Hallo aus USA!! :D

[Hematomania]

Mein name ist Alli. Ich komme aus USA!

I would try to type more in German, but I'm very bad at it as of right now. That's why I'm here. I tried to learn German about two years ago, but the program I was using was strictly phrase memorization. It didn't teach me anything. My boyfriend is a foreign exchange student from Germany and speaks fluent German...but he is very bad at explaining things and constantly discourages me from trying to learn it. "It is very hard...I have been speaking it for sixteen years and I still don't understand a lot of it," is what he constantly tells me...so I've declared him an unreliable source to try and learn from. I do come to him if I need help pronouncing certain words or if I want to test out my German. I know very few phrases...because I never seem to stick to one program. I'm hoping actually having someone on the other side of my keyboard will help me. :)

Bitte und danke!
(That's supposed to be please and thank you...but I have a feeling it's wrong.)

[Heide]

Hallo Alli!

Willkommen im Forum! We can help you with your German. You might like to look at some on-line courses. Here (http://www.aboutgerman.net/AGNforums/content.php?152-Recommended-German-Courses-for-Forum-Members) are some recommended for our forum members, especially "Deutsch - warum nicht?" (http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2548,00.html)from Deutsche Welle. That one will give you both sentences to learn as well as grammar. Since you already know some German, you can write here -- start with simple sentences -- and if you write "kw" (for Korrekturen Willkommen) under your message, someone will make corrections to your German. You can always ask questions. There are also some exercises posted which you can try. If you want to work with a tutor, post a message in one of our tutoring folders using your name as the title. I'd suggest posting first in the Beginners Tutoring folder so that the tutors can see your level of German. Also, in that folder, different people can make suggestions and corrections.
Now, give your boyfriend a break. :) It's not easy to tell someone WHY something is right or wrong in their native language. Mostly, all they know is that "it sounds right". However, as you learn here, you can start talking to him in German.

Viel Spaß beim Deutschlernen!

Gruß

[Wixtofa]

Ah, defiance. Nothing makes you want to do something more than someone telling you that you can't. It's what got me going with German again, too.

[Heide]

Ah, defiance. Nothing makes you want to do something more than someone telling you that you can't. It's what got me going with German again, too.

Da hast du recht! That can be the best incentive of all! :D