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Whatever interests you really. I started by discovering German songs, but perhaps there’s some books you’d like to understand in German so you can focus on learning stuff tailored towards reading those. Or perhaps you just want to learn some casual phrases you can use abroad - Duolingo would be good for this. Maybe grammar is your true passion? In which case Hammer’s German Grammar is warmly recommended.

This is unfortunately a question I totally suck at, for I do not remember how I originally started to learn German (besides just learning song lyrics and delving into grammar rules - for which ‘Hammer’s German Grammar’ is a good resource). I can recommend the website Clozemaster, which generates cloze-style flashcards for you to fill out - you can pick ‘fast-track fluency’ or you could just pick e.g. top 100, top 1000 most common words which should be of some use.

If we’re talking really basic grammar, Duolingo might be a good resource. But, honestly, the words will probably come back to you without you actively revisiting them - 2 years after stopping Czech and restarting I began to recall words slowly without actually looking them up.

Unfortunately I can’t really help out here, sorry. All I can recommend is that you remember the layout of a German CV tends to be much more simplistic than an English CV (don't have to bullshit about what your responsibilities/roles were). 

the linguist side of me appreciates the various linguistic features of different tongues

There are often multiple words in languages which have the same basic meaning, but are used in slightly different ways. Any advanced German learner has probably had qualms w/ ändern/verändern, gebrauchen/verwenden/nutzen, and many more examples. In these posts, I’ll explain these differences.

In this post: How to say ‘to accuse/blame’ in German.

1. In the the legal sense.

i) Anklagen et al.

Anklagen is the typical term when accusing someone of having commited a crime, though beschuldigen*, anlasten, zur Last legen, and vorwerfen can sometimes be used for a form of criminal accusation. The former two are used with a genitive noun, the others an accusative. The former two also are the ones which can be used as a participle to describe a person (e.g. angeklagter/beschuldigter Arbeiter), whereas the latter describe a crime (angelasteter Diebstahl).

Ex: Der Verursacher des Unfalls wird jetzt der fahrlässigen Tötung angeklagt. Tr: The person responsible for the accident is now being charged with negligent homicide.

* der/die Beschuldigte is a special legal term used when the evidence against someone for a crime is conclusive.

2. In the general, everyday sense.

ii) Beschuldigen, Anschuldigen, Bezichtigen

The most common general term for accusing or blaming is beschuldigen. Here, the infinitive construction is more common than the dative and the accusation needn’t be specified.

Ex: Sie beschuldigte den Arzt, er habe sie mit seinen Spritzen vergiften wollen. Tr: She accused the doctor of poisoning her with his syringes.

Anschuldigen is a rare, but synomous alternative. The noun ‘Anschuldigung’, however, is more frequent and synonymous with ‘Beschuldigung’.

Ex: Wer dies noch verteidigt und die Polizei anschuldigt macht sich zum Mittäter. Tr: He who still defends this and blames the police is making himself an accomplice.

Bezichtigen is an elevated synonym.

Ex: Verteidigungsministerin Ursula von der Leyen wird des Betrugs bezichtigt. Tr: Defence Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, is accused of fraud.

iii) Anlasten, zur Last legen

These mean to accuse somebody of sth./criticise for sth. and require dative constructions.

Ex a: Man wollte mir die ganze Schuld an diesem Unfall anlasten. Tr a: They wanted to blame me entirely for the accident.

Ex b: Die Sabotage wurde dem Gewerkschaftsführer zur Last gelegt. Tr b: The trade union leader was accused of sabotage.

iv) Anklagen

Although a possible synonym in everyday speech, anklagen sounds dramatic and more forceful.

Ex: Der Film klagt die sozialen Missstände an. Tr: The film denounces/attacks social ills.

v) Vorwerfen

This is most appropriate when blame comes close to criticise, and can also mean to reproach.

Ex: Man hat ihm wurde Unfähigkeit vorgeworfen. Tr: He was accused of incompetence.

vi) jdm den Schuld geben, schuld an sein/Schuld haben

Perhaps the most common spoken alternatives. To den Schuld jdm geben means you blame someone for something, and to say someone ist Schuld (dar)an/hat den Schuld, is to say they are to blame.

Ex a: Sie gab ihm die Schuld an der ganzen Geschichte. Tr a: She blamed him for the whole thing.

Ex b: Wer ist an dem Streit schuld? Tr b: Who is to blame for the dispute?

vii) jdm etw. in die Schuhe schieben

This is colloquial and means to blame someone who is innocent.

Ex: Doris hat versucht, es ihrem Bruder in die Schuhe zu schieben, aber ich habe gesehen, wie sie den Stein geworfen hat. Tr: Doris tried to blame her brother, but I saw her throw the stone.

viii) Non-Personal Object

All of the above (except anklagen) require a person to be the object of a sentence, so, should the ‘accused’ not be an object, kritisieren + an is a useful alternative.

Ex: Man kritisiert an den Videospielen, dass sie rassistischen und sexistischen Einstellungen Vorschub leisten. Tr: Video games are charged with encouraging racist and sexist attitudes.

iii. To sue

ix) [Ver]klagen

In a civil case where one sues someone, both verklagen and klagen are possible, but verklagen always needs an object. Klagen +auf = sue for (without mentioning person), klagen +gegen = another rarer alternative to verklagen.

Ex a: Der Anwalt riet seinem Mandanten, die Firma zu verklagen. Tr a: The lawyer advised his client to sue the firm.

Ex b: Die Firma wollte klagen, weil der Vertragspartner den Liefertermin nicht eingehalten hatte. Tr b: The firm wanted to sue, because the contract partner didn’t meet the delivery date.

In civil cases the plaintiff is der Kläger, the defendant der Beklagte.

Sources:

A Practical Dictionary of German Usage - K. B. Beaton Using German Synonyms - Martin Durrell Duden

I was tagged by @semiotics-studies​ :) Thanks!

Best experience this year: Probably therapy also & overcoming my decade-long mental illness (mine is still considered incurable by many, so I refrain from saying that word).

Best holiday: Frankfurt in the Spring. It’s always Frankfurt.

Best thing you ate: Tbh I had a vegan Bratwurst in England that was pretty incredible. Or some form of German hotdog in Frankfurt whose name evades me. Or maybe a croque in Hamburg.

Best thing you learned: That Bayern is spelt with a Y because a former king loved the Greek language so much he decreed everyone use Y instead of I. For a serious answer, Phonetics.

Best thing you did/made: I got C1 in German

Something you’re proud of: Legit how far I’ve come as an individual in spite of every obstacle in my life. I look back and for the most part, I just see overwhelming victories against all odds. My life is the best it’s ever been and I am quite possibly the best version of myself so far.

I literally do not use tumblr enough to recall blog names, and the only name I can recall is someone who tagged me haha. So please, any of my followers who read this, I insist you fill it out! 

Sorry this was sent to me months and months ago, but honestly I fell in love with how it sounds. Not sure if that’s still my reason though, hmm.

I enjoy the amount of intellectual knowledge accessible in German (especially linguistic).

Hey, well two important things to remember when learning new vocab is ‘repetition’ and ‘significance’. The more we see a word, the more it becomes ingrained into our mind and this is why flashcard apps are so effective - because you expose yourself to a word in a much quicker way than e.g. reading 100s of books.

Significance is important because words are not just abstract ‘things’ which don’t have any meaning. When I say a word like beauty, love, justice, equality, art, morality etc. we all have our own ideas in our head about what these are. The same goes for words like dog, cat, fish etc. if I say the word, you can form an image of one. This is what’s vitally important - you need to give the words you learn a meaning attached to a memory you already have. So if I learn that ústní voda is the Czech word for mouthwash, I can just think about all the times I’ve used mouthwash, look at the bottle of mouthwash in my room, think about adverts for mouthwash etc. It is crucial that words are connected to the experiences you already have, because it’s easier to remember something laced with emotion.

That’s why it seems easier to remember such strange words. Without even attempting to learn the word, I never forgot zlatokop because it means ‘gold-digger’ which is a notion absolutely filled with emotion itself. There are so many strange words I know in German, which I can never forget, because the fact they’re strange is what makes them memorable. When on Earth am I ever going to use the word Hosenzieher in my life, for example? Outside of this example, probably never. And yet, I doubt I’ll forget it.

As to what I use to amass large amounts of vocab - I delve a lot into newspaper websites, read novels, browse German-language subreddits and other sites, speak to Germans on some apps, and quite enjoy German magazines. Lately I lean far more in favour of learning words that I find on reddit or forums, because they’re likely to also be words people often use in speech as opposed to words found in a novel.

It is hard though and I wish I could give you some perfect solution, but I really can’t. The most effective way I know of learning words is by using a picture (or a real object) + the word (e.g. that’s how i know ten budík, alarm clock). But this is quite an arduous task. 

The C1 I attained in German has almost been exclusively from work I have done outside of my classes. My classes have been their as a source of continued motivation (forcing me to keep up German) and my degree is a necessity, but the vast amount of German knowledge I have acquired has been during my own learning time.