“Halftime Show“
Hi ihr lieben,
and welcome back to the epic Advent Calendar. Today, we open door number 12, so we have reached …. halftime.
And you know what that means.
Yes, that means halftime show. So here they are, live for you…. GIVE IT UP FOR MAROON FIVE.
Nah, I’m kidding. We’ll get the other thing you commonly see at halftime: ads :).
Every now and then someone reaches out to me and asks me to review a learning resource they’ve created. I’ve done it in the past but I have realized that I really don’t like doing this. I’m not learning a language at the moment, and most resources are the same stuff more or less. Like, everyone offers Spaced Repetition but they sell it like it came straight from Space research. I rarely feel like I have anything to say about the product, because I rarely feel anything in particular other than “Another one.”
But still I felt like they definitely deserve a shoutout, and so I decided to introduce two of them to you today.
And teh first one is an app to learn the noun gender.
der, die, das – App
This is an app for practicing the noun gender. I’m sure it’s not the only one of its kind, but I actually really liked the concept of this one. They have organzied all the little hints and rules of thumb that German has into what they call a “Zoo of Rules”. Step by step, you explore this zoo and make yourself familiar with the “inhabitants”. These rules are really helpful, but there are quite many of them, so it’s easy to get confused. And I think the approach of the app is really helpful there. And it looks really nice, too.
Here’s their promo video
The only downside is that it’s only available for the Apple portion of devices. So only iPhones and iPad and so on. And they’re NOT working on a version for Android because they’re elitist Swiss snobs that don’t like the common man’s operating system.
Nah, kidding… they’re really nice people. I think this app was more like a pet project they did, and developping for two platforms is a lot of extra work.
But yeah, if you want a nice way to train noun gender and you have an Apple device, give this app a try:
Der Die Das App – Homepage
And if you don’t own an Apple device, no worries. The next app might be for you.
VocApp
VocApp is a vocabulary trainer from a small company in Poland. There are loads and loads of flashcard app available and the only one I have tried is Memrise (it kind of sucks). So I can’t really do a proper review. But as far as I can tell, VocApp has everything you’d expect from a vocabulary trainer. You can use premade sets, or create your own. There is audio and some cards have pictures. And you can use the app as a dictionary and add words you looked up to a study decks. That’s actually a neat feature :).
And you know what the best thing is? VocApp has some giveaways for you guys.
VocApp is a freemium thing, so you can install it for free and use a huge portion but there are some premium bits for which you have to pay.
I honestly can’t tell you what that is exactly, because I didn’t do… I mean, my interns didn’t do their research properly. But it doesn’t really matter, because VocApp is sponsoring 15 premium accounts for you. Pretty great, right?
What do you have to do to win?
Well, since this is the ad section of the calendar, I want you to:
write a comment why VocApp is the Flashcard app to end all flashcard apps – the best there’s ever been, never to be dethroned.
I’ll pick the most convincing 15 for the win.
So get creative :).
And if you want to check it out, here’s the link to the German version on Google Play store. Give it a look!
VocApp on Playstore
VocApp – Homepage (web version + more info)
And that’s it for today. If by any chance you’ve used either of the two apps, please share in the comments how you like it.
And if you haven’t used either, what are your impressions?
Can’t wait to read all your praise for VocApp.
Have a great day and bis morgen.
Ich weiß, dass ich spät bin aber sowieso…..Ich kann einer Herausforderung widerstehen
Weil es die zwölf Tage von Weihnachten gibt, wahle ich zwölf Wörter vom VocApp zu beschrieben.
VocApp ist :
erstaunlich
verwunderlich
tolle
wunderbar
fantastisch
großartig
beeindruckend
überwaltigend
eindrucksvoll
genial
klasse
…….und prima
Weil ich faul ist, kann ich jetzt die Artikle den Wörter mit VocApp lernen.
ich habe noch keine Gewinner gewählt, du bist also nicht zu spät :)
Hallo Emmanuel!
Ich heiße john. Ich bin Amerikaner und seit ein Jahr unterrichte ich mich deutsch. Deine Website ist endlos faszinierend! Ich habe viele Apps zum deutschlernen untersucht. Ich wollte mit dir und deinen Lesern meine Erkantnisse teilen.
Beachten Sie, dass einige Apps die gleichen Namen haben aber von verschiedenen Firmen entwickelt werden.
Nützliche Apps:
• “Der – Die – Das”, die von der Firma Letra für Android-Handys entwickelt wurde. Die App zeigt ein Wort, normalweiser mit einer Zeichnung, und man druckt “der” , “die” , or “das” . Sehr einfach. Mit dieser App habe ich ungefähr 300 Wörter gelernt.
• Grammatik A1-A2-B1-B2 von der Firma LAAPS hat viele Multiple-Choice-Übungen. Es gibt einige Fehler in den Antworten.
• Deutsch Quiz von der Firma 4share
• Verben mit Präpositionen B-1 von der Firma LAAPS
• Deutsch B2 Grammatik Übungen von der Firma LAAPS
• Learn German von DeutscheWelle. Diese App hat gute Übungen für Hörverstandnis.
Gute Kostenlose Websites:
• German is easy! (yourdailygerman.com) ist eine wünderbare Website! Aber das wußtest du schon. Ich empfehle stark, Abonnent zu werden.
• german.tolearnfree.com ist eine Website mit Hunderten von Übungen. Wenn man ein kostenloses Konto eröffnet, protokolliert die App seine Ergebnisse. Gute Übungen für alles, besonders Verben und Präpositionen. Es gibt 3 Schwierigkeitsstufen.
• deutschakademie.de ist auch eine Website mit Hunderten von Übungen mit verschiedenen Schwierigkeitsstufen.
• mein-deutschbuch.de hat viele Informationen zur Grammatik.
Schlechte Apps:
• Learn Deutsch Grammatik von Learn4Smart. So viele Fehler!
• Quizlet. Nicht so hilfreiche.
• Learn German A1-A2-B1-B2 von der Firma mobcrab. Auch so viele Fehler!
Ich hoffe, dass diese Information deinen Lesern hilft, noch mehr deutsch zu lernen!
Dein Fan,
john
Wow, toll!! Das ist sehr hilfreich für die Leute, danke :). Und danke auch für das schöne Feedback!!
VocApp is one of the best Flashcard app out there because Emanuel thinks it is special enough to advertise on it in the best German learning website. : ]
Hahaha, nice :)!
It looks great from the short video clip, but there’s clearly a couple problems. First is obviously the apple only platform. Very bourgeois and im feeling invisible as a poor, peasantly PC user.
The second problem is that the music is really terrible. Its that kind of indiepop singalong chorus music that is also featured on commercials for salad dressing or dating websites. Millenialls really DIG THAT kind of music bigtime. When I hear this music it reminds me of a unicorn Holocaust
I think that’s just for the video, though. I hope.
I feel like there’s a law somewhere that app videos have to come with this upbeat clap along feel good tune in the background. Every single promo video ever has it. Even Seedlang, which has a lot of “character”.
If I ever make a video for my app, I’ll put techno under it :D.
Downloaded! What a lucky day! :D
Sind Sie des zufälligen Wortschatzes müde? Wollen Sie thematische Kollokationen, ohne die wiederholten Intervalle moderner Apps zu Opfen?
Ich bin mir auch sicher, dass Sie auch Professionalität jenseits der von Emmanuel begehren ;).
Ganz zu schweigen davon, dass es schon Hunderte solcher Lektionen gibt und jeden Tag werden neue schaffen.
Und am wichtigsten ist, Sie können endlich ein Experte für Wurmvokabeln sein.
I hope this is understandable
Yes, it is :)!
VocApp ist die beste! Die beste in die weste! Mein Deutsch ist noch schrecklich, und VocApp macht es “schmecklich!” Einmal hab ich Deutsch gelernt und dann alles vergessen — VocApp machte mein Gehirchen wieder offen und mit neue Woerter voll gepacken! Ich weiss dass ich diese Test nicht winnen kann, weil mein Deutsch doch in die Garbage Can . . . ist. Es hat mir aber sehr gefreut, dieser Lied zu machen Heut’.
Sehr sehr schön :)!!
Der Adventskalender ist toll!
Das freut mich zu hören :)
VocApp, incredible. Right after installing it, I fell asleep inna drunken stupor, apparently with my nose on the letter “n” of my keyboard, and when I woke up, ploetzlich hatte ich ein besonderes Worterbuch im Kopf! Unglaublich! (also, mit einem Kopfschmerz wie einen abhaengich Einhorn!)
ich bin Smitti79
Haha… nice :)!
Hey Emanuel, I have to say nice picks, I personally use Der Die Das app, and I think what makes it different is it’s simplicity, you just choose a group and sort of phase out while using the app, actually I think that the state of mind you reach after tapping so many words helps you remember them much better, I certainly saw great progress in a short period of time, and I had already tried several other resources for memorizing genders, the other nice thing about it is that there is a little streak counter at the top that counts the correct answers in a row, it can be used as a mile stone to push you a little further when you want to quit.
By the way, speaking of resources, I am at a stage where I can listen to any material in German, including stand up comedy, or scientific seminars and understand them very well, unfortunately I have had no one to practice my speaking with since I learned the language on my own, so despite my knowledge every time I begin to form a sentence It feels like I’m operating from a very narrow database, although I am very familiar with most grammatical rules and have a wide variety of vocab.
Any suggestions or resources you might have would be very welcome. Everyone reading this is welcome to chip in with any suggestions.
Thanks.
I practice by myself a lot because I don’t always have someone to practice with and it’s the ultimate low pressure environment. I try to switch the voice in my head to German as much as possible. It starts very small at first. Single words, nouns and verbs, a few adjectives. Naming the things in my apartment. Then come simple sentences like, I’m closing the door. Nothing fancy and I don’t always say it out loud. It’s just the act of forcing myself to build a thought, which for me is harder than understanding at first. It gets much easier with practice and even a few minutes a day helps. Eventually you start to be able to express yourself like you want and not like a toddler.
I also practice the pronunciation out loud. The most important thing for me is to go slow and repeat, repeat, repeat. I take one word (or sound) at a time and listen to the correct pronunciation several times. I use linguee.de, dict.cc, and context.reverso.net. Videos and music are also helpful. On Youtube, Fröhlich Deutsch is good about explaining how to form specific sounds. Other channels like German with Jenny are good too, especially if you watch closely how they shape their mouth. I think the acoustics in the shower are usually good for practicing :)
People might think you’re crazy if they hear you trying to say ch or ü over and over. But hey, it doesn’t matter when you’re by yourself! It’s going to come out wrong, a lot, and that’s ok. My rule is to try at least 3 times or until I’m tired of getting it wrong. If I get it right, I also try again a couple times. That way you get used to how it physically feels to make the sound correctly.
Thanks for the tip, much appreciated, I actually do this from time to time, only problem is there’s nobody to correct you if you screw up an adjective ending for example or use dative when you should use accusative, but it certainly helps, thanks.
You could try writing. I’ve found it helpful in getting over the hump of trying to come up with fully-formed, grammatically-correct sentences on the fly while speaking… I’m translating a blog I write in English to German (and French). Since the blog is written in a conversational tone, it reinforces speech patterns I tend to use.
Thanks Jpanosky,
Indeed a hump it is, either a language learner gets over it …… or it gets bad for said language learner ;)
Sorry just couldn’t help it.
Anyways you’re right, forming correct sentences on the fly is what it’s all about.
Thanks again for the suggestion, have a wonderful day.
Let’s say, “forming correct enough sentences on teh fly”… It doesn’t need to be 100% correct. No one cares. Just get the verb related stuff right, that’s what matters.
That’s a great exercise. I used to write emails in English to friends and when I read them a few days later, I would find plenty of mistakes and so next time I would pay more attention.
What exactly should we do? Write an advertisement?
Auf Deutsch oder nicht? Wie kann man die “Account” bekommen?
I think the task is pretty clear:
you have to write a comment that praises VocApp like crazy.
I sent a submission few mins ago. Could have added one more paragraph
Hello,
here come the halftime typos:
teh first one (the)
They have organzied (organis(z)ed, z for AE, that I can see you’re more familiar with)
developping (just one p)
loads of flashcard app (apps)
add words you looked up to a study decks – deck; the missing “s” on the previous typo migrated here, I guess :)
I’ve never used any of the apps (I’m not a huge fan of apps because I kinda hate smartphones) and I don’t have time at this time of the year to look up any of them (I got swamped with work as soon as I came back from my short Deutsch holiday and haven’t even done my Xmas decorations yet, so the only German learning resource I’m bothering with at the moment is you). VocApp is something I’ll probably look up in the future because I find that what I need the most is vocab. I’ve pretty much learned the grammar I need, but without vocab it just doesn’t cut it ;)
Bis morgen!