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Would you like to learn more German?
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- Category: German grammar
The A1 or beginner's level of German is frequently underestimated in its importance for learning German.
Starting at the beginning is not only the only place to start, but it's the most important place to start to understand German grammar.
If you're my client you'll hear this often:
You can't build a house on sand, so build a strong foundation.
One of the hardest times for my A2 clients (or B1 or B2 for that matter) is when we start a new topic involving some kind of grammar and they discover there is a big, giant, gaping hole in their German foundation.
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- Category: German culture and food
der Adventskranz = advent wreath
Do you know the difference between Advent and Christmas? Growing up, I never really understood the difference. I even got an Advent calendar from my grandmother every year, but nobody ever explained to me the difference very clearly. So you can imagine that it was a bit of a shock when I moved to Germany and found out: «Advent ist nicht Weihnachten!».
No, Advent is *not* Christmas. It is the time before Christmas.
Here's how I learned the difference. I used to conduct a small choir in Germany and they were very clear with me, because I didn't even understand this differentiation and I asked them to sing a Christmas song for an Advent concert.
Whoops. Wrong request, Frau Warner!
The response from the choir was clear: One may not sing Christmas songs during Advent. And one ceases singing Advent songs when Christmas arrives.
Fast forward a few years and many experiences later, and it is clear to me that Advent is a time of anticipation and of waiting. In Germany this time is approached specifically with a few wonderful traditions. One of these is the Adventskranz or Advent wreath. Here are three ideas for you to make your own.
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- Category: German learning methods
Heads-up: this is a rant post.
A long time ago I used a German book for both classes and lessons that wasn’t a good fit for either population. I didn’t like the layout, I didn’t like the cartoons, the instructions weren’t always clear, and sometimes the workbook exercises differed from what was in the chapter.
That made teaching with this book difficult, and it created an excessive amount of prep work, which caused me a lot of stress, because it also didn’t answer my students’ many questions. But that wasn’t even the worst part.
das Schlimmste ~ The Worst Part
The worst part was: often, the book would give beginning German students trick questions. At first I thought it had been a mistake, that somebody hadn’t properly checked and a few wrong answers went into the answer key, because I couldn’t understand asking trick questions of a beginner who could barely say “I’d like a coffee, please,” or “Yesterday I went to the bakery and bought two loaves of bread.”
It was mind-boggling.
And then it happened again. And again. And again.
We talked about it in the German class I was teaching then and my students and I realized trick questions were the norm for this book.
I was appalled.
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- Category: German grammar
"Geheiratet." Nein. "Verheiratet." Ich weiss es nicht!
I know how it goes, these two can be really tricky, however they are similar enough to English that you can learn a couple of associations to help you keep them apart in your mind.
Sometimes you simply need rote memorization, and sometimes you need a way of remembering which one is which. Sometimes this is an Eselsbrücke (a "donkey-bridge" or a mnemonic device), sometimes you need an association, and sometimes you need a picture in your mind.
Read on to learn a few techniques to tell "geheiratet" and "verheiratet" apart and keep them apart!
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- Category: German vocabulary
When you're at the A1 level, "Verkehr" and "Stau" can be tough to differentiate. Most people say "It has something to do with cars!!" If you said that, you're correct! But what's the difference?
The difference is essentially the same as in English, but one use of "Verkehr" might trip you up.
Read on to learn the difference and how not to get tripped up by the one use of "Verkehr"!
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