I can't seem to get beyond phase 6 out of 8 in Memorize beginner's German. This is partly because I can't get to the end of what has been a huge backlog of watering requirements - with all the stutters and slip ups that go with the revision process. I'm not sure but I believe I have to complete phase 6 to the website's satisfaction before phase 7 is revealed.
I'm struggling with the spelling, not good at getting the verbs in the right order, and memory seems to be failing in terms of recalling the phrases - even without too much recourse to the grammar. There are to be fair some sentences of surprising awkwardness that are really difficult to commit to memory - many of them presented in slightly different ways and popping up as if to catch you out, just to make things that little bit more difficult it seems. I can see why the course writers would do this - but if it only succeeds in hammering my confidence so far into the ground that I don't feel like doing the course because of this impasse, this inability to get a series of corrects and all the good feelings that engenders - I'm not sure if the idea is successful.
Like with any language I suspect, it's about getting a hook onto things. If the verb always goes on the end, then fine, I start thinking in terms of that being a greater probability as I progress through the phrases. If through mixing up the phrases with tricky variations that aren't typical, I don't necessarily think that to be a good strategy as it is difficult for the language student (me) to feel that they are making normal progress.
Ich gebe is 'I give'. ich sollte nach Berlin gehen means 'I should go to Berlin'. But interestingly, perhaps infuriatingly I should go to Alexanderplatz is very different: Ich sollte den Alexanderplatz bechuen. If I have these two right and I will have to check - they couldn't be more different.
wir geben ihm Kaffe translates to 'we give him coffee.' Quite an odd sentence to select for a beginners course I would think. I reckon I could visit Germany a hundred times and never have to construct that sentence. It sounds like something you might utter if you worked in a hospital or care home (not likely) in Germany (difficult to imagine) and that you were talking to a German relative of a German pensioner who just happens to be in your care/is given coffee by you/ and its worth saying - none of which sounds very likely.
Anyway the sentence at least is interesting in that we notice that we is wir, geben in this context is geben (gebe is more akin to gave) ihm is him (which is usefully memorable) and Kaffee could easily be said without any knowledge of German orthography. Jemand muss ihr Bier geben means 'someone must get her a beer!' Again you have to say what are the chances of needing to construct that utterance? The scenario might have to be that you enter a bar with a woman whom you don't wish to demonstrate gallantry or generosity of any kind and declaim to the folk drinking within the establishment that someone, I don't mind who, but someone, must (presumably if they don't there will be a fight or a death or both) must get or buy this lady (notwithstanding that she's with me) must buy her a drink. Again forgeting that for the moment: jemand (someone) muss (must - how I love these little international dopplegangers) (to) her ihr Bier geben 'Someone must her beer give.' Which although sounds charmingly eccentric and odd beyond imaginings tells us something about German. You can imagine shouting it with an exuberant perhaps even aggressive German accent as beloved of actors playing German soldiers in films about one of the wars. Someone must her beer give!! or rather: Jemand muss ihr Bier geben!!
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