Thursday, July 21, 2011

Speak German The Easy Way With Flashcards

By Harry Barber


Either you are intimidated by the German language or you look at it as a challenge to your learning prowess. Whatever your disposition of the German language is, there are ways you can learn depending on what is most comfortable for you. German is no different from other foreign languages so there is no reason why you should have any problem understanding it. That should be a given.

A very useful tool for learning a language is flashcards. Every card has a foreign word or words (German in this case) written on one side and the English equivalent on the other side. After being shown the English word and the German translation repeatedly, a point will be reached where the student can instantly recall the German equivalent of the English word. It brings to mind the practice of writing words a hundred times. The point is to associate a word to something, write it down repeatedly until it registers in your brains and will recall immediately the German meaning or translation. Just make sure that the words establish a point that you can easily recall which, could automatically cause yo to remember it even when you are not thinking of the word itself.

The German word for the paint brush is der Pinsel. Pinsel rhymes with the English word "pins", so you establish a link between the words pins and Pinsel. What will happen is that without making an effort, your mind will immediately recall that Pinsel refers to the paintbrush in German every time you think of a pin.

This is actually one of the techniques of learning German or any other foreign language by way of memorization. The technique is to make a connection between a foreign word that you have little or no idea of to a thing that you are used to for easy recall of its meaning. This is also the reason why using flashcards in learning foreign languages or in any attempt of improving mental ability is always considered one of the best methods.

It will be recalled that flashcards is a standard teaching tool in the classrooms and in tutorial lessons so it comes as no surprise that it is also very useful in learning a foreign language. Next time you try to go over your German lessons, try using flashcards for the words and effortlessly establish a relation between the English and German words.




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