| German I, Semester I: Die Grüße |
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| Sections: |
Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Dictionaries |
| Section Two: |
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| Section Two: Part A
Frankfurt: Frankfurt is a large city with a population of about 650,000 people. Since Frankfurt is the financial center of Germany, you will find that about one fourth of the city's inhabitants are foreigners. Frankfurt also spends a lot of money to promote the arts, making it a great place to visit. Wilkommen! Welcome to Section Two! Are you beginning to feel more confident with practicing and speaking the German that you're learning? If you continue to practice speaking German, it will become increasingly easier as the days go by. In Section 1, you learned to give some basic information about yourself. In review, see if you can answer these questions in German, using complete sentences.
Now would be a good time for us to talk about things you should do on a regular basis, that is, every time you log in to the course. You should do some kind of warm-up activity, just as in a sport. If you think that sounds silly, it really isn't. Some warm-up activities that would be very good ones for you for Section 2: recite the alphabet; spell words to someone also in the course; practice the vocabulary you know using the games or other activities you found in Section 1. Whatever you choose to do, you will experience a greater level of success if you do some kind of activity to practice. While we are talking about practice...let's also talk about how you are studying for the German course outside of our classtime together. There are a variety of activities to engage you while you are in the course. Are you doing anything to study vocabulary outside of our classtime? If not, you need to begin now! What are some things you can do? You can....teach a younger person what you're learning; make flash cards to practice vocabulary when you are away from the course; make a vocabulary list while looking at the vocabulary online, then away from the course, try to fill in the meanings of the words you are expected to know without looking for help. By doing these activities, you will be helping yourself to "learn to learn" a foreign language! We had better get busy!
In German, there are two ways of addressing an individual as you. In English, no distinction is made with regard to age or formality. In German, however, this is a very common practice. If you are talking to a friend, you would use an informal/casual tone of address. You would also use this form with children or teenagers, and animals. This "you" is "du" in German and you saw and heard its use in Section 1. If you do not know someone, or do not know them well, you use a more formal or polite tone of address. This word in German for "you" is "Sie", and it is always capitalized. A good rule of thumb is to never use "du" until you are invited to do so. |
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In
Section 1, we learned how to say "How are you?", "Where
do you live?", "Where are you from?" and "What is
your name?" However, there is more than one way to say "you"
in German).