Guten Tag! (gew-tuhn tahk)-Hello! So you want to learn to speak German now!
Sehr gut (zeyr gewt)-very well! Your reason to speak German is probably different than mine.
We traveled to Germany twice as a family and loved the country and the people. As a result, both my kids became interested in the country and learned the German language fluently. In our home, the two of them jabbered back and forth in German and I felt very left out. All I could do was buckle down and try to learn to sprecke deutsch (shpreh ka doitsch) -speak German, so I could join in.
Learning German is challenging and a big undertaking
But you do not have to struggle like I did.
I learned a few useful phrases like: Sprecken Sie bitte langsammer (Shpreh k'n Zee bitta longstammer)-PLEASE SPEAK SLOWER, Ich verstehen nicht! (Ick forstaya nickt)- I do not understand and vie bitte (vee bitta)-how please.But most of the time I stared blankly at my son and daughter rattling unintelligible sounds and enjoying themselves even more because I could not understand them. I sighed and stuck my nose in a few different German textbooks-all very dry stuff for me and the memorizing was absolutely tedious, sehr shleht (zeyr shleht)-very bad.
I did learn that German and English were once one language that split into two. Since they are related, there are a few similar words called cognants. A few examples of cognants are:
elegant/ elegant, bank/Bank, lamp/ lampe
blond /blond, music/ Musik, bus/Bus,moment/moment
Some examples of near cognants are:
nature/ Natur, lamp/lampe, cold/kalt,
But, a few words and phrases only made me feel even more ignorant. I really did not want to get bogged down with lots of grammar at this stage and wanted a fast way to learn German. After many trials I ran across Rocket German - The Ultimate Guide To Learning German and I was impressed indeed.
I found a fun way to learn German fast.
While in Germany, I can now order my own Nachtisch (nock tish)-dessert.
And you better believe I'm ordering Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte (shvartz valter kirshatort)-Black Forest Cake! Sie schmeckt sehr gut und riecht auch gut (Zee shmekkt zair goot oont reekht aoukh goot)-It tastes very good and smells good too.
I can even talk with my kids in a second language and they don't snicker anymore and they even act like I'm one of them. Some of their words pass by me but not so much anymore. I'm still learning, which is great ,and I'm not at a standstill like I was before Rocket German - The Ultimate Guide To Learning German. I'm getting better at understanding the context of what they're saying even if I don't understand every word (I let them think I know exactly what they're saying though).
Check out this site below, there are no obligations and you'll be happy you looked. The free lessons helped me a lot.
