Here’s the deal: I do freelance writing for a game company, part of which is located in Germany. Some of the supplements for the game are written in German and are never translated into English. Since this game has a huge German following and some of the stuff written over there has bearing on the game’s ongoing plotlines, I’d really like to be able to read these additional supplements (plus I’d just like to learn German anyway).
I tried buying a computer application to help me, but it seems to be more focused toward conversation and less toward reading (it’s one of those “immersion” things where you don’t actually get any of the “this German word = this English word” stuff, nor do they explain too much about things like grammar.) Also, most of the applications I’ve seen seem to be focused mostly on “touristy” stuff, in which I have minimal interest.
Ideally I’d like to have someone teach me in person, but I’m open to an online course, computer program, or even a book, but my priority is reading and writing rather than speaking. I can probably get some practice in writing by emailing with some of the German folks at the game company, but I need to get to the point where I can write something coherent before then.
I would suggest getting a beginners German language textbook (College or High School level textbook). You can tutor yourself from that, but you might want to see if you can get the instructor/teacher masterbook that accompanies the series as that usually contains the answers to excercises and other useful tidbits of information. Alibris is a useful site with a large selection of books (it is basically an online college bookstore).
Ultimately, you might want to eventually look into taking an actual German language class, most people can only progress so far on their own and it certainly does make learning the language easier in practice. Maybe you could audit a beginners German language course at your local University?
I can’t remember the authors, but I personally can recommend a book with the title “German For Reading and Research.” It’s a slim paperback; I covered the book in a small group composed of graduate students and advanced undergraduates led by a fluent German instructor in one semester. After that semester, I was reading Ingeborg Bachmann, Walter Benjamin, Adolf Reinach, and whatever else I wanted in the original, albeit with a dictionary. There are no shortcuts to learning vocabulary, but there are better and worse ways to learn the grammar.
German is not a very difficult language to learn if all you want to do is learn to read it. Following complex verbal communications, such as academic lectures, will be difficult, both because of the infamous “wait until the end of the sentence to hear the string of twenty verbs.” For simple conversational German, I recommend the Pimsleur series. I found the Pimsleur III at a used bookstore for $40, and even without ever having spoken a word of German, found it easy enough to dive in (the series doesn’t ever get particularly advanced, unfortunately).
Fortunately, what I want to learn isn’t really technical jargon (at least not in the academic sense). I’m guessing that a reasonable knowledge of high-school German plus some specialized vocabulary will take care of most of it. I’m hoping so, anyway.
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I ended up going to a couple of bookstores and picking up a couple of “learn German” books that include exercises, along with a German-English dictionary, a verb book, and a “Learn German in your Car” CD set. I’m hoping they’ll all reinforce each other.
Well, good luck with that. I think if you’re at all serious about learning the language, you’ll want to consider learning the grammar very well, and not sweating the “German 101” type material, e.g., “Can you please pass the porridge?” “Thanks, Mr. Schreck!” " It is hot today, is it hot in Copenhagen in August?" etc. For a specific purpose, you need a specific tool, but if you have lots of time to kill, you might find your average college textbook or audio tape useful for learning to converse.
Yeah, I hear you! I had a hard time finding anything that wasn’t aimed at travellers who want to learn enough survival German to get them through their business trips. The books I got do include grammar, verb conjugation, and that sort of thing. I realize this is going to take awhile to do right, but I’m committed to doing it.
Fortunately I have a spouse who took 2 years of high school German. He doesn’t remember a lot of it (it’s been awhile), but he’s got enough that he can help me through the beginner stage.
If there is a university anywhere near you, contact the language department and ask if there are any German students willing and able to give some private language instruction.
Short of going to Germany, learning from a native speaker is the best method.
I hear you too. I’m sort of a language geek. I want to know all the grammar stuff. It amazes me that people find “fun” language courses where nothing is ever spelled out for you (so to speak) interesting, because I find them utterly intolerable, and it seems like a ton of language-learning material goes for this angle.
One of the things I like about Jannach and Korb’s “German For Reading Knowledge” (I gave the wrong title earlier) is that, while it gives a fairly complete grammar, it is a little more logically presented than something like Moreland and Fleischer’s “Latin: An Intensive Course.” There are also a number of very good primers for German which include authentic newspaper-type readings – unfortunately, I don’t have the titles of the one’s I found most helpful handy, but they’re out there.
[OT]That particular Latin book really broke my balls a bit, although I got through it – every single scrap of obscure verb form you’d ever possibly ever want to learn by the fourth chapter. I suspect Moreland and Fleischer might have had a touch of the sadists in them, tough love, however you like to call it.[/OT]
