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Hello and thank you for your time! Recently I have read an article which claims what are the most demanded languages in the bussiness world. I was shocked reading German as second one because of I thought it was obviously talked on its own country, which was my ignorance because it is spoken on other surrounding countries aswell. So then I started to learn it, and I am using Memrise which looks nice to learn vocabulary through repetition, but I need something to use with my mobile phone and because of I am reluctant to use my phone besides calling and texting because of I do not want to worry about battery and so on, I would like to get information about applications which help me to improve my German more than just vocabulary and as an app.

Also I am enjoying the fact that some words from English are related to the ones in German, and even I have found one which is the same in Spanish and German which I thouhgt were so different.

I hope some suggestions about resources to learn on the go!

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  • Welcome to Language Learning! I have edited your question to add the [resource-request] tag, which will help you receive more relevant answers to your question.
    – fi12
    Jul 9, 2017 at 16:22
  • These 3 clarifying questions were originally asked to @enoy in Ashwin Schumann's answer, but I have moved them here and edited them out of the answer, as they are more suited for the comment section. Here are the 3 questions: What is your first language? Why do you want to learn German? When you say "app", does that also include coursebooks for your phone?
    – fi12
    Jul 10, 2017 at 9:46
  • My first language is Spanish. I want to study German because I have read it is the second one after English most valued to ge t a job in Europe. I haven't thought about coursebooks in my phone because I haven't never heard that it existed but yes now I am interested on some sort of text material to work on the phone.
    – Yone
    Jul 12, 2017 at 15:39

5 Answers 5

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There are so many apps available on Play Store to learn the different languages but, the most rated app i have found on Play Store is DuoLingo which is useful for learning the basic things in any language. You cannot learn all the things but the basic dictionary words and daily spoken words can be easily learned from this

I hope it will help

here is the link to download the app

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.duolingo&hl=en

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I cannot provide you with a constructive suggestion. Just a few thoughts:

If it is your goal to learn German, I recommend you don't waste too much of your time with apps like Memrise and the like.

If you didn't know that German is also spoken outside of Germany, you should definitely familiarise yourself with the language through resources that provide at least a minimum of context! For that purpose, even a classic coursebook does better! Otherwise, your whole endeavor will be pointless - sorry for putting it so harshly!

Also, be very careful when comparing German and English. It's always convenient to build on what we've got. But beware of building on shaky fundaments!
Many of the similarities between words in German and in English are so-called 'false friends'. This means, although words and expressions in both languages can look or even sound similar, they very often mean different, even opposing things. (Compare 'you must not' vs 'du musst nicht') - And I don't think you really wish to unlearn mistakes.

Fair enough, you didn't talk about similarities, but of relations between German and English. That can be helpful to memorise a word, but I question that this is enough to actually understand the meaning and avoid the blurring of meanings. Compare

German verb "riechen": "Es riecht nach Knoblauch." (= "It smells of garlic.")
English verb "reek": "It reeks of garlic." (="It stinks of garlic.")

If you are sensitive to morphological details, you will notice that reek and riechen resonate, and indeed they have common historical roots. Nevertheless, the English verb 'reek' has a very restricted meaning that doesn't do justice to its German 'counterpart'.

The example may seem a little bit far-fetched, but I think it does illustrate the point I've wished to make!

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  • 1
    Welcome to Language Learning! You make a good point about starting with a coursebook first, but to directly answer the original question, you could expand on your answer about what apps you recommend using to learn German (if any) after OP has finished working with the coursebook.
    – fi12
    Jul 10, 2017 at 7:42
  • @fi12 I am not knowledgeable as to which apps there are that can help learning German, so the question remains open. I just wanted to provide some thoughts to consider before venturing on the autodidactic journey. Maybe the initial question needs more precision. Enoy stated that they're looking for a resource with which they can learn "more than just vocabulary". I'm not sure about what exactly they're looking for, but I'm going to ask.
    – user3588
    Jul 10, 2017 at 8:47
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    That's great. Generally, you should use the comment section of the original question to ask clarifying questions (like the ones you have asked at the end of your question). Since I realize you don't have enough reputation to comment, I have copied your three questions and posted them as a comment under the original question.
    – fi12
    Jul 10, 2017 at 9:45
  • @fi12 Thanks for editing!
    – user3588
    Jul 10, 2017 at 13:53
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    @enoy If you find Ashwin's answer helpful, you can accept it by pressing the outline of a check mark next to it.
    – fi12
    Jul 12, 2017 at 16:15
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As far as basic vocabulary goes, you could also try out flashcard apps like Beginner German or StartFromZero_German.

Both apps are free and essentially introduces the user to the commonly used German words and phrases from scratch and building up their German vocabulary over time.

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I would like to recommend Memrise it is a very well designed app especially useful for beginners. You can try it out it is free.

There is a premium version at around 30$ per year with some extra features and offline learning (I bought the premium after a few months and I am totally satisfied).

Additionally, the subscription is not language based, so you can learn a lot of languages (and/or other subjects as well) with this subscription.

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Besides Duolingo which is just awesome, I'd recommend the PONS dictionary. It has an app for the phone too!

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    Welcome to Language Learning.SE! Although the resource you're recommending may be a good match for the OP, this post desperately needs some expansion. We don't know why you recommend it, and why is it better than the existing answers.
    – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
    Jul 15, 2017 at 14:21
  • @bytebuster is correct. Please expand on what the PONS dictionary actually is, what its features are, and how it can be accessed (perhaps provide a link if it's an online resource).
    – fi12
    Jul 17, 2017 at 11:35

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