4KookieKids Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 I learned German as a child (primary language until age 12) and Spanish in my teen years (C1), but stopped both for a while. I’m now speaking German again with my kiddos, but realizing that my grammar is a bit rusty. We also have Spanish speaking family moving nearer to us this year, and our most recent trip to visit them left me realizing how rusty my Spanish grammar is. Duolingo doesn’t seem to be a good fit because there’s so much repetition, and I don’t really need that. I have the vocabulary, once I get speaking it daily, I just need something to “jog” my memory and help me remember the grammar and structure that I already know somewhere deep down. 😂 I can read books and watch shows in each language, but I’m wondering if anyone is familiar with some kind of crash course in grammar in either of these languages that will lay things out explicitly and without fluff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Getting Started With German, Getting Started With Spanish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 (edited) 37 minutes ago, 4KookieKids said: I learned German as a child (primary language until age 12) and Spanish in my teen years (C1), but stopped both for a while. I’m now speaking German again with my kiddos, but realizing that my grammar is a bit rusty. We also have Spanish speaking family moving nearer to us this year, and our most recent trip to visit them left me realizing how rusty my Spanish grammar is. Duolingo doesn’t seem to be a good fit because there’s so much repetition, and I don’t really need that. I have the vocabulary, once I get speaking it daily, I just need something to “jog” my memory and help me remember the grammar and structure that I already know somewhere deep down. 😂 I can read books and watch shows in each language, but I’m wondering if anyone is familiar with some kind of crash course in grammar in either of these languages that will lay things out explicitly and without fluff? Practice Makes Perfect workbooks. They have complete grammars, and also have targeted books (like in German there's a Sentence Builder book, in Spanish they have one just on verbs, another just on prepositions and pronouns). Not good as a complete course to teach a kid, but they're pretty much designed exactly for your purpose - an adult who's brushing up and wants things put succinctly with detailed explanations but without fluff. Edited April 16, 2021 by Matryoshka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrichstad Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 I really love Lawless Spanish for that. It's online, bite-sized grammar lessons with frequent adaptive quizzing. There's a free trial but the cost seems really reasonable to me. Not sure if it'd be great for younger kids but for an adult with familiarity with the language and a good understanding of grammar in general, it's perfect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Check out the nthuleen website for German. She has grammar write-ups, worksheets, and ANSWERS for some, so no guessing needed. It was set up for her German classes years ago at U Wisconsin(?) she seems to have moved on but left the site up. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Oh, i thought of another German website, Essential German. Not as much information, but it doesn't sound like you need much! Sorry, can't link. Driving too rural for a good connection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 Oh, i thought of another German website, Essential German. Not as much information, but it doesn't sound like you need much! Sorry, can't link. Driving too rural for a good connection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmeilaen Posted July 28, 2022 Share Posted July 28, 2022 Schaum's Outline of German Grammar German Grammar Made Easy Those two books are books I recommend for my intermediate/advanced German students. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted July 28 Author Share Posted July 28 On 7/27/2022 at 7:58 PM, pmeilaen said: Schaum's Outline of German Grammar German Grammar Made Easy Those two books are books I recommend for my intermediate/advanced German students. I've been looking at different things, and I love the look of German Grammar Made Easy, because I love that it comes with solutions to everything, so we can check ourselves. My oldest son breezed through his A2 exam the year before last at German School, and has been studying for his B1, but we won't be able to continue going through German School anymore, so I'm looking to take up where he left off there. Part of the issue that we're facing is that his vocabulary and rudimentary sentence formation is fine; he can understand most everything and get his point across in most situations. But his grammar and his cases are just awful! lol. His teachers say it's great, but it often sounds to me as clumsy as "Me wants potato" would in English (though I can't come up with a good German example off the top of my head -- I just know that his cases, articles, and overall grammar needs some real help! :D) I feel like ignoring it and continuing to model correct speech and grammar has not helped and he just needs something explicit at this point. We've been focusing on articles recently (both broad categories for articles as well as ending forms). Can you compare your recommendations with any of the following, if you have experience with them? They're other books I've also been looking at: 1) Hammer's German Grammar 2) Die Gelbe aktuell 3) Grammatik Aktiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmeilaen Posted July 28 Share Posted July 28 1 hour ago, 4KookieKids said: Can you compare your recommendations with any of the following, if you have experience with them? They're other books I've also been looking at: 1) Hammer's German Grammar 2) Die Gelbe aktuell 3) Grammatik Aktiv I only know Die Gelbe aktuell. I own an older version. Mine is probably 30 years old. It is very advanced and very good, but might be too much for your purposes. Have you looked at sample pages? There is an English edition of it now. Here are two other suggestions you might be interested in: Basic German: A Grammar and Workbook Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook I like that both of these books explain grammar with simple sentences, so the grammatical concept does not get lost because the student does not know the vocabulary. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted July 29 Author Share Posted July 29 (edited) 20 hours ago, pmeilaen said: Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook I like this one a lot. I found a PDF of it online. Thanks for the suggestion! I also found PDFs of German Grammar Made Easy and Die Gelbe aktuell online (so I could see the end of the book and not just the first chapter!) and I really like those as well, though the Routledge Intermediate one seems like it might be in the middle of the other two, in terms of difficulty/complexity. German Grammar Made Easy is definitely too simple for my 9th grader, after having read through a goodly portion of it, but would be great for my 7th grade I think. I may go with the Routledge Intermediate for my 9th grader this year; it won't be at all challenging for him to read, and I think you are right on the money in that it will allow him to focus on the grammar concept that's actually being taught. Then I can fill in any gaps with Die Gelbe aktuell after that. Within the CEFR, would you have an estimate for what level the Routledge Intermediate book would cover (B1 or B2 perhaps?) vs what German Grammar Made Easy would cover? I read that Die Gelbe aktuell goes through about B2 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/textbooks/ He'd like to get the CEFR certification as well as CLEP it when he gets to college, so I'm trying to prepare for both! lol 😛 Edited July 29 by 4KookieKids 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmeilaen Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 5 hours ago, 4KookieKids said: IWithin the CEFR, would you have an estimate for what level the Routledge Intermediate book would cover (B1 or B2 perhaps?) vs what German Grammar Made Easy would cover? I read that Die Gelbe aktuell goes through about B2 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/textbooks/ He'd like to get the CEFR certification as well as CLEP it when he gets to college, so I'm trying to prepare for both! lol 😛 The Routledge Intermediate Grammar is suitable for students at intermediate level, corresponding to levels A2–B1+ on the CEFR or Intermediate High/Advanced Low with the ACTFL. The German Grammar Made Easy would be more at the A1/A2 level, but I have used it for intermediate German students and it was a perfect fit. Die Gelbe is level A2-C1 level, depending on what exercises/topics you choose. If you are looking for a very advanced college level grammar, try Professor Rankin's one here. Do you know what level your son is at? Has he done an informal placement exam? The Goethe Institut offers a free one and a paid version here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4KookieKids Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 (edited) On 7/29/2024 at 6:21 PM, pmeilaen said: Do you know what level your son is at? Has he done an informal placement exam? The Goethe Institut offers a free one and a paid version here. He just had his oral interview with Goethe, and they said that he was at a B1.3 on his written part of the exam, but C1 with his spoken German, so their suggestion was to start at B2. ETA: I guess I'm surprised because I read his German and I think it's pretty poor quality. His German school last year had him in the native-speaker class, but I honestly assumed it was perhaps because they don't have that many actual native speakers (because he sounds nothing at all like a native speaker to me! lol) Edited August 13 by 4KookieKids 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmeilaen Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 On 8/13/2024 at 3:41 PM, 4KookieKids said: He just had his oral interview with Goethe, and they said that he was at a B1.3 on his written part of the exam, but C1 with his spoken German, so their suggestion was to start at B2. ETA: I guess I'm surprised because I read his German and I think it's pretty poor quality. His German school last year had him in the native-speaker class, but I honestly assumed it was perhaps because they don't have that many actual native speakers (because he sounds nothing at all like a native speaker to me! lol) Well, you should be proud of him! I think the books I mentioned would work perfectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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