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German language – reading practice

When it comes to learning a foreign language, always listening, speaking, reading and writing are in demand. Due to the various offers on the Internet today it is not hard to practice these skills, especially reading and listening. In this article we focus on reading practice.

Learning should be fun. If one practice using textbooks only, one often turns in circles with repetitive lyrics that are tailored to the vocabulary of the learner. This is good for a start, but boring in a long run. Students should challenge themselves and learn to deal with different text content and difficulty level. Because if you face the language in everyday life, there is no agreement on the current knowledge of the texts.

The Internet as an endless source of text

As learners of German (or any other foreign language) you might use as a starting point in the web articles and sites like this blog, which deal with the learning of German as a foreign language. Here you find links to sources with texts in German.

Personal reference

Select the text you are reading, according to your interests! The practice is intended to be fun. Are you interested in politics, read articles about current political events. Or are you a sports fan? Available on the Internet are countless articles in German language to athletes and sports competitions. Do you enjoy Cooking? Read recipes, try it out and get to know this part of the culture! Other websites and articles report the lives of the rich and famous. If you’re interested, read the latest news about your favorite celebrity or get to know for you so far unknown artists!

How to read?

Once you have found after a couple of clicks an article that interests you, it is also important, how you read this to you new text. Here are some tips that will help you learn:

Read out loud!
Even if you are alone or the people around you do not understand German language, you should always read aloud. It is scientifically proven that our brains most reserves everything we talk itself.

Understand without a dictionary
Try to understand new words to you without a dictionary. If you discover an unknown word, read and understand first the phrases before and after this word. Almost anytime, you can then guess the meaning of the new word. Then you’re free to use your dictionary to check whether your guess is correct. This is the way to learn to get along with German language in everyday life, because “in real life” you have no opportunity to look constantly to the dictionary first. The same technique you use when you do not understand a sentence: Read the sentences before and after, and almost always you will “understand” what must be the meaning of this to you incomprehensible sentence.

Do not overdo it!
Although the Internet is an endless source of German texts, you should never overact. It is better to read every day a small article than once a week a whole book. Especially at the beginning, you should not always read each article completely. Read sometimes better the headline only and the first paragraph; this is often enough to be informed of the content. It is always easy to find the right balance: Read only as long as you do not feel it as a burden! Because never forget: Learning German should and can be fun!

Let’s go!

Here is a small selection of text sources in German, so you can try it out right away:

Other sources can be found within the Link Directory under “Reading”. And if reading this article was fun for you, please write a comment, click the Like button top left on this blog or share the article with your friends!

Tags: German, learn, study

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 24th, 2011 at 6:18 PM and is filed under Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.