Hello everyone,
so I am actually taking a few days of for a small Urlaub (vacation), so there’s no new article this week (I’ll still answer your comments and emails, though, so fire away).
But I still do have something new for you today, because as you might have noticed, I am always working on the site – adding new features, changing designs, changing designs back and so on. I know that might be distracting sometimes, but I strive to make the site more user friendly and intuitive over time :).
Lots to do still, but in recent weeks I have finished a few things that have been on my list for a while. So today, I’ll give you a few
Site Updates
You might have seen some of the design changes already but there’s one feature that’s gets its world premier here, so to speak.
So I want to walk you through the new things today and also do a few poll questions to get a better idea how you use my site and what you’d like to see.
Let’s start with the smaller things.
My Link Page
My link page was a dumpster fire for years, not only visually but also functionally because a bunch of links were actually broken.
But I finally kicked in the butt and seriously started giving it an do-over (you can always find it in the menu, but I’ll also put a link below if you want to check it out later).
It’s not finished yet, specifically, I want to add a few of the resources that I have reviewed over the years like Ouino, Seedlang or the Ashkalon series (which is currently burried in the Advent calendar).
And that also brings me to my first question:
So far, I have only reviewed and linked tools and products that I actually really like.
My question is if you would like me to include more resources like Chatterbug or Duolingo, with a little commentary of what I think about them, or if I should stick with a rather “strict” selection policy.

And my second, related question is if you’d be interested in me writing actual reviews for things like Duolingo and so on… like… real reviews, not just sponsored ad pieces – with all the good, the bad and the ugly. The benefit of this would be that you all can share your experiences in the comments and other people get a better impression of the product, but I don’t want to do this if the majority of you isn’t interested :)

Cool. Moving on.
Archive By Date – Redesign
Another “issue” with the site are the archives and the archive that displayed all articles in chronological order looked like it was straight from the 90s.
I have reworked that a bit now. It looks a bit prettier and also, the titles it displays are not the long “Word of the day – xyz” anymore but the actual topic. And that includes many of the Advent calendar posts. So you can now see better, what to expect behind the link :). Again, I’ll add a link below this article if you want to check how it looks now.
I’ll also tweak the other archive types (by wordtype and by category) and I am playing around with a system that might allow to do all on one page… so you can filter by date, category and search term.
And that kind of brings me to the questions I have about the archives… because I have no clue which one you all are using the most and if you’re even using the date archive at all.

Cool!
And now it is time for the big reveal :)
The world premier of a feature that many of you have been waiting for… at least those who take notes while reading the article, because I now have…
Your Note Archive
If you’re confused… those of you who are members have the option to take their own notes while reading the articles and download them or print them. Or just save them and review them quickly at any time.
Until now, you could only access them from the articles they were taken for but from now on, you can find ALL your notes in the note archive :).
Here’s a screenshot of the core:
From here, you can print, download and delete the notes. By clicking on the big title you’ll get to the note and can edit it. By clicking on the small title underneath you’ll get to the article that the note is for.
I think it’s pretty intuitive, but if you have questions navigating then just leave me a comment here (comments on the note page are not possible).
So yeah… that’s the new archive and for those of you who do take notes, it’s a pretty useful addition, I think :).
Which brings me to the last little question – how many of you actually take notes.

I’ll add the link to the note archive to the profile page soon and maybe even to the general menu, but for now, you can find it here:
And that’s it for today.
Let me know in the comments if you have feedback or suggestions about any of this or anything else on the site for that matter.
I really hope you like them, have a great wee… oh… oh my Gaaaaaawd… what is that… is that… is that… yeah… that’s a
BONUS ROUND
I’m not sure if this is all that interesting for many of you but I recently discovered that my newsletter system has this option, so I have thought I might as well use it… a newsletter archive :).
I have switched systems once, so this archive only goes back a couple of years, but if you’re interested in checking out old newsletters, then you might find this interesting.
I’d love to filter out the ones for the Advent Calendars because there isn’t really anything in them, but for now, you can just ignore those.
So yeah… feel free to completely ignore this archive :).
But if you want some easy informal reading with English translations, that might be helpful.
Cool.
That’s it for today.
Let me know all your thoughts in the comments, have a great week and see you next time.
EDIT 1:
Since quite a few of you seem to be using the category archive, I gave that a much needed do over. It’s looking a little better now and you can see the cartoons by just hovering over a word. Clicking will get you to the article directly (while before it just loaded the cartoon).
EDIT 2:
Since someone broad it up in the comments… there actually is a way now where you can see ALL your comments. You can’t see if you got a reply (working on that) but you can navigate to the article and check quickly.
You can only see that if you’re logged in.
Here’s where to find it:
I’ll open as an overlay. To close it, just click anywhere outside the box and it’ll go away :).
Hope you find that helpful!
The links:
** Ps: My dictionary is at 8.000 entries by now *mind-blow emoji…. I’m really happy with my progress there.
I have a problem sometimes remembering to use sich with some verbs. I see that you have the same problem with English – you should have said “kick myself in the butt”
Wait, what did I say? Was it in the newsletter?
It’s also pretty cool that you can edit notes from the ‘my notes’ page. Most of my notes are sentences/phrases that I come across and it’s nice to have a central place to go over everything and add theories, questions, and stuff.
Little spoiler… you’ll soon be able to favorite dictionary entries and add your own notes to them ;)
Oh, das ist ja cool! Ist echt spannend, was es hier so alles für neue Features gibt.
I really like the newsletter archive. I try to read the newsletters a couple times because they’re nice bite-sized chunks of idiomatic, everyday language (and they make me smile). The translations are helpful too. I save them in a Gmail folder, but somehow I never look in there. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
I hope it’s ok to heap some praise on the dictionary….there are quite a few times now where I come across a word that doesn’t have an article yet, but there are usage notes that are super duper helpful.
I said “no I don’t need it” for the notes but actually the real answer is I have never taken notes because I knew I would never find them again in the articles. But with the new feature I think I will start taking notes
I seriously love your website! Thanks for all the hard work you put in to it! It is amazing
Thanks a lot, I’m really happy to hear that :)!
I have another “Ok Boomer” question for you, this one about the NOTES feature, one that I really like but it does not consistently work for me. The “broken” part is trying to save the notes. I save one, I check that I have saved it (by getting in and out of the lesson– I can’t tell any other way if the “save” was successful), then I come back days later and the note has… verschwunden! I’ve started copying/pasting my notes into WORD in my computer so I don’t lose them, but I would just as soon have them in your wonderful new archive.
So, I just hit the “save” button, right? Nothing else? Should I see a color change or some other hint that the “save” saved? I’m not sure why I’m struggling. …(The CURSE ON ALL BOOMERS, put on us by the unicorns? Where are the squirrels when we need them??? )
Oh, no “Boomerism” involved here :). It’s probably a problem with the scripts that save the note.
What happens on my computer is that the “save” button changes color and then, once the saving is done, gives a promt “note saved at [time]”.
Since you don’t see that, I think nothing is happening when you click the button.
Could you tell me what device and browser you’re using?
I’ll try and see if I can recreate the issue.
BTW… I checked the database and I indeed couldn’t find any notes related to your account.
So yeah, let me know about device and we’ll see from there.
Hey Lisa,
I did some checking and made a few fixes and I think the feature works now.
It was a general problem with caching before and didn’t work for pretty much anybody except me, because of my admin account.
Could you please try and let me know if it works? Thanks a lot.
Yes!!! Working now. I saved my KONJUNKTIV II notes in the last lesson, got completely, out, and went back and… there they were! And yes, the button turned white and the time was noted. So, we are good to go. Thank you, Thank you. I really like this feature. It’s nice to be able to use it.
Yeah, my bad for not testing this with an actual subscriber level account. I think this was broken for several weeks for everyone, except me :/. Glad it’s working now, and please let me know as soon as it stops again :)
Danke!!
Thanks for fixing it! Still working well. L.
Not sure where to post this but anyway.
When I am trying to make factual statements, such as Life without water is impossible, do we use an article in german?
Leben ohne Wasser ist nicht zu schaffen OR das Leben ohne Wasser….
Death is inevitable
Tod ist zwangsläufig OR der Tod ist….
and I can’t not thank you for your dictionary, its magnificent. Its the best dictionary for learning hands down. I just can’t praise it enough.
Tough question.
German is more flexible than English in this regard.
For the example with Leben, both versions sound equally idiomatic to me.
“das Leben” is a bit more stressing “the life as a whole” while “Leben” is a bit more about the “process”, but that might also just be my personal sentiment.
The other example is similar. Both versions work, but here, I prefer “der Tod”, because each one gets just one and it’s not an extended process.
“Tod” without article sounds a bit technical to me.
You’ll find examples where people combine “Leben is X und der Tod ist Y.”
It’s definitely not like in English where using the article sounds quite strange.
This has been my “DUH” moment. Until now, it never occurred to me to click on the menu at the top of the web page. Wie sagt man “DUH” Auf Deutsch??
A whole new world now then :).
I’m sure you’re not the only one. My site really isn’t all that great in terms of user friendliness.
But step by step :)
Ich finde, dein Wörterbuch ist das beste Hilfsmittel für mich. Deine Übersetztungen und vor allem deine zusammenfassenden Erklärungen sind so nutzlich, um Wörter richtig zu verwenden. Kein anderer Übersetzer macht das meiner Meinung nach so gut. Vielen Dank!
Das freut mich echt zu hören!
Ich gebe mir echt Mühe, die Einträge so zu machen, dass sie für Lerner hilfreich sind, denn sowas fehlt bisher.
This may be a ‘feature I didn’t know about’ but…
How can I find the questions I have asked?
I often browse and go on German language journeys (Deutsche Sprache Wandern?)and from that place, I ask the question related to that topic. 24 hours later, I can’t remember my path and I can’t find where I asked the question. I looked in ‘my profile’ but I don’t see how to find my own questions – and hopefully your answers. In fact I asked a question 5 minutes ago, and now I can’t remember where I was on the site. Help with my own help?
The archive exists, but I have to make it available on the profile yet.
On top of this thread, next to the number of comments, there’s an icon. Click that and you should see a popup window with all your comments.
The last one was here:
https://yourdailygerman.com/meaning/upo-eup/offen/offnen/eroffnen/#comment-65240
:)
When I click that icon, it just gives me a pop up window to make a new comment for this page. ‘Join the discussion’. There is no link or listing of comments.
Ah, no, I meant a different icon. Here’s a screenshot:
Actually, never mind. I just tried it and it doesn’t work the way it should.
I’ll fix that in the coming days :)
Update… it’s done. I fixed it :)
Ha ha ha. Thank you so much for doing this. For me, this site is clarity of foggy issues and a deeper understanding of the language. Thanks again.
Ich möchte wissen, wie sagt man “dumpster fire” auf Deutsch. :)
Puh, schwer. Da gibt es kein gutes Wort, und es kommt auf den Kontext an, wie man es am besten übersetzen würde :).
Thema : Ohne Schleichweg und ratlos dabei
Die Kippe ist lichterloh
beim brennen
die Ratten drinnen ziellos
umher rennen
ein Schlamassel
kann man also ihren Zustand
nennen!!
Meinst du “Kippe” als “Müllkippe”? Weil “Kippe” auch ein Wort für Zigarette ist und ich habe erst das verstanden.
Dumpster (n.)
1930s, from Dempster-Dumpster trash-hauling mechanism, patented by Dempster Brothers and probably named from dump (v.) with the surname in mind. Dumpster diving attested from 1979. Dumpster fire, in figurative reference to a situation that is calamitous, foul, and unfixable (and possibly not worth the trouble of attempting to fix) or a person perceived as a walking cascade of failures and bad decisions, emerged into popularity in 2015, in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Dumpster war ursprünglich ein geschütztes Wort wie Zipper Aspirin Thermos Kleenex (Tempo).
Kennst Du den Ausdruck Tschik ?? für Zig -( Stummel – Kippe)
Müllkippe ist das Entsorgungsplatzgelände oder?
Mülltonne wurde gemeint.
Müllkipptonne???
GERMAN ist meistens nicht so einfach aber einfach mehrmals mehrfach anderes als leicht unter Dach und Fach zu zusammenraffen.
I saw you in a YouTube video !
A class act! Ein Unikat!
BRAVO!
Tschik hab ich nie gehört, aber “ziggi” und “zichte”. Und Kippe. Kippe ist super weit verbreitet.
Die Müllkippe ist das Endlager für den Müll, nicht die Tonne und Kippe würden die meisten Leute als “Zigarette” verstehen.
Welches Video hast du denn gesehen? Es gibt mehrere…
In case you are wondering about the next review, I would like to see something of quite new, I guess, app: Xeropan (https://de.xeropan.com)
Interesting.
I have never heard of them.
I like that they include voice recognition in a proper exercise, but I found their exercise design quite weird. Like… you get asked quite a few things that you were never told.
I don’t think it’s worth the money at this point.
Have you used it?
No but on the face of it it looks good, that’s why I’m asking. You wrote recently about Seedlang so I thought you maybe know some about this one. I try to pick one …
Seeing their pricing, I would go with Seedlang or Ouino.
Xeropan feels like a construction site to me, at the moment.
Never mind what I said about the content tree though… I just checked again and they do have material up to B2.
I’d say try it out and see if it clicks. But don’t take it unless you REALLY vibe with it.
Ouino? I never heard about that. How does it compare to Seedlang? Can I use it up to B2?
I think so, yes.
Here’s my review. They have since added a fair bit of content.
And they had a sale last time I checked.
https://yourdailygerman.com/ouino-languages-review/
I’d definitely try out the features for free and then see which system you click with the most.
For me, Ouino has an edge, but that’s just because I like their design the most. Design is quite important to me, but that’s not really a factor when reviewing a tool.
Really, I mean REALLY problem with all those apps is that they try to be “take it easy” for the learners. As a result you fill the gaps, put the missing letters etc. but actually missing something what I would call “forcing to speak”.
I find myself talking a lot with Seedlang! And fun content , natural whole sentences, which I remember way better than the dry vocab.
Yeah, that is kind of the core of Seedlang, and it was there from the very beginning. Jeremy wanted to focus on people repeating.
What’s missing (and I think that’s what filupa means) as FORCING you to speak.
You do it, because you’re motivated, but I for one would not speak unless I get some sort of feedback from the site.
Ja, das stimmt