need some help with german

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[!--QuoteBegin-Dr Freeman+Jan 5 2006, 10:57 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Dr Freeman @ Jan 5 2006, 10:57 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]I've been studing for 5 years now, and I still cant understand german [!--emo&:unsure:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/unsure.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'unsure.gif\' /][!--endemo--]  [!--emo&:(--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/sad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'sad.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
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I've been learning German at school since I was about ten. It's taught so badly in primary schools but my teacher at High school is a good teacher though.

I don't particularly like learning a foreign language but the goverment sayd we have to. [!--emo&:angry:--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/mad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'mad.gif\' /][!--endemo--] I do quite well though, I got a 1 for reading, a 2 for listening, a 2 for speaking and a 3 for writing. That works out as roughly a 2 overall, but I can't wait to drop it after May.

The worst part is remembering all the different genders, cases, types of verbs and so on, the sentences are too long aswell sometimes.
 
What I hated most about the language education we were given in school was the way they taught it; loads of grammar first, then a bit of simple conversation.
I had 2 years of Spanish, and can't speak the language to save my life. I remember some of the grammatic rules vaguely, but I can hardly construct a simple sentence.

I'd rather learn to speak a simple form of the language, same as when you teach little children a new language (the way I was taught English, which I think I'm a tad better at), and save the complex grammar for the advanced classes.
That way I'd have been able to go to Spain and order food at a restaurant, ask directions etc. Maybe not 100% grammatically correct, but I'd get the message across.

The Exact same scenario applies for German and French. Might as well have skipped those classes [!--emo&:(--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/sad.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'sad.gif\' /][!--endemo--]

I managed to pass the exams for all classes though, by being able to pronounce the words "beatifully" (in the words of my Spanish teacher in this case). I've always had some strange ability to mimick foreign languages without knowing what I'm saying at all [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
Do you think you'r badly taught? You should come to the UK and then you'd see how badly languages are taught. We don't even start learning a foreign language until we are 11 or 12, too late. For the first 3 years we learn basically nothing apart from some simple vocab.
After 4th and 5th year we know more but our linguistic skills are still a joke compared with the rest of the continent. I don't know if any other people agree with me but I really think our schooling is crap in languages.
 
My mum would certainly agree with you there Conor.

She can fluently speak Latin, German, French and even Ancient Greek, and she is quite appalled about how my sister was taught French. "Phrasebook Frech" she called it.

My German teacher knows German, but just tends to blab on about irrelevant things for half the period. She seems to think that we all know what she's been talking about for the past three and a half years, but we barely do. She always rattles through the cases really quickly and we haven't been taught the Genetive case yet.

As for people on the continent speaking foreign langauges better than us, there are people in Africa who can speak English more fluently than your typical council esate Glaswegian.
 
You know what we get? We only had French for one and a half year, at the grammar part we're crap but we do get words just as treetrunk. Anyone could give me the use of the word treetrunk? We always get words we only use one time and then we can just throw them away. That method for French AND German. But the worse part is, the pages where all the grammar and words are on are yellow, can you imagine learning words for a test for over an hour on yellow pages. We also get stupid words such as 'ce soir' while we got the 'ce, cette, ces' rule one year later. You can't say that's a good method.

As for Latin and Ancient Greek. I don't know why but it's al very well. Every chapter we have words and grammar and we get told tricks and relations of certain words. It isn't that easy but our teacher knows it all very well and knows the language, studies the language even while he finished his study. That's what I think, you could've studied something but you won't be a good teacher if you don't keep on studying after you've got you certification.

As for English, I knew English for some years now. I've got no problems with that and that isn't very strange.
 
[!--QuoteBegin-Conor+Jan 13 2006, 05:35 PM--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(Conor @ Jan 13 2006, 05:35 PM)[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--QuoteEBegin--]Do you think you'r badly taught?  You should come to the UK and then you'd see how badly languages are taught.  We don't even start learning a foreign language until we are 11 or 12, too late.  For the first 3 years we learn basically nothing apart from some simple vocab.
After 4th and 5th year we know more but our linguistic skills are still a joke compared with the rest of the continent.  I don't know if any other people agree with me but I really think our schooling is crap in languages.
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Absolutely agree. I learnt French at school for only four years, and in that time I was taught not how to speak the language, but how to answer the exam at the end of the year.

Now, Latin and Greek, they're proper languages. Dead languages? They're not dead, they're immortal! [!--emo&:P--][img src=\'style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/tongue.gif\' border=\'0\' style=\'vertical-align:middle\' alt=\'tongue.gif\' /][!--endemo--]
 
In Sweden you start learning English when you're eight and continue until you're fifteen. If you carry on to the gymnasium - which most people do - you'll have obligatory English classes as well. As a result, most Swedes speak English fairly well. I'm very much better than the average and speak it more or less fluently. I'm not as articulate as I am in Swedish but I've got no problem speaking English with people. Thing is you've got English all around you - on television, in books, in movies, on the Internet... I've learnt more English from those than from school over the last couple of years.

I've also been studying French for the past three and a half years but I'm nowhere near as good as I am in English. I'll continue in gymnasium though so I hope I'll get better!

Languages in Swedish schools are getting less and less priority though. In gymnasium many choose not to study anything besides Swedish and English and for those who want to do multiple languages it's getting harder. You can continue with the one you've been studying in junior high for the entire three year period, but if you want to study a third new language it's only possible for the last two years so very few do that nowadays.
 
My girlfriend says the same thing, Shadow, though she graduated the gymnasium 7 years ago (I try not to remind her of that too much), and she is just as fluent and articulate in English as she is in Swedish. She can still speak ze German and a bit of Spanish, I believe. Keep going for that third language, mate. It'll do you good.
 
the U.S is the worst place for languages, they ignore even a second language. You take two years in highschool (all you need is 60% to get credit) and In University it is also 2 years depending on your Major (some don't have to take one) and most people take it because they have to, not because they want to. To top it off it is taught HORRIBLY.... ugh.
 
"If any Germans who have seen this programme wish to complain, please send letters to:
1966 El Alamein Square
1939-1945 Spitfire Street
London UK WE1"
 
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