a hard-copy dictionary, make sure that it contains the following information: gender, plural forms, the perfect and past tenses of irregular verbs. A very good dictionary also has information
on pronunciation.
Examples for gender labelling
das Haus;
Haus (n);
s Haus
die Frau,
Frau (f),
e Frau
der Mann;
Mann (m),
r Mann
Examples for plural forms
Häuser:
Haus, -¨-er
Frauen:
Frau, -en
Männer:
Mann -¨-er
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If you find two abbreviations after the noun in
your dictionary, then the first is for the genitive,
the second for the plural form:
e.g. Haus
(n),
-es,
-¨-er
(gender)
(genitive)
(plural)
Langenscheidt: Wortschatz Intensivtrainer A1
Example for main forms
kommen:
kommt, kam, ist gekommen
Languages Online, Deutsch
Example for word stress
Information on word stress combined with length
symbols: Mond (long), kommen (short),
vergessen (short)
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Vocabulary teaching material for students at A1
level, with lots of different exercises, a key and
downloadable audio files for the words.
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Online games and printable worksheets with key,
wordlists (English-German) and a lot of audio materials.
Language Guide – Wortschatz
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Illustrated online dictionary with audio.
Just word stress:
’Mond, ’kom men, ver’ges sen
Karteikarten mit Spreadsheetprogrammen
erstellen
When you are already a little bit more advanced,
you should also own a monolingual dictionary
(German-German), more specifically a German
as a foreign language dictionary, in which the
definition of words is paraphrased and put into
context in a meaningful way with many examples.
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Finally one more encouraging tip: You will understand a lot of words you did not learn consciously. In the German language there are
countless words with Latin or Greek origin,
which sound more or less the same in many
languages. Next to Dutch, English is the IndoEuropean language which is most closely related to German. Many words are written in a
slightly different way but once you say them
aloud, you recognize them immediately. If you
activate your own vocabulary and pluck up
courage to draw parallels, you can guess the
meaning of many German words without having
learnt them before.
Pons Vokabeltrainer-App
Excel template to create your own flash cards.
Langenscheidt Vokabeltrainer 6.0
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Vocabulary trainer with lots of different exercise
types and audio files for many words. You can
also record your own words.
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App for Android and iPhone/iPad, linked to the
corresponding Pons dictionary app. It collects all
the words you look up with the dictionary, and
you can add words yourself. Free download, but
you need to register.
Langenscheidt: Wörter – Bilder – Situationen
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With the aid of pictures about different topics you
can improve your vocabulary of mostly nouns.
Übungen selbstgemacht
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Create your own cloze texts from any text.
How to find more
You can find more materials to learn vocabulary
in the Resource Pool if you click the following
categories: Deutsch, Wortschatz, Übungen and
the level if you wish.
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Spotlight Verlag: Deutsch Perfekt
3. Input: reading, listening and grammar
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Magazine for learners of German with topical texts on culture and customs. Difficult
words and expressions are explained.
Langenscheidt: Lesen & Hören A1
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3 books with audio CDs where you can
read and listen to short illustrated stories.
With exercises and key at the end.
Hueber: Lesen & Schreiben A1
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Reading and writing exercises for beginners, with key.
How to find more:
Go to the Resource Pool of the SelfAccess Center for more reading materials.
Choose the categories Lektüre, Deutsch
and the appropriate level (A1 or A2).
A good language learner distinguishes him/herself in
that s/he creates him/herself as many inputs in the
foreign language as possible. This does not always
have to happen at home at the desk in a serious
work situation. Try to integrate the German language
into your daily routine as much as possible, become
an observing German reader and listener in everyday life.
Set realistic goals, which are achievable and therefore
motivating for your purpose. The objective should
always be to approach the language step by step.
The idea is that you learn to understand texts or
dialogues in everyday situations and notice that by
activating your experience and your general
knowledge, you can often guess the meaning of
what you have heard or of written text, without
knowing the grammatical structure or every single word.
Reading
Use every opportunity to read. Preferably read shorter
Canoo.net: Grammatisches Wörtertexts more often rather than a longer text only once, posbuch
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ed after that. For example, we recommend regularly readEnter any word in the search box. The
ing the free newspapers, and with increasing progress you
program finds the possible main forms.
will also dare to read more challenging texts. Watch out for
Under inflection you can find all the
advertisements in magazines, billboards, on TV and ask a
forms of the word. In the top right corGerman speaking colleague or friend if you do not underner, there is a direct link to LEO and
PONS.
stand them, look at picture books with little text, read
comics – perhaps you already know Asterix and Obelix in
LEO Online-Wörterbuch
your first language and you could now try and read it in
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German. When selecting a text, pay particular attention to
Dictionary with translations into many
choosing something
languages.
• that you find interesting, e.g. an article on your
hobby
PONS Online-Wörterbuch
• that you already know, e.g. texts on a known fact,
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reports or announcements on your subject, short
Dictionary for many languages, with
foreign learners.
IPA transcription. There is also an app.
When you read texts online and would like to look up
words, you must find the principal form of the words. For example, the online grammar reference site
Canoo suits this purpose and it is directly linked to the online dictionaries LEO and PONS. LEO provides translations from English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese, Polish, Russian and Chinese into
German and vice versa. PONS offers those languages including Greek, Latin, Slovenian and Turkish.
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Listening
To learn a language you need listening inputs.
Through listening activities you absorb the intonation, you learn to identify words, you hear fixed
phrases and expressions, as well as short and often
used everyday language forms. There are even
learner types who learn almost exclusively through
listening – they listen and try to imitate.
Listening inputs are particularly important in the special language situation of the German part of Switzerland (diglossia). If you are learning German in
Switzerland, you will surely have noticed that the
Swiss Germans speak their dialect mainly in the
private domain, whereas they use High German or
Standard German as their official language or at
schools, universities, in the press, for scientific research and of course when speaking with foreign
people or learners of German. This means that you
cannot rely on getting enough High German listening
inputs in everyday life and that ideally you should
find additional audio materials.
There is a wealth of audio materials especially designed for learners: In the box to the right you can
find a selection which is available online or in the
Self-Access Center.
There are further possibilities to listen to German:
watching movies (movies you already know in subtitled German synchronization), watching and listening to the news and listening to German songs. The
choice is almost endless! Among the most famous
German artists we could mention: Herbert
Grönemeyer, Fettes Brot, Roger Cicero, Nena, die
fantastischen Vier, Juli, Christina Stürmer, Annette
Louisan, etc. At the Self-Access Center you can also
find a small selection of films and German songs.
How to find songs and movies:
• Choose the option Lieder to look for music and
songs in the Resource Pool.
• Combine Filme und Videoclips with DVD to get
a list of the films we have at the Self-Access
Center. At the end of each entry you can find
the available languages under Audio details.
Last.fm
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Streaming Radio which takes you from one
artist or group to similar songs. Start with a
German band or artist you know.
Audacity
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With this program you can record and edit
audio files. It is free, open source and runs
on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Auralog: Talk to me
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This is a language course with which you
can record yourself and also do some interactive oral exercises.
Step into German
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Listen to German music online, watch music videos, read the lyrics in German or the
English translation, and you can also use
the worksheets.
Klett: Schon mal gehört?
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10 German songs on an audio CD and a
book with the lyrics and exercises for different levels.
Hueber: Hören & Sprechen A1
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Exercise book with audio CD to improve
your listening and speaking skills.
Langenscheidt: Bilderbogen D-A-CH
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DVD with short video reports about Germany, Austria and Switzerland. You can
practise your listening skills with exercises
(pdf on CD-ROM).
Cornelsen: Studio d A1
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DVD for beginners, with exercise book.
How to find more:
To find audio materials with transcripts,
open the Resource Pool and click the categories Deutsch, Hörmaterialien, mit Transkription and possibly also the level.
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Try to get your friends and colleagues involved. Arrange
for example that one of your colleagues at work speaks
German to you at least 15 Minutes a day. You can still
answer in English or ask questions when necessary.
If you would like to combine listening and reading, we
can recommend our audiobooks for different levels. The
audiobooks suitable for beginners are listed in the box to
the right.
Audiobooks for beginners
• Hueber: Lese-Novelas
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•
Langenscheidt: Lesen & Hören
•
•
Edition bi:libri
Cideb: Lesen und üben
•
Cornelsen Lextra: DaF-Lernkrimi
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Finally there is one more learning tip we would like to
How to find more:
share with you, which is good for both reading and listenIn the Resource Pool of the Selfing. For each activity, it is a good idea to try and predict
Access Center you can find further
the content. This means to make reasonable guesses
suggestions for suitable audiobooks.
about a reading or listening passage, which will help you
Choose the categories Deutsch,
understand. Because when you expect a certain piece of
Hörmaterialien, Lektüren, CD and
information, you then have less problems understanding or
the appropriate level (A1 or A2).
finding it. This is a strategy we adopt automatically in our
first language when we read or listen to something. Most people must practice this first in the foreign
language. To do this efficiently we suggest the following procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Choose a reading or listening text which corresponds to your level. Read the title first and
perhaps also the introduction.
Think about which information could be found in the text and take some notes.
Note down some questions which the text could answer.
Start listening or reading the text only after these considerations and check your hypotheses and
find the answers to your questions. See which hypotheses were correct and what you could not
find in the text although you assumed you would.
Grammar
You have surely already wondered why grammar has not
been mentioned yet in these guidelines: Many of you must
have memories of your foreign language learning at school
with lots of memorizing grammar and going through endless drill-exercises. This is typical of many countries. Have
you ever learned speaking a language in this way? Possibly not. But also in this case, we can draw on findings in
Second Language Acquisition.
Research shows that mastering grammar rules cannot
prevent mistakes when speaking. This means, there is
something like a grammar knowledge in one’s brain, which
is nevertheless almost entirely disconnected from the actual language used, especially at beginner’s level. At first
sight this appears to be a bit disappointing, but actually
this is extremely good news. Good grammar knowledge
is not an absolute requirement for good language
Langenscheidt: Grammatik Intensivtrainer A1
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Practice book for A1 students, without grammar explanations, with key.
Langenscheidt Grammatiktraining
Deutsch
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Practice book without grammar
explanations, with key.
Schubert: A Grammatik
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Grammar book with exercises, key
and audio CD. For beginners.
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skills. Nevertheless – to learn the language at the beginning, but above all to really understand the language
at a higher level, it is helpful and sometimes even necessary to know some grammar rules. Grammar helps to
better understand the structure and rules of a language.
Especially at the beginning, we recommend practicing
the grammar with a learning partner. This will help your
understanding process and is more fun! In addition to
the grammar explanations you will find in the courses for
autonomous learners mentioned above, we can also
recommend the grammar practice books listed in the
box.
4. Production / Interaction
In the long run, the aim of most learners of German is to
be able to express themselves in German. The best is to
tackle this skill right from the beginning. It is important to
speak a lot, even when you make mistakes and there is
nobody to correct you. Speaking increases your fluency
and it also increases your capacity to learn more by
showing you what you cannot do yet.
Grammatikübungen online
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(German Academy Vienna): Multiplechoice exercises. You can choose
exercises according to level or topic.
You have to register before using this
site.
Canoo.net: Grammatisches Wörterbuch
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German dictionary and grammar. You
can find information on word formation
as well as a comprehensive word and
sentence grammar. English version
available.
Minimalpaartraining
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On deutscheaussprache.com you can
practise your ability to differ between
minimal pairs (Aal – All etc.).
Phonetik-Simsalabim
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On this webpage you can practise the
Those who want to speak in the foreign language have
active and passive spoken German in
to be active and take the initiative. You have to over10 sections with different phonetic
come fears and inhibitions. One idea might be to start
topics.
speaking for oneself at home, to get your mouth round
the language, before plucking up courage to do so in
Phonetiktricks online
public. Here are some ideas with which you could start
t.uzh.ch/7z
at home:
This website consists of 17 videos with
Sing along to songs. You can find the texts of most
•
tricks about how to improve your prosongs on the internet.
nunciation of German.
Repeat dialogues of listening materials. In the Re•
source Pool you can look for materials which have a
Schubert Verlag: Einfach Deutsch
transcript. The videos mentioned in the listening
aussprechen
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section are also suitable for this kind of exercise.
Introduction to the different aspects of
Work with language learning software.
•
German phonetics. In German, with
Read texts aloud, learn them by heart and recite
•
exercises, key and English-German
them. You could for example record yourself with
word list at the end.
Audacity and then listen to how you sound.
Repeat expressions you come across often aloud.
•
Learn phrases which you might need to communicate in typical daily situations.
•
You should pay attention to your pronunciation right from the beginning. Good pronunciation is important to be understood without difficulty. Most native speakers intuitively assess the competence of a
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Sprachenzentrum
foreign speaker not according to his/her grammar skills but through his/her pronunciation. Therefore it is
worth taking the time to learn to pronounce the words correctly. This does not mean that you have to
sound like a German or Swiss person. A foreign accent is no problem as long as it does not impede
understanding.
Good pronunciation starts with listening. Sounds which you cannot distinguish from one another or
intonation patterns which you do not recognize or perceive cannot be reproduced correctly. For a
good pronunciation you do not only have to master the sounds of the German language; word stress,
rhythm and intonation are equally important. Try to listen a lot and to pay attention to the sound of the
language.
Consider:
where the speaker takes a break.
•
where words are emphasized.
•
which words in the sentence are emphasized.
•
where the voice goes up and where it goes down.
•
where you can hear specific sounds, for example the voiced “s“ ([z]).
•
For this kind of exercise take a listening text with transcript (see section Listening). First read and
listen to the text and look up unknown words. After that you can fully concentrate on the pronunciation. Highlight what you find interesting, either before or while listening. Try to read the text aloud together with the recorded voice, or record yourself and then compare your voice with the original recording.
By the way, reading along is not only good for your pronunciation, it also helps you with your spelling.
In German there is a strong relationship between letters and sounds. When you know how to write a
word, you can also say it and when you know how to say it, you can often also write it correctly.
Should you have particular difficulties in one area, you can find teaching materials on phonetics and
other materials in the Self-Access Center, with which you can systematically practice single aspects
of pronunciation.
Tandem-Leitfaden
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Tips for successful Tandem-learning.
Seagull: Lernmaterialien für alle Sprachen
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A lot of tips and suggestions what to do with
your tandem partner as well as communication
exercises. The worksheets are sorted into different topics and levels.
Präsenz-Tandem
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Students and staff of the University and ETH
Zürich can fill in the form and send in their application. We will then look for a suitable Tandem partner.
Try to speak German right from the beginning.
Always order your coffee in German, greet your
colleagues at work and ask them how they are.
Perhaps you can also arrange with a colleague
to speak German 15 minutes a day. Another
very successful method to practice speaking is
Tandem Learning. Two people with different
first languages work together to improve their
foreign language skills. Ideas and materials, as
well as important rules for a successful Tandem
Learning session are to be found in the Language Center as well as in the Self-Access Center.
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Distanztandem Uni-Bochum
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They offer assistance finding e-mail partnerships for Tandem learning.
Deutsch zu zweit
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In this book your German speaking Tandem
partner can find basic knowledge on study
techniques, the German grammar and instructions for different exercises which s/he can do
with you.
Unlike a Tandem partner, whose first language
has to be the target language, a learning partner can have any first language. We have already mentioned that it is worth learning grammar with a colleague or friend. A learning partner
can be of great help and support to learn vocabulary (e.g. testing each other’s vocabulary), to
discuss linguistic difficulties, to practice speaking
and above all for the motivation. By meeting
regularly you can try and maintain the discipline
needed to make progress, which is so difficult to
bring up when learning autonomously.
Games in the Self-Access Center
In the Self-Access Center you can find different
games you can play with your Tandem partner.
Click Spiele and Deutsch in the Resource Pool.
You can take out a game for the day and play it
where you like.
5. Timetable and final tips
Finally, once more the most important tips in short, as well as recommendations for your timetable.
We would like to encourage you to look for help when you get stuck with your project. In the SelfAccess Center you can find assistance and help to make best use of the resources available. In addition, the Language Center also offers a counseling service: please contact us for an appointment.
Ø
Reserve enough time every day or every week for German: the rule is, better short sessions on a regular basis than rare longer sessions.
Ø Intensive learning, our recommendation: every day, 15 min vocabulary, 15 min
course, 30 min input, later also production.
Ø Alternative for busy students: distribute the learning phases over the week.
For example 15 min vocabulary learning on Monday, 30 min course on Tuesday, 15
min vocabulary learning on Wednesday, 30 min input on Thursday…
Ø
Integrate German into your everyday life. Speak German during your coffee break, while
you do the chores, write your shopping list in German and send simple emails.
Ø
Set realistic goals. These goals should not be grammar-bound or textbook specific. Decide to learn a certain number of words per day or to have a short conversation in German
at the office or at the bakery.
Ø
Be patient! It takes time to learn a language.
We wish you lots of fun and success learning German!
Wir wünschen Ihnen viel Spass und Erfolg beim Erlernen der Deutschen Sprache!
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References:
Robert Kleinschroth: Sprachen lernen. Der Schlüssel zur richtigen Technik.
Rororo Sprachen. 3. Auflage September 2003.
Ernst Appeltauer: Grundlagen des Erst- und Fremdsprachenerwerbs.
Fernstudieneinheit 15. Langenscheidt 2001.
David Crystal: die Cambridge Enzyklopädie der Sprache. Zweitausendeins,
Campus Verlag 1993
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