This is a list of top five resources out there for you to improve your German language skills. While you won’t become fluent overnight, these websites will surely help you increase your vocabulary, hone your grammar skills and maybe even make a new friend from Germany.
1) -Livemocha-
Pros:
- Great layout and design, an interactive interface, and the site keeps track of your progress like a real class
- Community based
- Different modes of learning: visual, audio
- Great interactive exercises to ensure you thoroughly learn the material
- Speaking exercises at the end of each chapter, which are reviewed by native speakers, who are members just like you
- Also has crash courses for travelers + other languages
Cons:
- Registration required – but well worth it
- To talk with members of other countries and to record audio exercises a microphone is required.
- A microphone I use that I recommend is this Logitech Headset, which can be found here. If you are planning to buy a really nice headset, there is also this wireless headset but for over twice the price.
Pros:
- Great for learning some grammatical aspects of the German language
- Good simple exercises, down to the point grammatical rules
- Has some simple jokes and quotations in German, and a section where people can find pen pals
Cons:
- Requires a pointless registration – quick fix, visit Bugmenot and find yourself one
- Content could be laid out better
- If you intend to purely study grammar this website is strictly designed for this reason
3) FreeRice.com
Simply visit the site, and on the top right corner of the vocab box click Change Subject – German. Great for increasing your German vocabulary.
Bonus: For every word you get right you will be donating rice to impoverished African children.
Pros:
- Another great resource to increase your vocabulary in German
- 11000+ words to choose from
- Advanced flashcard system – basically you have a bank of words that you have, as you learn them you choose to keep certain ones in the “loop” and remove others, also allows to add new words to the bank
- Offers German/English cards, English/German, sentence cards and user created lists such as Clothes
Cons:
- Audio flashcards and writing require some sort of a paid membership, that is because they hire native German speakers to do all their sentences and words for them
5) BBC German
Pros:
- Crash course
- Quick and convinient website to freshen up your German or learn a little before you travel to Germany
- Has inviting layout, audio and some games
Cons:
- Shallow because it is meant to be a quick course
Fri, Feb 6, 2009, by Euthanasia
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