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 Language Learning Forum : Links & Internet Resources |  | |
| Kyle Corrie Senior Member United States Joined 4831 days ago 175 posts - 464 votes  | Message 1 of 2 04 March 2012 at 5:50am | IP Logged |
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It can sometimes be daunting to find the resources you need to further your language
learning, so I decided to compile a lot of things I've found very helpful for German and hopefully it will save others time from searching. --------------------------------- DICTIONARY --------------------------------- Probably the most essential piece of your learning collection is a good dictionary. However, in my opinion, an old-fashioned, paper dictionary is just not a viable option; and considering I do almost all my learning at my computer, a nice desktop dictionary is my preferred solution. Collin's has a product that I have found to be my favorite. You can easily copy-and- paste your words for quick reference (rather than page turning) and it has complete verb conjugations for pretty much every verb at the click of a button. They allow for a free 30-day trial period from the link provided - with a purchase price of $15 USD afterwards if you choose. http://www.collinslanguage.com/downloads/windows/concise-ger man-win.zip They also have iPhone or iPod Touch versions available if you'd always like to have a copy on you at all times. Just look in the APP Store. --------------------------------- GRADED READERS --------------------------------- For those of you that like to progress your reading and comprehension through increasing levels of difficulties then I must inform you of a torrent file entitled 'German Graded Readers Collection - 88 Books'. As the title states, it is a collection of 88 different graded readers of varying degrees (A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.). The greatest thing about this collection is that for practiclly all of the books it has accompanying audio files of each book being read by a native speaker. --------------------------------- WATCHING German TELEVISION --------------------------------- (1) Probably the best source of German television is the website: http://www.myspass.de This website has a monstrous catalog of many, many German television shows going back many seasons. A few programs I'd recommend would be: Stromberg - The German version of the popular 'The Office' television series. Lady Kracher - A pretty decent sketch comedy series. The good thing about this show is that the skits are short and cover a broad range occurrences. Then also, 'TV Total' - a German late night show that will expose you to a lot of interviews. (2) If you're more interested in live television covering sports or news you can check out http://www.beelinetv.com This website will connect you to a smorgasbord of different language channels. (3) There is also an iPhone/iPod Touch application called 'TV Deutch' that you can get from the APP Store as well. Again, quite a few different channels to select from and able to view from your iDevice anywhere. --------------------------------- RADIO --------------------------------- (1) There is a very good iPhone/iPod Touch radio application called 'Bose Internet Radio'. This $1.99 USD application will allow you to tune-in pretty much any radio station from any city in the world. (2) You could also go to the website: http://www.listenlive.eu/germany.html This website is a catalog of different categories of radio stations you can listen to from all over Germany. All you'll need is WinAmp, RealPlayer, MediaPlayer or some other program to play the extensions. --------------------------------- READING WEBSITES --------------------------------- If you're like me then you find it extremely boring going through entire books which never seem to be entertaining anyway. I much more prefer shorter, more concise articles of varying content of interest. (1) If you're a news junkie then head to http://de.euronews.net/ Here you will find a short articles covering any topic (Politics, Sports, Sci-Tech, Culture, etc.) from every continent. (2) If you're a movie fan then you can check out http://www.spielfilm.de/ You'll find interviews, movie reviews and short movie related news articles. (3) Probably the best source of raw language use I've encountered is from the interviews between Playboy magazine and their interviewees at: http://www.playboy.de/stars-stories/interview They're not forced to be politically correct in their interviews with this magazine and are able to choose their words in the most natural way. Sometimes the interviews take place with English speakers and are then translated into German. But the next time you're in your room with the door locked and lights off and someone is banging on your door wondering what you're doing you can honestly tell them, "I'm looking at Playboy! ...for the articles." For A LOT MORE of different sources on a huge number of different topics from cars to banking to home and garden check out a good collection About.com put together at: http://german.about.com/od/germanmagazines/German_Magazines_ Zeitschriften.htm --------------------------------- PANDORA --------------------------------- For those that may not be aware - http://www.pandora.com is a free music streaming website that allows you listen to practically any genre you'd like to. I find it much easier to pay attention and read longer when I have their 'Mozart' channel streaming through my headphones. --------------------------------- FORVO --------------------------------- If you're ever having trouble with the pronunciation of a word, http://www.forvo.com is a website that will allow you to hear a word being pronounced and show you where that speaker comes from. --------------------------------- LANGUAGE EXCHANGE --------------------------------- SharedTalk.com - SharedTalk is a website run by RosettaStone (Pretty much the only beneficial thing RosettaStone has done for language learning). It's extremely easy to set-up a free account and jump into the room and find an appropriate chat partner because in the listings you will see everyone's native language and the target language they want to practice. Just click on them to hone your skills or find a frequent language partner to later add to Skype. --------------------------------- This goes without saying that you'll need a moderate level to make real use of these sources. So be sure you get your basic understanding from courses like Colloquial, Teach Yourself, Assimil, Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, etc. Edited by Kyle Corrie on 04 March 2012 at 6:05am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6921 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 2 04 March 2012 at 2:37pm | IP Logged |
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Dictionary:
http://dict.leo.org/ Leo Dictionary It even has a vocabulary trainer so you can enter the words you look up. Used by many translators. Linguee.com This one gives you the word and translations in context Essential MUST HAVE book for any serious German student. So much information that you will never be able to read it all: German Usage Used to be under $50, now you will have to be creative to find a copy. On-Line German Grammar and Dictionary: Canoonet Canoonet German Television: Genial Daneben full shows Also, use this wikipedia page: German TV Shows by subject and search on Youtube for "title of show in quotes", long [the , long bit will give you only videos that are 20 minutes or longer.] Links to German on-line TV stations: German TV stations Podcasts: Sprachbar Sprachbar Sprachbar is an offering that introduces you to the subtleties and secrets of the German language. You will listen to explanations of current headlines, quotes from literature, figures of speech and grammar. News/Grammar/Learning German: Deutsch Welle Deutsche Welle Edited by translator2 on 04 March 2012 at 2:44pm 7 persons have voted this message useful |
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