Goethe once said, "People who know nothing about foreign languages cannot understand their mother tongue". Only by jumping out of your mother tongue can you really see the advantages and disadvantages of your mother tongue. Just like those hot-blooded young people during the May 4th Movement, when they returned to China after learning western languages and became fluent in foreign languages, they began to dislike the complexity of Chinese and shouted for the abolition of Chinese characters. This, of course, shows from another side that we can see more things that we didn't see before when we jumped out of a language. Qian Zhongshu, a scholar who is proficient in many foreign languages, is proficient in Chinese and western languages and literature, and has a profound knowledge of Chinese studies and far-reaching influence. Moreover, being unable to read the original western academic works fluently is a shortcoming of the previous generation and a make-up lesson for our generation. It is difficult to surpass the western level by translation and introduction alone.
Therefore, from the general direction, learning a foreign language is of great significance for understanding our mother tongue and promoting the development of our culture. But for me, by the same token, if I want to know English more deeply, I must jump out of English and understand English by comparing with another language similar to English. Furthermore, according to the actual situation, I don't think learning English as planned this semester will improve much, but I will gain a lot by learning another foreign language with my precious time. Based on this idea, I intend to learn German.
At that time, Shanda's small language remedial classes began to enroll students. Unlike some people, I hesitate to decide which language to choose. Finally, I usually choose French, German and Spanish, because I prefer Indo-European languages. French is the most popular language after English. In Europe, some French colonies in Africa speak French. Similarly, French literature and art are developed. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, second only to Spanish, which is widely distributed in Latin America. Due to the rapid development of developing countries in Latin China and frequent trade with the United States, Spanish and French belong to the Romanesque family of Indo-European languages, while German is not widely used and only distributed in some parts of Europe. Similarly, it is considered as one of the most difficult languages to learn. However, German classical culture is splendid and modern science is developed. Considering personal factors, I finally chose German. Facts have proved that my choice is appropriate.
When choosing a foreign language, we should comprehensively consider various factors, especially the purpose of learning a foreign language, whether it is studying abroad, interest or something else. Once you make a choice, keep learning. Never give up halfway or divert interest.
I study German as a short-term training course and a way of learning, of course, through self-study and individual teachers. For learning a language, getting started is very important, because one of the key points of getting started is the learning of pronunciation, which is not conducive to self-study and the reading of words can not be carried out well, so the pronunciation must be corrected by professionals. Both of them should grasp the macro-structure of language and learn the key points, difficulties and characteristics. To learn German by yourself, you must communicate with the outside world and make full use of the educational resources on the Internet. Here, I briefly introduce my methods of learning German pronunciation and using Internet resources.
German is a typical phonetic symbol, even more typical than English, until German lost its phonetic symbol. German has 30 letters, 26 letters are the same as English, plus,,? ü Three inflected letters and? (ss co-writing, not big writing), in which the pronunciation of each letter and letter combination is fixed. As long as you master the pronunciation rules skillfully, you can read any German article even if you don't know what it means, which is similar to the pronunciation rules of Chinese Pinyin. Generally speaking, after listening and practicing more, you can basically master the rules of German pronunciation in one week, laying a foundation for future study. Compared with English, the pronunciation of German is relatively simple.
Here is a German learning website, which was initiated by a student of Shandong University and funded by the German Embassy. But in my practice, this website is not good. I suggest that if your English is ok, search some foreign German learning websites on Google. Personally, I believe that online education abroad is indeed more developed than China, and it is free. You need to explore for yourself. Among them, for voice learning, there are many resources on verycd, which is absolutely enough. Internet is an open platform. Don't confine your vision to China people. If you go out, you will get more and better resources.
Let's talk about the choice of teaching materials. Through practice, I have come to a conclusion that the teaching materials taught by myself are very different from those explained by teachers. Self-taught textbooks are detailed, with a large amount of tasks and the most knowledge in a short time, while teachers explain textbooks slowly and steadily. Therefore, it is very helpful to locate accurately and choose a good textbook for your study. Especially the introductory textbook. My understanding of several textbooks for German study.
Contemporary College German (Michael Neric) (editor), Liang Min (editor)
Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press
This book is selected for undergraduate education of German major in most schools, but it is too complicated, which is not conducive to self-study and mastering German in a short time. It can be used as a reference material for skimming.
Basic German Wang Zhiqiang (author) and Dai Qixiu (author) Tongji University Press
This book is an old textbook of Tongji University, written for non-German majors, with perfect style, accurate explanation and strong grammar system. Suitable for self-study. This is my extracurricular reading.
University German Jiang Aihong Higher Education Press
I used this book for short-term counseling, which has advantages and disadvantages. It is because of my extensive knowledge that I have mastered the most grammar knowledge in the shortest time, and I have been exposed to relatively authentic German articles since the third lesson. This textbook can play an effective role if it is explained by a teacher.
Compared with English, German is very complicated. Remember that complexity doesn't mean difficulty. A complex knowledge system can be mastered through hard work, so don't find German difficult. Before learning a foreign language, don't take difficulty as a reference index, because it doesn't exist, and it is very different for everyone. As long as you are interested and study hard, it is not difficult at all, but if you don't study, you will create a terrible language in which German is difficult. This is particularly important. Next, I will briefly talk about my understanding of German grammar.