I've been about a year and a half on Duolingo learning German. Here is an update on my language learning journey! I also talk a bit about speaking French, and starting to learn Spanish. Like this video and subscribe!
As a German I would say your German parts in this video were very good, I'm surprised you could get this far by only using duolingo. I had to smile though when you said "Es tut mir leid" for the situation of bumping into someone on the street, because a German your age would very likely either literally say "Uups, sorry" or - if he wouldn't use the colloquial anglicism - they would likely mumble " 'tschuldigung" (short for "Entschuldigung"). Es tut mir leid isn't wrong, but would make you sound very posh and grave in that situation. "Es tut mir leid" is something you'd rather say when you sincerely think you did something really bad or when you are in a formal situation, like e.g. you messed up a work project and are in the process of begging your boss to please not fire you.
Good to know! I’m doing Duolingo now and it really pushes for es tut Mir leid in ‘I’m sorry’ situations My mum is half German though and she always said entschuldigung meant sorry so makes sense
@@aracelischirinos7222 As I said, "Es tut mir leid" is not wrong, but a native German wouldn't use that in a casual situation like bumping into someone in the street (unless you accidently knocked them over and they are now lying on the ground wimpering in pain - THAT would be a situation for "Es tut mir leid"). As a rule of thumb: When you made a mistake that would give the other person a good reason to be angry at you, use "Es tut mir leid" (Or if you are really terribly sorry, you can enhance it by adding "sehr" (very) or "furchtbar" (terribly) before the word leid). If you just had a little mishap that caused a minor inconvenience, better use "Entschuldigung".
Ditto. German is fun on Duolingo. Was already in the middle of a 333 day streak with Spanish, when I decided to throw in some German into the mix. And the cool thing is, you aren't going to fail, no commuting, no annoying students (guilty), and you are basically assisted 89% of the way. No excuses. Just 5 minutes a day, before or after breakfast. Start small.....but.....do it daily. Tschüss
I am learning German and Spanish with Duolingo. I'm impressed with what you have been able to do with your German. I hope that I will come close to what you have achieved with it. I like Duolingo because it motivates me to keep up my lessons, which in the past has been my biggest problem. It is the only method I've found to keep myself motivated over a long period of time. And I am learning a lot!
@@yadu9576I've been learning German for 5 months and I'm half way through the fifth section. If I wasn't distracted by another language I'd probably be there by now too.
Heyho, first time watcher here. I am a native german speaker who has found this video by chance. I know it's not the point of this video and neither did you ask for it, but i am gonna give you a comprehensive critique on your german (at least for a YT-Comment...). I could actually understand your german perfectly. You did not have an english accent, your pronunciation was very good... for the most part, more on that later. As you said, your grammar is not perfect, but honestly, for only using Duolingo, it is VERY impressive. I know it is a lot, especially for native english speakers, who have no way of relating it to their own languages grammar. Aside from some minor grammar mistakes, the one thing that gave you away the most was the very "scratchy" way you said your "r"s and "ch"s, so i'm gonna try and help you with that, mainly because it is really jarring to ME. (Well, and because you are probably hurting your voice if you do that a lot. Take care of yourself!) People think the german ch sound does not exist in english, but that is not true. Most of them do. After soft vowel sounds (so e and i), the ch sounds exactly like the h in "huge". Use that and your pronunciation will be much better and your voice will also thank you. For a, u and o, your ch is fine, just try to make it a bit softer (hey i am not a linguist) For the r, i don't really have anything (still not a linguist ok...). Only thing i have is this: It sounds like you are creating it very high up and forcefully. Try starting from the english r and move it "down" in your throat. Then, just add vibration. I don't know if that makes sense, probably not. Just don't overdo it, the stereotypical hard german r sound barely even exists anymore anyway. That's my mustard, i wish you all the best for the future. Edit: After listening to it again, it actually sounds like a french accent. Edit 2: Also, just followed you on Duo because i am annoying like that. Have a nice day!
Dude, I literally just said the word huge, and then Kirche right after and instantly didnt say it in a raspy/lisp way. First try, forever fixed, Danke!
THANK YOU!!! These tips are very helpful, I know I go pretty hard with my ch and r's (I'm like that in French too and my throat hurts after speaking french all day lol). I'll definitely work on it with these tips though :)
As a german native speaker I really like and enjoy watching people trying to learn german. Not in a mean way! I know german is hard and it needs lots of effort to get fluent. For me you rly sound a bit like a french girl talking german but i'm sure if you were in germany, you could talk with other ppl and wont get lost. They WILL understand you, from that german-level on. keep going!!
I am at about 15% progress on the German course, and I could understand you really well. Native speakers tend to speak to quickly for me to understand entire sentences, but understanding your slower German was nice
This has given me a lot of motivation to keep going with my free Duolingo! I’ve been questioning if I can actually reach a conversational level with only free tools but I understood everything you said 😊👍🏻
On a 430 day streak on the German course, was all gold halfway through the tree, then they updated the course. It's all messed up now. Did get credit for a lot of courses but is seems pretty random in the new structure. The new material is a bit harder but I think better.I have started back from the beginning doing all legendary status and coming up on a third of the way. One helpful thing for me is watching RU-vid video (Nicos way A1...classic!) And you mentioned easy German. You can slow down the playback speed which helps a lot. Thanks for the video...good tips!
love the video, but i gotta comment on the fire ferrets, thats so awesome haha, such a good show. but your progress is so encouraging, ive been interested for 23 years, since i was five, and ive been learning alot now, on a 32 day streak and i just love it still
Great video, I've only just started so its very encouraging to hear someone enjoy the progress they've made... though I totally subbed for the glasses thing at 6.30, made me spit my coffee out laughing
A good tip would be to hear or read books/films in German. I improved my English by watching The Empire Strikes Back twenty times and getting a nice Han Solo accent. :-) My favorite tv German show was Tim Mälzer Kocht.
I have a 503 day streak..at section 82 out of 114. i went to Germany two months ago and NOBOBY switched to English, not airport, hotel or restaurant…I felt very comfortable…I am now doing grammar with DFE and Herr Antrim…..
You’re too funny! One thing I plan on doing is listening to the Harry Potter audio books in German as well as reading along with the deutsch version. I know those books backwards and forwards so I think that will help and be interesting to me. Thanks for the help and great video!
That’s awesome! I just came back from two weeks visiting a friend in Switzerland and was shocked how much German I learned (Swiss German is different but don’t in duo lingo). I’m determined to learn more so when I go back I can function without my friend translating for me!
Ooooh my god you just brought back all the good memories from elementary school where we actually had a dance routine to Schnappi we would perform almost every single day
Nice I’m learning Russian with Duolingo and am 124 days in I was curious what a 500 day streak looks like I’ve given myself a 3 year timeline to reach basic fluency. Thanks for the vid!
You got this! Awesome vlog and congratulations on your Duolingo German streak! Have you tried reading a book in German ? And do you have any German book recommendations?
I know this is a bit of an older video, but if anyone else is watching this like I just have, another thing you can do to stay engaged if you're a gamer (at least on PC) is change the language to your target language. Most popular games will probably have it, even if it isn't one of the big ones. Another thing you can do if you're struggling to get shows or movies in your target language, I just went on Amazon and looked up the name of a movie that I already liked, translated into the language that I want to learn. This seems like the best method of getting movies that aren't dubbed into English, Spanish, French, or German in my experience.
I took 2 year of German in college because it was required for chemistry majors at UC Berkeley. I have to admit I hated it, the teachers seemed unfriendly and I just wanted to pass because my match and science courses took up most of my time. Kind of funny because I was born in Germany but moved to the US at age 1. My mother was native German so I used to call her up for help. Now I am retired and have all the time in the world so I started Duolingo and am surprised how much I recognize in the language still, so my recall memory is working. I will do 30 minutes every day. How long will this take to get through the course. In beginning it looks like I can do 1 section in 2 days, maybe later it will take longer for harder sections. Beginning is all easy.
i have a 300 day streak plus some before and took german for 2 years in college and i am not even fluent enough to read a book in German without looking something up in every sentence, but i do feel like im at the point where reading/watching movies in German a lot would bring me up to conversational level
I use DL some of the time, but it became apparent very quickly that it isn't set up with actual human dialogue in mind. The most persistent and egregious examples are the tons of redundant words (in all but the simplest of sentences), insistence on prescriptive and stilted sentences and phrasing, and complete disregard for colloquial variations in dialect. For example, as a Brit, I don't call a "cheque" a "check," especially when it's (die) Rechnung, which means (both at a restaurant and for utilities at home) (the) bill. A "bill" that you must pay is a word that's known unambiguously both sides of the pond, and makes pattern-finding easier when you get to things like "Gasrechnung" and "Stromrechnung;" like, "Gasrechnung? Does that mean checking for gas leaks?" especially in the UK, where "check" has basically one meaning. It basically means I have to learn American dialect in a stilted form just to learn German. The way they stilt their dialogue hinders actual progress all the way down to the basic levels, too. For another example: "Ich habe keinen Teppich" literally translates to "I have no carpet," which is perfectly acceptable in English (at least here in the UK), but DL insists that the only correct answer must be "I don't have a carpet." Fine of you're picking word blocks (as long as there's not a "no" to catch you out like there was for me), but being told you're wrong for writing the translation in your native language because it wasn't in their style can hang-up your progress, especially in the early stages, when half the time they give you sentence fragments, anyway. It might sound like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but the little, tiny things matter a lot when you're first picking-up a language and knowing they aren't teaching you how to speak in your own language properly can damage any confidence you have in what you're being taught if you don't have other reliable sources.
I am learning German and Arabic in Duolingo. I am learning Arabic so I can get a job in the Middle East and the German language I love it and want to do my master's from Germany that's why I am learning. One thing I found hard is I belong to Pakistan and here you rarely find any people who have interest in learning new languages so it's hard for me to find people in person but will look online
hii! 2022 :) so i wanted to learn german since 2020, i started in 2020 but soon quit due to motivation. i only learned very few words like apfel & schwester. i am upset at myself because i am just starting to learning german and i keep thinking to myself, if i kept learning in 2020 i wouldve been so good by now. :,)
Hello, guys. I'm currently looking for someone to help me with my conversational german. I'm at beginner level but I'd like someone who will be patient to learn together It would be such a huge help for me. Please, if you see it give me a feedback
I have been learning for 97 days (since Oct 7th 2022) and now I can say stuff like "Ich kann spiele Fußball aber nicht gut" or "Könnte ich habe der Regenschirm, es regnet". (Sorry if it doesn't grammatically make sense)
omg i am also sam and love cats and language and i think we might be the same person but you are way prettier!!!! thanks for this funny and informative video!
Also, for German music, I recommend Eisbrecher, OOMPH!, and And One. Rammstein is also good, though you should aware that Till Lindermann purposely exaggerates his "r"s.
Oh. You are my friend on duo. You see my cat and you dress her with a strange christmasdress. This is what i learned. I am complete german and i hope my english here is correct. A little bit 😅 Your german is great but yes...there is room for improvement in terms of grammar
As a German, It sounds like you're someone from the French-Speaking Area of Switzerland who tried to learn German to be able to go to German speaking Parts without having to hope that someone speaks French, the big issue is with pronunciation, it is very untrained and makes you sound a little too beginner. Edit: 2:41 the "Was sonst" is very well pronounced. Edit 2: The letters ä, ö and ü are pronounced as a, o and u, it is a common mistake (especially for English-Speaking people) to assume they are pronounced like a, o and u. You may work on that.
Day 4 on my German!!! I understood roughly about 1% maybe 2% of what you said, my goal is to come back every 100 days and try to increase my understanding percentage from your German. I will use this video as a check point 😂 Today is March 23. 2022 and I’ll see you guys in 100 days (July 1,2022) Also does anyone know when to use gender specific words like (Das, Die, Der)? I understand Der is masculine, Die is feminine and Das is neutral but what the hell is “Die salat” or “Der Pizza” is the salad feminine and pizza a masculine? 😂
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cyRDSqopIyA.html this video explains everything really well ☺ I was also super confused about this still am but at least I now know that I just need to learn the ending of the words and i'll know
Hello, guys I'm looking for a German partner to learn the language together. Send me a message to start learning together cause I need a buddy in this path of fluency. I'm a beginner as well.
Yes, I live in Austria and I speak German... And WOW you can realy realy good speak German, and the time was perfect, I was very proud of you ❤️👌🏻😋 and yeeees Ich bin schappi das kleine Krokodil😂🙈
As a man that speaks Albanian, I find it really easy to learn languages, because of our 36 letters, loots of dialects with 2 main ones, really really complex grammar and aincent words that predate everything else in Europe. German in this case is hard if you choose to learn it in the Language Professor Level like I am, but as I saw this video I got to a conclusion, she is speaking and understanding German good, but the pronunciation and grammar is not on point, that is easy to learn once you understand and love the language like she does, good luck on learning German, und du bist sehr schön😉.
What a nice video that helps me not choosing Duolingo 😶 with normal courses offered from professional institutes one can achieve academically much more than this in 1.5 year. She just pronounces “r” or “ch” randomly for the words without these. She seemed to neglect the gender as well as Akkusativ
Thanks for the comment! I know my German isn't perfect after only 1.5 years, but considering I've done it all by myself, I'm proud of where I am! And as great as it would be to go to a professional institute (like the Goethe one here in Ontario) not everyone can afford that or has the time for that. If you do, that's great! Duolingo is a great free resource that can only take 15 minutes a day and that's why I'm recommending it and speaking about it
