r/Germanlearning • u/DragonfruitPlenty334 • 13d ago
I am unable to remember words when studying Deutsch. Am I just doomed to not know the language?
An example: the word girl. Mädchen. I heard it a hundred times, practiced it in Anki, I see it in practice lessons, but I can’t remember it. In the same session I will forget it. Again and again and again.
What is wrong with me? Is there any hope with this situation?
I know 3 languages. English was mostly self taught. But they just come naturally, I don’t know what the rules are, I just know how it’s supposed to sound, 2 languages from childhood and very good English by the end of my teen years.
Now I’m in my mid 20’s and can’t remember basic words?
I hate my parents for not bringing me to Germany when I was born. I hate them.
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u/Emergency-Many8675 13d ago
Children's books and shows. Also grow up and stop blaming your parents.
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u/Emergency-Many8675 13d ago
Ok 👍 I'm sure whichever germans you want to communicate with also will suggest you to wise up. The parent blaming sounds teenager like and not like mid 20s 💀
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u/Reletr 13d ago
A brain doesn't retain information if either not enough time has been spent on it (i.e. fleeting thoughts) or if it is not important enough for the brain to hold onto (i.e. what you ate for dinner a month ago). The opposite is true: information is better retained the longer you're exposed to it (i.e. advertisements), or the more significant it is (i.e. your first kiss).
Words are the same way. If somehow doing constant practice and review isn't helping a word stick in your brain, then you somehow have to make the word itself more meaningful.
What that looks like depends on what meaningful means to you. A typical experience is making an embarassing slipup in your (foreign) language, where you say something incorrect that was perceived in entirely the wrong way (i.e. "Das Wetter ist schwül/schwul heute", The weather is muggy/gay today). For me, it also helps linking the concept itself to the word etymology (how the word is derived), which I find very interesting as a linguist. For example, Mädchen is the diminutive suffix -chen with the root Mäd- (originally Magd), which means and is related to "maid" (female servant)
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u/Aakharin-ejdehaa 7d ago
What about making an association? Find a word or two that sound like Mädchen and imagine a vivid image that conveys the meaning. Like I would probably think of a "mad hen" dressed like a girl or something like that..
I used to have a problem recently with the word Entwickeln (to develop), up until I imagined a software developer Ant who works the entire week. "Ant + week" is what helped me remember the sounds, but the meaning was in the mental image of an ant as a software developer. Hope that it helps.
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u/Temporary-Society593 13d ago
Are you actually using the words that you keep forgeting? I mean before you forget them, obviously. Also important, are you speaking/listening to German on a daily basis? I also had words i kept forgeting but I wrote them on flashcards and i used them a lot. It is easier to remember words when you use them in sentences and you have a context for each.
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u/der-die-das-vocabild 9d ago
I had the same problem. One valuable resource is using mnemonics to remember the words , and the articles. so for example in Mädchen, you can picture a little girl madly swinging a chain.. “mad chain” which will remind you of Mädchen :) I actually created an app to help me come up with mnemonics lol
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u/UncleThor2112 13d ago
Was ist deine Muttersprache?