Nowadays it seems there is no need to take a language course in Germany to study German: almost everything is available through the Internet. Everybody will soon stay at home while studying a foreign language.

Nevertheless: as anybody who has learnt a foreign language will tell you, it is obvious that an internet course can't ever replace the language experience gained in the "mother-tongue" country.

Why is it worth learning a language? First of all to understand and to be understood by people of other nationalities.

For the preparation of a course in Germany and its follow-up after the course for studying texts or simply keeping in contact with the language the Internet offers additional options if someone's goal is:

• Undertaking first steps in a foreign language: vocabulary, phrases, basic grammar
• Learning independently of fixed times and places
• Staying in contact with the foreign language for own needs and fun
• Giving more priority to "language theory" and "grammar" than to interaction and communication.

However the multimedia software and online courses have the advantage of being accompanied by a tutor - if requested. Also independent modules can be ordered . So, the learner doesn't have to buy a pig in a poke, or, as the Germans say "buy the cat in a sack" (die Katze im Sack kaufen).

In the following we have listed some online learning programs which might be interesting for you:

• The Deutsche Welle (DW) offers German courses for beginners levels and intermediate levels and also for Business German. Moreover there are "sticking points" tips. An additional text book and audio files can be downloaded for free.
  In addition a multimedia-supported course can be found under redaktion-D keyword, which prepares you for the A1 and A2 levels certificates.
• Online exercises for German as a foreign language: Grammar, vocabulary, regional studies, quiz... are offered by www.ralf-kinas.de
• BBC offers below "Make German Your Business" site offers audio clips from the tv programme, tips about learning German language and cultural notes.
• www.hauptstrasse117.de is a comprehensive online course for the language levels A1 and A2 publised by the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
• The Oklahoma State University offers an educational learning centre for German distance learning at germanonline.okstate.edu.
• Dreistadt - the virtual city. The program makes a (virtual) space available in which one meets to communicate with each other in German. It was developed by the University of Bergen in Norway and is part of the network LINGO.
• The Deutschlern.net offers texts based on news from news. Registration is requested to start. The site is manged from Joachim Quandt of the "Centro Navarro de Autoprendizaje de Idiomas (CNAI)" in Spain.
• With LearnPlus German Courses you can make your first steps in German online. The courses are fully interactive and offer a support by real language teachers. Free language assessment and course demo.
• At www.Interdeutsch.de you will find the language service from Dr. Claudia Popov in Leipzig. She offers various online courses and inside her Studienbibliothek there are interactive websites with exercises, games and tests for 3 language levels.
• uni-deutsch, the program "German for Academic and Professional Purposes" of the Goethe-Institut, is the official distance learning course for preparing towards established university entrance level examinations such as Test-DaF, ZOP, DSH, KDS.
  Online tutors of the Goethe-Institut provide support while you work individually at home. The entire course material can also be printed out.
• Also Dr. Peter Gölz from the University of Victoria (Canada) offers an German Online Course below his portal GermanForTravellers.com.
• The page "German Language on the internet" of Deutsche-Kultur-International.de offers mainly an overview of programms of the Goethe-Institut.
• LangExpress.com : a good collection of innovative study materials to learn German and many other languages.
• Derweg.org: For all those who just have a basic knowledge of German and would like to improve it continuously there is the magazine "Der Weg". It is published quarterly and is free. At its website there is: material to download, information about Germany, a discussion forum,.... Try it!
• Lguide.com: A guide for learning online with evaluations, analysis and many tips. "German" is only one topic among many others.
• learntospeak.com: Besides German you can learn English, Spanish and French here. A tutor will answer questions and there are many links to grammar exercises, images, dictionaries and audio files.
• Germanlanguagelessons.com: You will learn more than 400 helpful sentences here, which are useful for every day situations.
• last but not least, here is an offer for "off-line" learning: Fokus Deutsch is learning programme with 36 episodes, supported by cassettes and video (explanations in English).
• Learn the German Language with JiffyGerman.com- 100% Free Online eCourse, handy phrases, vocabulary, tips on how to learn a language and much, much more.
• Super German Website of Jim Becker offers the following information categories | German Grammar and Drills |  Auf deutsch bitte! | Maps & Geography | German culture | Newspapers | German lessons | Travel in Germany | UK Sites | Dictionaries | Food | Games | Search Engines | German History | Miscellaneous Sites |
• www.vocabulix.com - Learn German - free online vocabulary and verb training with audio and images

The courses available are getting ever more attractive through constantly improved technology, particularly for the basic steps in A1-B1. In future, texts, audio and video will be better combined to make learning process motivating more fun. But if you "really" want to learn and practice the language, then a resident course will always be the first choice. Here our offer: www.learn-german.com

We are interested in your personal experience and learning success. Also if you know other attractive offers. Please write to : info@learn-german-online.net