From the people who invented CAPTCHA - duolingo.com

A very good service - The texts used are actually web pages, and your translation will be used to translate them.

This is what the web is all about.

I want to second this recommendation for duolingo.

I actually heard about it in an interview with founder Luis von Ahn on CBC's Spark. It's a very clever idea and the best free online language learning website that I've come across (and I've tried a lot).

I just started using it to improve my written German and was pleased to find a beta version for French available, too. I've heard that they are supposed to introduce Italian this year as well. What's great with this website is that they have all levels. My German is around C1 and my French is around A1, but I've found that it's great for both, despite the huge difference in levels.

There's now an iPhone app for this and it's excellent and free. How good is that!

Thats a useful post, I started using duolingo around 10 days ago on the iPhone. It is indeed simple to use and well designed, best of all its free.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/duol...570060128?mt=8

I've just tried it and it's fun and very, very good.

Thanks for the tip

I can recommend duolingo.com as well. It is particularly good for people, that speak some German, but never learned it at school (like me). I can do some grammar exercises and do real-life translations which is really great.

Thank you for the recommendations, this is a first-rate site for dipping in and out, it's pleasing to find that you can define the level you have reached or at which you want to study. I just signed up for it this morning having seen this thread. It seems like it might get a bit addictive, trying to better your scores and competing with yourself. Hmm. I sound a bit like my sons when they talk about their xbox - all part of the plan, I imagine.......

Hobs

It is good enough. Thank you so much that you share it with us .Happy new year

I love duolingo, only trouble I have sometimes is translating German to English, because as English is not my mother tongue sometime I get stuck not finding the right word for a minute or two.... but good exercice

I'm not convinced the web-translation part is really going to work out, but in terms of learning German, I've really enjoyed this.

I started at the beginning, although I probably could unlock the first milestone. This makes me feel like a champ though, since I'm cruising through the levels ;-). The design is nice, still in the working stages, but so far I'm very pleasantly surprised and would encourage anyone on the fence to go try it out. It is engaging and keeps me practicing, which is more than I can say about anything else I've tried.

I've just done the same as you blauburgunder, and I feel like a genius .
I'll go on to the more advanced level later and see how I do with that.
I agree, very addictive.

interesting approach to translation, and I can see it working... in any case, an engaging way to learn German for me. so thanks for pointing this out!

Yes thanks for this recommendation. I'm really liking it so far.

Dan

By the way, this one really threw me, and my wife (Swiss) was convinced that the program is just wrong. However I think I convinced her. See the screenshot. "He likes her the best" translates to "Sie mag er am meisten". Note I realize my answer was wrong regardless. I guess it's correct if "Sie" is the accusative form. I also think that even though this might be correct, most native speakers would be unlikely to use it since it's not clear (at least not right away). Any experts care to comment?

Dan

Dan

technically you are correct, Sie is an accusative. You would use "Sie mag er am besten" - to stress out "her" in sense of somebody you would have been referring to before in conversation. "Er mag sie am besten" should also be acceptable though. Hope this makes any sense.

But then I am not a native speaker...

Ok thanks. Well as I said this is probably a case where most native speakers would never say that. At least that was my wife's response. Yet it's technically correct.

I love the program but they do seem to like throwing in the "odd" cases or exceptions. There was another strange one: "Sie mag den Elefanten" (she likes the elephant). If I remember correctly, the ending change is specific to a certain group of nouns. Anyway, "special" cases. Not the best for learning the basics.

Dan

"He likes her the best" is definitely "Er mag sie am liebsten".

"Sie mag er am meisten"? That's wrong, it means" She likes he the most", makes no sense at all. If anything then " Sie mag ihn am meisten" which means "She likes him best", and that then completely changes the meaning, lol. Have I lost you all yet?

Thanks but I guess I think of the example "Der Hund hat den Mann gebissen" and "Den Mann hat der Hund gebissen". Both mean the "The dog bit the man".

So "Sie mag er am besten" means "He likes her the best" since I suppose "Sie" is the accusative "Sie" (which is the same as the nominative, unfortunately). It's less confusing where the article is not the same in both the nominative and accusative cases. For example "Sie mag ihn am besten" and "Ihn mag sie am besten" which both mean "She likes him the best".

Or am I wrong?

Dan

Sorry I meant to use "meisten" not "besten" above. Five days of the flu has left my brain scrambled.

Dan