Start Learning German in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

more RE: why you should do videos in German

bauchweh
New in Town
Posts: 14
Joined: January 9th, 2010 2:36 am

more RE: why you should do videos in German

Postby bauchweh » January 24th, 2010 12:44 am

Hi, first I'd like to say that I don't like listening to Americans speak German because you don't get your ears tuned to properly hear real Deutsch. No offense, but listening to Chuck is easy, like listening to a fellow student in German class. You understand all of it. Now, turn on a live streaming German radio station & realize you don't understand #@%! and that's how I ended up turning to real Germans only. BUT, we had 15 minute videos we watched in class of real Germans in a staged situation talking at regular speed & then we'd dissect it and go over everthing they said. The DVD's allow you to play it back with the German words at the bottom of the screen for the review until evryone understand it. The visuals make it fun & also give you clues as to what is going on. And Judith, are those your audio books on audible dot DE ?? Will there be any for intermediate wanting to go fully fluent??? thanks, Bauchweh

cwbeekhuis
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: October 20th, 2009 10:34 pm

The accent contrast is good

Postby cwbeekhuis » January 26th, 2010 11:16 pm

At first I didn't like hearing the American accent either but then I realized the contrast was good - you hear Chuck speak and then Judith speak and it helps to hear the difference and understand where you can change your own pronunciation.

Get 40% OFF
Sprachprofi
Established Presence
Posts: 87
Joined: January 29th, 2008 8:23 pm

Re: more RE: why you should do videos in German

Postby Sprachprofi » January 30th, 2010 9:00 am

bauchweh wrote:BUT, we had 15 minute videos we watched in class of real Germans in a staged situation talking at regular speed & then we'd dissect it and go over everthing they said. The DVD's allow you to play it back with the German words at the bottom of the screen for the review until evryone understand it. The visuals make it fun & also give you clues as to what is going on.

I like to watch movies for that, using the subtitles for the hearing-impaired, which usually match what is being said. If I don't understand something, I consult a dictionary, and if that doesn't help, the English subtitles.

I believe that actual German movies are better for this purpose than videos created for students, because a lot of German course writers are unable to script natural conversations, and studies have also shown that if you hire ordinary people to act out a situation (at the train station, at the supermarket, or whatever), they will speak very differently from what is normal.

In order to teach you the German that people actually speak on GermanPod101, I often just go to the place that the lesson is about and take notes on what people say and how. I still eliminate incorrect German - e. g. the Turkish guy at the döner kebab place made tons of mistakes - but the dialogs are very close if not identical to the language you'll actually encounter. The podcast format helps of course, because we can release a lesson a week after I first overheard something, whereas textbooks and DVDs take longer to produce and may be outdated by the time they are published. Then, German teachers in school classes around the world use those same textbooks and DVDs for many years to come... you get the idea.

And Judith, are those your audio books on audible dot DE ?? Will there be any for intermediate wanting to go fully fluent??? thanks, Bauchweh

No, I have not published anything so far, too busy with this job.

JustinBrady
New in Town
Posts: 5
Joined: January 8th, 2010 10:55 pm

Postby JustinBrady » December 25th, 2010 5:53 pm

I'll admit at first I thought the same thing. But having the two helps to show the difference and I think it's great!

Thank you so much to Chuck and Judith. Except... Chuck... stop complaining about having to work!

Return to “Learn German Feature Requests”