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Learning how to use a German-English dictionary effectively is one of the single skills which can really help support you in your German learning adventure.

German learners frequently ask: Which German-English dictionary should I buy? Is it worth buying the big one? How do I know which dictionary will be right for me? Are the online German dictionaries better?

In this blog post/podcast episode, I'll guide you step-by-step through which dictionary you can/should use as a beginner through the el…

There are three elements which make German hard (or easy...ok easier...) to learn:

1. Materials & Resources
2. Methods
3. Instructor(s) or lack there of.

Today you'll learn about these three elements and how they may make German harder to learn, or maybe easier.

Together these elements create one big constellation.

Which ones help you? Which ones are simply good enough? And which elements don't help you?

Definitely cue in to the next episode next week. ;-)

I got a little verklemmt in this one.

It's the One-Year Anniversary of this podcast! Hurra!

So first I answer a couple of questions.

Then there are three phrases in German on beginnings.

And to close it out: a boatload of thank-yous.

Danke. ♥

Authors and such mentioned in this episode:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hermann Hesse

Friedrich Nietzsche

Sigmund Freud

Carl Jung

Ingrid Noll

Christa Wolf

Christine Brückner (new to me!)

die Schadenfreude = pleasure at someone else's misfort…

Frustration can run pretty high when you take a German class but you just can’t seem to speak it correctly. The baker in Germany doesn’t understand you so you have to point and the person you ask for directions switches to English.

So why is it that you have taken class after class or lesson after lesson, but you still can’t speak German?

There might be more than one reason, and here are five which are common themes amongst German learners.

Which one stops you from speaking German?

Reason …

These are the three skills you need as a beginner, as a novice learner, as an intermediate German learner and beyond.

These are perhaps the most important skills I could help you acquire, no matter if you learn German for travel, as a hobby, or for work.

Without these skills, you won't make as much progress as you could make, given the time and energy you have, and you might find yourself increasingly frustrated.

Learning these skills might help you make more progress over time, and you may f…

This untranslatable German word is one of my favorites, and I hope it becomes one of yours, too!

You'll learn the meaning of Fingerspitzengefühl and there are plenty of repetitions of it so you can get used to pronouncing it.

It's a long word!

You'll learn the meaning of Fingerspitzengefühl in English and you'll learn when to use it in German.

Reference for the sensitivity of fingertips: https://asknature.org/strategy/fingertips-increase-sensitivity-to-touch/

What is German Sentence Structure?

It's hard, that's what it is.

You've got structures with dative, structures with the accusative, sentences with dass and with the passive voice. You need examples, you need it in a PDF, you need translations.

Good news: it's all right here in the A1-A2-B1 German Sentence Structure Guide.

In it you'll see 5 pages of clear examples, grouped together by level, and an English translation for each and every sentence.

There's also plenty of room for you to write…

There are a whole host of reasons for learning German, however when I asked my readers, they responded with new and different reasons.

Here are 5 different reasons people learn German (out of the many reasons featured in this episode), in no particular order:

• Ich liebe deutsche Musik. (I love German music.)

• Die Deutschen sind praktisch und das finde ich gut. (Germans are practical and I think that's good.)

• Sprache ist für mich eine große Herausforderung. (German is a big challeng…

Nine Years of GermanWithNicole.com!

Although I've taught German since 2010, I've only taught privately and online since 2013. (Wellllll, it may have actually been 2012, but this was a chance development in my life that turned into a business, so if you won't tell anybody, I won't.)

Today you'll hear

• two short numbers exercises in German,

• a thank you in German followed by the same text in English,

• and then five fantastic German words I've come across in the past few years.

This one's about authenticity and integrity.

Part 3:

8. You only have to follow two rules in my classroom.

9. You will encounter authentic elements of Germanic culture, not terrible clichés.

10. You'll learn real German.

11. You won't ever have to put up with me becoming a poser making myself into a social media influencer.

German National Athem (sung by yours truly): https://www.germanwithnicole.com/blog/what-is-the-german-national-anthem