9 Great Websites For German Beginners

Pop quiz - Which one of these is your favourite reason to learn German?

1. You fell in love with a German speaker

2. You fell in love with the atmosphere of a beer fest or a Christmas market

3. You have not yet tasted the greatest bread on this Earth, but you’d really like to, and you’ve heard the bakery only offers it to German speakers

4. Your company works with German clients and their English is so good it’s embarrassing all you know is jawohl ein Bier bitte

5. You want to visit Germany and get a taste of the wonderful nature, forests, skiing, castles, Roman history, medieval town centres, comfortable trains, inviting restaurants, fairy tale rivers

There are no wrong answers here. ALL of the above are fantastic reasons to get started learning the German language. I have been teaching and sharing German language and culture for five years, and today I’m sharing some of my favourite resources for beginners.

Make Your German Sound Amazing

My free mini-guide to speaking German is out now. It's called Make Your German Sound Amazing and will give you the best tips and 26 key phrases to make you ready for any conversation. Pop your details into the form below to join my email list and get the guide immediately!*

Check out 2 or 3 of these resources and make sure you bookmark them to visit again and again!

Great German Learning Websites

Beautiful German castles and Germany.travel

Sometimes it's necessary to check out of verb tables and remember why you chose to learn this language in the first place. What better way than to dream of hiking up beautiful hills and discovering romantic castles? Castles beat cases, after all.

Mein Weg nach Deutschland

This is a great project from the Goethe institute. Where would we be without them! Follow the story of Nevin, a newbie in Germany (who excitedly photographs pretty much anything on her mobile phone). The videos are available with and without subtitles and each episode has practice exercises too!

Deutsch Plus and Jojo sucht das Glück

There are some truly great telenovelas out there, designed especially for German learners. Lovers of retro Germany will like Deutsch Plus, the story of shy TV intern Nico from Romania - it's vintage 1996 work. Even better - it's suitable for starters from day 1. For improvers, Brazilian student Jojo will be a fun resource.

Listening: Radio D

Another suitable resource for beginners right from day 1 - Radio D is an audio course. Nice plot and a very well supported website with grammar hints and word lists make this resource a go-to page for German learners of any age.

Dictionary: LEO

No German learner can do without LEO - it must be one of the best online dictionaries around! Language searches available in both directions, 7 supported language pairs with German, audio pronunciation and a well-attended forum finding even the most obscure expressions make this a bookmark no-brainer.

TIP: Read more on how to use a dictionary like the most successful language learners

German Uncovered

Learn German the natural way without complex grammar explanations and boring lessons. This course is based on a story, so you’ll be reading and having fun as you progress to level A2 at high speed.

Speak German Like a Native

If you find spoken German hard to understand, you need this course. This  is my 5* masterclass course for all levels. No other course digs into the sounds of the German language, giving you the confidence to even say Eichhörnchen and Wechselstrom like a native.

Got More To Add?

The German learning community out there is always growing, and I’d love to hear what you’ve uncovered online.

Leave a comment if you know where to go for grammar that makes sense, or the best Swiss expressions. 

Language Learning On The Go: How To Find A Great Language App

When was the last time you picked up your phone? Oh, you’re looking at it right now? And you want to learn a language?

Game on! It’s time to talk about effective apps. When you don’t have a lot of time and want to fit in some language study on the go, there are hundreds of language learning apps that can help you succeed.

But how do you know you’re spending your time well? Is your app effective for teaching you another language?

This article idea was supported by the team at Drops, a gorgeous vocab training app that I love. So I decided to use their app as the example of great ways that app design can help you learn a language.

Here are 5 ways to find the best apps for YOUR language learning routine, using Drops as an example.

1. There Is a Clear Purpose

Some apps are designed to help you learn and memorise new vocabulary, others train your pronunciation, some aim to be full courses, yet others are games or dictionaries. It’s important to understand what each app is trying to do so that you get the right mix.

In my Language Habit Toolkit, you’ll learn that there are three types of key language learning resources:

1. Guiding Resources, which help you through grammar and communication goals in a language (like courses)
2. Input Resources, which help you experience the language in context and practice understanding it (like videos and stories)
3. Reference Resources, which help you look up information as you need it (like a dictionary)

Now when you look at language apps, you will be able to slot most of them into one of those categories. One of my current favourites is Drops, a beautiful app designed around learning new words of vocabulary.

Drops is a guiding resource, focused on words only. It teaches you a curated list of words (around 2300 per language) through playful actions, but it doesn’t include speaking practice or grammar.

For me, that’s no dealbreaker. As I’ve mentioned before on the blog, I love it when an app focuses on doing one thing and doing it well.

2. The Language App Works For Your Language Goals

The most effective way to learn languages with apps is to break down the different parts of a language course. Think back to your school life or any teacher led class. What are the different things you do and learn? Once you have a list of the elements that you are looking for, you can make sure your group of language apps covers you for each of them.

Then, divide your study goals into listening, speaking, reading and writing and make sure you cover each.

For example, here are a few different things you’ll do in a good language class, and the different apps that can help you with each:

1. Learn new words (for example Drops)
2. Practice speaking a language (for example Tandem)
3. Listen to another language (for exampleSpeechling)
4. Help you read and write the language (for example Clozemaster)
5. Schedule and track your study sessions (for example Streaks)

You can add many more ideas to this list, for example keeping up to date with news in another country or preparing for an exam.

Learn more about language apps and the ones the Fluent Show hosts use on our podcast and list about apps.

3. The App Teaches You The Right Language

There is more than way to answer this question!

Of course, the app should offer the language you’re learning. Some are common like French and Chinese, others a little bit rare like Welsh and Hawaiian. (Drops offers 3 out of the 4!)

Different themes to choose in Drops app

Secondly, it should cover what you want to talk about. Most language courses are developed with an eye on their market, for example travellers or people who need the language for travel.

The key is to talk about what you find interesting, instead of suffering through vocabulary about politics just because your textbook says that this is what you “should do”.

Drops offers in a cool twist on the “language tree” system of other apps. In this app, you get to choose what matters. For example travellers can start by learning helpful vocabulary for their travels first, business students get to grips with the Business & Tech words, while romantics may want to start learning how to talk about relationships.

4. The App Maximises Your Language Study Time

Time and habits are closely related. When you’re thinking of learning a new language, one of the first questions in your mind will be: When am I supposed to do fit this in?

The trick for many learners is to stop thinking of language study as these super-sessions that last 3 hours, and instead to study little and often. This is certainly how I’ve been studying languages myself, and I can now have conversations in several languages that I studied for a few minutes on most days.

So with any language learning app, the question is: What can you do in the app, given the time that you have? The good ones will know that you are not here to study for many hours, and they’ll maximise your results for this short time.

Timing Your App Usage

That ticking clock knows no excuses!

For those of us who are pressed for time and easily distracted, Drops has introduced a simple and effective tool: the countdown! Learners who start out on Drops will only have 5 minutes of app time available to them. That’s right, after 5 minutes the app will lock and you’ll have to wait.

You can gain extra seconds by keeping up a streak and checking in regularly. But the app will still help you to stop learning and keep up a habit of small steps, rather than a huge study session that you won’t want to repeat.

When you see that countdown ticking as you study languages, it does something magical: you’ll stick with this app. Most of the time, our phone usage is bitty as heck. Using a smartphone is frantic and distracting, and that’s not a great way to study. But the timer in the Drops app acts like a gentle reminder: Stick with this, you’ve decided to do it and it’s only 5 minutes.

I’ve no doubt that other education apps are going to introduce this super cool countdown feature as well, because it’s perfect for busy smartphone users.

5. The Language App is Fun

If you get frustrated or bored using any language learning app, I’d say delete it. There is a huge market out there with well-designed apps, and the phone is not the place to start trying to practice tenacity when something isn’t fun.

Ask yourself these questions to be sure that the app will work correctly:

Is it fast?

The app should load quickly and minimise the time you have to spend typing on the world’s smallest keyboard. Save your thumbs! For me, this is the area where Drops was most surprising. There is no typing at all.

Drops is the most considerate app for phone users I’ve seen so far.

Is it pretty?

I’m not talking about pink unicorns. If the app interface doesn’t make you want to look at it, you are less likely to use it. Choose an app that makes you think “experience”, not “homework”.

Does it work well on your phone/tablet/watch?

If the app you’re using hasn’t been tested well enough, it may come up with a number of bugs. Screens getting stuck, freezing, shutting down, or a failure to save your hard-earned progress will warrant an email to the developer, but they’re not a reason to stick with this version.

6. You’re Still Learning With The App

Download a bunch of language learning apps, and then track yourself as you go ahead and use them. You’ll find that a few apps are always “top of mind” and just keep you coming back, while others don’t seem to get any screen time.

It’s okay to say “this one just isn’t right for me”. With the range of apps that we have available now, my advice is to cut out the apps that sit on your phone and don’t get used. The key is to know where your focus is, and that should be where you have fun as well.

As a final tip, consider putting some money on the line for a subscription to an app that you enjoy and use the most. Paying for something can help a user feel more satisfied and more effective using it, and supporting good developers can only work in our favour as language learners. After all, “free” doesn’t always mean the same thing as “good”. In no language.

_By the way…_Drops has a free version and a paying subscription, here is a link for 40% off if you decide to go for it.

What Is Your Most Effective Language App?

If you haven’t given the Drops app a go yet, I can definitely recommend it! I’ve been using this app for weeks now for my Chinese practice, and found that I’m remembering new words well and feeling confident about the “Kangxi Radicals” it’s teaching me.

I’d love to hear from you. Do you download lots of apps and test drive them all? Or are you a one-app one-time kind of learner? Leave me a comment below to join the conversation.

9 of the Best Podcasts for Learning German

What would you do if you could easily understand spoken German? Perhaps you'd finally travel to the places you've dreamed of, watch the original version of your favourite film, or try ordering that fabled Club Mate to go full on German hipster.

If you want to prepare yourself for real conversations with German natives, there's great value in developing those listening skills.

Why Practice German Listening Skills?

German is a language with consistent pronunciation and spelling, so you will find that the more you listen, the more you can work out. And for any level of language, podcasts have come onto the scene.

And what easier way to do this than with a German podcast.

Podcasts are a great way to add a little German listening practice into your day-to-day life. They are free, and can accompany any part of your day: driving a car, washing your dishes, doing laundry, working out, reading, and more.

Quick Primer: How Do Podcasts Work?

If you're curious about podcasts, but not quite sure how they work, here's what you need to know:

1. You can subscribe for free to podcasts on your phone, tablet, or computer.

2. If you use an iPhone or iPad, go to the Podcasts app. If you're on a Mac, use the iTunes directory.

3. On a PC or Android device, try the Pocketcasts app for a quick and easy start.

4. Subscribing means you'll always have the latest episode ready and waiting for you as soon as it's published.

German is a great language for learning by podcast. There is a big selection, so I've gone and selected 9 of the best shows for you to discover.

Listen To The Fluent Show

In addition to the German podcasts you'll find in this article, check out the my own podcast The Fluent Show where we share languages, learning methods, and how to live a multilingual life.

As a German learner, you will love this recent bilingual episode in German and English with polyglot Judith Meyer.

The 9 Best German Podcasts for Learners

In this article, you'll find

1. German Podcast Courses from Deutsche Welle

2. Podcasts in Slow German

3. German Video Shows

4. Story-Based and German Culture Podcasts

5. A tip on how to find podcasts produced by native German speakers

German Podcast Courses from Deutsche Welle

• Deutsch - Warum Nicht? (Deutsche Welle - A1-B1)

Deutsch - Warum Nicht? is a 4-part podcast series for complete beginners and early German learners. Parts 1 and 2 focus on the A1 and A2 (beginner) stages while Parts 3 and 4 focus on the B1 (intermediate) stages. It tells the story of Andreas Schäfer, a journalism student and hotel doorman. Each of the four series contains 26 lessons all with PDF dialogues, exercises, and downloadable audio clips. These series are for beginners, intermediate learners, and advanced learners.

• Deutsch - Wieso Nicht? (Deutsche Welle - B1)

Deutsch - Wieso Nicht? is the sequel to Deutsch - Warum Nicht. It focuses on intermediate level German (roughly B1). Everything is in German and like its predecessor, downloadable PDFs and audio files are available. The podcast focuses on topics related to daily life in Germany and Austria on fun and interesting topics and situations. It is very clear and easy to understand and follow. I wholeheartedly recommend it to intermediate German learners.

Podcasts in Slower German

These podcasts present slow or slightly simplified German language content, while keeping you attuned to real German voices. Make sure you keep yourself attuned to faster spoken German too, otherwise you might flounder in conversation.

• News in Slow German

News in Slow German is an intermediate level podcast. This podcast covers world news, grammar, and expressions and slows down all the dialogue to make it easier to process what you hear. Every episode breaks down a point on grammar and vocabulary.

The audio is very clear and easy to follow. On the website there are transcripts for each episode available with grammar, expressions, pronunciation, and quizzes.

• Slow German Mit Annik Rubens

Annik Rubens from Munich produces German learning podcasts for two levels:

• For absolute beginners, there is a podcast in English which introduces basic German words.
• For intermediate learners, she covers interesting aspects and stories about Germans, German culture, and German places.

The podcast offers a paid premium version with great extras such as slowed down lessons, PDF guides, grammar and vocabulary tutorials, fairy tales, and quizzes.

German Video Shows

• Learn German With Videos (Yabla)

Yabla is a video-based learning platform with bilingual subtitles and integrated dictionaries. The subtitles are interactive, which is a really cool concept! Check out how Yabla works in detail by reading my full review.

Yabla is great for all levels from basic to advanced. There is a free German podcast available with plenty of videos to watch.

Story-Based and German Culture Podcasts

• Authentic German Learning

This podcast comes on the back of the successful Authentic German Learning website and YouTube channel! It promises to be an exciting one, as the host, Marco Rösler, is an enthusiastic and energetic host with a zest for life. This podcast is focused on learning German through personal development and the TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) method. The concept invites you to read and listen to the dialogue at the same time.

• LingQ German Podcast

The LingQ German podcast was recommended to me by German learner Alex Gentry as one of his favorites. Steve Kaufmann, the founder of LingQ, emphasises learning German through extensive listening to audio and reading of texts. This is called the comprehensible input method.

The LingQ podcast is excellent for beginner and intermediate learners. There is no English, the tone is relaxed and conversational, and steve gets right in there talking to German native speakers. All exercises are available to download via iTunes, and you can sign into LingQ to get the podcast notes, transcripts, and exercises.

• Coffee Break German

Coffee Break German, a podcast from Radio Lingua Network, combines German language lessons with a lot of useful information about German food, culture, German-speaking countries, and so on.

My favorite part of the podcast is the chemistry between relaxed and charismatic host Mark from Scotland and native speaker Thomas from Bavaria. Cultural Correspondant Julia from Potsdam has great cultural advice, and Grammar Guru Kirsten from Scotland discusses grammar in a clear, easy to understand way.

• GermanPod101.com (InnovativeLanguage)

GermanPod101 from InnovativeLanguage covers any level you can think of from basic to advanced German. With enticing titles and interesting themes for each episode, you'll never get bored.

The dialogues are presented by engaging presenters and the hosts Judith (a native speaker) and Chuck (a fluent speaker) cover both cultural and grammatical aspects clearly and concisely. On the website you can sign up for the premium content to access spaced repetition flashcards, PDF lesson notes, and a community forum for a subscription fee.

Advanced Learner Tip: Native German Podcasts

The German podcast world has come a long way in recent times, and these days you'll be able to find a big array of native level content to listen to when you want to get German language immersion. You can choose from a full catalogue of shows on topics from politics to film reviews. The easiest way to access native German language podcasts is to go to iTunes and switch your country setting to "Germany" or "Austria".

There's no restriction on your switch, and you'll be able to access all podcasts in the same way that listeners from Germany can. One of my favorites is Serienjunkies, covering TV reviews from Game of Thrones to new netflix arrival Dark.

Free German Guide for YOU

My mini-guide to speaking German is out now! It’s called Make Your German Sound Amazing and will give you the best tips and 26 key phrases to make you ready for any conversation. Get it today by subscribing to the Fluent Language Newsletter.

My 5 Simple Steps to French Fluency in 2017

I started learning French over 20 years ago and persisted with it diligently, but for a long time learning French felt like the harder version of learning my other languages, like English and Italian. It’s just that little bit trickier: a little harder to pronounce, a little less seductive.

I never quite connected to that relatively formal French culture, saying Madame and reserving the jokes for a little later. My language level slid down a little from C1…but this year something changed. In 2017...

French came back into my life!

After my first visit to Montréal, I discovered the joys of Quebecois and the relaxed French-Canadian mannerisms that were so on my wavelength. And since moving to Canterbury in South East England, I suddenly started hearing a lot more of the language, bumping into French people, and visiting the French bakeries here.

French is spoken by 80 million people on every continent of the world, and I’m part of a huge community of French learners. In other words, I was able to re-connect to French and focus on how much fun it is to learn a language when we love the places where it’s spoken.

If you also feel a desire to improve your French, either build on old foundations or to start from scratch, check out the following resources to see how I added more French language into my life.

1) Adding French to My Podcast List

My go-to podcast in French is News in Slow French, a short show that takes up no more than 7 or 8 minutes. I also had a root around the French iTunes Store to find more interesting shows.

My usual podcast joys are true crime, languages, politics, and TV reviews so I added Whisperos, a French review show all about Game of Thrones. The great thing about podcasts is that they’ll teach me a bit more colloquial French, my total weakness after years and years of academic and secretarial studies in the language.

Such a small button, such great results

2) Reading in French for 10-15 Minutes a Day

People don’t read anymore? Nonsense! I believe that the text-based nature of the internet means that most people who own a screen read more than ever. My French education had always focused on reading formal language like business letters and Le Monde, so I went out of my way to look for texts with street cred on this one.

Street Cred:

First, I added a subscription to the MademoiZelle feed to my list of blogs. Second, I went out and purchased magazines like Marie-Claire in French. So that was lots of casual, women’s mag style topics, perfect for keeping me interested.

…and Edu Cred

Third, a trip to the library sorted me out with the book 50 Ways to Improve Your French. Sometimes it’s nice to revisit language instruction and focus back on little linguistics points to improve and exercises that go with them. The book is split into different sections so that I only had to pick what was new to me (vocabulary and a review of irregular verbs, job done).

Adding to that, I regularly read articles from French Crazy and French Together to get new words and interesting points into my system.

3) Working through Glossika

I actively sought out educational materials for French learners. I worked on Glossika 123 French to speak more - the majority of sentences were a little below my level, which allowed me to think on my feet and whiz through them.

4) Setting Goals and Making Them Public

As a busy person who is already tackling one main language (Welsh), it was important for me to make sure I actually commit to the time I was going to spend studying the French language.

I’m not someone who learns for over an hour every day, and I do not believe that daily hours of study are necessary for fluency. But having said that, the German saying von nix kommt nix (from nothing comes nothing) is also true. If I was going to get better at French, I had to spend a little more time and effort on it.

So in addition to looking for a few new resources that I was interested in, I also made the decision to be very public about my renewed French efforts. I set up my goals in the Language Habit Toolkit, printed them out and pasted them in my notebook.

A post shared by Kerstin Cable (@kerstin_fluent) on Aug 29, 2017 at 8:58am PDT

The best thing about planning in this way was that I got to eliminate my background worries about how learning French would make it impossible to progress in Welsh, and instead I always had clarity on how much I was going to add in each language.

Posting the photo on Instagram may not be much of a public commitment for some, but for me this was really important. When I tell you guys I’ll do something, it’s just one more reason to keep going.

5) The Easiest Way My French Improved: Speaking to More People!

French is spoken all over the world, so you can look forward to connecting with people in this language anywhere from Canada to Sénégal, from France to Shanghai. Sometimes the French speakers do seem to hide a little bit though, so my trips to Canada and my move to Canterbury really made a difference.

Now, I hear French spoken in the street, at my office, and on the television. But that didn’t solve my conversations issue entirely, so I went one further and found regular text partners. I’ve not started video calling in French yet, but have high hopes for adding in a few conversation classes soon.

If you’re looking for an online tutor or partner, the best online directories to use are italki (for qualified, independent, fair priced live tutors), and HelloTalk (for texting new people).

Keeping My Commitment

Before I started, a small part of me was grappling with the lack of excitement I was feeling. French wasn’t as hot as Welsh somehow, it felt like more of a chore. Adding interesting content and keeping the commitment to “little and often” helped me pull through and improve quickly.

I never aimed to read or listen to French for more than a quarter of an hour every day, but found that this made it a lot easier to get started. If you’re finding it particularly hard to get going, try my “ok then” trick and set a timer for just 10 minutes. It’s a lot better than ignoring French altogether and letting that guilt mount up in your head.

In conclusion, language should never feel like a chore…even if it does require some hard discipline now and then!

How Good is your French?

Are you a French learner, too? Have you been trying to master the language for 20+ years like me, or do you feel like you’re just starting to fly?

I’d love to hear your favourite resources and tips, so go ahead and leave a comment below.

By the way: If you're keen to improve your French grammar, check out Finally Get It in French Grammar, a course I'm teaching in the Fluent online school.

No More Hoarding! How to Organize All Your Language Learning Resources

Ever heard of resource overload? Most language lovers I know can't get enough of new books, courses, and blogs to inspire them...but there's a dark side!

Language resources can be overwhelming. You might wonder which ones are worth your time, or what you really need to get started in a language.

Over the years, I've amassed a huge pile of language learning resources, and in today's post I want to introduce you to a few of my favourites and explain four categories of resources that you should have when you're teaching yourself a language.

For instant organisation, you can find a Resource Organiser worksheet in the Language Habit Toolkit, available in the Fluent Online School.

1) Guiding Resources: Language Textbooks and Language Courses

The first resource I believe you should have is what I call a guiding resource. This can be a book, a CD set, a video course, or even a night class. For any resource to be considered a guiding resource in my mind, it must fulfil the following criteria:

Great Structure

Never compromise on structure. Look out for units, chapters, steps. There is none that is best for everyone, so ensure that your guiding resource follows a path that you will find interesting. You don't want something that just throws a lot of information at you, and you don’t want to be yawning by chapter 3.

The resource should have lessons that move you from one level to the next level. For example, in Benny Lewis' Teach Yourself book, there are different units and they tell you what it is you are going to learn - units such as talking about yourself, asking about other people, talking about family, and describing things.

Having a structure to follow is very important for independent language learners, so be sure to check out the curriculum before you buy.

Designed for Your Situation

When you buy a textbook, make sure you check if your choice might be designed for group classes (for example, Façon de Parler). This doesn't make such textbooks bad resources, but the way they are written, a lot of the exercises are usually not designed for you to do by yourself. The text will say something like: "Find a partner in your group and then practice these sentences with them," or "In the group, have a discussion of this image." The textbooks just assume that you're in a group class. If you're teaching yourself, this is not always helpful.

Multimedia

Third, there should be a multimedia component. This means that you want more than just a book or audio. You want the book unit to be accompanied by audio, worksheets, or video. Online courses in languages are getting better and better, but check that there’s offline access if you need it.

My preferred structure for a guiding resource is this:

Start with a story or dialogue, then an explanation of what was new, and finish with a chance for you as the learner to practice what you’ve learnt.

Good examples of guiding resources are

• Teach Yourself series, in particular the Language Hacking books
• Assimil (on Amazon UK)
• Duolingo if used in line with these recommendations

2) Input Resources: Enjoyable and Comprehensible Input

Input resources are very easy to find…the internet is a total treasure trove of them! I also call them supplementary resources, as they supplement all other learning.

You can have as many as you want. You never have too many input resources. With these resources, you can follow any story or video for some time, drop it, and then get back to it weeks later. Most YouTube videos in the language that you're learning are going to fall into this category. Music and TV shows also fall into this category.

Your input resources must be understandable, but not too easy and not too hard. You need to be able to sense that you're learning as you're following it; so, there should be a little bit of a challenge. But at the same time, you don't want them to be so easy that you know exactly what's coming.

If it’s fun, it works

Input resources also must be enjoyable. They must be fun, so feel very free to toss out what doesn’t interest you. If you don't enjoy them, you aren't going to engage with them. At Langfest in Montreal, I met the famous applied linguist Dr Stephen Krashen, whose belief in comprehensible input is all about these resources. This is where the magic happens. You need input, it needs to be fun, you need to understand it, and you need lots of it.

Good examples of input resources include

• Easy Languages on Youtube
• Olly Richards’ Short Stories for Language Learning (Amazon UK | amazon.com)

3) Reference Resources: Dictionaries, Grammar Guides, Phrasebooks

In a journey as epic as learning a new language, you’re going to get lost and waste lots of time without a map, and that’s what the reference resource can be for you.

Accessible Language Materials

First, the resource must be accessible. Obviously, they should be there for you to touch or open, but more importantly, they must be easy to understand. Second, the resource must be accessible in the sense that you should have it around. It should be there when you want it because the whole idea of a reference resource is you don't follow it as a course.

Dip in and out

Nobody ever learned a language by reading a dictionary. Instead of following reference resources as a course, you just have them around for when you have a question. At the start of language learning, I think reference resources are good to help you answer the question for yourself: Where am I going to look this up?

Many video courses fit right into the reference category. For example, the Fluent courses on German pronunciation and on grammar cross over between guiding and reference resources. My dream for my German courses is that somebody follows it, gains a lot from it the first time, but knows that they can dip in and watch every video individually.

Good examples of reference resources include

The three core reference resources you need are

• a good online or offline dictionary (read my in-depth dictionary tips)
• a good grammar resource (read more tips on effective grammar study)
• and a good pronunciation guide.

---

So those are the three key categories of resources you should have somewhere in your personal language library. To re-cap:

1. Guiding Resources give your studies shape and help you know your progress. You want these to be structured.
2. Input Resources make language learning effective and enjoyable. You want these to be fun and right for your level.
3. Reference Resources are on hand when you have specific questions and need a quick answer. You want these to be easy to access and understand.

If you don't have these three areas covered on your (virtual or IRL) bookshelf, it's easy to feel lost when learning a new language, to miss things, and even to lose yourself and think you're better than you are or worse than you are.

4. Self-Teacher's Resources

Are you learning a language by yourself? You need one more: the self-teacher's resources, which are all about how to organise yourself. This category contains language learning blogs, podcasts, books to help you master the learning process.

The self-teacher's resources are awesome because they

1. keep you motivated and accountable
2. help you adopt great study techniques.

For a practical, action-focused take on this resource that will set you up for inevitable success, check out the Language Habit Toolkit, your language coach in a box.

What are your favourite resources? Want recommendations for a resource in your target language or feel you're lacking something?

No problem! Leave me a comment below or say hi in the Fluent Language Learners Facebook group.