So, I decided to have some fun with German today. I’ve always been a bit fascinated by the language, but never really dived in. Time to change that!
Getting Started
First, I opened up a fresh Google Doc. Gotta keep track of my progress, right? Then I fired up Duolingo. It’s a classic for a reason, and I figured it would be a good way to get my feet wet with the basics.
The Grind
I spent a solid hour just going through Duolingo lessons. It started super simple, you know, “Hallo,” “Danke,” “Bitte.” I was feeling pretty good, breezing through the exercises. But man, those genders! Der, die, das… it’s a whole new level of memorization. I started to see why people say German grammar is tricky.
- Learned basic greetings and phrases.
- Struggled (a little) with articles (der, die, das).
- Practiced pronunciation (definitely need more work on that!).
Taking Notes
As I went, I jotted down key phrases and words in my Google Doc. I also noted any grammar rules that seemed particularly important (or confusing!). I figured this would be a good way to review later, and it helped me stay focused during the lessons.
Branching Out
After Duolingo, I decided to try something a bit different. I found a German children’s song on YouTube. It was super catchy, and even though I only understood a few words, it was fun to listen to. I even tried to sing along (badly, I’m sure!).
I typed lyrics of the song in the document.
I tried to devide each of the words in the lyrics, then, I used Google Translate to figure out the meanings.
Next Steps
I also found some German learning communities online. I think, I’ll do some join actions with them.
Okay, so I’m definitely not fluent in German yet. But I made some progress today, and most importantly, I had fun! I’m going to try to keep this up, even if it’s just for a little bit each day. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll actually be able to hold a conversation in German. For now, I’m happy with “Hallo” and “Danke schön.”
