UA-155374423-1, <
OPINIONS BELOW ARE THOSE OF THE WEBMASTER AND NOT OF ALL THE STAMMTISCH MEMBERS.  I WAS ASKED TO PROviDE INFORMATION ON GERMAN LEARNING AND TV, SO THAT IS WHAT I'M DOING.  MY OPINIONS ARE PROVIDED TO HELP YOU aVOID WASTING YOUR TIME.  HOWEVER, YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL AND AS SUCH CAN MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND.  JUST REMEMBER ONE THING, MY SAXON ROOTS MAKE ME ALWAYS RIGHT!

How to Get German TV in the USA


We've been asked where can you find good German television in the United States?  Dish TV has a few channels, but what if you want more or don't have DISH. It also costs more than some options now available on the net. Well, here are some options, beside looking for German movies and documentaries on Youtube.  Das Erste, ZDF, Deutsche Welle, Welt and Arte have their own websites and apps for androids and Apple products so you can go to them for a start.  For more programming, try this.

YOUTV    youtv.de    It can be free for very very basic programming or you can pay about 7 dollars a month for basic. I like the $10 per month service as it gives you the option to save programs up to 300 days before watching them.  There are about 40 channels on the service.  I like it because I can download it to my computer, my Fire TV or my Fire Tablet or Apple Ipad and watch a video anytime.  The problem with the service is you must PLAN your tv.  Pick out shows days or weeks in advance and then it records it to their cloud where you can download it later.
Another is that they recognize what country your device is registered in.  SO - if you want to download and watch the latest Avengers movie in German, you will be blocked.  The easiest way around this is click on the movie for recording while your device is using a privacy VPN app.  I use Private VPN.  So all together with VPN and Youtv subscriptions it costs me about $15 per month. 

Microsoft Windows 10 had an app called Deutsch TV -- Then they had Global TV 10 in the Microsoft Store  which did work.  You can't find anything that works in Microsoft Store, so forget it!.

Save.tv  is also a subscription service and seems available in the USA. From their website they seem to be similar and offer similar options as YOUTV.   Sling TV also has a few German stations. 

Going to Apple Apps on the IPAD and IPHONE, you have a few more options.   Österreich TV and Suisse TV are apps and have several stations associated with each. 

Of course there is also DW - Deutsche Welle, ARD and Eins apps for all electronic devices, but live shows are often limited.  Deutsche Welle is also on Youtube.  I think the link to live German language broadcast changes from time to time.  Right now it is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYnc_RvsxnQ  if it isn't there I usually can find it by typing Youtube Deutsche Welle live into a search engine.

So, hopefully these are enough options to get you started on your trek Deutsch zu sprechen.  Viel Spaß!

Do you have an option?  Write me
ON LINE GERMAN LEARNING
  • FluentU.  Try it free for 14 days.  One blogger thinks highly of this program.  After 14 days it costs $20 to $30 per month.  As you will find out below, I don't like to pay for on-line practice.  I don't mind buying books and I don't mind a ONE TIME PAYMENT to use a program, but paying monthly is something I try to avoid (although I do subscribe to YOUTV on a monthly basis). 
  • Duolingo -  This can be free or you can pay for it.  This WAS a really good site to help you get up to the B2 Level of German.  Now it is more a pain in the ...well you know.  If you want to spend about a half hour a day learning German, you can probably get through about three lessons.  Great!  The problem as of 2020 is that they changed the way their algorithm determines what you need to REPRACTICE. Once you reach level five of any skill, at some point the level is BROKEN and they want you to REDO your skills to get back to level 5.   So while you are trying to learn genitive or plus quam perfect, it takes you back to learning 2+2=4 (Zwei plus Zwei ist Vier).  This is like being at the advanced algebra level and being told once a month you have to review 2+2.  It wouldn't be so bad if they limited it to one REDO practice a day, but once you get enough levels under your belt, they will want you to do three a day.  So instead of doing 3 practices a day in 20 minutes and learning new levels, if you want to keep all your levels at level 5, you are spending 20 minutes relearning 2+2 or whatever other 1st year stuff they throw at you.  Because of this, DO NOT PAY FOR THIS PACKAGE!  Use the free service.     AS A POSITIVE, they have about 120 conversation stories that ask you questions and these are good for helping your conversation.
  • DeutschAkadamie. - I just found this site and they seem to have the resources of a lot of new German course books.  They also have audio studies and it seems I will be using this a lot instead of Duolingo.
  • Goethe-Institut. -  There are some fee apps you can get on Iphone that Goethe-Institut provide for free for a limited time.  You can use those.  They charge over 600€ for their on-line courses and therefore I am definitely passing.  There is a free of charge section, but with three other sites (and I'm including Duolingo in that) that offer free courses, it will be a while before I check out their free stuff.
  • Deutsch-Lernen.com. - Seems almost on a par with DeutschAkadamie and so I will be checking it out.  Free is always good.  I think it is neat that they have a section on German Jokes, always good at parties after a few beers!
  • Babbel.- It is a pay site.  I don't plan to use it, but if anyone has comments about it, e-mail me and I will include your review.
  • Deutsch-Uni Online. - Costs start at a hefty 150€ .  I think I'll pass!
  • Deutsche Welle. -- I've used this a little.  I like their short video lessons and as I am giving up on Duolingo will probably be using this and DeutschAkademaie to continue my studies.

Practicing Polite Conversation
Höfliches Gespräch üben
Smalltalk auf Deutsch

1. Wie war deine Woche?
2. Ist dir etwas heikles oder aufregendes passiert?

3. Was planst du für das kommende Wochenende?
4. Was machst du am liebsten am Wochenende? Bist du eine Couch-Potato oder lieber unterwegs?
5. Wie lässt du den Feierabend heute ausklingen?
6. Was für Filme schaust du gerne?
7. Welche/n Schauspieler/-in findest du besonders toll?
8. Welche Band hörst du gern?
9. Kannst du mir ein Buch empfehlen?
10. Hast du in letzter Zeit eine tolle Serie gesehen? Ich suche gerade Nachschub!
11. Kennst du die Serie __xy__ ? Ich bin gerade richtig süchtig danach!
12. Welche Serie muss man, deiner Meinung nach, gesehen haben?
13. Kennst du ein gutes Restaurant in der Nähe?
14. Bist du ein guter Koch/gute Köchin oder bevorzugst du Lieferdienste?
15. Wohin ging deine letzte Reise?
16. Ich reise bald nach __xy___. Warst du schon einmal dort? Was sollte ich mir unbedingt ansehen?
17. Wenn du unendlich viel Geld zur Verfügung hättest, wohin würdest du reisen?
18. Bevorzugst du Städte-Trips oder Strand-Reisen?
19. Willst du etwas Verrücktes über dich preisgeben?
20. Wann hast du das letzte Mal mehr als acht Stunden geschlafen?

Die wichtigsten Abkürzungen