Was Ist Hier Überhaupt Los? A study Abroad Survival Guide

Feeling Nervous About Your German?

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  There are tons of games and quizzes on www.sporcle.com and some other quiz sites. Here’s one for example: http://www.sporcle.com/games/McFly/essentialgermanverbs. These are a nice easy way to practice some basic vocab.
  
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  And here’s another nice one so you can ask Germans where they are from and not have to awkwardly nod when you have no idea what they are saying: http://online.seterra.net/en/ex/104.
  
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  If you haven’t been introduced to it already, LEO (www.leo.org) is just about the best German-to-English dictionary on the web. Google Translate (http://translate.google.com/) is getting better, and some people like the dict.cc (http://www.dict.cc/) layout, but LEO is the king here, so go ahead and bookmark it now.
  
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  You can also download apps like Duolingo (http://www.duolingo.com/) for free!
  
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  Download the dict.cc app to your smartphone and install the German/English dictionary – this will let you look up vocabulary on your phone on the fly without an internet connection!
  
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  Deutsche Welle (http://www.dw.com/de/themen/s-9077) is also a great news site geared for people learning German. It’s also a great way to stay up-to-date on current events.
  
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  Listen to some German music! This is obviously dependent on your taste, but here are a few artists and some of their best-known songs to get you started.
  
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    Seeed - Augenbling, Riddim No.1, Aufstehn. Probably the biggest act in Germany right now, they have stuff anywhere from reggae to dance music. Check out the guest verse from CeeLo Green on Aufstehn; it comes out of nowhere.
    
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    Peter Fox - Alles Neu, Haus am See. The lead man in Seeed, he also has a really well known solo album, Stadtaffe. The whole thing is worth a listen.
    
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    Kraftklub - Ich will nicht nach Berlin, Eure Mädchen - A rock/punk group who really don’t like the hipsters in Berlin
    
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    Cro - Einmal um die Welt, Du. He describes his music as “Raop,” Rap/Hip Hop. Some pretty clever lyrics and relaxing feel.
    
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    Clueso - Gewinner, Chicago, Barfuss. Acoustic guitar music, a bit of a breather. If this is more your thing, also check out Philipp Poisel or Bosse.
    
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    Die Ärtzte - Westerland. Some old rockers, kind of like the Green Day of Germany. Not the most new/hip music, but worth a listen.
    
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    Lena - 99 Luftballons. What, were we going to NOT put this on the list?
    
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    Honorable Mentions: Die Toten Hosen and Fettes Brot - Two more pretty well-known German bands.
    
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  www.forvo.com is a site where native speakers from all languages put up clips of themselves pronouncing words. So use this if you see a word but don’t know how it’s pronounced. Here are some Germans saying Eichhörnchen (squirrel), which is definitely a tough one for Americans: http://de.forvo.com/word/eichh%C3%B6rnchen/#de
  
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  www.about.com has a surprisingly good German learning section, with a lot of well-written articles about grammar and pronunciation. Here are a couple interesting ones:
  
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    Zungenbrecher (tonguebreakers a.k.a. tongue twisters) with audio: http://german.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/tonguetwisters.htm
    
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    Falsche Freunde - words that may seem similar to English words, but aren’t: http://german.about.com/library/blfalsef.htm
    
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    Konjunktiv II - Everyone’s favorite tense! http://german.about.com/od/grammar/a/konjunktivII.htm
    
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    The passive form - not quite as fun as Konjunktiv II, but still up there: http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa012901a.htm
    
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  If we don’t mention the URI Kaffeestunde, the German professors will hunt us down. So there’s that.
  
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  It’s not too late for the German Summer School either. Spend a few weeks at URI immersing yourself in German and prepping yourself for your year abroad.