Learn German: why not?
It’s mostly 2 years since I started to learn German. I don’t exactly know why I started… Perhaps because of Classical Music, because of the so many opportunities for Computer Science students, because I identify myself a lot with german culture, and because of the beauty of german women :)
Regardless of the motivations, I enjoy learning german a lot. The difficulties that I face make me notice how beautiful this language can be. Nowadays I go to regular classes, in a regular classroom, but I started learning through the Internet, with free material. I’m gonna give some tips on good material and nice sites I’ve found to learn the language:
Online Courses: * Deutsch - Warum nicht? - or, in English “German - Why not?”. This course has the first lesson I’ve gone through. Pretty good material. Fun and easy to follow. In the linked page you’ll find all the lessons, with a PDF and an MP3 for each. There’s also a podcast of the course’s audio material.
- Interaktiv Deutschkurs - “Interactive German Course” - completely exercise-based, including audio and video. You can do an exam before starting with the course to measure your current proficiency, if you have any.
Both of these are from the Deutsche Welle, or “The Voice of Germany”, the most famous german broadcasting corporation. The materials are of fine quality, written by experts in teaching the german language.
Supporting sites:
Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten - Daily news (with audio podcast and text) from Germany and the World. The news are told in a clear and slowly spoken German.
LEO Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch - Great German/English online dictionary. Of course it cannot substitute the real (paper) thing, but has its merit.
That’s all for now folks! If you know of something nice for those trying to learn German, please comment… And for the curious people out there, here goes a German translation of this post’s first paragraph. Sorry for my “broken” German :P
“Seit ungefähr 2 Jahre habe ich Deutsch lernen angefangt. Es ist nicht so klar weil ich angefangt habe… Vieleicht für das Klassiche Musik, weil die Gelegenheiten um wem Computerwissenschaft mag sind so viel, weil ich mit der deutsche Kultur so gut identifiziert, und weil die deutsche Fräuleine so schöne sind :)”