David Howell

Slacking

davidhowell — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:16:23 +0000

So my Spring Break was this last week and instead of using my time wisely to learn German, I did nothing. Well, not entirely nothing — I worked and hung out with friends — but nothing in the sense that I needed to continue studying.

For the next up and coming two months before I go to Wittenberg, I’m going to practice as much as I can, and get back on track with my goal of improving my grammar and speaking more confidently.

A quick note on my progress: The confidence part is getting better, because whenever I’ve spoken/written to various native Germans, they’ve commented that my German is very good, and have also agreed that my grammar isn’t the best. As for the grammar, I think that’s primarily what I should start focusing on — Grammar and Vocabulary Acquisition.

Perhaps I’ll write another post after I study later tonight.

Prost!

Long Day…

davidhowell — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:16:54 +0000

So, after a long day, I’ve finished reviewing 200 old flash cards and have studied about 50 brand new flashcards! It’s been hard but I pushed through again to get it finished! I think that now I’m going to go ahead and study Dative and Accusative Prepositions a little bit and then head to bed, because I’m getting tired again. I need to use my Spring Break as a way to study even more than I am now and I need to start speaking in German more than I already am.

More Vocab. More Grammar. More Speaking.

So Much German!

davidhowell — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:30:12 +0000

I’ve had almost nothing else on my mind in the last week except German and it’s really making my head spin. I feel like I’ve been on information overload and I need to come down off of it. But instead, I’m going to keep trying to charge forward with my studies and work my way through this.

Yesterday, although I didn’t complete any of my pre-assigned “mini-goals” that I wrote out for myself, I did have 3 German classes at my University and then spoke for probably around 25-30 minutes in nothing but German, which actually seems like it’s getting easier! I wish I would have at least completed 25 or so new flashcards and reviewed my old ones though. I suppose today I will have to get caught up on that, which will be somewhat daunting because I let my review cards pile up and now I have to go back over 180 of them! Ugh!

Oh well. In the end, it will all be worth it and I will have gained so much from the effort I’m putting it!

Prost!

This blog — The Mission

davidhowell — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:17:13 +0000

To jump right into it, the whole point of this blog is to track my progress and study habits as I continue to learn German. I’m currently at a plateau in the language and am trying to attack it full force so that I don’t feel stuck or hopeless anymore. I’ve been going at it full force for about 3-4 days now and it’s going somewhat well. I created a lot of sticky notes on my whiteboard that contain “mini-goals” that I can complete in about 30-45 minutes or less. I’m trying to knock out at least one of these a day in an effort to acquire more vocabulary, develop a better grasp of grammar, and to overall speak German more confidently!

Now that I’ve gotten that introduction out of the way, we can officially begin!