8 ways to learn German

Hallo und guten Tag everybody!

Today I am going to introduce you some of the best ways for learning German, including vocabulary, grammar, listening comprehension etc. So let's get started!

 

1. Easy German

In my opinion, Easy German is the best place to do some listening comprehension. Easy German is a YouTube channel, where you can find weekly videos of street interviews in German. The good thing about Easy German is that you can actually hear Germans speaking their own language the way they would speak it, when talking to other natives.

 

link: https://www.youtube.com/user/magauchsein

 

 

 

 

2. Memrise

This site includes many courses for different languages, including German of course. Surprisingly, you can find there not only German courses, but also courses for its dialects like: Swiss German, Austrian German, Bavarian, Swabian and some others. A great site for vocabulary studying.

 

link: http://www.memrise.com/

 

3. Duolingo

Another great site for studying German vocabulary is Duolingo. This site is also a very fun site to learn with, as the learning process is built as a game, where you get scores for vocabulary learning.

 

link: https://www.duolingo.com/

 

 

 

4. Deutschkurs

An excellent site to learn German grammar. You can also learn some stuff about German dialects. It also includes German literature in German with English translation and vocabulary lists for it.

 

link: http://www.german-grammar.de/

 

5. Extr@

Another YouTube channel and actually a YouTube series in German. The German used in the series is spoken easily for German learners and is easy to understand.

 

link for the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lWQW5_CPGQ

 

6. Deutsche Welle

This German news site includes many real German articles and videos with exercises and vocabulary lists. The articles are spoken slowly so one can follow the German reader. The material is also divided into levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C).

 

 

link: http://www.dw.de/learn-german/s-2469

 

7. Wie Geht's German

Another site for German learning, which I personally never used but still seems to be a very affective one is Wie Geht's German. In this site you can find grammar explanations and vocabulary exercise in German.

 

link: http://www.wiegehtsgerman.com/

 

8. FluentU

An amazing site I found lately, where you can watch videos in German (and some other languages) and get the subtitles attached to the video. You just move your mouse over a word in the subtitles and you can see its translation. This site makes German learning a lot of fun!

 

link: http://www.fluentu.com

 

 

ICK BIN EEN BERLINER

Ick bin een Berliner

Today I am gonna talk about Berlinerisch - the dialect spoken in Berlin and its surroundings. Some aspects of the dialect:

1. Pronouncing CH as CK

First of all, if you ever heard the dialect spoken in Berlin, you must have noticed that even the simple word "ich", that means "I" in standard German is pronounced in Berlinerisch as "ick".

2. Pronouncing G as J

Many words using the letter G in standard German change this sound to J.

genau - jenau

groß - jroß

Sorgen - Sorjen

gut - jut
gehen - jehn

3. Special vocabulary

As any dialect, Berlinerisch also has its own special vocabulary:

Das weiß ich nicht - Dit weeß ick nüscht

die Gesicht - die Fresse

der Frisör - der Glatzenschneider

Das ist mir egal - Dir is mir wurscht

das Brötchen - die Schrippe

weinen - plärren 

ein Glass Bier - Molle

schlafen - pennen
warte mal - wadde ma
was - watt

4. I love you!

In standard German you'd say "ich liebe dich" using the accusative case, while in Berlinerisch you simply use the dative case for this - "ick liebe dir".

An example of Berlinerisch being used

#Swiss German - Eat it like a Swiss!

Swiss cheese fondue

Just some Swiss German words you can eat!

Schoggi - chocolate

Chäse - cheese

Fondue - fondue

Gipfeli - croissant

Guetsli - biscuit

Gumfi - jam

Zältli - candy

Wuurscht - sausage

Chueche - cake

Böle - onion

Riis - rice

Röschti / Rösti - a swiss potato dish

Wiiswii - white wine

Rootwii - red wine

Wasser vom haane - tap water

ässe - to eat

Swiss chocolate

Discover the Dolderbahn in Zurich

Dolderbahn funicular

#About:

The dolderbahn is a funicular located in Zurich going up to the mountain, where you can find a forest, a big golf field and a very expensive, castle-like hotel called the dolder grand hotel. There is no much to do up there, but I'd say it is worth seeing the hotel and looking at the view. You can see whole Zurich from up there! You may dedicate for the whole experience between 30 - 60 minutes. It is also nice to go up and down with the funicular, as it goes through the forest.

The Dolder Grand hotel

#Getting there:
Getting to the dolderbahn is easy. Just take trams number 3, 8 or 15 to a station called Römerhof in east Zurich. Trams number 3 and 15 in direction of Klusplatz and tram number 8 in direction of Hardplatz. The dolderbahn is next to the tram station.

Tram number 15 to Römerhof

#How much would it cost?

The dolderbahn is a part of the ZVV (Züricher Verkehrsverbund), which translates to English as Zurich's transport network that contains all kinds of transportation; rail, bus, tram, trolleybus, lake boat, and cable car in the canton of Zurich. So if you have a Tageskarte (a daily ticket) for example, you'll be just fine getting on the dolderbahn for free!