Does anyone have your own special tip to speed up learning German?

Get your partner/friends to join you.

Tape record two separate German talk radio channels throughout the day, then, after inserting a mono-earphone into each ear, leave them to play through the night.

After a good night's sleep of 5 - 6 hours, you will find yourself miraculously able to rant incoherently about foreigners, politicians and the price of butter in an authentic local accent (depending upon which channels you choose) for the rest of the day.

Repeat until fired or sectioned.

Good luck!

He wants to lern German,not how to participate in the EF

Radio sucks here... so you better get some audio books. How about a night of Nietzsche versus Kafka?

Watch German speaking tv channels at least for a few hours a day 2 to 3 times a week and try and read the free newspapers. Also keep away from English speaking people

Singing is a method to learn anything better. Many peopld don't know this, but when you sing you use both halves of your brain which enables you to learn more efficiently. Make a cd with some of your favourite German music (I know, I know...German and music shouldn't be used together in one sentence but still..) print out the lyrics and then highlight and look up the words which you don't understand....and last but not least sing along.

Pay attention to the way you learn best. Are you a can't-remember-till-I've-heard-it person or a can't-remember-till-I've-seen-it-written person?

If the former, then, er, get somebody else to advise you.

If the latter, then as soon as you can tell verbs from nouns from modifiers, READ everything you can get your hands on. It doesn't matter if you're interested in it. It doesn't matter if you understand it. (If you're not interested, not understanding can be a bonus!) Just read, sentence after sentence after sentence.

The goal is not vocabulary-building (though that will happen too) but letting the patterns of the language sink into your brain. Before long "bin gekommen" will start to feel right and "haben gekommen" will feel wrong and you won't have a clue why. Good! You are now thinking like a real German speaker.

Watch the news. A guy I worked with in Germany did that and his speech was pretty fluent after 6 months. Didn't work for me though as I'm deaf, the presenters just looked like goldfish with loud ties.

Did nothing for his written work though.

get a german girlfriend/boyfriend who preferably doesnt speak any english

the best way from all exists. LOL i have already one and it is really helpful.

I tried that but unfortunately his aptitude for English was far better than mine for German and now he is fairly fluent whereas my German is fairly lacking.

	Quote:	SummerBreeze
	Does anyone have your own special tip to speed up learning German?

Two worked for me:

1- Watching dubbed movies/series on German channels!

2- Having one German speaking day a week. Agree with friends to spend Sunday afternoon together speaking only in German and let them correct you when you speak.

(needles to add how useful radio/news can be too...)

if you know any films or episodes really well (so you can basically lipsynch the script) get a copy with German subtitles and put the sound on mute. You'll find you miraculously understand every word.

Buy a frequency dictionary. This is one (I can't vouch for it, but it explains the idea):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frequency-Di.../dp/0415316332

This is basically the method that Michel Thomas uses. I'm learning much more quickly using his tapes than I was in classes or by trying to teach myself vocabulary. Once you know the patterns of the language and how the verbs work, inserting nouns is fairly easy. He focuses on teaching you structure and how to speak, rather than grammer and vocabulary building

Reading children's books is also a good idea. You could start with
9 year old( or whatever your level is ) and gradually work your way up to adult level.

Michel Thomas (RIP).

THE best way to learn any language.

Utterly brilliant.

I dont know how to do that with German but I can tell you how I do that with French. When it comes to vocabulary I put little yellow "post-it" on almost each item at home to know how it is in French. For example I posted on my fridge not only "fridge" in French but also names of things I have inside. The same thing with wardrobe and clothes inside, and so on. Even when you dont want to look at them you have to. A friend of mine who speeks four languages fluently says that there is no better way to learn language than watching commercials. Maybe its brain washing but when you see commercial about washing powder five times a day-if you want or not-you remember all words around the subject. When I clean, do ironing, going somewhere by car or bus I listen to audiobooks. You can find a lot of them in different shops and stores but its hard to find something well done. I was lucky, I found something which is only TO LISTENIG so I dont have to have 24474 books and notes with me in my bag. And the last thing: not to be afraid to use what you learn even when sometimes nobody can understand us. Its their problem, right? good luck with your speeding up!

And to really speed up the process, read out loud. Remember how you learned to chant times tables as a kid, so that merely by saying '5 nines are...' the answer would pop into your head to finish the pattern? It's just like that - after a while, sentences will just 'sound' right, the way they do in your native language.

Pronunciation doesn't matter for this, so don't worry overmuch about it. And make it easy on yourself - stick things up around the house, so you can read out loud little and often. Our entire downstairs bathroom is wallpapered with articles and kids' comics, and I regularly change what's on the kitchen cupboard above where the kettle boils.

kodokan

PS: Just re-reading, and perhaps reading out loud was what MathsNut meant all along. Never mind, I've typed it all out now, and the wall/cupboard bit's useful.