Learning a new language

[TheJord]

I have decided to finally get my German language skills into gear. I use a website called www.busuu.com where you can talk with native speakers. I'm not really a big fan of talking to random people on the internet, so is there any native German speakers who would like to help me out?

[Kenddrick]

Have you tried:
http://www.byki.com/fls/free-german-software-download.html?l=german

I learnt Russian there. The software is free, trust me!

[Witchkingx5]

Me.

[ununtrium]

And there is me, too

If you want to get back into the language, try to listen to as much German radio stations (news casts!) and watch as much German TV and movies as possible. Audio books are also GOLD!!!

And you can always try the German dubbing of your favourite English programmes. BTW, these dubbings REALLY show to which degree one has to purge their German sense of humor to be able to develop a real one

I guess there is a reason why there is no English equivalent to "Schadenfreude". At least, our trains run on time....#$&*@!, that was the Swiss, wasn't it, witchkingx5? Blast!

[Elrohir]

Here

If you are playing Lotr, you can switch to german cards. Also, dubbed movies are great in german (Lotr is well done). or we can try the chat.

I look for french.

[TheJord]

I am going to try this program for now http://bit.ly/fz8smY

I also have my audio CD's in the car, but like ununtrium said I need German radio, TV and movies. Any recommendations? I don't mid subtitled but would prefer to hear the German.

Any of you guys free to do some chat time?

[Gate Troll]

I too am trying to learn German, and I find music helps, as long as the words are clear. That said, what I've mostly gained from listening to German music is a better understanding of pronunciation of words, while my vocabulary remains abysmally limited, and far as cases go, I have trouble remembering when die, der, dem or das should be used, and generally use die or der. And I'm hopeless with grammar. I'm hoping to go to Germany as an exchange student next year, and hopefully total immersion should help me achieve fluency.

[Witchkingx5]

As for music, I found those couple of songs be the best ones to try. It's spoken very well ,and the music is nice too:

Juli - Die perfekte Welle

Fanta 4 - Die Da

Wir sind Helden - Denkmal

Unheilig - Geboren um zu Leben


After some basic learning, I strongly recommend German comedians. Germany really has tons of them, and some of them are truly genius, like Eckart von Hirschhausen and Mario Barth. Especially von Hirschhausen speaks in a very clear and good German.

@ununtrium: Über die Deutsche Bahn

[Elrohir]

I don't mid subtitled but would prefer to hear the German.

Any of you guys free to do some chat time?

I tried to recommand you the german version of the lotr movie, not the subtitled one - although, both at a time could be much more helpful. I would chat.