Repost of a comment I made on this site:


http://www.lingholic.com/how-to-get-speaking-practice-in-a-foreign-language/

I struggled with the Power Struggle in Germany. I was an exchange student sent there for a year with very little German. When I first got to Gymnasium a lot of the Germans would want to practice their English with me and I simply answered back, "Ach man o man eh, ich bin hier doch Deutsch zu lernen, ich kann schon English." Dude, I'm here to learn German, I already speak English. And so it began. What ended up happening was that it would encourage me to learn German that much more. The speaking with two other natives is a great idea! The only downside is sometimes the two natives want to prove how great they are with their foreign language skills to each other and it gets ugly, "So Markus waat dyu you sink about zat, zat we go to dah uhhhh down da stayahs to enjoy lunch wiz Edam."Anyway, one thing I noticed to stop this from happening earlier on was work on your accent. If you have a solid German (or whatever language) accent they will think you speak better than you do. I met a couple Germans with really, really good accents whose English was bad. After I was fluent I told them in German to try out their English with me for fun. They'd be embarrassed, but some just had a really good ear and their British or American accent was clean. After a awhile towards the end of my year in Germany my goal was to receive the following: The best was to speak in a noisy bar and have a German I just met believe that I was German but from another area of Germany (I spoke southern German). That was the ultimate compliment. But anything more than 5 minutes talking and I'd be bound to make a grammar mistake somewhere. Second was for them to believe that I was German but maybe slightly, uh... mentally handicapped or "slow." That was fine with me too. And third was they knew I was a foreigner but they didn't know from where. That was a compliment too. The ultimate insult was if they said I must be American and started speaking English to me. That rarely, if ever, happened towards the end of my year. Remember: work on your accent!!

Harry Potter and Blu-ray Goodness

I remember when Blu-ray first came out. Being a language nerd the thing that thrilled me most was the fact that you were allegedly supposed to be able to watch it in any language you wanted. DVD was usually relegated to the boring French and Spanish options... yawn. Well, it turned out that Blu-ray, writ large, was more of the same, expect maybe with some Portuguese thrown in. Then there is Harry Potter. My 6-year old just started getting into Harry Potter so I bought the first one for 9 bucks on DVD. After she loved that I decided to get the Blu-ray versions of the sequels as it was only 4 dollars more. Lo and behold I look on the back to see what languages it would be in and much to my surprise I saw this beautiful list:
English, Spanish, French, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Flemish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish.
Now that is more like it! Dutch AND Flemish? No way. But sure enough... Now, that being said those are what is available for subtitles, but the audio option includes most of the aforementioned languages. So the lesson learned here is that ridiculous world-wide popularity can have its benefits, especially for language nerds who want to exercise their listening and/or reading skills. The only drawback is, of course, the fact that 10% of the dialogue consists of words like: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Muggle. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Dutch - Nederlands

Believe it or not Dutch is the language that most resembles English. Funny thing is, most English speakers have no clue about this. Dutch also holds the distinction of having a hard "R" sound as in English, and is considered by some to be even uglier sounding than English. This is due mainly to a guttural "G" sound, which is similar to "Ach" in German or Arabic's harsh KH sound.
Dutch is spoken not only in the Netherlands (Holland is not the official name, but a region) but in Belgium as well, where it is called Flemish or Vlaams in-country. I also found this odd, because Belgian Dutch, er... sorry, Flemish has a much softer loogie hawking "G" sound than Dutch. It's somewhat ironic that Flemish - think "phlegmish" - produces less phlegm than its counterpart.
Dutch is also spoken in Aruba (remember that pimpin' loser Joran van der Sloot?), Suriname, and serves as the base language for some other Pidgin languages in Africa. Another somewhat archaic form of Dutch is spoken in South Africa, where it is called Afrikaans. The two are similar, but nowhere near as close as Flemish and Dutch, which are practically the same language.
Some may wonder why Dutch is called Dutch in English, when they themselves call it Nederlands (meaning language of the low-country). This is most likely due to the German word Deutsch, which sounds like "dutch." This explains calling the Amish people Pennsylvania Dutch, when in fact they are German. I once spoke to some Amish people I met at a bus station in Cleveland, Ohio in German; their German was rather archaic sounding and not necessarily mutually understandable.

Motivation:
Simple, the Netherlands is home to the tallest people in the world, and some of the prettiest women. I have only been to Holland a couple of times; girls there are nice but a bit cold if they don't know you. If you speak German, the greatest motivation in learning is the simple fact that by knowing German and English you will know MANY Dutch words, plus the grammar will seem refreshingly easy compared to German's. while I would not consider myself fluent in Dutch, per se, I can read it and understand it pretty well. My last trip to Holland I picked up the original Anne Frank's Diary, which is called "Het Achterhuis." I always wanted to read the original, and I am happy to say it is not a difficult read in the original language.

Pros:
- It's basically German light
- Fun place to visit, although if you are inclined to smoke pot in Amsterdam, you will probably trip out when you hear the language.
- the Netherlands offers a boatload of books for foreign learners; they are really proud of their language.

Cons:
- Many Dutch people speak English, and many of those speak it better than you do. Damn them!
- German speakers will find a hard time with the way Dutch has its word order. It is closer to word order in English, but sounds wrong to my ears, which are more accustomed to German word order; strange, I know.
- Finding an abundant supply of Dutch learning books and CDs in the States could is tough, but like I said, they have a lot of good materials in The Netherlands.

Tips (same word in Dutch, see? Told ya it was close):
- If you don't know the gender, just say "de", most nouns take it. The other is "het", which is, unfortunately, hard to BS.


If you are just starting out, check out the dictionary I included for Dutch on the widgit wheel. And you might want to skip Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch and go straight for this one:



Yes, I know I promote alot of "Teach Yourself Books", that is because in most cases, it is the best deal and most comprehensive. The "Colloquial" Language books are great too. In fact, I find the Colloquial Chinese, Japanese, Icelandic, and Persian/Farsi books and CDs to be better than their Teach Yourself counterparts, but they are usually a bit more expensive and harder to find. Here is the Dutch one:

Dschinghis khan - Moskau: The Youtube Sensation in German with English Translation

So, above is the video of probably one of the most WTF videos I have seen that is so bad it's good. I provided the German to English translation for those who don't understand German... Hey, what are language dudes for?! Ho ho ho ho, hey!



Moskau
Fremd und geheimnisvoll
Türme aus rotem Gold
Kalt wie das Eis

Moscow
Foreign and secretive
Towers of red and gold
Cold as ice

Moskau
Doch wer dich wirklich kennt
Der weiß, ein Feuer brennt
In dir so heiß

Moscow
Those who really know you
They know a fire is burning
In you so hot

Kosaken hey hey hey hebt die Gläser
Natascha ha ha ha du bist schön
Towarisch hey hey hey auf das Leben
Auf Dein Wohl Bruder hey Bruder ho

Kosaken hey hey hey lift your glasses
Natasha ha ha ha you are pretty
Friend hey hey hey drink to your health
Cheers brother hey brother ho

Moskau, Moskau
Wirf die Gläser an die Wand
Russland ist ein schönes Land
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moscow, Moscow
Throw your glasses at the wall
Russia is a beautiful country
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moskau, Moskau
Deine Seele ist so groß
Nachts da ist der Teufel los
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey

Moscow, Moscow
Your spirit is so large
At night the devil is on the loose
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey

Moskau, Moskau
Liebe schmeckt wie Kaviar
Mädchen sind zum küssen da
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moscow, Moscow
Love tastes like caviar
Girls are for kissing there
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moskau, Moskau
Komm wir tanzen auf dem Tisch
Bis der Tisch zusammenbricht
Ha ha ha ha ha

Moscow, Moscow
Come we’re dancing on the table
Until the table breaks in half
Ha ha ha ha ha

Moskau
Tor zur Vergangenheit
Spiegel der Zarenzeit
Rot wie das Blut

Moscow
Door to the past
A mirror of the czarist times
Red like blood

Moskau
Wer deine Seele kennt
Der weiß, die Liebe brennt
Heiß wie die Glut

Moscow
One who knows your spirit
He knows the love is burning
Hot like embers

Kosaken hey hey hey hebt die Gläser
Natascha ha ha ha du bist schön
Towarisch hey hey hey auf die Liebe
Auf Dein Wohl Mädchen hey Mädchen ho

Kosaken hey hey hey lift your glasses
Natasha ha ha ha you are pretty
Friend hey hey hey drink to your health
Cheers brother hey brother ho

Moskau, Moskau
Wirf die Gläser an die Wand
Russland ist ein schönes Land
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moscow,Moscow
Throw your glasses at the wall
Russia is a beautiful country
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moskau, Moskau
Deine Seele ist so groß
Nachts da ist der Teufel los
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey

Moscow,Moscow
Your spirit is so large
At night the devil is on the loose
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey

Moskau
Lala lala lala la, lala lala lala la
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey
Moskau, Moskau Lala lala lala la, lala lala lala la
Ha ha ha ha ha
Oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh
Moskau, Moskau

Moscow
Lala lala lala la, lala lala lala la
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey
Moscow, Moscow Lala lala lala la, lala lala lala la
Ha ha ha ha ha
Oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh
Moscow, Moscow


Moskau, Moskau
Wodka trinkt man pur und kalt
Das macht hundert Jahre alt
ha ha ha ha ha, hey

Moscow, Moscow
One drinks Vodka pure and cold
That makes (it) 100 years old
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey

Moskau, Moskau
Väterchen dein Glas ist leer
Doch im Keller ist noch mehr
Ha ha ha ha ha

Moscow, Moscow
Little father your glass is empty
But in the cellar there is more
Ha ha ha ha ha

Moskau, Moskau
Liebe schmeckt wie Kaviar
Mädchen sind zum küssen da
Ha ha ha ha ha

Moscow,Moscow
Love tastes like caviar
Girls are for kissing there
Ho ho ho ho ho, hey

Moskau, Moskau
Komm wir tanzen auf dem Tisch
Bis der Tisch zusammenbricht
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey!

Moscow,Moscow
Come we’re dancing on the table
Until the table breaks in half
Ha ha ha ha ha, hey!

Learning German, Deutsch Lernen!!!

Ja!!! The cool thing about German is that no matter what you say, you sound pissed off. Now, this isn't always the case, but, well... ok, it is. German is probably my best foreign language. I used to live in Germany and I loved it, the people, and the language.German is an important language for business, technology, skiing and beer. Did I mention beer?I am into generalizing (sue me PC people), and the best way to generalize a language's cultural proclivities is by what phrase most people know. In German it's probably "Ein Bier bitte" or "Sprechen Sie Deutsch" (the latter being lame, I admit). In French, most people know "voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir" do you want to sleep with me tonight? So there, I rest my case.German is spoken in as an official language in Germany (with many accents), Austria, parts of Switzerland (I guess you'd call it German), parts of Luxembourg and Belgium, and a host of other nations as a second language.My motivation for learning German:German was never offered to us in High School. We had only French, Spanish and Latin to choose from. For this reason German seemed very exotic when I'd see it written on old alpine ski pins my grandmother had kept. I will admit that there was a girl involved, who initially sparked my interest and served as a muse to learn the language. One day I signed up and applied for a Youth For Understanding exchange year, the next thing I knew I was on a plane headed to Germany to live one year with a German host family. I spent many hours studying and tried to learn about 25 to 30 new words a day in addition to ones I would just pick up subconsciously. It took about 6 months before I felt comfortably fluent in the language. There is simply no better way to learn a language than to be immersed in it 100%.

Pros for Deutsch Lernen:
- Offered at many schools.
- Many family members may know some German. Hell, it missed becoming the official language of the USA by one vote.
- The spelling and pronunciation is straightforward.
- Lovers of World War history and pretty women will find some good motivation to learn it.

Cons:
- Grammar is a real pain in the Arsch. German, Icelandic and Faeroese have retained case endings and declension. Trust me, it's a pain.
- Verbs often come at the end of a sentence and make it wicked hard (yes, originally from New England) to interpret. Example, the first sentence I learned in German (I think) was "Jetzt muss ich zum Studentenwohnheim gehen." meaning literally "Now must I to the dormitory go."
- The umlaut Ü sound can be tricky.
- Rolled R's in the back of the throat can be tough, I still have trouble with the verb that means to repair, which is reparieren lassen. Most natives pronounce it quickly like "prie'en lassen", I do the same.

Hinweisungen (Tips):
- If you don't know the gender of a noun, just mumble something that sounds like "Duh". This way it could sound like der or die and to a much lesser extent like das.
- ANYTHING ending in -ung is always feminine, so use die or eine. If you you still say das Regierung, sorry but you suck.
- Use the term also (al-zo) a lot when trying to grasp for a word. It's somewhat akin to saying umm... I went to school with a fellow that said also so much I kept a tab sheet on how many times he said it in one day. It was about 110 times. Ach Du Liebe!!


For beginners, I'd buy the following and make sure to use the CDs either in your car or convert them to mp3's for your ipod:




If you have already had some German, go with this (see below), read Der Spiegel, and download Deutsche Welle Podcasts on itunes (or what have you):