There are legends that on Christmas Eve the animals can speak. That is similar to a Lithuanian legend that at the stroke of midnight, when it turns from Christmas Eve to Christmas day, animals can speak with humans. You’re supposed to listen closely to see what the animals say. My cats have never said anything however. Not even a meow.

Other German legends are that on Christmas Eve the rivers turn into wine, trees bear fruit, mountains show the precious gemstones hidden within, and that church bells can be heard ringing from the ocean. The legends also state that only those pure at heart, or with no sins on their souls, can see this wonderful Christmas magic.

On the evening of December 5th German children place a shoe or boot by the fireplace. During the night of December 6th, St. Nick’s Day, St. Nicholas will go from house to house. (St. Nick is the patron saint of children). St. Nick carries a book of how the children behaved throughout the year. If they have been relatively good, no child is perfect, then St. Nick leaves yummy food for the child. If the child has bee naughty then they get twigs in the shoe.

We celebrated St. Nick’s Day when I grew up. We placed the shoe outside our bedroom door though. When we woke up the next day it was usually filled with healthy things like fruit. What a disappointment! If you’ve been good you should at least get some delicious candy that you never get! Make sure when you do these German Christmas traditions in your house, you leave the kids some yummy treats!

0 null (zero, nought)
1 eins - der erste, der 1. (first)

2 zwei - der zweite, der 2. (second) - halb, die Hälfte (half, one-half)

3 drei - der dritte, der 3. (third) - drittel (one-third)

4 vier - der vierte (fourth) - viertel-, das Viertel (one-fourth, quarter)

5 fünf - der fünfte (fifth)

6 sechs - der sechste (sixth)

7 sieben - der siebte (seventh)

8 acht - der achte (eighth)

9 neun - der neunte (ninth)

10 zehn - der zehnte, der 10. (tenth)

11 elf - der elfte, der 11. (eleventh)

12 zwölf - der zwölfte, der 12. (twelfth)

13 dreizehn - der dreizehnte (thirteenth), am dreizehnten

14 vierzehn - der vierzehnte (fourteenth) - am vierzehnten

15 fünfzehn - der fünfzehnte (fifteenth) - am fünfzehnten

16 sechzehn - der sechzehnte (the sixteenth)

17 siebzehn - der siebzehnte (seventeenth)

18 achtzehn - der achtzehnte (the eighteenth)

19 neunzehn - der neunzehnte (nineteenth)

To learn pronunciation you’ll have to get a German pronunciation teacher as in take classes or use software that has a native German speaker teaching the language. You really cannot learn from just reading how it is to be pronounced. I recommend getting Rocket German.

Speaking German isn’t very hard to learn, if you learn from book or program that is understandable and correct. Going to the local bookshop to purchase Learn to Speak German in 7 Days for example, is the most common way to learn German that people take. I recommend a completely new way however as I was able to pick up German quickly while enjoying learning the new language. I used an interactive program that I found while surfing the Net.

I know from my own efforts and also from talking to others, that following reading a German lesson in a book, you forget most all of what you have just read. The best way to learn is through a memorable experience so that it will stick in you head. This is vital when trying to pick up a new language. Which is why I recommend an interactive guide or program.

The program I followed to learn to speak German from is probably the best out there. Don’t take my word on it as there are hundreds of testimonials from others just like me too. The reasons it is so successful is that it helps you learn to speak German in many ways. There are interactive audio lessons to learn spoken German, grammar lessons without which you will not be speaking correctly, vocabulary software to learn new words, audio software which a book doesn’t have, verb software to specifically help you understand the verbs and how they change, and a members only forum where you can get help and meet other German language students.

This learn to speak German method that I recommend is terrific for learning German quickly, painlessly and fluently. It is Rocket German and I strongly recommend it!

I tried a few, many are very expensive well into the several hundred dollar range, and finally found a learn to speak German that I worked well for me. Rocket German is an interactive course and very practical. You can also sign up for a free 6 day German course from Rocket German too.

You’ll learn to speak German with 31 interactive audio lessons. Each lesson averages 25 minutes long. You also get the transcripts of the audio conversations. You can absorb German easily with this method, just like a child learning a new language.

There are also 31 grammar lessons that are illustrated. Each grammar lesson corresponds with an interactive audio lesson. There are over 300 pages of grammar along with 624 lessons and activities! You will learn to speak German fluently and correctly with this software program.

You can learn to speak German at your own pace with Rocket German. There is no class to drive to and attend a few times a week, no set pace for the program, and no one to listen to you trying to speak German until you’re well and ready!

I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to learn German from beginners to those who have let their German skills lapse. –Sophie Walker Christchurch, New Zealand

Rocket German even has a fun software game to help you learn vocabulary. There are over 2,000 words and 20 topics in the software game. You will also learn to speak German with the audio software game as well. This game helps you to recognize spoken German words. Before long you’ll be listening to your DVDs in German just because you can! There is also a verb software game for intermediate to advanced German levels.

The creator of Rocket German is also on call 24 hours a day for you! There is no other book, audio set, software program that has that feature. You can email for help or post a question on the members only learn to speak German forum.

Rocket German has been proven to work exceptionally well, much better even far better than traditional language programs.

You can definitely try to learn German from a book. There are many books out there that try to teach people to speak German. I’ve found that even if there is a pronunciation guide or even a cd with audio clips, it’s hard to get the pronunciation correct. It just seems difficult to learn a living language from a quiet, dead book. You can’t talk to the book, the book doesn’t talk back, you have no way to practice.

That’s why I really recommend that you learn German interactively. It’s more like real life and like a real conversation. So how do you learn German like that? Well you can sign up for a German class at the community college or local college. It will probably run a few hundred dollars but take a few hours a week after work (if they have night classes) to go to class and then add in study and homework time. It sounds good, but in practice it’s difficult.

I recommend that you learn German interactively through a software program. You can do it at home, on your own time when you have time, at your own pace, and you can go over things as much as you need to until you learn it. Software programs are interactive and the one I used, Rocket German, has the correct grammar and pronunciation from a native German speaker. The lessons are interactive which makes learning more fun and actually easier to remember.