I am learning German now and for me it is difficult to pronounce words. So far my strategy is listening and reading out loud. Still my accent seem not good enough. I don’t have anyone in my neighborhood to speak to .
I would like to know how do you learn to pronounce the words correctly ? Is it better to learn speaking without any help or with a tutor ?
I listened to Russian for one year before trying to pronounce it. Let your brain get used to it and don’t worry about your pronunciation. Talk to a tutor to keep your motivation up but do not expect her to correct your pronunciation…yet.
Thank you very much for advice.
I think the biggest problem is that lot of people are trying to speak before they are ready to pronunce the words correctly. Mostly they don’t listen to much so they don’t know the sound of the language. I will try to listen more.
I can see that everyone is learning at its own pace. Some people can learn faster some slower. But the most important is the final efect.
I am glad that you have helped me.
When you are learning is it better to use different resources = different accents , or is it better to listen to one accent only until you full understand the language ? In one country there are usually different regions and different accents so which way is better for learning ? ?
It depends on your goal.
It’s good to be exposed to several accents/dialects/idiolects. You can’t (and shouldn’t) expect to always be around people who speak in a certain way. In my town there are about 22-23 000 people, I hear different accents all the time, at work, in the grocery store, in the street… Variants of the local accent, accents from other regions, broken Swedish… Funnily enough, I have been accused of not coming from here (despite the fact that I do speak the local accent, and that I have lived in the same neighbourhood for all my life - 35 years).
I think it is wise to listen to different accents and eventually to imitate the one you like. At the beginning you cannot hear the difference anyway.
That’s right Steve, the first 2 years living in Germany I could understand only the standard German (Hochdeutsch), now the accents and even some dialects make me no odds, although I’ve never tried to gain knowledge of it deliberately - it came quasi automatically
I don’t worry at all about the accent, it’s just another thing to get in the way of my listening and reading. Although later on, if I were learning English for example I wouldn’t want to confuse my regional dialects by saying something like: “I put my trousers in the trunk of my car” or “I took the elevator to see the chemist”
I agree, listening is the best way to learn pronunciation, as well as reading is the best way to learn how to write. Of course you need some practice too, but not too much. I’ve been studying English for a year and a half at LingQ, I haven’t had many opportunities to speak during this time, but I’ve been able to be understood by several natives and non-natives without problem. I’m sure I have an accent, probably a strong one, but I’m happy enough if people can understand me. That’s my main measure of good pronunciation.
Concerning your post Anapaula - I also have not much opportunities to speak in German ( only a little bit at my work ) and so far I am trying to listen Lingq .
I listen to it over and over again , until I fully understand it. Maybe at some level we must get used to sound and have enough vocabulary to make simple sentences and what is on our mind.
When I speak German my sentences are simple because sometimes I can’t remind the words and usually need so I repeat words Hopefuly it will change after longer exposure to a language.
Some time ago I was listenig to Deutsche Welle but at this level it was to dificult for me.
I think that speaking for me is easier than writing in German. Maybe it is because I can’t see my mistakes when I speak.
I recommand to listen and listen and listen. Listen to many different voices and different accents of a lot of people but not many courses which are generally not at normal speed. Even if you understand nothing - go on and listen to the music of the language and listen again. Then you will recognize first some sounds, then some words Then try to understand. Use the transcribing to see the words Try first to understand the general meaning and then go deeper. Go back to listening again. The main secret I think is to listen every day and to be focused on listening.
I would not wait to be perfect speaker before talking. Nobody is perfect and you will never know your skill if you do not try. Most clever people will like you talk their language even badly. The best way to talk is to imitade what you listen to. The only thing to worry about is to be understood. If you are forced to talk foreign language it is because your counterpart do not learn your language as you learn its. If you are native english learning german and meet with a native german learning english - you could both speak your own language and understand yourselve.
I am a french native and I have often difficulties when I try to understand some native french canadian. There are very few french natives who never make mistaken in writting french.
I like deutsche welle a lot. Did you try Deutsche warum nicht ? It looks quite simple to me
One fabulous thing is that if you listen a lot to german for example and at one point you want to learn any other language - the time you spent on german will help you a lot in any other language - at least for the listening part.
Is it better to listen and read at the same time ? I usually translate the word I don’t know and print the whole text and I write translation for some words. It is much more comfortable to have it on paper and I can take a lot every time I need , even without acces to the computer .
Which strategy of learning is better ? - when you listen over and over again , even if you don’t know some words , or is it better to read and listen at the same time( in order to SEE the words which are new for you ) .
Because I don’t have much time so far I do more listening than reading .
PierreM - I have tried Deutsche Welle some time ago , but some text were to dificullt for me. I will try Deutsche Warum nicht. Hope it will work better at my level of German
Deutsche warum nicht is the lesson for beginner offered by the Deutsche Welle.
You learn to understand and to speak english before learning to read and to write it.
What is your goal ? What do you mean by “I do not have much time” ? Do you have a death line or do you have few time every day but no death line ?