It’s like an audio dictionary, only with pictures!
Click here to check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.įluentU’s interactive captions give you an instant definition and pronunciation for any unfamiliar word.
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With FluentU, you can make audio a regular part of your language learning at any level.įluentU takes authentic videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. Since listening is a huge part of communicating in German, your learning advances quicker with audio. People typically learn languages faster when they start listening and speaking earlier, as opposed to only taking tests, reading and learning grammar.For this reason, you may understandably prefer to rely on audio examples. Check out this sentence with the phonetics included: Haben Sie Zimmer im Erdgeschoss? (Do you have any bedrooms on the ground floor?) It’s almost like a different language in itself. Phonetics are often boring and hard to understand. If you’re aware of what phonetics look like in English, you’re in for an even more complicated surprise in German.Having an audio dictionary can help you spot these patterns from the beginning. Whereas the hard E is pronounced when placed after the I, like with Bier (beer). You get to hear what the words sound like without guessing. It took me a while to understand that the I sound is generally pronounced with a word where I is after E, like Wein (wine).(Download) What’s the Point of Having a German Audio Dictionary?īesides impressing some locals, coming home with a study buddy or even showing off to a crush while on your travels, an audio dictionary has quite a few other benefits:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy. Therefore, we recommend having a German audio dictionary as part of your language learning arsenal. However, as a German learner, you may find these situations frustrating after all that hard work. In fact, it can serve as a funny way to continue a conversation. Okay, so it’s not that big of a deal if a little mispronunciation rolls off your tongue. “What a silly mistake,” you think, immediately bopping your head in the realization that the German Z is pronounced like “ts.” That cursed American accent rings off the beer steins, as everyone has a good laugh at your hard S used to pronounce the word zwanzig. You: Ich bin sswanssig Jahre alt. (I am 20 years old.)
The conversation goes well for a bit, but then your moment of fate arrives.įriendly German local: Wie alt bist du? (How old are you?) Is there any chance you can whip out your phrasebook for a quick cram session? Will all those hours of learning German at home serve you well? It’s exciting to you, yet a little nerve-wracking. Then it happens: A friend of yours has a few drinks at a beer hall, and he decides to strike up a conversation with some friendly-looking locals across the way.
Hours of your time prior to the trip has been spent reading German books, learning German through online lessons and engaging in speaking practice with an exchange partner. You might even snap a picture by the old Berlin Wall. So, you’re finally getting a chance to visit Germany.Ī trip to Berlin to check out the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. J7 Lifesaving German Audio Dictionaries for Learning out Loud