/lit/ - Literature

>>3224459
http://www.towerofbabelfish.com/Tower_of_Babelfish/Learn_German.html

It is mildly easier than French or Italian. You should start at your local college.

>>3224479
>german
>easier than french or italian

lol no

french is the easiest eurpoean language

>>3224484
I wouldn't say so. A lot of German words are very similar to their English counterparts.

for an anglo i'd say it's on the easy list

>>3224486
There are more from French.

>>3224484
English being a germanic language is much easier to pronounce for native English speakers than French.

>>3224490
*German is much easier to pronounce.

>>3224489
there's about the same unless you count the latin influence with french

>>3224504
'German' and 'Germanic' are not the same, cf. Frisian and Norse.

>>3224508
English is a germanic language. There are a lot of french loan words, but the basis of the language itself is german.

>>3224489
And yet the french words in english are pronounced in a 'germanic' way.

>>3224484
French doesn't even have signs for whether a word is masculine or feminine. You just have to memorise. That doesn't even make sense. At least German is logical.

>>3224604
>French doesn't even have signs for whether a word is masculine or feminine.

it does, you're just too much of a dumbfuck to recognize them.

>>3224517
>English is a germanic language. There are a lot of french loan words, but the basis of the language itself is german.
No. The basis is Germanic, not German.

>>3224604
> any gender system
> logical in any way

There's a reason English dropped gender 1000 years ago. Gender for inanimates is madness.

>>3224610
And German is a germanic language. The point is English is more like German than it is French. End of story.

>>3224666
>There's a reason English dropped gender 1000 years ago.

because it's a creole for the idiot masses?

>>3224678
l2history.
That's argueable, since english has TONS of influence from french

>>3224688
No, because assigning genders for things without gender is retarded.

>>3224678
English is not like French, and not like German equally.

I'll try to be useful as many of these people have no idea what they're talking about except the fellow who linked you to the towel of babelfish. This is the primary forum for language learning: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=2

Their favorite programs (and mine to) are the Assimil series. Rosetta stone is shit, pimsleur is shit except for pronunciation; worth if pirated.

Assimil German:
http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5573865/Assimil_-_German_Without_Toil_1950

Instructions:
http://languagegeek.net/2010/05/12/how-to-use-an-assimil-course/

There is also an intensive method called the (Listening-Reading method) which consists of reading a novel in your native language then having a parallel text version of the book that consists of your target language and native language and using the target language's audiobook and following along with target language for 8+ hours sessions. Information about that can be found else where. Assimil will you bring you to a reasonable level.

>>3224750
>he thinks english is any more internally coherent than romance languages

do you even phonology

>>3224794
Oh, not at all. But at least it doesn't have an insane gender system (for most things).

I'd agree that modern English spelling is abysmal, but thank goodness it's not on the level of Irish Gaelic or Danish.

One step at a time...

>>3224608
There are loose rules that sometimes work to tell if a word is m. or f. but there are so many that break the pattern it's basically just memorization. That's kind of how a lot of things in French are; tons of irregular verbs that do not conform to the regular conjugation rules as well as adjectives that can mean largely different things depending if it is before and after the noun.

Source: I've taken 5 years of French and have a pretty decent grasp on the language.

>>3224666
In other languages it is logical. In french its almost totally arbitrary.

>>3224750
You don't seem to understand gender doesn't mean sex. There is a reason why ancient peoples divided nouns into masculine and feminine; its based on abstract qualities inherent in the object. For example, in most languages, 'a ship' is feminine because it has the quality of 'bearing', a feminine aspect, since women bear a child. But over time the language changes.

>>3224774
>http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5573865/Assimil_-_German_Without_Toil_1950

Not OP but a guy learning German - thanks!

>>3226098
ITT
>Sex is overrated

went from knowing nothing to semi-fluent in french in ~6 months

http://ajatt.com/
check this guy's site, just apply everything he says to whatever language you want to learn

step one in your quest should be to find a good german language torrent site

if you want to do something more structured assimil is some good shit

>>3226130
>semi-fluent
sure pal

>>3226174
You ever heard of conversational-level speaking, br00?
Guess not.

You know, I'd say use FSI but who wants to look at a bunch of poorly-copied xeroxes.

>>3226180
Let me guess, here's your definition of conversational semi-fluent:

>one kebab please
>thank you

>>3224459
Machs nicht OP. Machs nicht.

Rosetta Stone is, in my opinion, a fairly good place to get started.

I learning German is probably not worth it most cases and this thread is for the most part populated by neckbeards with unused Rosetta Stone downloads nestled among deviant porn on their externals who think they're language experts even though they don't know shit about shit think.

>>3227249
guy who used the term in the first place here
i can read pretty much whatever (newspapers, camus, flaubert), follow tv, hold basic conversations (my weakest area), post on french forums, etc. semi-fluent.

>>3227305
If you don't like being here, you can always leave.

>>3227325
Well my opinion yourself pardon

>>3227305
>I learning German is probably not worth it most cases

It's worth it if you want to read some of the best Western literature available in its native language

>>3227305
>I [think] learning German is probably not worth it most cases
>Posts a German declension in comparison to an English declension
I hope you don't think this passes as a joke.

>>3227341

being as how english is not your mother tongue, it is somewhat excusable that you don't understand what you have read here, but it does not excuse your rude comments.