While surfing slate.com I ran into an article that may interest some of you: An Invisible Woman Taught Me German: I enjoyed reading the article but, since I have no desire to learn German, obviously did not try the course.

Thanks for posting the link to the article. I have listened to the courses, so maybe I can provide some additional insight

I have been through most of the Deutsche Welle courses and they are really great as a free resource. The courses were originally available on Deutsche Welle's radio station (which is available on normal frequencies in several countries) but they are now all available to download online. I downloaded the courses on to my iPod and listened to them on the walk to work - good use of downtime

I started on Part II of "Warum Nicht?" (A1-B1) which is the original beginners' course and after I had finished that I listened to "Radio D" (A1-A2) which is the new beginners' course (I think "Warum Nicht?" is better...) and then worked through "Wieso Nicht?" (B1) and am now listening to the "Marktplatz" (B2) podcasts which are all in German and are related to different types of employment. In addition Deutsche Welle produce "slowly spoken" news every day which is a great way to learn.

The courses are all quite old-fashioned (lots of talk about the differences before and after reunification) but are still a great way to get some extra help with learning German

Louisa B, I could have written your post! I too have worked my way through some of the Deutsche Welle courses and found them really helpful.
I would definitely recommend them.

I just found a different course on the BBC website that is good for beginners: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/steps/german/

www.german-flashcards.com is also very helpful for vocab. Its sends a daily e-mail with sentences and explanations.