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The best online German language and culture resources

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We've scoured the Internet and screened and reviewed hundreds of sites to find only the best German web links. If you'd like to recommend a URL for our site, use our feedback page. Viel Spaß!

Language Resources


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More German
dictionaries
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book form

Dictionaries & reference tools

PONS dictionary [German/English]: Useful for beginning and advanced users.
LEO Dictionary [German/English]: Best used in German to English searches.
Wörterbuch.info [German/English]: Also best used in German to English searches. Includes thesaurus.
Langenscheidt Wörterbucher [German]: Thorough entries, completely in German.
 das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache des 20. Jahrhunderts [German]: For advanced users.

Grammar resources

Canoo.net [German/English]: Searchable database inflects words (e.g. case endings, verb conjugations for all tenses, etc.)
German verb conjugator [English]
Wortschatz-Lexikon [German]: Information about words and their usage. Useful for advanced learners.
German grammar explained: Our own pages on all aspects of German grammar.
Internet Handbook of German Grammar: Information about some aspects of German grammar
German vocabulary and grammar overview



Ectaco EGM600T
Language Teacher
German-English
Speaking Dictionary

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Other German electronic
dictionary devices


Translation tools

Achtung! Online translators are notoriously ineffective for masterful and accurate translation. However, they do have their function. They are useful if you are trying to get the gist or to glean general meaning from a text. If you are looking for an accurate and specific German translation of a word, sentence, or text, you will need to ask for live help in our language forum, or better yet -- take some courses (look below for free online courses) and be your own personal translator!

 Langenberg language translation: One-stop shop for multiple translators that handle words, phrases, text blocks, or entire webpages to or from German.
Altavista Babel Fish Translator: Translates text blocks and webpages to or from German.
Systran Language Translation: Translates text blocks and webpages to or from German.

Online language courses & practice activities

Jetzt Deutsch lernen [German]: Text, video clips, and accompanying exercises.
Talk German and Deutsch Plus [English]: Multimedia German courses from the BBC.
Deutsche Welle language courses [German/English]: Courses for beginning, intermediate & business German learners.
 Beginners' German [English]: Excellent interactive course at Exeter University
German for Beginners [English]: Basic online course from About.com
Romea und Julian im Netz [German/English]: Audio course based on the story of Romea and Julian
 German practice activities, Level 1 & Level 2: Our list of interactive self-grading activities for beginning to intermediate learners along with lots of grammar explanations and cultural information.
German audio / video online for language learners : A collection of audio and video supplements that accompany various German textbooks
The German Professor: Blog with language information and reviews of websites useful for learners
Free software for learning German: Our collection of shareware, freeware, and nearly free CDs related to learning, practicing, and using German.

Language contacts

Language Learning in Tandem and MyLanguageExchange: Free language partner matching service
Goethe-Institut's Chat Seite and Brieffreundschaften page
About.com's Deutsches Forum bulletin board: Many discussion threads on current topics
LiveMocha and Busuu: Language learning communities, where you can be both the teacher (of your native language or another language you know) and the learner.

More about the language

Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jakob und Wilhelm Grimm [German]: Comprehensive reference source for word etymologies
Germanic languages
Pronunciation guide
 Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language"


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Culture & information about German-speaking countries

General

The German Way [English]: Excellent overview of many aspects of German, Austrian, and Swiss life, behaviors, and attitudes
 German, Austrian, and Swiss cultural history [English]: An Internet course on German cultural history

German-Americana

German Life magazine [English]: Bi-monthly periodical about German culture and German influence in North America
 History of German-American relations [English]: Chronological overview plus numerous links, provided by the U.S. Embassy
 
German-American contributions to American Mainstream Culture [English]: Discusses German elements in American life & language
 German-Americans: More than Bratwurst and Beer [English]: Highlights traces of German-American influences around the U.S.
 Who are the German-Americans? [English]: Essays, maps, & statistics on Germans in America
The Germans-Americans: An Ethnic Experience [English]: An online book on the history of Germans in America
 Americans and Germans: Close Encounters of a Crosscultural Kind [English]: an online book of interviews with German Americans
 Famous German-Americans [English]: A list of people with brief biographical information
German-Americans [English]:  Lots of information on America's German Heritage
 
German Immigrant Culture in America [English]: Online course materials & info on many themes.

Germany

Campus Germany: [German/English]: A cultural orientation for those intending to study in Germany
Facts about Germany [German/English]: Thorough primer on German culture published by the German government
 German Culture & Society [German/English]: Excellent overviews and current news on contemporary social and cultural issues from the Goethe Institut
 Deutschland magazine [German/English]: Online edition of the informative bi-monthly Deutschland magazine with in-depth reports on current cultural, political and business issues of international interest
German Missions in the U.S. [German/English]: Website of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. A multitude of information on German culture and German-American relations
Bundesregierung.de [German/English]: Official site of the German federal government
Kaleidoskop: Das Alltagsleben in Deutschland [German]: From the Goethe Institut

Austria

Österreich Lexikon [German] Survey of Austrian history and culture in encyclopedic format
Austrian National Tourist Office: [German/English] - Lots of info about travel and culture
Austrian government: [German/English] Official website of the Austrian federal government

Switzerland

Swiss World: [German/English] Excellent government-commissioned primer on Swiss culture
Swiss Embassy: [German/English] Website of the Swiss Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Swiss government: [German/English] Official website of the Swiss federal government

The arts

Deutsche Kunstgeschichte [German]: History of German painting
ArtLex German Art [English]: Highlights significant works through the centuries
Volkslieder: Collection of folk music with audio files
Contemporary German bands & music: Our own pages on the contemporary German music scene
LeMo Museum online [German]: Excellent multimedia overview of 20th century German history

Reference

 Wissen.de - [German] Comprehensive German-language encyclopedia
Index of Acronyms and Abbreviations


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Media & current events in the German-speaking world

Radio

German radio stations: An annotated list of available German-language streaming radio broadcasts
German, Austrian, and Swiss radio stations: More lists of German-language streaming radio broadcasts
Deutsche Welle Radio: Listen to live streaming audio news and information
DeutschlandRadio audio on demand: Live & archived audio on a multitude of topical, cultural, scientific, literary, educational, & economic themes.
Historical audio: Archived files of important historical broadcasts, speeches, and reports.

Television

List of live German language TV stations
OnlineTVRecorder OnlineTVRecorder: Record and download programming on dozens of channels around the clock. There is a learning curve, but the service is free.
Deutsche Welle TV: See and hear live streaming video or video on demand
Tagesschau: See and hear live and archived streaming video

Film

Film.de and Movie.de [German]: Information about the latest movie hits in German theaters
The German Hollywood Connection [English]: Extensive information about German influences on Hollywood
German films [English]: Our own list of German films, actors, directors, film reviews, purchase availability

Print & online media

 
The media in Germany [German/English]: Introduction to the print media in Germany. From the Goethe Institut.
German magazines & newspapers [English]: Our own list of the most popular German magazines & newspapers with links to online editions & subscription information for North America
 The Week in Germany [English]: A synopsis of the week's events in politics, business, culture, sports
German-language press [German/English]: An annotated list of the most reliable German-language news sources available online
Paperball.de: A search engine for recent articles in 100s of German newspapers


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German literature

Collections

Gutenberg Literaturproket [German]: Over 75.000 public domain works by mainly German-speaking authors
Austrian Literature Online [German]: 5670 public domain documents, including several Austrian literary works.
 Chronologie der deutschen Literatur [German]: A chronological list of German public domain literary works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, grouped chronologically or by author or period.

Periods and authors

Deutsche Literaturgeschichte in einer Stunde [German]: Brief but comprehensive overview of German literary history.
Xlibris [German]: Excellent overview of periods with some information on authors and works as well.
5555 Biographien [German]: An unbelievable number of links to pages on German authors.


Literary lingo

Glossary of literary terms [English]
 Another glossary of literary terms [English]: A thorough list from The Literary Encyclopedia. The encyclopedia also contains useful information on selected German authors and periods.


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More German web links

Thankfully, there are some dedicated people out there who maintain excellent lists of links to German-related sites:

Robert Shea's extensive German resources
 Craig Nickisch's Links for German
Harvard German Department Links
Andreas Lixl's German Studies Trails with 15 German search engines
Yahoo! Deutschland


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