Quick way to learn German Quickly And Easily

 I am learning German ready for a trip to German speaking Switzerland next year. Their accent is different from German speaking Germany and Austria, but I hope to understand German speaking tourists in my group and to read signs. I should be able to understand local people speaking Swiss German by asking them to speak slowly, or by using my mobile phone to help out. Goodness, that's a modern change in the English language. When I was a child you helped. Nowadays you help out. What is the difference?

Never mind that. I must stick to the subject of how I am learning German effortlessly.

Every morning I take a pill. Thyroxine. I have to wait half an hour before eating breakfast. As a distraction, so that I am not tempted to shorten the time, I do a couple of Duolingo lessons in German. That reinforces what I have already learned, and keeps me either ahead or on par with others in my league who are getting points in the games of being paired, or competing in the 30 person weekly contest.

By the time I eat breakfast, I have already ticked one item off my to do list and feel in charge of my day. Duolingo done.  And I have taken my pill at the right time. Two wins. Breakfast, number three. 

How about some words for what I have done? Start translating my everyday thoughts. I shall type out my thoughts and translate them using Google translate. You can do the same. Next time I shall translate my blog into German. After reading it in English, you can read the translation and see how many words are the same.

I shall make a list of my thoughts, and conversations first thing in the morning. I shall translate them at odd moments through the day.

German  

LEARNING GERMAN - ENGLISH THOUGHTS TO TRANLATE

I am learning German. 

I am winning.

I am doing well.

You are winning.

You are doing well.

This is what I do.

Please speak slower.

I can help you.

Let's call it a day

German translation of  everyday thoughts

Ich lerne Deutsch.

Ich bin auf der Gewinnerstraße.

Ich mache mich gut.

Du bist auf der Gewinnerstraße.

Du machst dich gut.

Das ist es, was ich tue.

Bitte sprich langsamer.

Ich kann dir helfen (My memory aid is, 'I can help you, dear')

für heute Schluss machen

However, Duolingo translates 'Were you able to call it a day, then,' as

Konntet ihr (can you plural) dann (then) Fierabend machen.

(I shall have difficulty saying this but might recognize it if somebody says it. I can now put the two phrases into AI and ask it to explain the difference. You could also ask QUORA, but I used QUORA a lot and then they started asking me for money, so I stopped. Maybe after a hiatus the system will let me join for free, or let me search for previous answers to similar questions.)

BREAKFAST

Have you had breakfast?

What time is breakfast?

I have had breakfast.

TO DO LIST

You can do the same.

 I have a lot to do today.

I have started.

I have finished.

I have already started.

I have already done it.

THE DAY'S ACTIVITIES

What next?

Where shall we go?

What shall we do, today?

Have you any suggestions?

What are your thoughts?

EATING OUT

Let's go out.

Let's have lunch in a restaurant.

Can you suggest a restaurant?

Any preference?

That sounds good.

Tell them one o'clock.

I have already booked it.

GROUPS

Who else is going?

I don't know.

I don't have a list.

I have a list.

How do you know?

They told me.

Our friends.

Nobody we know.

Nobody you know.

Nobody I know.

I like meeting new poeple.

ALLERGIES

I am allergic to shellfish.

I forgot to tell them.

I'll tell them.

I'll phone them.

Thanks.

Looking forward to it.

See you later.

Goodbye.

-ends-

Please save

German words which are like English

 

I am learning German on Duolingo. I reached the top of the top league. That means I need to put in more hours than anybody else.  Any time I want a brief break, I do an exercise.

Easy German-English Words

Chefin - boss

Dokument - document

frustriert - frustrated

Hunger - hunger

Job - job

Kollegin - colleague

perfekt - perfect

die Situation - the situation

stressig - stressful

und - and

  Where can you learn and practise speaking German? 

Flag of Germany

Flag of Austria

Flag of Switzerland

You can use German in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.  Also Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and parts of Belgium and Italy.

Flag of Luxembourg.

Flag of Liechtenstein.

German easy, confusing, and unusual words

I am learning German on Duolingo. I reached the top of the top league. That means I put in more hours than anybody else.  

Easy German Words

aktiv - active

Band - band

Bank - bank

cool - cool

elegant - elegant

enden - end

Jazz - jazz

Kamera - camera

Modem - modem

online - online

Party - party

Picknick - picnic

shoppen - to shop

singen - to sing

sitzen - (to) sit

vegan - vegan

Yoga - yoga

  Where can you learn and practise speaking German? 

Flag of Germany

Flag of Austria

Flag of Switzerland

You can use German in Germany, Austria and German-speaking parts of Switzerland.  Also Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and parts of Belgium and Italy.

Flag of Luxembourg.

Flag of Liechtenstein.

Seating at Large Meetings, Events and Conference Halls

Seating Position At Meetings

I sit in the front row at most events. I am short so I don't want to sit behind somebody taller who blocks my view of the slides and the speaker.

Sitting at the front

I sit at the front to hear better. At the front you can also lipread. I am not an official, trained lipreader. But, like most people, I can recognize a few well known words. 

For example, if you were in a car, you would recognize another, angry drier mouthing F... O..f  The teeth on the lower lips show the letter f. Both words are one syllable. The head nods to emphasize.  The head goes forward aggressively. The eyes are open wide, but the mouth is not smiling.

In the same way, you could recognize from a distance, a child or adult shouting Bye, bye, as they wave goodbye.

And the lip movement helps you to guess other words. 

Watching the speaker makes me concentrate. I am easily distracted by my own side thoughts. Watching the speaker helps me to pay attention.

 

 

Writers Summer School - what I learned about seating in dining rooms

 

The Writers' Summer School was originally set up to bring together writing circles from around Britain so they could share their knowledge and writing and books. It is still the case that some people from writing circles arrive in cars in pairs, or in groups.

The net result is that a newcomer is a loner. So is an old timer who is not part of a writing circle. (Mine in Harrow disbanded, after some people moved overseas, others went too professional to need other amateurs when they had publishers to give feedback. Others grew ill, retired, died.

In a large group at a table, the pairs or foursomes are people who already know each from back home. 

Pairs Of People

One pair is a mother and daughter. Another are father and son. Another pair is a husband and wife team. Two others work together. 

Two more are a same sex couple. The talkative one eventually tells me proudly that they are 'partners'. They were very nice and friendly. The larger, chatty, dominant one, instantly talked to me. But her thinner partner never took her eyes off the partner, never looked at me. So the large women was the pivot between us. 

On another occasion, I went up to join a woman who had been very friendly to me in the comedy group. But she was now with another person who she worked with. They were engrossed in the practical arrangements for their next event, another conference overseas, the hotels, travel arrangement. I was left out. For me, the end of that arrangement, what had seemed like a potential friendship.

I have been thinking about the etiquette of joining groups. It is better to select who you will sit with before entering the dining room. Even if it means jumping the queue for food in order to get served at the same time looking for a seat. 

An alternative is to sit in the same place, the same table, with the same people, every meal. But I like to change tables and meet new people. I sometimes walk through the dining room, glancing at each table, until somebody smiles welcomingly. I sit next to them.

Sometimes I sit alone. I look around at those walking in. If somebody stands, hesitating, looking at me, I smile and beckon.  

Personality Types In Conferences And Life

 

Personality Types

I bring to any event my previous knowledge. As a teacher, on the Myers Briggs personality type, I have four letters which are the initials of characteristics. I am an ENFP.  A typical teacher is an E for extravert. Wearing bright colours and chatty, loose clothes. 

Then N, basically an academic, a reader rather than a doer. So I have a kitchen full of cookery books but don't cook. 

F for feeler, making decisions based on feelings rather than logical judgement. An accountant, looking at declining sales figures in November, would dismiss staff. A feeler would say you can't do that just before Christmas. 

Finally, P. I use the word Procrastinator. Always late. Busy with a creative task. Arrives late and stays late, talking, then late for the next event, the last of which is going to bed. 

What I learned at Writers' Summer School About Writing, Describing Yourself, meeting New People

 The alarm woke me at 7 am even if I went to bed gone midnight. By 8 am I was in the room where a volunteer was giving us our writing task for Lift Up Your Pens. We had four of those sessions, Sunday to Wednesday. I attended every one. The summer school now costs somewhere near a thousand pounds for the short week, starting Saturday tea time, leaving after breakfast on Thursday.  Five nights of accommodation, all meals, and coffee and cake or biscuits for elevenses and tea-time.

You can sell books, giving 15% to the Hayes. You can buy books from other authors, mostly getting a signed copy. 

For me the week had two highlights. What I learned, and what I did.

What I Did

I had a bit part, about four sentences, in five minute comedy written by the Vice President for 2026, Maria Hemmings. She always tells a rude joke to end her introduction to the evening's proceedings for everyone in the large hall called the Main Conference Centre. She is the queen of comedy. 

This year her comedy, one of three good comedies, was voted the best comedy.

What I learned

What did I learn? That you can establish a character in only one sentence, or two. 

Gestures

That a gesture can emphasize the character. You can show a lot on stage just by pointing at someone else, or yourself, or a part of yourself.

Descriptions

You can describe yourself or somebody else in three words. Try to describe yourself in three, complimentary words. Then ask others to do so.

The next event will be August 7-12th 2027 at The Hayes Conference Centre, Derbyshire.

Useful Websites

https://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/contact-us