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One of the most difficult aspects of learning German is conjugating German verbs. What makes German verbs so quirky, anyway?

In all regular or weak German verbs, the stem remains consistent and suffixes are added to the stem in a consistent way as the verb is conjugated. When a verb changes tense, it really becomes identifiable as a weak verb – if we were to say “he made,” we simply add the predictable suffix “te” to the unchanging stem “mach,” and we have “er machte.”

Irregular German verbs don’t conjugate the way they’re “supposed” to. In the irregular German verb “sprechen” (to speak), the stem “sprech” seems like it ought to become “sprecht” when combined with the pronoun “er” (he) – but it becomes “spricht” instead. If the German verb “helfen” were regular, we could take the stem “helf” and add “te” to it and produce “er helfte,” but no! The correct way to say “he helped” is “er half.”

And if that’s not confusing enough, mixed German verbs, which seem weak but do not follow a thoroughly regular conjugation pattern, defy classification, although they have tendencies of both strong and weak verbs. Fortunately, there are many more regular German verbs than irregular ones, and newly-created German verbs such as “surfen” are always regular.

When approaching the study of German verbs, it’s important to remember to relax. No two students learn exactly the same way, so experiment until you find the exact combination of study techniques that best imprints those German verbs into your brain.

If you learn best by reading, you’re probably a visual learner, and you may want to try putting your German verb forms on flash cards and asking a friend to test you on them. If you’re one of those people who learn best by writing, try copying all the German verb conjugations you’re trying to learn over and over until you sense a little internal “click” – now you’ve got it.

Many people learn best by hearing or speaking; if that describes you, try saying “Ich gebe, du gibst, er gibt, wir geben, ihr gebt, sie geben” very clearly into your recording device, playing it back, and listening to the sound of your words, sensing the change in sound when you pronounce the irregular German verb forms.

There are some people, called kinesthetic learners, who need to be physically engaged while they study, and for these people computer-based programs are ideal; and yes, it’s definitely possible to find a computer-based program to learn German verbs!

Set a goal of learning two new German verbs per session, as well as reviewing the ones learned in previous sessions. However you choose to study your German verbs, make sure you also develop some way to test yourself on what you’ve learned.

All students who put their minds and hearts into mastering German verbs will be able to do so, if they find a method that works for them.

The Rocket German MegaVerbs software game makes learning German verbs easy. Join Rocket German today and learn to speak German fast.

Fairfield Language Technologies’ Rosetta Stone German language software will help you learn to speak German with a few minutes of work each day. Their high-quality German software will help you learn to speak German language in a natural way.  Anyone should be able to use this software.

Concept for Learning

In order to empower the learner in an effective manner, the Rosetta Stone German program uses a distinct concept to teach the student how to learn to speak German. This program uses the connection between images and words. Through the preview availability you are able to be aware of the goals placed before you begin each lesson in this program to get you a fair idea of what to expect. In several videos of German tutorials the features of this learn to speak German software are shown.

Superb Value

Learning to speak German is made highly affordable with the Rosetta Stone language software, especially when being compared to other competing language software. In addition, the Rosetta Stone language pack makes use of frequent German tutorials, which makes learning to speak German much easier and way more beneficial.

The Advantages

Big thumbs up to this learn to speak German language program overall. It has a speech recognition program included with the package which is also one of the great things about this German tutorial software program. What makes this program a hit is the fact that it contains writing, grammar, audio and visual images. On your computer the program is fairly easy to install. In whatever way, the means of support for this software is excellent. This software program’s self-help menu covers its bases along with a limited paper manual. In this German tutorial software program an easy-to-access help button is present on every screen and there is also a toll-free number and email address for live support.

Reported Cons

The program has very few drawbacks.  It comes with excellent speech recognition software, but lacks the headset required to make it more effective, which is quite a shame. The manual provided with the software is rather limited, but customer service is otherwise outstanding. You receive two discs with the Rosetta Stone German Tutorial software, one of which installs the programs to your computer while the other is used to run the program. It would have been nice if the discs could have been combined, but this system does tend to work brilliantly.

Learning the German language is an excellent way to expand your personal and professional horizons. Popular reasons for people to start learning German are to make the most of holidays in Germany, be able to chat with German relatives and prepare for study exchange programs in Germany. But there are in fact so many other great reasons to learn to speak German that people never consider. Here are some that come to mind:

Germany is the most populous European nation and German is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Learning German can connect you with 120 million native speakers around the globe and you might be surprised to learn that German is the 3rd most popular foreign language taught worldwide. So German will not only allow you to build relationships with people in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein but also German speakers all over the world.  

Germany is the economic powerhouse of the European Union and one of the biggest international exporters. Germany’s international trade earnings are proof of the high demand for German goods. This means that if you speak German you will have excellent international employment and career opportunities. Given Germany’s commitment to innovation, it’s perhaps not surprising that two-thirds of the world’s leading international trade fairs take place in Germany.

While German workers are highly productive, it is clear they know how to play just as hard as they work. In 2007, the Germans spent a record 91 billion euros on international travel. Travel agencies, tour companies, hotels, airlines and car rental agencies that can communicate with Germans in their own language will win German business.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the German language is dying. The only language markets that produce more books annually than the Germans are the Chinese and English publishing industries. As very few German books are translated into English, the only way to appreciate these books is by learning to speak German.

German speaking countries have made a huge contribution to the world’s cultural heritage. Germany is known for being a country of poetry and great thinkers. 10 Nobel prizes have been awarded to German, Austrian and Swiss German authors. The psychologists Freud and Jung forever changed the way we think about human behavior. Anyone interested in any of these fields automatically expands their knowledge and skill by knowing German.  Whether you’re interested in cultural and intellectual heritage of these countries or not, the fact remains that Switzerland, Austria and Germany all offer a very high standard of living, which make these countries very sought after and comfortable places to live.

You’re probably thinking that’s all well and good, but German is too hard to learn. If that’s the case, you’d be wrong! I think you’d be surprised to discover just how similar English is to German. Modern German and modern English both evolved from the common ancestor language Germanic. Also once you learn the German system of sounds, it’s easy to predict how the spoken word is written and how the word is pronounced. Besides, learning German is fun when you make use of these German language podcasts.