Hi all! We built Vokabahn, a free German vocabulary site, and would love honest feedback from people learning German.
- Study: 15,000 words from A1 to C2, ordered by how often they're used. Each card has native-sounding audio, the article and plural, and a real example sentence with translation. Spaced repetition brings words back right before you'd forget them, with a daily goal and a streak.
- Vokabahn Express: a 3D train ride across Germany. A German word appears on your train and you switch onto the track with its meaning: https://vokabahn.com/game/vokabahn-express
It's free and stays free, no account needed (Google sign-in only syncs progress between devices). We made it, so criticism is very welcome, especially about the word choices and translations.
Thanks a lot for the feedback. You are right, “All levels” mixed in words from every level which is how Abfindung turned up so early. We’ve changed it. New words now start with everyday A1–A2 vocabulary and step up gradually as you learn, with a few slightly harder ones mixed in. You can still choose exact levels under Settings → Levels, on the All words page, and in most of the games.
About the example sentences: fair point. Some of them are more complex than the word they’re meant to teach, and a few vice versa. We’re working through them, starting with the beginner words. If one stands out as off, send it our way and it goes to the top of the list. Thanks for trying it!
Done 90 words now, bit annoyed that none of them were new to me even while I selected progressively higher levels (C2 for the last 15 or so). I definitely don't know the entire dictionary just yet 😅
And it also just occurred to me that you're missing the gender that you're supposed to learn with the word, else you just end up having to learn everything twice. Which seems like a pretty basic omission 🤔
I guess, since the source code is proprietary and ironically forbids AI scraping
Terms
Made by learners, for learners. Free, now and always.
Provided as is, with no guarantee of accuracy or availability.
Study with it freely. The selection and order of the deck, the sentences we wrote, the audio, the games and the design are © Vokabahn; copying, scraping or republishing them, in whole or in part, needs our written permission.
Automated access is not allowed: no scrapers, bulk downloads or AI-training crawlers. Search engines indexing public pages are welcome.
Meanings draw on English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, via Kaikki.org) and many example sentences on Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR); those parts stay under their own licences.
Yes, we use AI tools, Claude and ChatGPT among them, the way a lot of small projects do now. They’re tools, not the authors: a lot of hands-on work has gone into the content, and it keeps being improved. Vokabahn has been in the works for over three months. It started as something to help ourselves and other learners, and grew into a full study mode plus several games.
The sources aren’t hidden either. They’re on the About page (vokabahn.com/about/legal): English Wiktionary for the meanings and Tatoeba for many of the example sentences, credited under their licences.
On blocking AI crawlers: it’s a small, newish site, and bots were hitting it with hundreds of thousands of requests. That slows things down for actual learners and costs real money to serve. Search engines are welcome; scrapers and training crawlers aren’t. It’s free to use, and it stays free. (AI still crawls the site and gets all the data it needs from it, but this reduces it)
Vokabahn isn’t meant to be anyone’s only study material; it’s a helper that makes daily practice fun, especially the games. If someone picks up even a couple of new words, that’s already a win. A few learners have passed 2,000 words each ( Since the 1st of October ) , and honestly, that’s what gives us the motivation, and also the experience of doing something fun for us and hopefully for others.
@lemmy.world
Welcome to the place to learn the German Language! Come here to discuss topics or quirks related to the German language, ask any questions about learning German, provide tips to current learners, and share your journey through the German-learning process!
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@lemmy.world
Welcome to the place to learn the German Language! Come here to discuss topics or quirks related to the German language, ask any questions about learning German, provide tips to current learners, and share your journey through the German-learning process!
RULES
Make sure anything you plan on asking has not already been answered.
No harassing someone over their level of the language of German. Everyone starts somewhere.
No harassing period actually. Obviously no bigotry falls under this category.
In general, no low effort posts or spam. If you ask a question and it didn't receive much engagement, don't go on to ask it again immediately, at the least remove the original copy.
No NSFW. This rule has its loose limits and some exceptions (i.e. commenting on German "dirty talk" and whatnot is alright).
Mods are the interpreters of these rules, and have jurisdiction over other cases where a rule isn't explicitly mentioned here, but it is a common sense rule.
This community is largely for English speakers learning/discussing German. Other languages aren't outright banned yet, but expect minimal support. If other communities arise for German help in other languages, then those languages will be barred from this community in favor of the new one.
go to feed...
I just did some words to get today's completion.
I had the expectation it would be easier words, since I didn't specify a level (nor do I see how), but I was stumped by the word for "severance pay." And that doesn't seem like a word I generally would need in basic, every day conversation.
The example sentences seem above a basic level, too.
Edit - I found it. Looks like it defaults to all levels.
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