Sit, Stay & Speak!

 We all know that high school is, to say the least, time consuming. Over these last few weekends I have been striving to dive deeper into the German language and I have finally discovered a plan to help me stay focused. I have dubbed it, "Sit, Stay, Speak". 1st you find a quiet place, your room or a library, and you sit. I have found that the combination of a chair in my room and some classical music makes for a perfect study environment. Then you stay, making sure you have a glass of water and some snacks. Finally you speak! The German CD is very helpful to talk to and while it can't respond to you, it will definitely correct you quickly. These one sided conversations have helped me with my pronunciation.

I have also expanded, with the advice from Edward Swick the author of The Everything Learning German Book, from Donald Duck and found a German cartoon called Die Ketchup Vampire. It takes place in Transylvania and is about a family of vampires who drink ketchup instead of blood. Peaceable, tomato-loving vampires beat sparkling vampires any day :) I have been watching this series to practice recognizing the words I have been learning. I have picked up some very important words that Swick believes are necessary to form more intricate sentences. He says that the ability to recognize these words will help develop conversation skills.

Edward Swick had a few additional tips to help with pronunciation: "There are a few things you have to look out for with certain consonants...sometimes the consonants change sound depending on their placement in a word, as you can already see from the pronunciation for the letter 's'" (Swick 36). After I read this I have been watching the German cartoons with German subtitles instead of English. After a few folges (German for episodes) I began to see the unique sounds the letter S can make in different parts of a word. An example of this is when the s is in the middle of a word, it makes the "sis" sounds as in Meister or master. When the s is at the beginning of the word it makes the z as in "zap" sound (Swick). So far the s has been the only pesky letter, but I wonder what else is in store!

I wonder what other sneaky letters there will be in the German language and if other language learners have had difficulty with tricky pronunciation?
 

Swick, Edward, MA. The Everythig Learning German Book. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Avon: Karen Cooper, 2009. Print. The Everything.