Episode 28 - How Much Practice do We Need when Learning German
2024-03-20 13 min
Description & Show Notes
In this episode of the Better German podcast, Susi Blümel discusses the significance of practice in learning German. She stresses the need for a balance between theory and practice, providing examples and guidelines for effective practice. Susi emphasizes that consistent and substantial practice is essential for mastery of the language, and she offers practical tips for learners to improve their speaking abilities.
Summary
In this episode of the Better German Podcast, Susi Blumel discusses the importance of practice in learning the German language. She emphasizes the need for a balance between theory and practice, suggesting a ratio of 20% theory to 80% practice. Susi provides examples of how to effectively practice new vocabulary and grammar, highlighting the crucial role of practical application in language learning. She also addresses common pitfalls in traditional language courses and stresses the significance of consistent and thorough practice. Susi Blumel's approach focuses on ensuring a deep understanding of theory while prioritizing ample practice to achieve fluency and proficiency in German.
Topics and Bullet Points
Primary Topic: Importance of Practice in Learning German
- The ratio of theory to practice (20% theory, 80% practice)
- The significance of understanding theory and putting it into practice
- Practice techniques such as speaking the words aloud, making sentences, and writing examples
- Discrepancy between theory and practice in language courses
- The potential lack of speaking ability despite completing language courses
- The need for a balance between theory and practice in language learning
- Calculating the amount of practice needed
- Estimations for the amount of practice required based on hours spent on theory
- The importance of practice in developing fluency and proficiency
- The approach in the Better German courses
- Emphasis on understandable theory, need-to-know basis for grammar, and abundant practice
- The positive impact on students' ability to speak earlier in their learning journey
Primary Topic: Practice Scenarios and Techniques
- Application of practice in specific scenarios
- Integrating practice after attending a German class or watching educational videos
- Identifying the required hours of practice based on hours spent on theory
- Techniques for practicing language skills
- Suggestions for practicing phrases with a friend, making mixed sentences, and writing examples
- The importance of continuous practice until language skills are easily applied
- Conclusion on the ideal percentage of theory and practice
- The recommendation for a balance of 20% theory and 80% practice
- The assurance that understanding theory and sufficient practice lead to progress in language learning
Primary Topic: Additional Resources and Support
- The availability of Better German courses and private lessons
- Information about courses providing a good balance of theory and practice
- Invitation to visit the Better German homepage for private lessons or to schedule a free introductory lesson
- The promise of further insights in the next podcast episode
- A preview of the next episode focusing on the duration of learning German to set expectations for learners embarking on the language learning journey
Links
- Interactive Movie Guide to help you find German movies with subtitles on your level.
In this episode of the Better German Podcast, Susi Blumel discusses the importance of practice in learning the German language. She emphasizes the need for a balance between theory and practice, suggesting a ratio of 20% theory to 80% practice. Susi provides examples of how to effectively practice new vocabulary and grammar, highlighting the crucial role of practical application in language learning. She also addresses common pitfalls in traditional language courses and stresses the significance of consistent and thorough practice. Susi Blumel's approach focuses on ensuring a deep understanding of theory while prioritizing ample practice to achieve fluency and proficiency in German.
Topics and Bullet Points
Primary Topic: Importance of Practice in Learning German
- The ratio of theory to practice (20% theory, 80% practice)
- The significance of understanding theory and putting it into practice
- Practice techniques such as speaking the words aloud, making sentences, and writing examples
- Discrepancy between theory and practice in language courses
- The potential lack of speaking ability despite completing language courses
- The need for a balance between theory and practice in language learning
- Calculating the amount of practice needed
- Estimations for the amount of practice required based on hours spent on theory
- The importance of practice in developing fluency and proficiency
- The approach in the Better German courses
- Emphasis on understandable theory, need-to-know basis for grammar, and abundant practice
- The positive impact on students' ability to speak earlier in their learning journey
Primary Topic: Practice Scenarios and Techniques
- Application of practice in specific scenarios
- Integrating practice after attending a German class or watching educational videos
- Identifying the required hours of practice based on hours spent on theory
- Techniques for practicing language skills
- Suggestions for practicing phrases with a friend, making mixed sentences, and writing examples
- The importance of continuous practice until language skills are easily applied
- Conclusion on the ideal percentage of theory and practice
- The recommendation for a balance of 20% theory and 80% practice
- The assurance that understanding theory and sufficient practice lead to progress in language learning
Primary Topic: Additional Resources and Support
- The availability of Better German courses and private lessons
- Information about courses providing a good balance of theory and practice
- Invitation to visit the Better German homepage for private lessons or to schedule a free introductory lesson
- The promise of further insights in the next podcast episode
- A preview of the next episode focusing on the duration of learning German to set expectations for learners embarking on the language learning journey
Links
- Interactive Movie Guide to help you find German movies with subtitles on your level.
Here you can get early access to the upcoming A1.1 (total beginner) German course.
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I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please subscribe and share the podcast.
I would love to stay in touch, so for news, new courses and books, subscribe to my newsletter.
Do let me know, which subjects you would like covered!
And watch out for the next episode - I publish a new one every Thursday.
Transcript
Welcome to the Better German podcast.
My name is Susi Blümel, and I will teach
you German and everything around the
language , the countries and the culture.
Hello, and welcome to this new
episode of the better German podcast.
And in this episode, we're
going to talk about practice.
How much practice is necessary.
And I'm going to give you some guidelines
on, so for you to really estimate how
much practice do you need, and also
some ideas on how you can practice.
Actually, the episode for this week was
supposed to be, "How long does it take to
learn German" It's recorded, it's done.
And I was in the middle of the edit.
And while I was editing it, I realized
that I want to record another episode
before this which is this one, about
practicing, because the information I'm
going to give on how long it takes to
learn German, I'm going to give you an
estimation of how many hours you can
expect, depending on your individual
talent, or you're learning speed.
However, I'm still going to give you
a rough estimation, But all of this is
true or has a lot to do with practicing.
So, if you only ever learn theory, the
numbers I'm going to give to you in
the next episode will not hold true.
So that's why I decided that
we needed this episode first.
And I needed to give you a few
information about practicing.
So roughly, these are
ballpark numbers, okay.
So roughly, you should have maybe
20% theory, and 80% practice.
So, what does it mean?
Let's say, You're learning
a couple of new words.
So let's say, you're going to
learn a list of 20 new words.
And maybe you were spending about 20
minutes, to write them down in your
book and to look up the meanings and
figure out what exactly they mean.
If it's not totally obvious, maybe you
spend a little time looking at a picture.
So whatever theory you're
learning, you do want to make sure.
That you really understand
it and you learn it well.
So, and then roughly you
could say if you spend.
20 minutes.
Doing that.
You should spend about 80
minutes to practice those words.
So, what do we mean by practice?
So the different things you could do for
practicing would be, to say the words
loud or to repeat them, like if you're
doing a course with me, how we start
is we, have this word list and then
we start practicing it relatively fast
and I will say them, and you will say
them after me, that's already practice.
And we will maybe do it that a couple
of times and you will do it until
you have no problem to say that word.
The next thing we'll usually be, we will
use this word in some way of a practical
thing, we will make sentences or we
make a conversation exercise, usually
we will make sentences with these words.
And then next thing is, you're going
to write examples for these words.
So, and all this together
will probably roughly be 80
minutes for these 20 minutes.
And that will mean that you don't just
have heard this word once, but you will
actually be able to understand, not only
understand the word, but also use it, it
will come into your mind when you need it.
Let's look at a course.
For example, I've just, that's
also one of the reasons why I
decided I want to do this episode.
I've just seen a couple of
postings on social media, like
two, three that were almost the
same thing from different people.
And they said, okay, they have
been doing German courses.
And they are ab B1,
which is a certain level.
If you want to learn about the
the levels of German courses,
I made an episode about that.
But anyway, if the person is at B1, It
means that they're at the third level.
This person wrote, she's at that
level, but she cannot speak because
she's never been speaking and
she's never practiced speaking.
Unfortunately that's a typical
course, very often when you go to
school or when you take a language
course, it will be like that.
I'm not even going to go into the fact
that the theory is probably not 100%
understood, because I think there's way
too much grammar and it's too complicated.
So if they're doing the B1, they have
probably done an, A1 course and they
have probably done an A2 course, part one
and two, and they're now in a B1 course.
So they have done at least three
courses, and a course typically
has maybe 50 hours of teaching.
So they have done at least 150.
hours of lessson so far and
probably hardly any practical.
Let's give them some credit and say
maybe, maybe of these 150 hours, maybe
50 hours, they actually practiced.
So that means they've done maybe
a hundred hours of theory and 50
hours of practical in the course.
So that in my experience, in my
calculation, would mean that they're
about 350 hours short of exercises.
And if they, would do those 350
hours of practice, actually practice
everything she or he learned there,
they would probably be able to speak.
So let's take another
example of practicing.
Let's say, you're you are in a course.
And you've gone through your lesson.
And, you've had some words and
you've had some grammar and so on.
So what can you do, in
order to improve that.
Let's say you were in a course
and you spent two hours that
day in the German class.
So first of all, as a ballpark,
you should remember for those two
hours of theory, you should have
about eight hours of practice.
Maybe it's just one and a half
hours of theory because you
practice a little bit in there.
So you should at least have
five hours of practice.
So that's one thing to consider.
So you did 60 hours and out of the
60 hours, 50 hours were theory.
Then plan out to do those 250 hours
practice all of this particular thing
you learned, and then you will be at
the point, where you have a chance to
actually apply what you've learned.
Of course, you also need to understand the
theory, and that could be another thing.
If you follow my podcast, I'll try to
make it as easy as possible for you,
and I'll try to help you with that.
Of course, if you want to do a course
where this whole thing is already in
there, you can look at my courses.
I have a beginners course, you can
also do individual lessons, but
the principle is always the same.
So you will get theory, theory that is
understandable, not too much theory,
but you will really understand it.
Exactly the theory that you need.
Grammar on a need to know basis.
And you will have lots and
lots and lots of practice.
And that's what happens to my students.
They actually are able to speak.
You will be able to start speaking
way earlier than you would think.
Good.
Let's take another example.
Let's say.
you're sitting down and you
listen to a YouTube video about
certain phrases that you can use.
Let's say it's a 20 minute YouTube
video with different phrases.
So very good, it's 20 minutes of theory,
write them down, maybe you need a little
more because maybe you want to write
them down and really make sure you get
it, and then practice those phrases.
You can practice them.
You can practice them with a friend,
make sentences, use them in sentences.
Don't worry if the sentences
are not perfect yet.
If you've just started to learn German,
you can even do, mixed sentences.
Like, if you make a sentence with a
word, like "lamp", and you don't know
enough German to make a complete German
sentence, - lamp in German is "die Lampe".
You can say something.
"The 'Lampe' is very beatiful."
Use it in sentences, or touch
things, if it's nouns touch the
things, say the word, point at them..
Write.
them up, so just practice those things.
Do it with a friend, do it
with a partner, if you can.
And then you can also write sentences and
you should, in order to practice them.
So what's the conclusion.
The rough estimate of a
percentage, is about 20 to 80.
Generally many courses probably give
you more theory than you even need.
However, whatever theory you're
learning, as long as you make sure
that you understand it and you then
practice it enough, you will be fine.
And you will be certainly doing much
better than you have been doing so far.
Is there such a thing
as too much practice?
No, I don't think you can
ever have too much practice.
How long is the ideal?
How, like, how do you know that
you really practice it enough?
You know that you've practiced
enough when you can use them.
Like, for example, when you
have a word, and you're going
like, "okay, give me a second.
I have heard this.
Yes....
I know what it means", then you
haven't practiced it enough.
If you want to say that word
and you have to like, go like,
okay, what was the word again?
What was it?
What was it?
Then you haven't practiced enough.
So you know that you have practiced
it enough, when you can do it
without taking a long time to think.
Same thing with grammar.
If you have a rule, you need
to find examples for it.
And you know that you have practiced
enough, when you can find examples easily,
and when you can use that rule easily.
And as I said, roughly in my
experience, 20% theory, 80%
practice is a good percentage.
Don't get discouraged when you
think, okay, I've spent 150 hours
learning German, but I can speak yet.
It's probably not because you're bad.
It's probably just because
you didn't practice enough.
So make sure you understand you
theory, put in the practice.
And if you want a course,
where this is already in place.
Then you can look in my
homepage, bettergerman.info.
If you're looking for private lessons,
you can make an appointment right there.
For free introductory lesson.
And I hope to see you in my next podcast,
and as I said, this is going to be about
how long does it take to learn German?
So you know what to expect when
you embark upon this journey.