Learning German on your own
In 2015, I started learning German in earnest and with much gusto. I love everything about this language - the way it sounds, the way words are built, and even the split verbs. I find language textbooks and apps rather unhelpful and boring, so I devised my own exploratory curriculum, starting with a grammar blog and reading short stories and poems as soon as I built some vocabulary. One of the first short stories I read, stopping at every second word to look it up in the dictionary, was Mark Twain’s Die schreckliche deutsche Sprache. Despite all of Twain’s warnings about the awfulness and treacherousness of German grammar, I pressed on. I revisited that essay a couple years later, and it was still hilarious to read (and more enjoyable since I didn’t have to consult the dictionary anymore).
At some point, maybe half a year after I started learning, I became able to follow audiobooks and podcasts. It also helped a lot to exchange long emails with my penpal and a dear friend from Mainz (I think they could be made into an epistolary novel but that’s a project for another time). In my third year of learning, I took a graduate course in 18th century Bildungsroman - coming-of-age novels - that was entirely in German. We read Moritz’s ‘Anton Reiser’, Goethe’s ‘Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre’ and Keller’s ‘Der grüne Heinrich’. I would recommend the first and the third one but Goethe has definitely written better and more convincing books.
Below are some of the resources I’ve used, I hope they can be helpful for those who are just getting started or continuing learning German!
Grammar & etymology blog
Your Daily German (formerly German is Easy) is a labor of love that started as a side project and grew into a full-time job of its author. Written in a humorous and nimble prose, it has entries dedicated to specific grammar rules or single words or groups of related words, tracing their etymology and demonstrating modern usage, with bespoke illustrations. The Cool Links page is full of additional resources. The blog also includes an AI-based pronunciation guide and other ChatGPT-based linguistic tools developed by the author.
Books
Project Gutenberg hosts > 70k free ebooks in German.
Bilingual books - here you can read the same book in two languages, side by side.
Audiobooks / audioplays
https://www.vorleser.net/ - a library of audiobooks in the public domain
Sherlock Holmes - Hörspiele - full collection on YouTube
Podcasts
I mostly listen to podcasts in German for the sake of the language. Quality-wise they are almost universally behind English-language ones. So far I've tried these:
- Halbe Katoffl - interviews with first and second generation German immigrants.
- Anekdotisch Evident - conversations between two women writers, with each episode dedicated to a broad topic like "Freedom", "Generations", "Gifts", "Publicity" etc. Both are very articulate and present well-structured arguments.
- Soziopod - conversations between a sociology professor and his ~lay friend. Mostly about German philosophy and social science.
- Radiowissen - 15-20 min episodes introducing a subject in science, tech or culture. Public service alright but mostly feels like textbook material. It was through this podcast that I first heard Schubert's "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" sung by Barbara Bonney with an incredible Feingefühl.
- Raumzeit - long interviews with physicists and astronomers. The host, Tim Pritlove, is an OG German podcaster.
- CRE: Technik, Kultur, Gesellschaft - long conversations on said topics, same host.
- Omega Tau - another science and technology-themed podcast.
- Einschlafen Podcast - lives up to its name.
- Sozusagen! - lighthearted linguistic podcast, short episodes.
- WRINT: Wer redet ist nicht tot & Metodisch inkorrekt! - 2 podcasts in the "two dudes talking" genre, discussing the latest news in science and politics.
Practicing spoken language
Affordable language tutors are available on sites like italki.com and wyzant.com. I also did tandem language exchange but found that consistency and commitment are rare in such arrangements.
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