Self-Study Advice

Advice for learning German on your own

Advice on buying and using a dictionary A short summary. More detailed advice on using a dictionary, oriented somewhat towards essay-writing, is under "Schreiben" below.

Schreiben (Writing)

Writing in German without Thinking in English

Essay Writing Checklist

Advice on Using a Dictionary Includes some practice exercises!

Grammar and Usage Advice Written for students at the 200- and 300-level.

Lesen (Reading)

Reading Strategies

Hören (Listening)

Listening Practice Ideas

Vokabeln

Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Miscellaneous

Maybe you should chew gum in class?

Motivation

You will learn much more effectively if you are motivated. Take a look at some of the sites below and compile your own list of reasons why you want to study German. Then use this list to set yourself some concrete goals for today, for this week, for this semester, and for the longer term!

Why Study German 12 great reasons

Why German is 4U Hip brochure produced by the Goethe Institut (in pdf format)

"Deutsch nach Englisch" Posters Here you can download a series of six posters created by the Goethe Institut Inter Nationes, listing in alphabetical order a range of German-Englilsh cognates (i.e. words that are very similar in both languages).

Why study German? Brochure produced by the UK Goethe Institut

10 Reasons for learning German Also by the Goethe Institut

Herr Masemann's Homepage Musical page by  a German teacher at Apex High School in Wake County, North Carolina; includes a section on "Why Learn German" as well as lots of other interesting links.

Compelling motivation for X-Files fans...

Why Study German?!? An excellent page compiled by the University of Oregon's Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

Rationale for the language requirement in the College of LS&A at the University of Michigan