Get ready to take your German from good to great!<\/p>\n
[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n
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1. Use German Word Frequency Lists<\/b><\/h2>\n
If you know the 100 most common German words, then you know about 50% of the spoken language.\u00a0<\/b>However, you don’t want to limit yourself to learning just those, as many are prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Similarly, you need to know about<\/strong> 1,300 German words<\/b> in order to<\/strong> understand 85% of written German<\/b>. It may sound overwhelming but it’s totally doable!<\/span><\/p>\n This is known as<\/span> 80\/20, or the “Pareto principle,”<\/span><\/a> which has many applications\u2014from a perspective of how to learn German vocabulary, the idea is that focusing on the right 20% of German vocab words will produce 80% of your results.<\/span><\/p>\n Word frequency lists are your friends in this and can be found online. One good place to start is<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n MosaLingua<\/a> offers an app and learning system pre-loaded with useful content that functions around the 80\/20 philosophy. They also offer spaced repetition to maximize the time you spend learning.<\/span><\/p>\n Once you’ve used their pre-selected material to get started, you can continue learning with MosaLingua Web, which allows you to easily create your own flashcards from online content and sync your content and progress across all devices.<\/span><\/p>\n Check out this excellent video to learn 300 German core words:<\/p>\n Even if you’re not aware of it, German has a lot of words that are very easy to recognize. These are called <\/span>cognates.<\/span><\/i> It’s a term that describes words that have been “borrowed” from other languages or share the same root and are therefore very similar.<\/span><\/p>\n Because of their common heritage, German and English have a lot of these. Check out<\/span> this list<\/span><\/a>. More can be found by googling “German cognates,” “German English loan words\u201d and finally, “German words in English.”<\/span><\/p>\n There are many ways to\u00a0figure out what you don’t know.<\/p>\n Try to name fifteen items in your immediate vicinity, with their genders and plural forms. If that was easy,\u00a0describe them in detail. Can you go from “the book” to “the thick, old book with a leather binding and highlighted pages”? Or do you need to look up “leather” and “highlighted”? (It’d be “das dicke, alte Buch mit Ledereinband und farbig hervorgehobenen\u00a0Seiten,<\/em>” by the way.)<\/p>\n To improve your proficiency, it’s also imperative that you<\/span> learn to read German<\/span><\/a>. Whether you start off with<\/span> children’s books<\/span>, get a<\/span> German textbook<\/span><\/a> or branch out to<\/span> German blogs<\/span><\/a>\u2014just read, read, read (and make sure to write down words you don’t know)!<\/span><\/p>\n My personal preference is to read books in my target language on my Kindle, as it offers instant lookup of words I don’t understand.<\/span><\/p>\n If you favor a more aural-based approach to learning but still want to utilize German texts, you can turn to<\/span> German audiobooks<\/span><\/a> instead. They’re widely accessible for most smart devices, so you can get your learning done on the go!<\/span><\/p>\n With audiobooks, you can still learn in-context German vocabulary. The added bonus is that you can hear the language as it’s spoken, which can thus improve your listening comprehension and pronunciation skills. In addition, you can always rewind or pause the narration as you’d like.<\/span><\/p>\n German songs<\/span><\/a> with lyrics can be one of the most engaging ways you can pick up new German vocabulary. Different genres can expose you to different uses of the language, whether it’s a crooning ballad or a hardcore rap song.<\/span><\/p>\n Plus, because of the repetitive and catchy nature of song lyrics, whatever words you learn can be more easily memorized.<\/span><\/p>\n Songs are also quite good at teaching you more casual, idiomatic or slang German. Make sure you keep an ear out for them so you can add some hip and current lingo to your vocabulary bank!<\/span><\/p>\n Radio shows and podcast sessions make for great background noise, but they can be just as viable as learning resources.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether scripted or unscripted,<\/span> German radio<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> German podcasts<\/span><\/a> can expose you to a lot of German vocabulary and phrases as they’re naturally used.<\/span><\/p>\n Learning with podcasts<\/span><\/a> and radio is also a very portable experience since you can listen to them anywhere<\/strong>. Plus, if you listen to regional-based stations and streams, you can learn some unique words and broaden your German language horizon!<\/span><\/p>\n As I just mentioned, don’t be a passive reader or listener.<\/p>\n When you watch and TV movies<\/a> in German, you’re guaranteed to encounter words you don’t know. That’s normal. What’s important is what you do<\/em> with those words. Don’t let them float in one ear and out the other. Look them up! Jot them down! Review them often! Here’s an example of how you can do that with the German-dubbed version of “The Simpsons” from the FluentU YouTube channel<\/a>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important that you find reliable, high-quality resources to mine vocabulary terms and sentences from.<\/strong> You want to learn how to reproduce the language in the correct way, so if you’re reading people\u2019s tweets, for instance, you might pick up some bad habits.<\/p>\n Instead, try out some resources that you know will help you learn the language as it’s spoken and consumed by native speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n For example, you could use a graded reader, like Olly Richards\u2019 “Short Stories in German for Intermediate Learners,”<\/a> to expand your vocabulary and strengthen your understanding of grammar. Plus, this series is constructed in a way that the stories get gradually more difficult, so you’ll constantly be challenging yourself to improve your German skills.<\/p>\n You could also use FluentU<\/a> to access a full library of native materials that are categorized by difficulty and topic of interest. FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n2. Embrace the Familiar with German Cognates<\/b><\/h2>\n
3. Take Note of Gaps in Your Speech and Writing<\/h2>\n
4. Become a <\/b>Leseratte <\/i><\/b>(Bookworm) and Read<\/b><\/h2>\n
5. Zone Out to Audiobooks<\/b><\/h2>\n
6. Bop to German Songs<\/b><\/h2>\n
7. Tune In to German Radio and Podcasts<\/b><\/h2>\n
8. Seek Out New Words in German Movies and Television<\/h2>\n
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