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  • #31
    Originally posted by Waidmann View Post
    Finished Bis das Herz brennt -die inoffizielle Rammstein-Biographie! It was a good read, although not too complete and not updated (it ends right before the LIFAD-tour kicks of). I saw a few mistakes (content and some spelling as well), but not much. It really learned me a lot about the pre-Reise, Reise period. Overall I give it a 8/10.
    I wonder if that is available in the UK, I have never seen it anywhere locally ?

    I am more of a fiction person, i am reading books by author Peter James at the moment, murder mystery novels, they are based around Brighton which is my area so it makes them more interesting
    The saying is "You dont know what you have got till its gone" the truth is "You know what you had, you just did not know you would lose it" !!

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    • #32
      ^I never saw it around either. I bought it on ebay. I recall there were german sellers and some from the UK.
      Dort wo der Horizont
      Sich mit dem Meer verbindet
      Dort wollt' ich auf dich warten
      Auf das du mich dort findest

      Comment


      • #33
        Originally posted by Waidmann View Post
        ^I never saw it around either. I bought it on ebay. I recall there were german sellers and some from the UK.
        Thanks i will check out ebay and maybe amazon as well, i am sure its a good read
        The saying is "You dont know what you have got till its gone" the truth is "You know what you had, you just did not know you would lose it" !!

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        • #34
          It is in Amazon co.uk indeed, also as Kindle edition.
          «The trouble with the world is that the stupid is cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt»
          Bertrand Russell.

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          • #35
            I can't believe you all can read German. I can prolly get half of it but would have to look the other half of the words up. I might have to buy Rosetta stone or start my German workbooks again.

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            • #36
              Originally posted by Jorge View Post
              It is in Amazon co.uk indeed, also as Kindle edition.
              Thats so cool thankyou Jorge I do not have Kindle but i will look into buying the book when i have the money
              The saying is "You dont know what you have got till its gone" the truth is "You know what you had, you just did not know you would lose it" !!

              Comment


              • #37
                Originally posted by Edelweiss View Post
                I can't believe you all can read German. I can prolly get half of it but would have to look the other half of the words up. I might have to buy Rosetta stone or start my German workbooks again.
                You mean "Buy" or buy?.....

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                • #38
                  I mean purchase rosetta stone. I don't have many German or Croatian speakers around me which would help me learn more words. I have a German workbook I am going to start doing a page everyday.

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                  • #39
                    So buy

                    That's a good idea, each day a little.

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                    • #40
                      My friend is seeing if she can get a used version for us, she wants to learn too and she likes Rammstein.

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                      • #41
                        [OFFTOPIC!]

                        It is a bit offtopic, but Rosetta Stone may not be the best option. It didn't work for me with Polish, it didn't work for me with German.

                        Why? Because the context is very important in any language, and Rosetta Stone (and other options) doesn't change the context from one language to another. For example, if you learn about food, the food in your country is one thing, but the food in other country is another thing. There is not much point in learning how to say exactly the same in different languages if that won't be useful in another. Following a textbook is important, as it introduces you slowly in the cultural aspects of a language.

                        "Can I have a hot dog, please?" is totally useless if you go to Morocco, for example. If you take a visual dictionary, soon you realise that half of the words are totally nonsense in the language you are learning. Sport... What is the point in learning the vocabulary related to baseball if you learn German, or the vocabulary of handball (best sport ever, no discussion!) if you learn English?

                        My experience say that you only need a dictionary, a grammar book and textbook to follow. And radio, as much radio as you can.

                        I use a lot of material of Langenscheidt (dictionary and textbooks, the "Berliner Platz" series). http://www.langenscheidt.de/

                        Pons and Huber are also very good. But of course, that is what I can access from Spain, UK and Germany.

                        There was a BBC course, that I bought for 5 pounds in a shop just because it was a relatively old version with cassette, instead of CD... but good enough for me: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deutsch-Plus...676743&sr=8-11

                        Radio! This, most of us will like it www.rockantenne.de


                        Still, there is a very good online resource, http://www.livemocha.com/ . Give it a go. If that works for you, then think about Rosetta Stone.

                        Grammar is vital in German. English, for example, doesn't need much understanding of grammar to start to say things. But German, if you want to learn it, needs to assume some understanding of grammar. It really sounds much worst than what it is. Grammar is the mechanics of a language: If you have a lovely and powerful bike or car, you will like to understand how it works. That is grammar.

                        The most important thing is persistence. It is much better to dedicate 15 minutes everyday, for one year, than using 1 hour a week for the same period. Small reading, it is very useful. Take a topic a week, and focus on that (last week for me, being in Germany, was asking for directions). Just pretent, in your own, you are arriving to a new city (your town), and ask yourself in German "Where is the park?" Can you ask that? No? then learn it. Yes? then, can you answer it? And so forth.

                        Good luck!




                        [READING!]

                        After one month or so reading War and Peace, I have reached 18% in kindle... argh, this is slow... But highly enjoyable!
                        «The trouble with the world is that the stupid is cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt»
                        Bertrand Russell.

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                        • #42
                          ^Reading and speaking, that's the quickest way, I guess. Offcourse, as a dutch native speaker, it was easier for me to learn german than to most of you.
                          If I can recommend anything, I'd say you might start off with simple short stories like the ones written by Kafka, Martin Walser, H. Böll, H.H. Ewers, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Hauptmann etc. and offcourse with some poetry (Celan for the daredevils, Benn, Trakl) or some theater plays because they're not too heavy as well (I can especially recommend Dürrenmatt's Romulus der Grosse for that). On http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/ you can find many german stories. I'd give you some titles from short simple texts if you want to.
                          I agree with the persistence. A language should become some kind of routine and you reach that better by doing few everyday than lots once a week.
                          Last edited by Waidmann; 05-22-2012, 08:12 PM.
                          Dort wo der Horizont
                          Sich mit dem Meer verbindet
                          Dort wollt' ich auf dich warten
                          Auf das du mich dort findest

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Thanks for the advice Jorge and Waidmann. I have a terrible memory at times so I have to connect words. Like I couldn't remember Wievel, even though I know Wie gehts. I would say "Koliko Wievel" Koliko means how much in Croatian so eventually I would just remember the German. Very strange. I don't automatically associate it with english first.
                            I love music, and one reason I love R+ is because they sing in German and if I know what the song means eventually I will remember the words.
                            I have a live mocha account and have started Croatian on there, but to go to the next step you have to tape yourself speaking and I don't have a microphone or web cam on my computer. I'm going to try to do it from my phone.
                            I will definately read a German book.

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                            • #44
                              Originally posted by Waidmann View Post
                              On http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/ you can find many german stories. I'd give you some titles from short simple texts if you want to.
                              Yes, please!
                              «The trouble with the world is that the stupid is cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt»
                              Bertrand Russell.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                I'm glad I found this thread. I've got lots of German practice textbooks but they're in another state right now, and I'd been going with Rosetta stone lately. I found it rather boring and lamented the fact that it was just like the Spanish I was trying to learn too. I'll be going back to my parents' home in a few weeks and will bring back all of my German textbooks!

                                Does anyone here who's trying to learn German/knows it have Skype and want to chat/practice sometime?

                                And does anyone have news websites in German and about Germany/Europe to recommend?

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