Oh no, I've finished Duolingo!!

[SnugglyJumpersMakeItBetter]

I've been learning German for 2 years, largely through Duolingo. I've now 'completed' it and am just left revising! Gutted, I thought it would keep teaching me new things indefinitely! I feel a bit like that guy in the crowd of joggers following Forrest Gump who stands there and shouts 'Now what?!' as Forrest walks away.

Even 2 years later I can't actually speak German! I just recognise a bunch of words, but am still very shaky on actually stringing them together for myself. Can anyone recommend an app that's as fun and addictive as Duo but that actually really helps teach you to actively use the language?

Rosetta stone

What about adult education classes in your area ?

Guys, where can I download GERMAN dubbed British/American TV shows? Really famous ones that I'll know inside out, like Friends? It's absolutely bonkers to me that Amazon.co.uk doesn't let you download the dubbed boxsets that Amazon.de has!! It's a download, not like they have to ship anything?!! I'm really struggling to source them. Right now I'm after full episodes/series of 'Two and a Half Men' with German audio, but can't find full episodes on the whole blooming internet. I could buy DVDs but that's a whole big palaver. It's daft to have to in 2024 anyway!

Deutschland 83 is amazing!

Disney+ is excellent for this. You can choose the language of the audio AND the language of subtitles (and they can be different languages).

For Amazon have you tried using a VPN to use the amazon.de website? I have done this before for audiobooks only available from amazon.com.

Spend more time in Germany, is my advice. There's nothing like full immersion. Do you work full time? I was wondering about something like a volunteering holiday, like WWOOFing or something, where you stay with a family. Maybe if you tried to go somewhere in rural East Germany, where people are less likely to speak perfect English....?

You can buy language books from Amazon, they have a more grown up content as aimed for adults learners but the language is still fairly simple with a dictionary/glossary at the back. I bought DD the Spanish version and she liked them.

Dummkopf

@Meakpumsnethankwand BRAVA!

I used italki for online lessons. Worth every penny. But there are online swap sites where you practice German and they practice English. Tandem HelloTalk and Speaky.

Me again! Does anyone know of an alternative to Google translate that can recognise whether one means you (singular informal) you (plural informal) or you (sing/plu formal)? I like to type sentences in German into Google translate, see if it makes sense when translated, then flip it round so the English translates to German to see how I could have phrased things better. The trouble is it always switches to 'Du' and as I'm very shaky with pronouns I wish it wouldn't. Any solutions to this?

I can recomend a fling with a german billionaire.

Exactly my advice too. I’m learning Italian and having Italian news on in the background is so helpful. I’ll also find the German equivalent of some books I found to be a great help

I bow to you op, am learning Irish (from Ireland to my shame😅) and they regularly send me emails saying ‘do you not enjoy being with us?’ and other mean things because I probably only go on once a week!!! There’s got to be games or something somewhere , doesn’t there?

www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Stories-German-Beginners-vocabulary/dp/1473683378/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=23PMYOMELZO4W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AGPVLG8drbu0qN5JRBU2_2z9Vdkc8gTMVLOyGZF-nxO0nQrqjk8FhoMDf25MFzMQAyvlY9nPxx3Mx2QxAbQAWY7mNdu0m7zR45_wv4mY1AXOqLS4l7fbKWM6vsPa5NEGiuie-J_a7R75nT3BpLU72Yuzb-LCRPAbXMTBUwjHM27AriPtsPDY9AEp9awY8Z7ZWD0LjD_lU13OhH7R20XXhQ.ICFJ1ZS5Rvf5grZK106fUntiygXmwXPitutmDsGdP0Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=german+short+stories&qid=1721476162&s=books&sprefix=german+sho%2Caps%2C197&sr=1-1

Totally agree. Just shout loudly in English or point Johnny Foreigner towards his Google translate function.

😐

DD studied a language at degree level and she's gone on to learn with confidence several other languages via duolingo to a competent level.

But that's because she understands the techniques of a language and is able to use that whenever learning.

I can affirm that it's not a great tool if your grammar is not up to scratch in at least two languages.

Great fun though

@Whatineed I just wanted to say I'm finding that Youtube channel you linked to very useful, thank you!!

Sorry, I didn't notice this reply before! I'm not sue what a VPN is but hopefully could be a solution! I'm off to Google!

That's actually a very good idea! Why didn't I think of that before dammit?

Are there any native German speakers on here who could clarify something please? You know how in England it's socially acceptable to scatter darlings/sweeties around, even to random children, like 'Oh sweetie, it looks like my Jack is on there at the moment!' (while physically blocking random 'sweetie' from crashing into your Jack on the slide!) Can you do this in German? Can you call strangers' kids 'mein Schatz'? Are there other endearments that are commonly used for children too?

DeepL is brilliant for translating. Farcsuperior to Google Translate.

May I suggest reading Harry Potter in German? You probably know the books or the films anyway and it is an enormous sense of achievement to read an entire book in a foreign language.

Google translate is still not great. I teach French so haven't used with German but I recommend Wordreference for individual words, reverso for phrases and deepl for sentences or paragraphs.

How about the Goethe Institute? They do online courses. They have worked very well for family members who now have a very good level of fluency. They are really passionate about people learning German too.

Am sure Audible lets you download books in another language. But I like the idea of dubbed UK shows.

I guess the German course must be a lot shorter than the Spanish one then. I'm on a 1508 day streak since starting - that's just over 4 years and I'm about half way through I think - there was a tune when they were adding new content to the cost faster than I was moving through it so I actually went backwards in one sense. I'm fast from being able to speak it but can decide and understand a lot and translate a reasonable amount of English to Spanish but constructing sentences in a live one to one conversation still feels a fair way off - I need another method to get there. I had a +Babbel subscription for 2 years and that's quite different to Duo - I liked it - thought it was more challenging but Duo is very easy to use however I'm thinking of either not renewing Duo this year or starting another +Babbel subscription. I looked for a local Spanish tutor but £30/HR is going to be expensive week in week out.

If you have a netflix subscription you can slow the speed down on the mobile/tablet apps and that helps with watching and listening to programs in your chosen language.

There's a big German language learning community on Reddit (r/German), and the Wiki has lots of resources. :)

www.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/index/