Guten Tag Ellen, in order to learn German, it is very important that you listen to and practise spoken German as often as possible to improve your German pronunciation. You can also click onto Language Partners and Language Teachers at the top of this page and email native German speakers to set up a time to practise oral German. Click onto Groups and join one that you like to practise your German pronunciation. If you click up to Knowledge and then to Learn German you will find a lot of information as well

Hello Ellen, German is said to be a difficult language to learn ,however it shares the same roots with English language ,they both derive from Germanic language roots.Many words are the same in both languages ,although spelled and pronounced differently.The distinct element in German language is its structure and some peculiar grammar rules, that aren't that simple . The following are some tips to learn German: - If you are a beginner take some courses to jump start , get introduced to the alphabet , pronunciation , simple vocabulary etc. - Learn the vowels: German has 3 extra vowels:a-umlaut, o-umlaut, and u-umlaut. (An umlaut, or diareses in English, is a pair of dots placed over the vowel.) - Capitalize all nouns, which are divided into masculine, feminine and neuter genders. This is one of the German language peculiarities. - Study the language through classes, books, tapes, video, software and the Internet as necessary . - Start then reading simple texts at your level of comprehension and look up new words . - Watch German subtitled movies , listen to German songs and write down the lyrics. - Chat with native Germans in real if possible , if not at least online using programs such as "italki" for voice chatting and getting hold of the accent. Good luck:)