Happy 2021!
Ringing in the new year in the midst of a pandemic makes it hard to set lots of goals for the year ahead. There are so many unknowns about the upcoming months.
One thing you CAN do, even during a lockdown, even from home, even for free, is learn a language. I'm 5 years into learning German and still have plenty I could improve on. Of course, to learn German, or any language, a course is a great idea. But if you can't take a class due to money, access, or whatever, no fear. Here are some free methods that are available to everyone.
Online
- Tandem.net for online language exchange
- Mango Languages (Americans: check if your local library back home has a subscription to this service! Research this on the library's website.)
- DuoLingo
- Babbel
- Deutsche Welle's Deutsch Lernen
- Goethe Institut's Free German Practice
Books
- Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen (featuring the amazing new 20th anniversary edition cover!)
- Lustiges Taschenbuch
- Jim Knopf
- Deutsch Perfekt magazine
- Der Spiegel, a very beloved German news magazine
Podcasts
TV Shows
- Türkisch für Anfänger
- Ku'damm 56
- Babylon Berlin
- Dark
- Tatort
- Der Tatort Reiniger
- Stormberg
- Pastewka
- ZDF's website (If you're in Germany, you already pay for this! Part of your fee covers an online streaming service & live TV via the web.)
- German with Jenny on YouTube
I sat down with my former German teacher turned Tandem partner turned friend, Jenny, who studies Deutsch als Fremdsprache, or German as a foreign language.
We explained why Tandem partnerships are so effective, advocated for labeling everything in your room/apartment/home/office/life auf Deutsch, vented about akkusative and dativ, and swapped our favorite German-language TV shows, podcasts, books, and more.
You can listen to it here.
To hear two people who are learning German share their funniest and most embarassing stories about language learning, check out Becomg Bilingual.
