http://system13.org/2006/12/11/a-major-mistake-i-made-in-learning-german-i-didnt-listen/ Sun, 23 May 2010 13:57:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://system13.org/2006/12/11/a-major-mistake-i-made-in-learning-german-i-didnt-listen/#comment-9231 Johnny Relentless Tue, 14 Aug 2007 02:45:59 +0000 http://system13.org/?p=221#comment-9231 Last year I took a German language test for the army. I got the maximum score on the reading comprehension, and flunked the listening. I spent a lot of time in Germany, but I usually have to ask people to speak slowly, and a lot of my understanding comes from puzzling the meaning of sentences from the words I do catch. I speak Dutch, which helps a lot, but can also be confusing. I learned Dutch mostly by listening to people speak, in bars, at work, on TV and in stores. As a result, my Dutch is virtually perfect. I can speak it wihout an accent. I think that listening is, after all, the natural way to learn a language. Written language is an artificial tool invented many thousands of years after man developed his natural listening and speaking abilities. Last year I took a German language test for the army. I got the maximum score on the reading comprehension, and flunked the listening. I spent a lot of time in Germany, but I usually have to ask people to speak slowly, and a lot of my understanding comes from puzzling the meaning of sentences from the words I do catch. I speak Dutch, which helps a lot, but can also be confusing. I learned Dutch mostly by listening to people speak, in bars, at work, on TV and in stores. As a result, my Dutch is virtually perfect. I can speak it wihout an accent. I think that listening is, after all, the natural way to learn a language. Written language is an artificial tool invented many thousands of years after man developed his natural listening and speaking abilities.

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