Learn English Podcast #43: Learning German with @Deutsch für Euch (2)
Et cetera.
But let's assume we're speaking mostly from an English speaker per perspective.
So pronunciation is definitely one thing because we do have a lot of
sounds that English doesn't have.
We have the reverse thing with like Germans struggling with the "th"
or the exact pronunciation of the English um, rhotic r, stuff like that.
In German, it's gonna be the "ch" sounds, so the ... and the ... Right.
The, the, the cat hiss.
So there, wait, there are two, the "ch: makes two different sounds?
Yes.
Depending on...
Wow, okay.
I didn't know that.
Depending on the vowel that they follow, they're gonna make different sounds.
Okay.
So if it's after an A, an O, uh, U Yeah, that's it.
It's ... like in ... which means book.
Okay.
But if it's after I, E or I think all of the dipthongs, I
don't think I'm forgetting one.
It's gonna be ... like in ... Or
... Oh, okay.
So, so those are two and there's a bunch of different, you
know, other sounds of course.
I think that's part of any language though.
I don't think, you know, there's always gonna be challenging sounds
depending on where you're coming from.
Um, from my experience besides the obvious, in case, you know, for people who
aren't filled in, we have three genders in German who therefore have, you know, words
have three different genders, therefore different articles and different pronouns.
And that can make it tricky because we also assign those genders,
grammatical genders randomly.
Table is male.
You go ahead and figure out why.
But that's how it is.
Um, there's some things where it makes sense or where you can like...
where it might be easier to remember, let's say that.
Um, but a lot of things, just generally things, objects in the world are
gonna be male, female, or neutral.
Basically randomly, mostly dependent on how, what endings
they have and not even that always.
And then there's syntax, I'd say is another big topic.
Okay.
Yeah.
And so Katja, where would you suggest anyone listening who is interested
in starting to learn German or is a beginner and is looking for
some kind of uh, help, direction, where do you suggest people start?
This is gonna sound like maybe a bit of a dissatisfying answer,
but there is no definite...
and I'm sure you know this as well, uh, as, as a language, uh,
language, what do you call it?
involved.
A person.
Yeah.
I like that.
A person who deals with...
a language involved person.
I love it.
A member of the language learning community?
Yes.
Let's say that, let's say that everyone's part of all the communities now.
Exactly.
If you're in the language learning bubble, uh, to make it even more content
based, you know this already, but basically there is no one size fits all.
And if anyone ever tries to tell you there is a one size
fits all, they're lying to you.
Um, because, and I just actually talked about this, I dunno when this is gonna
be out and when that episode is gonna be out, but in episode seven of the German
podcast, I actually just talked about this to my friend Maria, that basically it's
not about finding like the five hacks.
That's four, five, the five hacks that like will unlock
learning languages for you.
Um, no matter what any YouTube title will tell you, um, it's
much more about attitude and what goes into that is motivation.
So basically start where it's fun for you if you're starting off
learning German, and this is not at all a hit on like anyone who like
needs to learn German because they wanna move to Germany or whatever.
Um, although I would question if you have not at all had any touch or interest in
the language, maybe move to a country where you're actually interested
in the language enough to like...
because it's just gonna make your life harder.
Um, but find, especially in the beginning, the world is your oyster.
Like pick whatever makes the language fun for you.
Whether that be watching movies, listening to Rammstein or some other band, um, or
watching a certain person on YouTube, like I said, like a lot of, or comedy.
Right?
Um, a lot of my English was basically just, this is the barrier I need to
get past so I can enjoy the stuff that I wanna enjoy so I can get access to
the stuff that I wanna watch, that I wanna read, if I wanna communicate.
So for example, if you enjoy just chatting with people, you can also find chat
rooms if there still is such a thing.
I think there is, um, or uh, listening to podcasts, listening
to books, uh, reading books even.
Um, so basically if you're starting out, that's the easiest part because you get to
pick whatever the hell you think is fun.
If you're like me and you also just enjoy exploring basic grammar
for a language, go do that.
Like whatever gets you going, that's gonna be different for everyone, I think.
Um with...
were you looking for, were you looking in that answer for like
a particular like spot in German grammar that you should start with?
No, I think this is the perfect answer actually.
Or even maybe then for the people who...
becuase It's so, it's so true, right?
It all comes down to why you wanna learn the language, make yourself
want to, otherwise you won't.
You know, motivation, you know.
So, Katja, what do you have in store?
What's, uh, what's coming up in the future for you, your website,
your channel, what's going on?
Right.
Um, so like I said, I, uh, went to uni to be a teacher and that took
a while and then covid hit and everything got slowed down a bit.
But I am finally hoping to now start my, like in school training, uh,
within the next half year, which means I'm then gonna be finally a
certified school teacher in Germany.
So that's something that's happening.
I'm also currently working on being able to teach drama as well,
so that's the personal front.
Channel wise, I don't really have a lot like specific stuff set up right now.
There is a project with a friend that's like kind of waiting
in the, what do you call it?
waiting in the wings?
Yes.
Um, but I'm not gonna say anything about that yet because
it's really baby, baby shoes.
So...
I like that, baby shoes.
On my channel right now, and this is a pretty, like, I already, I'm already doing
this, but I started this pretty recently.
I'm currently enjoying streaming.
Um, because it gives me, you know, there's a lot more room to, um,
interact with people obviously.
Also kind of change the course of where I was going with the channel.
If I see that people wanna talk about something particular and then
I just can go back and see, okay, this was interesting to people.
I'm gonna cut this out, make it a video.
So yeah, that's what we're doing on DFA right now.
So if you wanna wanna learn German, I do, uh, most of those streams in English.
So if you, uh, have a burning question about, about German, catch one of my
streams and, uh, you might find an answer.
Excellent.
Sounds good.
And what age will you teach when you are qualified?
Does it work like that, I assume?
Yes.
Yes.
Uh, so here, since we have, so since we have a, the answer isn't quite
that simple because we don't have the Anglo American system of like,
just, it's K through 12 basically.
Um, but we do have a three to two, um, branches that
you go into after elementary.
And I'm basically gonna teach the, the like highest achieving branch of that,
which is the sort of school that leads up to the ... which is what enables
you to go to university in Germany.
So I'm gonna be teaching fifth through 12, or depending on the school I'm
at 13th because we're fancy and some of the schools still have 13 classes.
Wow.
Excellent.
Well best of luck with that.
Thank you.
It must be so nice to be, you know, nearing the end of such a huge, huge
thing, you know, being qualified.
It's, it's, it's huge.
Yeah, best of luck with that.
And I will pop, of course, uh, the link to your channel and website and all the
other stuff, Instagram and everywhere, everywhere you are in the description.
So, uh, anyone listening, watching, definitely go check out Katja's stuff.
Oh
um, thank you.
Oh...
I forgot to mention my tshirt.
Sorry, I'm being very unprofessional.
Oh, yeah...
But if you, if you too love German and you love a German heart, this
is also available on my website.
I made merch last year, so buy it!
Amazing.
Why not?
I'll put the link into the description for that too.
Well, listen Katja, stay cool heat wise and...
otherwise
Otherwise, and thank you so, so much for coming on.
Thank you so much for having me.
This was, this was a blast and it went by very fast.
So...
yeah.
I feel like we've been talking for like three minutes.
Yeah.
But yeah.
Thank you, Katja.
Bye bye.
Bye
