https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8 Individual Study Report en-us 2016-10-14 12:28:47 UTC 2026-01-10 15:18:36 UTC hello@padlet.com angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/131724355 https://www.duolingo.com
During this week I have completed Basic 1, Phrases and Basic 2 Tutorials on the German Programme of Duolingo. I have learnt new words such as Frau, Junge and Mann. It helped me to understand texts in the textbook and course handouts, and also helped me to communicate with teachers and revise what I have learnt during classes.

I would continue with the Duolingo programme as I found it quite useful in addition to the course of MLT105.

Vocabulary:
die Frau - Woman
der Mann - Man
das Junge - Boy
das Mädchen - Girl
die Manner - Men
die Frauen - women]]> 2016-10-19 09:39:28 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/131724355 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/131725774 https://www.duolingo.com
During the week I am practicing German on the Chat Activity of Duolingo. It is a programme which allows you to chat with AI, and scores your performance based on your answers. I am only able to complete the most beginner level chat at the moment, which involves the use of basic introduction and greetings such as "Wie get es dir?" and "Ich bin gerade". 

I am trying to attempt the next level which is set within the theme of a zoo.]]> 2016-10-19 09:47:35 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/131725774 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/135337739 https://www.germanpod101.com
In this week I have listened to a podcast produced by GermanPod 101 for beginner learners, with my original aim to recap what I have learnt during the last few weeks. I was surprised that I came across with different phrases from those on the textbook such as "Wie gehst Ihnen?" and "auch gut", which might be more "daily"-according to the recorder of the podcast.

However the transcript of the podcast was not available to me, so I could hardly make sure of the spelling of the words.

I might continue with their podcast and see what I can find, but I will find more sources that I can find actual text to learn spelling from.]]> 2016-11-04 12:01:02 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/135337739 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142857159 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R66ylqWAgE
I watched a short movie called "The Interviewer" with german subtitles, which described a job interview where the son of the CEO was tricking the interviewee, while proving his ability to his father.

I focused on the german subtitles, which contained a lot of new words to me. I realised that I still have a lot of words to learn before I can communicate fluently in German. I also had a better idea of how german grammar works.

Vocabulary:
das Vorstellungsgespräch - Job Interview
na klar - sure, of course
versetze - transfer
besonderen - particular
Ruheort - place of rest
lasse - leave
alle - all
Ängste - anxiety; fear
abfallen - fall off
ausstrecken - extend
fassen - to take
Ort - place
ein/aus-atmen - to breathe in/out
tief - deep
bösen - bad
prima - great
folgen - to follow
hinsetzen - to sit down
aufgeregt - excited; nervous
beängstigend - scary
suchen - search, seek
passt - fits
prost - cheers
tot - dead]]> 2016-12-09 17:13:39 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142857159 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888350 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz49S4Izm2o&t=58s
This week I attempted to watch a fully german documentary (german voice cast and subtitles). This episode of the documentary gives a brief instruction to german history and geography

I learnt that the major population of Germany concentrates at the cities, and the area of Germany had a long history of human residence, which has led to the formation of big cities.

I think this is a valuable lesson on the culture and history of Germany, which makes me understand German better.

I was able to correctly guess/understand  ~20% of the content without translation tools. I am happy about that.

Vocabulary:
Oben - Above
wenigsten - little
kennen - know
unser - our
Vogelperspektive - bird view
über - about
der Wolkenkratzer - Skyscraper
der Fluss - the flow
das Meer - the ocean
hinaus - out
als - as
der Alpen - Alps
Königsee - Royal Lake
ein Blick - a look
die Magie - the magic
die Distanz - the distance
der Storch - stork, a travelling bird
der Kranich - crane, the long leg bird (鹤）
fremd - foreign
zeigen - show, demonstrate
insgesamt - in total of
die Kleinstadt - town, small city
der Umland - Countryside]]> 2016-12-09 19:04:44 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888350 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888574 http://www.fnp.de/nachrichten/wissenschaft/Wissenschaftler-halten-Baertierchen-Sex-auf-Video-fest;art153,2365715
Since I study genetics and biochemistry as my major course, I decided to look up for a biochemical news report in German. The news from Frankfurt News Press - "Scientists have firmly caught a video of tardigrades' sex" - was interesting. (Well, obscure at the same time.)

The research in the report is about the sex procedure of tardigrades (Bärtierchen), which was a missing gap in the study of this highly tolerant animal. I find the language in german news very hard to understand as it has some less structured sentences. It took me much more time to understood than the documentary and the movie. The next time I might want to try to understand a article written by real german researchers.

Vocabulary:
Wissenschaft - Science
Wissenschaftler - scientist
halten - hold
fest - firmly
Stummelbeinchen - small legs
erstmals - for the first time
die Fortpflanzung - reproduction
faszinierenden - fascinating
die Tiere - the animals
dokumentieren - ducoment
die Videoaufnahmen - video recording
komplexen - complex]]> 2016-12-09 19:05:32 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888574 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888655 German transcript:
https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-lecture_ge.pdf
English translation: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/einstein-lecture.pdf
"Fundamental Ideas and Problems of the Theory of Relativity " is a lecture delivered by Albert Einstein to the Nordic Assembly of Naturalists at Gothenburg on 11 July 1923. I found both the German transcript and the English translation of the lecture, so it would be easier for me to understand.

I found that I don't know almost every noun and most verbs in the article, so 1 page is a sensible amount of reading in this case. However, Einstein lectured in very rigorous and clear sentence structures, that I could understand most of the sentences after looking up the words.

I do find the difference between german news reporters and scientists, as the former tend to speak more casually and the latter is much more careful with their language. (The same in other languages I know, but German has this in particular.)

This might give me a hint of why Germany has such a terrific precision of technology, since german scientists respect what they produce, even just verbal speaking.

Vocabulary:
Grundgedanken - fundamental ideas
betrachten - consider
denjenigen - the ones
der Teil - part
gewiss - certainly
der Sinn - meaning
gesichert - secured
der Besitz - the possesion
gewahren - be aware of
der Gesichtspunkt - point of view
führend - guiding, leading
die Entwicklung - the development
drehen - to turn
die Frage - the question
bevorzugen - prefer
Bewegungszustände - the state of movement
ferner - further
erweisen - prove
die Erkenntnis - the knowledge
begriff - term
dadurch - thereby
speziellen - specific]]> 2016-12-09 19:05:49 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888655 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888747 http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/967221202387607/Brot-und-Broetchen-schleifen.html
I am interested in baking and German breads are appreciated, I am interested by what I might get from a german bread recipe.

The first thing interest me is the Hefe - yeast - is assigned to be feminine. I wonder if there is a special emotional bond in this expression.

After using translation tools, the recipe is generally easy to understand. Some words, however, do not have very associated meaning, such as "verkneten (to conceal)". I wonder if german use them differently from the dictionary.

Vocabulary:
das Rezept - recipe
schleifen - grind
das Brötchen - bun
das Mehl - flour
lauwarm - lukewarm
die Hefe - yeast
das Salz - salt
die Zubereitung - preparation
die Schüssel - bowl
bröseln - crumble
der Teig - dough
miteinander - together
vermengen - mix
bestreuen - sprinkle]]> 2016-12-09 19:06:08 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142888747 angli9849 https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142924148 If you can only see 7 reports, there is one more to the right side, please use the horizontal scroll bar.]]> 2016-12-09 23:20:54 UTC https://padlet.com/angli9849/6fx7bv9lakx8/wish/142924148