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German

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Even though German is only the official language of three countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), it has many native speakers and it is an important language to know, especially in Europe. There are many regional dialects of German, but education is completely in High German, the standard language that is also the only written language, so that dialects don't impede understanding. Foreigners always learn High German and knowing German opens up a vast culture to you. There are immense amounts of original literature, but German has also shaped entire scientific fields such as philosophy and psychology - and board gaming. German-speaking composers were the key to classical music and sacred music, but Oompah music and modern German bands like Rammstein are famous all over the world, too. Many if not most schools worldwide have recognised the value of knowing German and offer it as a course. Therefore it is also not difficult to find learning materials for German wherever you are. If you'd like to get a first impression of what German looks and sounds like, check out this page.

What to expect when studying German: English speakers will find German vocabulary easy to learn, since English and German have the same roots. A knowledge of Dutch or a Scandinavian language also helps. German pronunciation is almost phonetic and can be learned very easily. The grammar is a different matter - German has preserved a case system that requires you to make changes to nouns depending on the role they have in a sentence. However, this makes the language more flexible than in English when it comes to word order and some parts of German grammar are actually easier than in English, for example there is no difference between adjectives and adverbs. The rules of grammar are also more regular than in English. Just like for French, Spanish and most European languages, you will have to memorise noun genders for this language.

Advice for learning German: Always memorise the gender of a noun along with the noun itself. An easy way to do this is to associate a male person with every masculine word, a female person with every feminine word and a child or animal with every neuter word. For example, if you want to remember that "Auto" means "car" and is neuter, imagine a small child sitting on the driver's seat of your car, getting ready to start the engine and create havoc and yelling "Get out of my way!". Don't worry about making up too absurd situations, your mind is trained to memorise extra-ordinary things and forget about every-day happenings. Also be sure to memorise standard endings that already tell you the word's gender, e. g. words ending in -er are always masculine. Get advice valid for learning any language here.

More resources for German on this site:

German course for beginners ("Bite-sized" method)

Assorted German lessons for intermediate and advanced learners

German phrases for the phone

Find a tutor to teach you German / sign up as a tutor

Get a professional translation from or to German

Links for learning German online and for free:

Online courses:
Bite-sized German course
German courses by Deutsche Welle (beginner to advanced & business German)
Shorter course
Learning German as creative relaxation exercise

Sentences for Travellers

Pronunciation (also samples of the Swiss dialect)

Grammar
Extensive grammar (in German)
Extensive grammar (in French)

Irregular verbs

Vocabulary (with audio)

Quiz: Test your knowledge of German

Exercises

Practise German by playing an online game

Everything about German

Good materials for studying German offline, from Amazon:
Ultimate German: Basic & Intermediate Course
Ultimate German: Advanced Course
Pimsleur German course I
German-English-German dictionary
German grammar
More...

Misc online resources, particularly for intermediate and advanced students of German:
Tongue Twisters in German
Cursing in German
The new German orthography
German sayings
German news and topical texts with vocabulary explanations
German news read very slowly
German newspaper "Rheinische Post"
Austrian newspaper "Kurier"
More links