The best websites and software/apps for BEGINNERS to learn German for FREE - complete update May 2017!
I. First not a website, but the software I like best
II. the most helpful websites
III. other free material by book-publishers:
I. THE BEST MATERIAL for beginners is NOT the Themen-website at hueber.de ,
but the CD-ROM that comes FREE with the Coursebook THEMEN AKTUELL 1. https://www.hueber.de/seite/cdrom_the
(Yes, I do know, that Themen is OLD by now. So what? Modern German is older.)
The CD is packed with material to listen, to watch, to practice - and if you are smart: to SPEAK.
Well, just speak/read aloud/repeat the word/phrase/dialogues you learn/hear there!
About 10-times more material than in other good CD-ROMs (Schritte international etc.)!
BETTER than Rosetta, babbel and else!
("Themen" was the best and most popular coursebook before 2000. And the son of the author
was responsible for the CD-ROM. Turned out so good, no one needed the course-book anymore. That`s why the company won´t do a second part. No money to earn, as too easily copied. It is somewhere on www.rutracker.org and other illegal websites, I guess. Great workbook, too.
Check out other HUEBER-offers below under III. )
II. Deutsch-Kurse im Internet:
Deutsch-Kurse bei DEUTSCHE WELLE (nicht alles ist sehr gut, better for A2+-B2+):
www.dw.com
Goethe-Institut offers very-good-value-courses abroad and over-priced ones in Germany.
Here are their FREE offers - including apps for your smartphone:
https://www.goethe.de
German- Courses at BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/
Sehr gute Websites mit Info, Kursen, Aufgaben, Chat etc.
youtube: Hundreds of people try their teaching skills there.
You know how to look for one, do you?
I have not yet seen something convincing for beginners. (As I wrote in other posts.)
If you did: Tell me in the comments!
www.d-seite.de (It seems the author retired.)
What used to be: http:german.about.com is now
https://www.thoughtco.com
And it looks even better now!
http://mein-deutschbuch.de
exercises and explanations, nice one
http:deutsch-lerner.blog.de
https://deutschlernerblog.de/deutsch-lernen-a1-online-uebungen-01-persoenliche-informationen/
The link is to the first exercises, the "A1-course" starts with a video (!) also on youtube) and
presentation of the material. Es gibt auch Material für C1 und C2:
https://deutschlernerblog.de/deutsch-c1-deutsch-lernen-c1-deutschkurs-c1/
new: deutsch-lernen.com
not the very best, but recommended for repetition;
completely free online-exercises etc.; different levels
free and easy registration - they are sponsored by a language-school
https://www.deutsch-lernen.com/anfaengerkurs/uebung1_1.php
For good A2-Learners and intermediate learners:
http://www.dsporto.de/ubungen/default.htm
A Teacher at the German School in Porto offers well-done exercises!
http://www.deutschlern.net
(was good, now just a nice blog, all inGerman)
Registriere dich (for free, but most material is open only if you pay) bei:
www.babbel.com
Babbel: I recommended it much earlier, but it has changed a lot - for worse in my opinion:
No longer lots of free help from the community, very few free exercises - and what I have seen is
not something I recommend paying for, sorry. It might be BETTER than what you got at school,
but "foreign-language-learning at school" is hardly efficient. Disagree? - Write a comment! ;)
III. PUBLISHING HOUSES for German courses and their free online-offers:
HUEBER publishes many VERY good books for learning German. Most offer free online exercises.
The BIG NEW thing is MENSCHEN (people).
For learners there is a free DVD-ROM, and if you don´t have it:
a free version is online:
https://www.hueber.de/shared/uebungen/menschen/kb/a1/livebook/l01/index.php
NICE. RECOMMENDED. And including the book , but ... if you only have this version, you will feel a bit lost. Exercises start on page 2! There is a "teacher-version" (to use on a smartboard - but also on your notebook) that includes audio-files at the right places and more! This feels almost like a new "Themen-CD-ROM" - but of course, the authors tried hard NOT to make AS good as it could be. (Their business is selling the book - for courses!)
HIGHLY recommended are the online-exercises - even if you do not have the book!
https://www.hueber.de/seite/pg_lernen_uebungen_mns
For all other materials offered free at hueber.de check out:
https://www.hueber.de/unterrichten/deutsch-als-fremdsprache/pg_lehrwerke_zg
(The NEWest versions of "Schritte" et.al. are not yet online, but will be SOON.
Very interesting is the free online material for “Tangram”. "Themen" is ok, but as I said: Get the CD-ROM! )
Langenscheidt was once a BIG player. Now it sold most of its German-courses (too many failed on the market. Disappointing quality.) As a real beginner you might like to print out this
free "vocabulary-book" :
http://www.langenscheidt.de/_files_media/lkg_uploads/sonstige/komm-rein/9783468489709_Langenscheidt_Komm-rein_Begleitheft.pdf
Klett is the new number 2. They took over Langenscheidt´s best books, too.
ALL their free online-exercises are here:
http://www.klett-sprachen.de/downloads/online-uebungen/online-uebungen-daf/c-867
Schubert ist klein aber gut - besonders AUCH für Lerner, die GUT Deutsch können:
http://www.schubert-verlag.de/aufgaben/uebungen_c1/c1_erkund_uebungen_index.htm
http://www.schubert-verlag.de/aufgaben/uebungen_a1/a1_uebungen_index.htm
Cornelsen is big now. Their free training-material is here :
https://www.cornelsen.de/studio_d/1.c.2583375.de
(That used to be a CD-ROM you were supposed to pay money for. Hard to believe. Now it´s free, so we should not be too critical, but: The Themen CD-ROM is MUCH better!)
BETTER material:
https://www.cornelsen.de/studio_21/1.c.3237787.de
Check out their other courses: https://www.cornelsen.de/erw/1.c.1851816.de
(a commented and longer list can be found in my post from February 2009. Stone-age, when just a few super-hip people had an iphone I. Probably over 70% of links out-dated by now. I added above also good sites I found the last years.)
deutch learnen doitsh lenen deutsch lerne beginner anfanger german learn
I. First not a website, but the software I like best
II. the most helpful websites
III. other free material by book-publishers:
I. THE BEST MATERIAL for beginners is NOT the Themen-website at hueber.de ,
but the CD-ROM that comes FREE with the Coursebook THEMEN AKTUELL 1. https://www.hueber.de/seite/cdrom_the
(Yes, I do know, that Themen is OLD by now. So what? Modern German is older.)
The CD is packed with material to listen, to watch, to practice - and if you are smart: to SPEAK.
Well, just speak/read aloud/repeat the word/phrase/dialogues you learn/hear there!
About 10-times more material than in other good CD-ROMs (Schritte international etc.)!
BETTER than Rosetta, babbel and else!
("Themen" was the best and most popular coursebook before 2000. And the son of the author
was responsible for the CD-ROM. Turned out so good, no one needed the course-book anymore. That`s why the company won´t do a second part. No money to earn, as too easily copied. It is somewhere on www.rutracker.org and other illegal websites, I guess. Great workbook, too.
Check out other HUEBER-offers below under III. )
II. Deutsch-Kurse im Internet:
Deutsch-Kurse bei DEUTSCHE WELLE (nicht alles ist sehr gut, better for A2+-B2+):
www.dw.com
Goethe-Institut offers very-good-value-courses abroad and over-priced ones in Germany.
Here are their FREE offers - including apps for your smartphone:
https://www.goethe.de
German- Courses at BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/
Sehr gute Websites mit Info, Kursen, Aufgaben, Chat etc.
youtube: Hundreds of people try their teaching skills there.
You know how to look for one, do you?
I have not yet seen something convincing for beginners. (As I wrote in other posts.)
If you did: Tell me in the comments!
What used to be: http:german.about.com is now
https://www.thoughtco.com
And it looks even better now!
http://mein-deutschbuch.de
exercises and explanations, nice one
http:deutsch-lerner.blog.de
https://deutschlernerblog.de/deutsch-lernen-a1-online-uebungen-01-persoenliche-informationen/
The link is to the first exercises, the "A1-course" starts with a video (!) also on youtube) and
presentation of the material. Es gibt auch Material für C1 und C2:
https://deutschlernerblog.de/deutsch-c1-deutsch-lernen-c1-deutschkurs-c1/
new: deutsch-lernen.com
not the very best, but recommended for repetition;
completely free online-exercises etc.; different levels
free and easy registration - they are sponsored by a language-school
https://www.deutsch-lernen.com/anfaengerkurs/uebung1_1.php
For good A2-Learners and intermediate learners:
http://www.dsporto.de/ubungen/default.htm
A Teacher at the German School in Porto offers well-done exercises!
(was good, now just a nice blog, all inGerman)
Babbel: I recommended it much earlier, but it has changed a lot - for worse in my opinion:
No longer lots of free help from the community, very few free exercises - and what I have seen is
not something I recommend paying for, sorry. It might be BETTER than what you got at school,
but "foreign-language-learning at school" is hardly efficient. Disagree? - Write a comment! ;)
III. PUBLISHING HOUSES for German courses and their free online-offers:
HUEBER publishes many VERY good books for learning German. Most offer free online exercises.
The BIG NEW thing is MENSCHEN (people).
For learners there is a free DVD-ROM, and if you don´t have it:
a free version is online:
https://www.hueber.de/shared/uebungen/menschen/kb/a1/livebook/l01/index.php
NICE. RECOMMENDED. And including the book , but ... if you only have this version, you will feel a bit lost. Exercises start on page 2! There is a "teacher-version" (to use on a smartboard - but also on your notebook) that includes audio-files at the right places and more! This feels almost like a new "Themen-CD-ROM" - but of course, the authors tried hard NOT to make AS good as it could be. (Their business is selling the book - for courses!)
HIGHLY recommended are the online-exercises - even if you do not have the book!
https://www.hueber.de/seite/pg_lernen_uebungen_mns
For all other materials offered free at hueber.de check out:
https://www.hueber.de/unterrichten/deutsch-als-fremdsprache/pg_lehrwerke_zg
(The NEWest versions of "Schritte" et.al. are not yet online, but will be SOON.
Very interesting is the free online material for “Tangram”. "Themen" is ok, but as I said: Get the CD-ROM! )
Langenscheidt was once a BIG player. Now it sold most of its German-courses (too many failed on the market. Disappointing quality.) As a real beginner you might like to print out this
free "vocabulary-book" :
http://www.langenscheidt.de/_files_media/lkg_uploads/sonstige/komm-rein/9783468489709_Langenscheidt_Komm-rein_Begleitheft.pdf
Klett is the new number 2. They took over Langenscheidt´s best books, too.
ALL their free online-exercises are here:
http://www.klett-sprachen.de/downloads/online-uebungen/online-uebungen-daf/c-867
Schubert ist klein aber gut - besonders AUCH für Lerner, die GUT Deutsch können:
http://www.schubert-verlag.de/aufgaben/uebungen_c1/c1_erkund_uebungen_index.htm
http://www.schubert-verlag.de/aufgaben/uebungen_a1/a1_uebungen_index.htm
Cornelsen is big now. Their free training-material is here :
https://www.cornelsen.de/studio_d/1.c.2583375.de
(That used to be a CD-ROM you were supposed to pay money for. Hard to believe. Now it´s free, so we should not be too critical, but: The Themen CD-ROM is MUCH better!)
BETTER material:
https://www.cornelsen.de/studio_21/1.c.3237787.de
Check out their other courses: https://www.cornelsen.de/erw/1.c.1851816.de
(a commented and longer list can be found in my post from February 2009. Stone-age, when just a few super-hip people had an iphone I. Probably over 70% of links out-dated by now. I added above also good sites I found the last years.)
deutch learnen doitsh lenen deutsch lerne beginner anfanger german learn
If some one wants to be updated with most up-to-date technologies afterward he must be
AntwortenLöschengo to see this web site and be up to date every day.
That is obviously true. And as inks are changing all the time, good websites closing down - think: ds Porto :( - and not-so-good-technology may improve significantly - think: speech recognition - this blog will never reach its end.
LöschenWell, even if links change, with the help of my hints and mighty google, you shall find the content anyway.
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the truth һowever Ӏ'll certainly come back ɑgain.
Thank you for your comment. I am very sorry for all spelling and grammar mistakes,
AntwortenLöschenhappening while I type away. In German and English. Pro-Hint: MOST "writing-mistakes" are "reading mistakes" - the writer just did not notice, that she/he wrote not exactly, what she/he meant to write. Happens to EVERYBODY. And at least four in your comment. ;)
If there is any INFORMATION in any of my posts you find hard to comprehend - PLEASE ASK! Most likely other readers will have had the same issue! I shall hurry to clarify any questions.
As I am a professional teacher, I am not always aware of what my readers may not comprehend without further explanation.
Have a very nice day!
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AntwortenLöschenIch würde empfehlen, diese Seite zu besuchen: https://lernen-lehren.de
AntwortenLöschenDanke für den Tipp! - Die Seite lerne-lehren sieht sehr gut aus, aber warum ist das Deutsch dort so schlecht?!? Grammatikfehler! Stil!! Unverständliche Erklärungen: https://lernen-lehren.de/erklarung-von-entweder-oder-und-sowohl-als-auch-mit-beispielen/ :( Wenn alles Texte dort so schlecht sind, sollten der Blog gelöscht werden. Buntes Design ist nicht alles.
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