At the moment, please have a look here.


B. Interesting Dictionaries for German ("Wörterbücher")

I. Bi- or Multilingual Dictionaries

It is always advisable not to rely merely on a Google search, as some students seem to do these days, especially if one has left the beginner's state of learning a language. It is much better to use real dictionaries, as they provide many alternative translations and often examples for the use of a word. Fortunately, for learning German, there are a few good choices.

At the moment, you can find some here, too. Else and especially (and very useful to students of various nations, as offering translations into multiple languages):

• Pons (even if your mother tongue is not English, you might want to choose the English-German version as a base, as grammatically relevant explanations might be more extensive)
  
• Leo (offering a good grammar and a forum where you can ask questions, too)
• Langenscheidt
• for Japanese: Wadoku (if you are looking for Japanese-English dictionaries, see here and here)
  
• for Chinese: Handedict (the original site seems to be offline, for further information see here) and Dehanci (you might need to use a VPN, but that may work neither). For English, there are quite a few interesting ones, please see here.
  

Please note that it can be very helpful to compare translations, particularly if one has got the feeling that the one one dictionary is giving, somehow feels "off". This may be rare, but it does happen.

II. Monolingual Dictionaries

There are, furthermore, dictionaries that are only in German, but still, depending on the case, very helpful for learning once a certain progress has been made, as they will offer you explanations even a German may need to know (grammar, forms), and in these they may be more extensive, depending on the case. Here are some you can find online:

• The Deutsche Wörterbuch of the Grimm Brothers – probably the largest German dictionary.
• The Goethe-Wörterbuch
• Das Digitale Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache des Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts

It is very sad to say that Der Duden cannot be recommended here any longer. This is the dictionary that used to set the rules until the spelling reform took away that privilege. It is still a helpful tool for spelling, though. Or is it? For recently it started listing to use the gender star under "options", although refraining from actually recommending it according to the linked article. Nevertheless, citing Art. 3 of the Basic Law in this context is, quite... devious, in my eyes. Ideology is nothing that should be allowed to thus grossly distort the German language. One needs to put a stop at this tendency, to run after the crowd... Rather simply teach it correctly! But what is to be expected of linguists who allowed the spelling reform because students' wrote badly? Last I checked, if students make mistakes, they should be corrected instead of changing the norms. And that is still the case. You can also access the Duden – albeit not necessarily in the most current edition – if you are using Kindle: access a book written in German, look up a word, then the Duden will be presented to you and you can search it. And it is getting eve worse, see here and here. Also see here, here and here. Not really much recommend any longer...). (Students may undergo a risk, though, if they uphold good style and grammar, yet there are also courageous and grammatically and stylistically aware academics. For my own detailed remarks on the topic see here; more extensively various German articles on the topic you can find from here).

Please note that I myself continue to advocate the traditional German spelling. To read more about this in German, have a look here and follow the links there. Of course, when teaching, I follow your wish in teaching you the spelling you like or need, so do not worry, but on this site I write according to my preferences.

For etymological dictionaries and dictionaries of foreign words and synonyms, please refer to the German version of this document, which you can find here.

II. For Translators from English and People with English as a Mother Tongue

• http://uebersetzungsfallen.de/

Here – currently, only in German –  https://leo.org is a good option, although oriented a bit on factual use rather than unapplied rules (says the site), so with a certain amount of discernment. However, apart from that, still one of the best online grammars I know.

This one could also be helpful.

https://grammis.ids-mannheim.de/ is also interesting, for a short overview over grammatical terns, see here (= here).

For further information about and details of German grammar, see here.

F. Online Classes

Contact us for online classes - see here. (Else, see e.g. http://www.dw-world.de/deutschkurse, here for beginners.).


G. Book about Germany

This book can be downloaded for free - it is or used to be also distributed in print versions, e.g. by embassies, and allows to see terms in the areas of government, history, society and culture in various languages by comparing the editions:

https://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de/de/Deutschland-Buch-Ausgabe-2018


H. German Institutions in your Country where you might find German spoken

I. In General

You should be able to find Germans and perhaps a possibility to talk in German in the following locations

• the German, Swiss and Australian (and perhaps Luxembourgian?) embassies
• the Goethe-Institut, where you can also visit and borrow from the library
  
• the German chamber of foreign trade in your country (AHK)
  
• church communities
• German societies and / or clubs
• originally German or Swiss cities and villages (e.g. in South America, Russia)
  

II. In Japan

E.g. the Deutsche Schule in Yokohama, the Evangelische Kirche in Tokyo and the Katholische Kirche in Tokyo. Further information about institutions linked to cultural exchange you will find on the respective pages of the German embassy in Tokyo.

The German Institute for Japanese studies in Tokyo has, shamefully, switched to English. Unthinkable that a British, U.S. or French institution would even conceive treating its own linguistic heritage liek that.


I. Support

J. Looking for Books or Magazines ?

• Scientific and good books can also be obtained from the Wissenschaftlichen Buchgesellschaft. If you would like to order anything from there, I would be glad if I could arrange your membership, but, of course, you can do that yourself, too. However, recently (as of spring 2022), strange (un)grammatical gender related ideological forms have made it to the website, so I am not too sure how long this formerly great book club will still be recommendable.
  

• I also like Readly very much. Again, if you should decide to sign up, contact me before, and we both might be able to get a free month.