I am still trying to learn German, by way of the Michel Thomas method.
Long-term readers may recall part 2 and even part 1 of this series, way back in 2010 when the world was young and the idea of "a new politics" under the Coalition evoked images of hope rather than of a pile of dog sick laughing and pointing at you for being so bloody gullible.
Progress since then has been – let's say – erratic. I'm sure that every time I listen to one of the lessons, a little more rubs off.
For example, yesterday I actually managed to listen and take in the difference between "ich kann es tun", "ich konnte es tun" and "ich könnte es tun" and see a pattern that seemed to work when applied to other verbs as well. I can still almost remember it now.
However, I fear that, confronted with a living, speaking German person, I would resort to pointing, waggling my eyebrows meaningfully and ultimately speaking English to make myself understood. Although, on reflection, that is my preferred order of techniques when communicating with English speakers too.
Michel Thomas' asserts (from beyond the grave) that once you master verbs, everything else is just vocabulary. This is starting to ring a little hollow as I come to realise just how many other words there are in German, even after I master the 700 different forms of every single "doing word".
Can any of my dear readers suggest what I should do to reinvigorate this learning process?
Otherwise this series is going to go the way of the Fantasy League of Nations...
Going to Germany and speaking to Germans works wonders.
ReplyDeleteEspecially after several Weiss Biers and being regarded generally as a "crazy English man".
I managed to come up with this little gem:
"Weil, Ich Deutsch fur mein Abitur genehmt haben" which actually demonstrates correct use of subordinating clauses.
I was proud until a later conversation in which I was told I "smelt" English.
Michel calls that a "Weil situation". It sounds funnier if you say it out loud. Not that much funnier, but marginally so.
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