Learning German - Anyone else game?

[TexanRose]

Sharon,

German is the language of the Reformation! At least largely.

As for today, well, how would Spanish be practical?

It would be practical because there are a lot more Spanish speakers in the US (and the world, for that matter) than there are German speakers. Especially in my community. I encounter and interact with people whose native language is Spanish on at least a weekly basis. I know zero people who speak German. Even Dutch would be more practical as I do have connections with people in and from the Netherlands.

Also, I took several years' worth of Spanish classes in college, as opposed to one year of German, so it wouldn't take me as long to reach fluency in Spanish.

Do y'all think it's a good or bad idea to study more than one language at once? Would it be better to focus on one at a time?

 

[Theogenes]

I would really like to learn German, but I keep telling myself "Spanish would be more practical." Can you give me some good practical reasons why I ought to learn German? I am very open to being persuaded.

Practical reasons for learning German:

1. Makes ordering beer and sausage during Octoberfest in Fredericksburg, TX much easier. This is the first point because it really is the most important.
2. German Fight Books detailing medieval fighting styles which are still useful for today are generally in German and in the main remain untranslated.
3. Learning German will help you if you later decide to learn Latin and/or Attic Greek. (Personally I believe Attic should be learned before Koine. Preferably in this order: Attic - Homeric - Koine.)
4. German is said to make learning Dutch easier. Dutch is good because of all the Dutch Reformed literature yet to be translated. And it'll impress Joel Beeke which may lead to him buying you a beer. Learning German = Beer with Joel Beeke. This and reason number one are more than enough to persuade anyone to learn German.
5. If you decide to read from the 17th century to today on textual criticism, you will need German. Warfield's inerrant doctrine comes from his study in Germany and his interaction with the German textual critic writings. And aside from Richard Simon's counter-reformation attack against Sola Scriptura which is in English, most of the foundational works in textual criticism are in German. Simon's should be read first if possible. It's online for free.

Number one is easy: Ein bier, bitte! Danke!

 

[Miss Marple]

"German's have no heart and no sense of humor. (Sheesh! You'll give us all a bad wrap if they think we're really a bunch of softies. Remember, no facial expressions and no laughing at funny jokes!) "

Oh I know, we find security in our rigidity and our routines. . . can anyone name a German comedian?

German humor is sarcastic and sharp, sort of little comments at the end of a conversation, or observations under the breath. My favorite. No "Three Stooges" stuff with us, nicht wehr?

 

[JohnGill]

"German's have no heart and no sense of humor. (Sheesh! You'll give us all a bad wrap if they think we're really a bunch of softies. Remember, no facial expressions and no laughing at funny jokes!) "

Oh I know, we find security in our rigidity and our routines. . . can anyone name a German comedian?

German humor is sarcastic and sharp, sort of little comments at the end of a conversation, or observations under the breath. My favorite. No "Three Stooges" stuff with us, nicht wehr?

Well, we do watch the Three Stooges. But only when there are no witnesses.

German comedians...does Barth count?

 

[crimsonleaf]

I started German at school but stopped when I realised that:

1. What we call a sentence is in fact one German word.
2. Most of the letters are in the wrong order.
3. People around me were getting wet when I spoke.

 

[Pilgrim72]

So, what's the plan? I'm ready to go.

 

[JohnGill]

So, what's the plan? I'm ready to go.

Looking around for some free resources we can use to help learn the language. Currently I'm using Rosetta Stone. But if I can find some good free resources we can use MeetUp or another service and having weekly meetings.

 

[CharlieJ]

Your local library may have Pimsleur audio courses, which are very good for developing correct pronunciation and proficiency in basic phrases. Also, many libraries are offering subscriptions to the online service Mango Languages, which is decent for basic German.

For learning to read German, I very much appreciated German Quickly by April Wilson, but I think there's an errata sheet you should have. Modern Theological German by Helmut Ziefle is good for breaking into the field, but will not teach you all the grammar you need, so use it in conjunction with German Quickly or a similar resource.

 

[Pilgrim72]

Anything new on this? I'm still interested.

 

[Pilgrim72]

Okay, well. If anything comes up, let me know...

I'll go back to trying to learn Japanese until I hear from you.