I learned German several years ago but rarely used it. I am relearning it now but the courses I have tried so far have the same issues. There are too many duplicates, poor translations and worst of all useless words. I have tried Polyglot German, German to English 4000, and Big German Reading Course. Has anyone found a reliable course that minimizes these issues?
Hallo Holff,
what do you mean exactly with poor translations and useless words?
have a look at http://www.memrise.com/course/250004/learn-german-for-polyglots/10/
gives “Croque-Monsieur”/“Möchten Sie etwas zu essen?”/“heute haben wir den Montag” etc as basic terms
(bulkload of www.mementoslangues.fr/Allemand/.../GrammaireAllemande.pdf ?)
Hydroptere,
Are you promoting polyglot or commenting on it? The second link is all in French which doesn’t help.
Redux,
Translations are often vague. There are some words in English that have multiple translations depending on use i.e. kennen and wissen both mean to know but one is know a fact the other is know a person. See and meer are another example. Both can mean lake but one means sea. These courses often do not differentiate or explain properly hence the poor translations.
As for useless words, maybe advanced words or words not used in everyday language. The courses I have chosen seem to be beginner to intermediate but all have words that can be categorized as advanced. Do I really need to know words like compulsory subject, subsidized apartment and to presuppose? Some common words I dont need are scheisse and fick dich.
Hallo Holff,
ok now I understand what you mean. But the word SUBVENTIONEN and SUBVENTIONIEREN are very common in Germany. You can hear it very often in the news.
Unfortunately I don’ t know which course is highly recommended for German beginners.
A thread title asking for recommendations of courses in German might yield more suggestions. 
1 Like
Redux,
It won’t help to know SUBVENTIONEN if I don’t know the more common words around it in the sentence or if I am simply visiting and don’t plan to move there. Thank anyway…
Polyglot Has the Best fond of words, I think. In wide range.
Comprehensive Duolingo is basic enough, maybe. The Memrise courses are the most exotic.
You can always ignore words.
I actually think Polyglot is the worst.They use sentences which are technically correct, but not commonly used. It also introduces a verb in one section and in the next sections uses a different verb in a sentence without teaching it first. Why not use the verb already introduced? I like the sentences, but too many inconsistencies and incorrect translations.
I know I can ignore words, but when I am ignoring 150-200 words in a course due to duplicates, poor translations and unnecessary words, it deters learning. Instead of having one or two well created courses, I am force to search multiple courses and piecemeal a language together.
I will try Duolingo, maybe it will be better.
Here are three high-quality German courses that I have either completed, or learned at least 2000 words…
All three have active course contributors, are fairly free of errors and typos, and have audio.
The Top 5000 Words course is mostly in order of frequency, so you can ignore or skip early lessons if you already know the material.
The German Duolingo course has a lot of basic vocabulary in the early lessons, but some of the later vocab is more advanced.
Deutsch fĂĽr Euch is based on the YouTube channel of the same name, and has an assorted mix of vocabulary, some basic, some not-so-basic.
1 Like
Kaspian,
Great, Thanks for the advice. I will try them and see how they work.
Holff
You see… Memrise is a learning machine. I see it that way. And don’t expect much more. You need a lot of time and energy to plan a course. The Memrise courses have a good structure, but as I said, the basic words are skipped.
I advise you to try with some of the Duolingo courses parallely with Duolingo, where you will get the word introduction through sentences.