Einführung – Introduction

Willkommen im zweiten Jahr!

You’ve now had at least a year of German and you’ve got the basics down. You can have a simple conversation with a German speaker about yourself, your family and friends, your hobbies and other free time activities, your university studies, and your daily meals. If you feel unsure of your ability to talk about any of these topics, feel free to review any/all of them in Deutsch im Alltag II.

This book was written for you, the students of UW, by your instructors out of the desire to create better, more flexible, no-cost learning materials. It was time for a change for German learners at the University of Wyoming, and part of that change has been to combine 3rd and 4th semesters of German into one multi-level course. This change allows you to take your 3rd & 4th semesters of German at any time. Previously, we could generally only offer 2030 in the fall and 2040 in the spring.

Over this second year of learning German, you will engage with a number of new topics while learning how to talk about the past and the future. The major organizing principles between the semesters will be the countries visited and places in time: After visiting Germany and Austria in the first year of German and staying in the present, your German learning journey will now take you to Lichtenstein (Fürstentum Lichtenstein) and other German-speaking parts of Europe (outside of the big 4) in the spring semester with a focus on speaking about the future, both what is likely and what is hypothetical, and then to Switzerland (die Schweiz) in the fall semester with a focus on speaking about the past.

During the spring semester,  you will engage with topics with a future focus. In the first half of the semester, the topics are meant to help prepare you for a short or long stay in a German-speaking country with practical and meaningful language and include where you will live and what your dream house looks like (dein Zuhause), where you will work and what your dream job looks like (dein Beruf), how you will spend your free time including future travel plans and your dream vacation (deine Freizeit und deine Reisen). In the second half of the semester, the focus will shift to widening the scope of topics you will be able to discuss with the new friends you will make while abroad. The chosen topics reflect the top issues many German-speaking youth are currently concerned with and include the environment and its care (die Umwelt und ihr Schutz), equal opportunity in multicultural societies (Gleichberechtigung in multikulturelle Gesellschaften), and technology and social media (Technologie und soziale Medien).

In fall semester, you will engage with (or have engaged with) topics with a focus on the past, which are common topics of conversation when you are getting to know your new friends. They include your home and your city (dein Zuhause und deine Stadt), your body with daily care routines, illnesses, and injuries (dein Körper mit Tagesroutine, Krankheiten und Verletzungen), your childhood and traditions (deine Kindheit und Traditionen), your school years and youth (deine Schulzeit und Jugend), your family vacations and travel (deine Familienurlaube).

A note on the cultural references in this OER: The cultural focus this semester will be on Liechtenstein and other German-speaking parts of Europe. Since only certain materials can be embedded in this book (public domain or certain Creative Common licenses) and there are many fewer such materials available on Liechtenstein and these other border regions, you will often find references to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Whenever we can find relevant materials, we use them. And if we find interesting relevant materials that cannot be embedded, we have linked them for your reference.

As you shift from acquiring the basics of the German language to developing intermediate skills, it is important, now more than ever, that you put on your German hat and visualize your German-speaking self when you engage with German. The more you can stick with using the German you know and learning the structures as presented – instead of translating word for word your English thoughts into German – the more fluent and authentic your German will be.

The basics of the past semesters will remain: the more often you engage with German, the better your German will be. Humans require an extraordinary number of repetitions in order to retain new information. The number goes up with the number of distractions around you. If you must multi-task, then let the distractions also be in German (e.g. if you are working on memorizing German vocabulary while listening to Mark Förster, Nena, Rammstein, or Madsen and occasionally checking out German Oneliners or watching Dark). It’s time to put on your German hat and visualize your German child persona* for it is time to begin!

Los geht’s!

*Our intention for this book is to encourage you to enter a kind of German mindset in class and as you go through the lessons here (and complete other tasks in Canvas). We have included some small reminders to “inhabit your German child persona” or “put on your German hat” as well to visualize yourself in a German mental space when you engage with German. This space is meant to help block out any English thoughts, which are not useful when speaking, thinking, reading, writing, and listening to German.

We picked “German child” because language-wise, you are a child, even though you are much bigger than in your first year. We hope you will view this in a positive way. Just like you would not expect a child to be able to have complicated conversations, you should not expect your German child persona to be able to say the same things in German – after just a year or so of learning the language – that you have needed 18+ years to learn in English! It can be understandably frustrating to put your mind into a simpler state of language. This is why you will have models to work from. In addition, you will have opportunities to feed your adult language brain with conversations and debates about German culture and history in English on our Canvas discussion forums.

Media Attributions

Banner: Rathaus (Mühlhausen, Frankreich), Kathedrale St. Florin (Vaduz, Liechtenstein), Schloss Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Kathedrale (Malmedy, Belgien), Friedenskapelle (Malbun, Liechtenstein), Treppe Montagne de Bueren (Lüttich, Belgien), Pfarrkirche St. Gallus (Triesen, Liechtenstein), Landtagsgebäude (Vaduz, Liechtenstein), Stefanskirche (Mühlhausen, Frankreich), Regierungsgebäude (Vaduz, Liechtenstein), Kathedrale Notre-Dame (Luxemburg Stadt), Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus und Burg Gutenberg (Balzers, Liechtenstein), Haderburg (bei Salurn, Südtirol, Italien), Mariahilfkapelle (Balzers, Liechtenstein), Bollwerk (Mühlhausen, Frankreich), Kapelle St. Mamerten (Triesen, Liechtenstein). All images (except Rathaus Mühlhausen) are from Wikimedia Commons licensed under a Creative Common License. Click here to see individual images. Banner design: Rebecca Steele.