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.

  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.

Translating, understanding and learning from German tourist information

Problem
I have been going through my house trying to throw away old papers and objects which are out of date and creating such a clutter that I cannot find the recent stuff. But before throwing anything out, I have to take a look at it. I have a pile of souvenir CDs from travel shows and I am going through them one by one, one a day. Here's is what I found:

I have an old CD-ROM from Sachsen 2000.  I have the text here and a list of German-English and English-German words at the end. I looked at the paragraph and it was a mystery and hard going and I nearly shut my CD and threw away the disc, then I thought, just a minute, put this into Google translate. Here's what I saw. Glance at it and then read on.

Mit dem Leipziger Umland beginnt das “Sächsische Burgen- und Heideland” – eine reizvolle, hügelig schwingende Landschaft, die sich im Norden bis zur Dübener Heide, im Westen bis zur Dahlener Heide und den Elbauenlandschaften erstreckt und im Süden bis in das Erzgebirgsvorland im Chemnitzer Raum reicht. Handwerk und Landwirtschaft haben diese geschichtsträchtige landschaftlich reizvolle Region mit kleinen Städtchen, verschlafenen Dörfern und malerischen alten Schlössern, Burgen und Herrensitzen über Jahrhunderte geprägt.

Dem Besucher bieten sich vielfältige Möglichkeiten – sei es ein zünftiges Rittermahl oder ein kurfürstliches Gelage mit typisch mittelalterlichen Speisen und Flair auf einem der alten Adelssitze im “Tal der Burgen” am Muldenfluß, eine waschechte Floßtour auf der Zschopau, eine Fahrt mit der Schmalspurbahn “Wilder Robert”, Radwandertouren entlang gut markierter Radwanderstrecken an der Mulde und Zschopau, Wanderungen durch ausgedehnte Auenwälder oder entlang wildromantischer Flüsse oder eine Einfahrt in einen ehemaligen Silberstollen…

Zahlreiche alte Städte, wie Colditz, Rochlitz und Waldenburg, laden mit Geschichte und Geschichten zum Erleben in historische und originelle Museen ein. Stimmungsvolle Kloster- und Parkanlagen, z.B. in Altzella bei Nossen oder in Klosterbuch bei Leisnig, lassen eindrucksvoll das Leben der einstigen Zisterzienser-Mönche nachempfinden.

Gotische Dome, typisch sächsische Hallenkirchen mit reicher Innenausstattung und interessante Dorfkirchen markieren Höhepunkte der Baukunst der Region. Musikfreunde erwarten hier Konzerte, bei denen sie sich dem Klangwunder alter und kostbarer Orgeln, u.a. von Gottfried Silbermann, hingeben können. Es ist eine Region der feinen Töne, die ihren Reiz beim genauen Beobachten offenbart.

I have blown up the print size to normal so I and you can refer back to it.

I put it into Google translate and looked at the English. In Google I had the texts side by side   so I could read through each sentence. I read the English first, getting the general gist. Then took each sentence. Finally, I went back and read both again, and noted down the easy, instantly recognized, and the new words.

Mit dem Leipziger Umland beginnt das “Sächsische Burgen- und Heideland” – eine reizvolle, hügelig schwingende Landschaft, die sich im Norden bis zur Dübener Heide, im Westen bis zur Dahlener Heide und den Elbauenlandschaften erstreckt und im Süden bis in das Erzgebirgsvorland im Chemnitzer Raum reicht. Handwerk und Landwirtschaft haben diese geschichtsträchtige landschaftlich reizvolle Region mit kleinen Städtchen, verschlafenen Dörfern und malerischen alten Schlössern, Burgen und Herrensitzen über Jahrhunderte geprägt.

Dem Besucher bieten sich vielfältige Möglichkeiten – sei es ein zünftiges Rittermahl oder ein kurfürstliches Gelage mit typisch mittelalterlichen Speisen und Flair auf einem der alten Adelssitze im “Tal der Burgen” am Muldenfluß, eine waschechte Floßtour auf der Zschopau, eine Fahrt mit der Schmalspurbahn “Wilder Robert”, Radwandertouren entlang gut markierter Radwanderstrecken an der Mulde und Zschopau, Wanderungen durch ausgedehnte Auenwälder oder entlang wildromantischer Flüsse oder eine Einfahrt in einen ehemaligen Silberstollen…

Zahlreiche alte Städte, wie Colditz, Rochlitz und Waldenburg, laden mit Geschichte und Geschichten zum Erleben in historische und originelle Museen ein. Stimmungsvolle Kloster- und Parkanlagen, z.B. in Altzella bei Nossen oder in Klosterbuch bei Leisnig, lassen eindrucksvoll das Leben der einstigen Zisterzienser-Mönche nachempfinden.

Gotische Dome, typisch sächsische Hallenkirchen mit reicher Innenausstattung und interessante Dorfkirchen markieren Höhepunkte der Baukunst der Region. Musikfreunde erwarten hier Konzerte, bei denen sie sich dem Klangwunder alter und kostbarer Orgeln, u.a. von Gottfried Silbermann, hingeben können. Es ist eine Region der feinen Töne, die ihren Reiz beim genauen Beobachten offenbart.

English translation:

The "Saxon Castle and Heideland", a Saxon castle and Heideland, begins with the Leipzig region, which stretches to the Dübener Heide in the north, the west to the Dahlener Heide and the Elbaulandschaften and in the south to the Erzgebirgsvorland in the Chemnitz area enough. Handicrafts and agriculture have characterized this historical landscape with its small towns, sleepy villages and picturesque old castles, castles and manor houses for centuries.

The visitor is offered a wide range of possibilities - be it a real knightly meal or a Kurfürstliches banquet with typical medieval food and flair on one of the old nobility seats in the "valley of the castles" at the Mulden river, a washed rafting tour on the Zschopau, a ride with the Schmalspurbahn "Wilder Robert ", cycle tours along well-marked bike trails along the Mulde and Zschopau, hiking through extensive floodplain forests or along wild-romantic rivers or a drive into a former silver tunnel ...

Numerous old towns, such as Colditz, Rochlitz and Waldenburg, invite you to experience historical and original museums with history and stories. Moody monastery and park facilities, e.g. in Altzella near Nossen or in Klosterbuch near Leisnig, impressively reflect the life of the former Cistercian monks.

Gothic domes, typical Saxon Hallenkirchen with rich interior equipment and interesting village churches highlight the architecture of the region. Music lovers can expect concerts here, where they can listen to the sound wonder of old and precious organs, among others. by Gottfried Silbermann. It is a region of fine tones, which reveals its charm when closely observed.

Here are my ten easy words:

ENGLISH - GERMAN

(Spaces inserted where a spell checker changes spellings after a time lapse to be sure it doesn't occur again even though I have checked it.)

and - und

by or near - bei

dome - Dome - (Same word except that nouns in German start with capital letters which makes it easy to spot them.) 

Gothic - Gotische

monks - Mönche

music - Muzik

silver - Silber

typical - typische

with - mit

wonder -wunder (as in the old song, 'Wunderbar, Wunderbar (wonderful, wonderful) I wonder what you are ...')

GERMAN - ENGLISH

bei - by or near

Dome - dome

Gotische - Gothic  

mit - with

Mönche - monks

Muzik - music

S i l b e r - silver 

typische - typical

und - and

wonder - wunder (as in the old song, Wunderbar, Wunderbar (wonderful, wonderful) I wonder what you are)

Here are ten words you might know and recognize:

ENGLISH - GERMAN

concert - k o n z e r t e

old - alte (plural)

or - oder

organs - Orgeln

life - Leben

rich - reicher

Saxon - Sächsische

sound - klang

towns - Städtle / Städtlen (think of little city states abbreviated, state-little)

west - Westen

That's ten words. But I've got one more, so I'll add a bonus:

fine - feinen (plural)- fine

GERMAN -ENGLISH ten words you might know and recognize

(Notice than in German you add an n for the plural)

k o n z e r t e - concert

alte (plural) - old

oder - or

Orgeln - organs

Leben - life

reicher - rich

Sächsische - Saxon

klang - sound

Städtle / Städtlen (think of little city states abbreviated, state-little) - town(s) 

Westen - west

That's ten words. But I've got one more, so I'll add a bonus:

fine - feinen (plural)- fine

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Blogger. Teacher of English and other languages. Please see my other posts on destinations and German and other languages. If you need a language teacher, translation or any other business help, contact me through Facebook messenger.

German words which are clear and confusing - in banks

Problem
1 How do you remember words? In a bank you may want to check your bank account, and ask how much money is in it.

Answer
Look for similarities. Similar letters or similar sounds.

German - English
Kreditkarten - Credit card
Finanzierung - credit, financing (looks like finance)
Frist (eine Frist) - deadline (a deadline)
Geld - money (originally it would have been gold with gold and silver coins)
Konto - account

English - German
account - Konto (German nouns begin with capital letters, unlike English words, where only p r o p e r names have capital letters) (P r o p e r was turned into paper by automatic spell correction.)
credit - Finanzierung
deadline - Frist (I think of rush to be first past the post before the race is over and you've missed your chance, like the hare and the tortoise)

Tips
Watch out for in the account which is auf - in this context meaning in, not from.

To test yourself, use Duolingo website which can be used on a laptop or as an ap on your mobile phone. You will have to go through the course from lesson one onwards in order. Unlike a paper textbook, or phrase book, you cannot skip around from one chapter to another.

Angela Lansbury, author and teacher of English and languages. Please share my posts.

Making learning German Easy Study

Problem
How do I learn German fast? I do five minutes of German and Italian every day using the website Duolingo (which is free!) Yet, if I'm not careful to remember the words, five minutes later I look back and I've forgotten every one.

Answer
Look for patterns in words and links.

Story
Today I looked at one sentence.
Studium is study. Easy. Translating from German to English, just drop the um and you have study studi.
But translating back from English to German, how do you and I remember to add um? I study with him. Study is studi-um. You could even imagine the hyphen (a word starting with the letter h) stand for him.
In the end it doesn't matter whether you remember the memory aid. The effort of looking at the two words and relating them will have helped drive the pair into your memory as a linked couple.

Tips
If all else fails, say the pair three times as if you were teaching somebody else.
1 Studium is study. Study is studium. (Oops - auto correct tried to make that s t a d i u m .

2 Studium is study. Study is s t u d i u m.

3 Studium is study. Study is s t u d i u m.

The other word in the sentence I am learning is forschung which is German for research.
I looked at the letters of the German word and saw in the middle R S C H. For - R.S.RCH UNG 'for researching' .
Now I can recognise the German word forschung is research. But how do I accurately translate back into German? Let's try. FOR RSCH UNG.

I am not forcing you to do researching.

Now try the three times rule:
research - forschung - Forschung - research
research - forschung - Forschung - research
research - forschung - Forschung - research

You could type it out and then read it. I typed it out once, copied it twice, then read it three times.

More information from:
duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, teacher and tutor or English and learning other languages. My books include How to Get out of the Mess You're in, a print on demand book from Lulu.com I also have written several other books which you can see for sale new or second hand on Amazon and Lulu.com .
Please follow me on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram. Like my posts and share them. I teach public speaking in the UK and Singapore and English Language private lessons in Singapore. other languages on request - if you need a babysitter / companion for your studies.