Category: German

Games

Find German Language Games on Steam

When I first started gaming back in the nineties in Germany, there weren’t too many games around in my native language. While most adventure games were eventually translated into German, the English originals were simply much easier to come by. So I took the challenge and made my way through the first Monkey Island and…

German

False Friends: 5 German Words That Don’t Mean What You Think They Do

What are “false friends”? German and English are both Germanic languages, so they not only share many grammatical features but also have a lot of similar words. For example, when you know English and you hear the German word “Haus” you immediately know what it means: house. The spelling is different, but it sounds exactly…

Culture

30 German Movies For Kids, Adults & Cinephiles

Learning German with stories is an effective and fun way to practice and enjoy yourself at the same time. Learning German with movies is another excellent strategy for immersion. Today, I’d like to present a number of German movies for learners (in no particular order). Where available, I’ve added vocabulary and exercise resources to help…

Games

German Gamebooks For German Learners

A Brief History of Gamebooks Gamebooks & (Language) Learning Where to find good gamebooks? Free Online Gamebooks in Your Browser A Fantasy Trilogy for German Learners A Brief History of Gamebooks Gamebooks (“Spielbücher” in German), or “choose your own adventure” books, as they’re often called, were all the rage in the 70s and 80s. The…

German

Fed Up With German Articles and Gender? Let This Free Tool Fix Your Emails

Many people don’t appreciate the fact that English nouns have no gender until they come upon another language which does. French and Spanish nouns have both masculine and feminine gender, which is bad enough for most learners, but German learners have to put up with yet another one: the neuter. Admittedly, it’s not as bad…

German

5 German Short Stories For Beginners

How To Find German Short Stories Which Are Simple But Not Boring Die Küchenuhr, by Wolfgang Borchert Der zufriedene Fischer – Eine Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral, by Heinrich Böll Der große Wildenberg, by Siegfried Lenz Skorpion, by Christa Reinig Auf der Flucht, by Wolfdietrich Schnurre Even More German Short Stories for Beginners There are…

German

5 Ways To Learn German For Free

Are you looking for a way to learn German for free? There are as many ways to learn German as there are individuals. Every day new sites are popping up that promise to help you learn German for free and without hassle. But which ones are worth signing up for? Which ones are a waste…

Games

Learn German With Adventure Games

Foreign language learners have access to a wealth of online learning materials, from books to interactive exercises, videos, audio and more. And yet, one key ingredient is still often missing: real world practice. Sure, if you already live in the country where your target language is spoken, there is no excuse. Just go out and…

German

How to Learn German With Stories

  German seems to be very popular, these days. Whether it’s the obnoxious “How German sounds compared to other languages” meme (it should actually be called: How German sounds when you are shouting) or the raving popularity of the Nein Quarterly, German seems to be in vogue. And yet, as Adam Fletcher pointed out: “Every…

Books

How To Add a German-English Dictionary To Kindle on Your iPad or iPhone (iOS)

One of the great benefits of using ebooks for language learning is the ability to use custom dictionaries. Instead of having to search for each unknown word in a dictionary you can get instant translations while reading your book. If you own a Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Touch and have installed a dictionary (see here…

Games

Of Swords & Dungeons: An Interactive Gamebook For German Learners

After writing three detective stories for German learners in 2012 and seeing people embrace the format, I wanted to do something different and yet very similar in 2013. So, I decided to create an interactive fantasy ebook for German learners which would not just work on fancy tablets and smartphones but even on the fabulous…