#tbh the time i spent living in germany was one of the happiest periods of my life!!

[kimdokjas]

hi pal! we've been mutuals for a while but never really talked much haha. but I was wondering if you could give any tips or resources for learning german? (cus I think you speak it right?) I'm actually moving to germany really soon to finish my phd there. I have some very rudimentary knowledge from several attempts on duolingo in the past but I really want to learn it well, in the case I end up living there for a long time! anyway feel free to do with this message as you please

Hi dear! Ahh that’s amazing that you’re moving to Germany to finish your PhD, congratulations!! Thank you for thinking of me for this kind of advice, I’m honored <3 and of course, I’m more than happy to give you some tips! This got super long lol I hope you don’t mind!

Here are some of the things that worked for me, feel free to take them or leave them depending on what you think would work best for you! As with any language, I think the best way to learn is to try to get as much exposure as you can, so here are some tips and resources organized by topic:

MOOCs

There are a lot of online courses available for free! Here are some of the ones I’ve seen (some are borrowed from this post and I added some others I found!)

Learn German

Deutsch lernen

Deutsch Akademie

Getting Started with German (I, II, III)

The German Project

Intermediate German: The world of work

Advanced German: Language, culture and history

Deutsch im Blick

Podcasts

This depends on your proficiency level and areas of interest, but I’d recommend starting with those that are more focused on language learners! In particular I found those from Deutsche Welle really helpful.

Once you feel a bit more comfortable, you can slowly work your way up to more technical or specialized podcasts, such as those related to your PhD subject! For me this is a great way to keep my German up to speed, especially since I’m unable to practice it much where I live. Some of my recommendations are:

Slow German mit Annik Rubens, focused on everyday topics spoken slowly for easier understanding! There are even transcripts available so you can read along

Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten, news spoken slowly for easier understanding

Top-Thema mit Vokabeln, discussing current topics with a focus on vocabulary (~B1 level)

Wort der Woche short episodes focused on learning one new term per episode (~B2 level)

For more advanced podcasts, try filtering the charts for Germany and see which ones look interesting to you! I personally love science topics, so I usually listen to Spektrum der Wissenschaft and Wissen Weekly among others!

Pen pals

I think one of the best ways to improve your German is to actually practice it with other people. It might be scary at first but trust me you’ll see a huge improvement if you try it!

I particularly recommend an app called Slowly. It’s a charming concept, with the traditional pen pal experience where your letters actually take time to deliver depending on how far away you are. You can specify the languages you speak and your level of proficiency, so you will be able to match more easily with people according to your level!

(Also, I’m personally a bit shy so something I really liked about this app is that it’s practically anonymous, you can just use a nickname and an avatar and you’re all set!)

Fiction books

Here is a wonderful masterpost of fiction books in German! It contains novels such as the Lord the Rings, the Hunger Games, and even classics such as the Metamorphosis. You can find the link to the Google Drive folder here!

Audiobooks

I didn’t really listen to audiobooks when learning German, but I’ve heard they’ve really worked for some people! Here are some of the ones I’ve been recommended (although I haven’t personally used them). These are links to Audible for reference, but I’d suggest using your alternate platform of choice or try to see if your local library has any available!

Café in Berlin

German Short Stories for Beginners

Learn German with Paul Noble for Beginners

Educational books

This is the more traditional way of language learning, but to be honest this was what most helped me learn grammar! I think resources such as Duolingo are great for day-to-day practicing, but they can be a bit lacking in terms of grammar, which is where educational books come in handy.

I mostly used the Menschen books for the beginner levels and Mittelpunkt for more advanced levels. These can be a bit expensive, so I’d recommend getting used books or looking in your local library, or even online.

For example, in the Deutsch Akademie website you can practice some exercises taken from these books among others for free!

Social media

Try to incorporate German into your social media experience as much as you can!

Tumblr: some blogs I follow are @thatswhywelovegermany @official-german-puns and @inoffizielles-deutschland and you can also try to follow some studyblrs to focus on vocabulary and grammar such as @learngermanblog

Twitter/Facebook: DW Deutsch lernern, they focus on language learners and sometimes they even post simple practice exercises!

Devices

This is more of a tip than a resource but one of the first things I did was switch the language on my phone and laptop to German. This forced me to read the language every day and I even picked up some new vocabulary thanks to this! Even stuff like the directions on Google Maps were in German so it was a great way of practicing. At first I really struggled, but you just have to stick with it and eventually it gets easier, I promise!

Music

It really depends on your taste in music but here are some of the ones I listen to! I usually lean more towards indie pop/rock. But I’d recommend trying to find a specific playlist for your favorite genre, e.g. rock in German and so on!

Playlists: Deutscher Indie, Deutschpop Hits

Artists: Phela, Joris, Philipp Dittberner, Yvonne Catterfeld, Kenay, Mark Foster

Entertainment

Of course movies, TV shows, and even YouTube are a great way of practicing the language even during your downtime!

In general, what worked for me was starting out by watching stuff with German audio and English subtitles (or your language of choice), and then slowly try to shift to using German subtitles only! Anyway I’ll try to recommend one of each:

TV shows: Dark on Netflix, great show and there’s really not a lot of dialogue so it’s good for a beginner/intermediate level!

Movies: Run Lola Run (1998), a thriller movie with a time loop concept

YouTubers: here is a Reddit masterpost of German-speaking YouTubers! I personally started out watching Gronkh which is a gaming channel. His Life is Strange let’s play has the game in English and commentary in German so it’s a good way to start out!

~~~

I hope some of these resources are useful, dear! As I mentioned, in the end you’re the one that knows what works best for you! But these are just some tips and resources that I personally found useful.

Either way, once you’re actually in Germany I promise you’ll see that your progress will increase exponentially just by simply listening and speaking the language daily in places like the supermarket, restaurants, etc. But you can always try to cover all your bases with additional resources such as these ones!

Again, hope this is helpful and please let me know how your journey goes! I’m excited to hear all about it :D

[impracticaldemon]

Know your favorite author:A. Name five random facts.B. Name five things that make you happy.C. Name five pet peeves.D. Using your muse or favorite character, answer the following questions:1. What makes him/her happiest?2. What is his/her biggest fear?3. Who does he/she look up to the most?4. Who does he/she dislike the most?5. What is his/her biggest failing?

Hi Anon!  Thank you for asking. 😊

A.  I’m tempted to literally name five random facts, but I’ll resist and assume these relate to me! 😆

1.  I have a physics degree; I’m not sure why.  🤔2.  I’ve taken judo, taekwondo and fencing – but that was a long time ago.3.  I’ve lived in all three of Canada’s biggest cities at various times; I’ve also lived and gone to school in England, and spent a summer in Germany. 🌎4.  I don’t drink coffee at all, but I do drink tea most days now. 🍵5.  I own more plushies (mostly Hakuouki but also Amnesia and Fairy Tail) than is remotely reasonable.  🤗

B.  Happy things!

1.  Plushies, apparently. 😅2.  Hot chocolate.  ☕️3.  Long stretches of time with nothing planned.4.  Encouraging other writers (and artists too, but that’s less useful since I don’t art very well at all!!).  📖🎨5.  When my husband brings me something I want without being asked it just makes my day and I feel a bit of tension disappear.

[see under the cut for more]

C.  Pet Peeves

1.  People who tell me that I must like dogs.  I grew up with dogs, I know dogs, I don’t mind other people having dogs... but I’m not an enthusiast.  (Seriously, I have a dog complex now -- all the “good” people in books and movies etc. love dogs, so I must be morally deficient.  Sigh.)2.  Power outages in the middle of a 35 Celsius heat wave in the middle of your one week of vacation and all your electronics slowly die and you have to take refuge in a nearby McDonalds. (...er... maybe that’s a bit specific...)3.  Caraway seeds.  4.  People who “accidentally” drop garbage and then look at you defensive-apologetically, but now they’re in too much of a hurry to pick it up.  (They were hoping nobody would see them...)5.  The way all of my keyboards (including especially on my laptop) will periodically and for ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD REASON switch to French and suddenly I can’t use quotes, apostrophes and brackets properly.  It’s such a pain.

D.  Alright:  Saitou/Chibi Saitou

1.  Swords.  (Also, Chizuru, but he’s too embarrassed to mention that.)  (Also, he likes to stare at cherry blossoms, apparently.  Still not as good as swords.) (Chizuru is actually better than swords, but both Saitous are blushing and glaring at me now.)2.  Losing control or losing his way/direction/path.3.  Hijikata-san. “Hai, Fukuchou!”  (In ToD he’s finding himself looking up to Amagiri a bit and it worries him.)

4.  Hmm.  Kazama, probably (pick a reason, there are... quite a few).  But there are a few others on the list, he just doesn’t let it show *cough* - Takeda Kanryusai - *cough*.  He’s not a big fan of Sakamoto either, tbh.  I’m not sure he thinks in terms of like and dislike much.  He’s a very practical man/chibi in many ways and he’s afraid cautious of emotions getting in the way.  He’s very loyal to certain people, he is truly concerned for their well-being etc.  The rest are either “to be killed”, “not to be killed right now”, or “don’t matter”.  Except Chizuru, who confuses him a lot.

5.  He’s too incredibly cute and adorkable for words!  Ouch!  Those little chibi hands pack a punch when there are sixteen of them (at last count).  Um... 

He’s really, really uncomfortable with emotions.  This can get him pretty messed up at times.  Other times he unintentionally hurts others.  Talking isn’t his strong suit either, unless it’s about work (you know, patrols, training, deflection Itou’s annoyingly pertinent questions...).  Or about swords.

If he gets too wrapped up in himself he can become passive or obedient to a fault.  That said, despite the cool and unemotional façade, he actually does follow his heart, and has said that he would even break with Kondou and Hijikata if he felt they were betraying their fundamental honour or principles.

He’s physically very courageous, as they all are, but sometimes his courage fails him when it comes to talking and messy emotions.  He doesn’t always do the right thing in those cases, although he will eventually (and usually sooner than later).

Thanks for asking!

~ Impracticaldemon