Duolingo

Zwischen Verpackung und Reinigung, bin ich Deutsch üben. (Between packing and cleaning, I am practicing German.) I am using Duolingo which is free. You can download the app or do it online. I am finding it helpful, and I like the fact that I have German running in my head every day.

Alle Meine Kleider

During our family time on Christmas, my daughters reminded me of a German song that I had forgotten. They must have learned it from the children's choir director at church when they were in elementary school.


Grün grün grün sind alle meine Kleider,
Grün grün grün ist alles was ich hab
Darum lieb ich alles was so grün ist
Weil mein Schatz ein Jager, Jager ist.

It basically means, all my clothes are green because my love is a hunter.

You can go through other colors then. Blue for sailor, white for baker, black for chimney sweep, and then all the colors for a painter.

I found this funny video on youtube so you can hear the song. 

Quizlet

We have discovered a great way to create and use flashcards to work on our German vocabulary. The site, quizlet.com makes "simple tools to let you study anything, for free." You have a choice of creating flashcards for yourself (for any subject), or mooching off of looking at sets that others have created. For foreign language vocabulary you can have the flashcards show both languages at once (seen below), or either language hidden which flip over with a click to reveal the other side. You can star any card to create a subset of words to concentrate on. One added bonus is audio where you can listen to the pronunciation of the words.

Quizlet was started by a 15-year-old boy in Albany, CA who wanted to learn French vocabulary.

Currently I am working on the 100 most common German adjectives, 29 of which I have starred.

German Wednesdays

Today is Wednesday - Beginners Day at German Table in Oldenborg. You knew that from last Wednesday's post. Again, it was great to work on our spoken German, and perhaps one of these days we'll be brave and go on a day that it not for beginners.....

Anyway, in preparation for German Table, we thought we should learn/relearn the German Alphabet. Instead of looking up the pronunciation, I thought there ought to be a youtube video of it. Of course there is. If you can imagine it, it will be on the internet.

Actually, there are many videos that pop up if you search for German alphabet song, but this is the one that I liked the best.

Deutsch at Oldenborg

Hallo Liebe Leser!

Heute hatten wir unser Mittagessen im Oldenborg Center gegessen. Warum? Weil im Oldenborg können wir  Deutsch mit anderen Menschen sprechen. Wir wollen informieren, besser Deutsch zu sprechen.

Hello Dear Readers!

Today we ate our lunch at Oldenborg Center. Why? Because at Oldenborg we can speak German with other people. We want to get better at speaking German.

Oldenborg is Pomona College's Foreign Language Center with graduate resident assistants who speak various languages and facilitate language and cultural learning. On Wednesdays the tables are designated as beginner tables, so we felt that although we are past our first semester of German, it has been so long that we really need a refresher.

I was surprised at how much I could actually participate at my level, surprised at some words that came back to me, and surprised at how many words I have forgotten. Well, maybe not so surprised at that. As soon as someone would remind me of a word for which I was searching, I felt like hitting my forehead with my palm.

Anyway, I am once again reminded that the best way to learn a language is immersion!