German Newsgroups and Lists

German Language

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German Language

Dateline: 08/17/98

This week's feature is the result of a language tip sent to me by Matthew Dalton in Australia. (Yes, I do read my email and feedback.) Matthew wrote that he likes to read messages in the German-language sections of Usenet to help improve his reading comprehension. "I often read articles from de.talk.jokes and de.rec.tv.simpsons. Both are good sources for the German language as it is being used by native speakers." (Note: These and the following news: links will only work if your browser preferences have been configured for newsgroups.)

You may have noticed the telltale de prefix in the two newsgroups Matthew mentioned. That indicates "Germany" and a discussion group mostly in German. Other prefix or suffix hints that tell you a newsgroup/list is probably in German: at (Austria), ch (Switzerland), and ger/german/gernet (German/Germany). Almost all of the newsgroups with one of these symbols in the address are in German -- written by Germans (or Austrians/Swiss) for Germans (or Austrians/Swiss). This means you are reading authentic German as it is used today... which is precisely the reason you want to find such lists. But, as you'll see below, not all German-language newsgroups have at, de, or ger in their addresses.

The next question is, of course, how do you find such lists? Fortunately, this is made easier by several Web sites devoted to nothing but newsgroups and lists. Such useful sites include: www.dejanews.com, www.liszt.com, and usenet.about.com. AOL members (www.aol.com) can also search in the AOL Newsgroup area. (See below for more about AOL and newsgroups.)

When I did a search at www.liszt.com using "german" the result was a list of 45 groups -- ranging from alt.aeffle.und.pferdle to ucb.german. The first is a group devoted to the German TV cartoon characters of those names; the latter is a discussion group for the UC Berkeley "German Department, students, and Germanphiles." This and other searches turned up everything from the bizarre (alt.fan.adolf-hitler, "fans of the late german leader") to the erudite (mensa.de.announce, "german mensa announcements").

But there are actually many more groups than the 45 my Deja News/Liszt search turned up, and not all of the "german" search results are actually in German. Using "deutsch" at Liszt.com turned up 73 mailing lists, some of them the same as the "german" search, but also many different ones, such as cl.gruppen.greenpeace (Greenpeace Deutschland), fido.ger.platt ("die niederdeutsche Sprache in all ihren Spielarten"), and cl.gruppen.svd (Schwulenverband in Deutschland, a German gay association). Both searches turned up k12.lang.deutsch-eng, a group supposedly devoted to "bilingual german/english practice with native speakers" but which seems to have messages mostly from English-speakers asking for this or that term in German.

But there is sure to be a newsgroup of interest for just about anyone. Using AOL's Newsgroup feature (Keyword: NEWSGROUPS), I found a huge variety of German groups (looking for "de" and other signs of German). Star Trek fans can read German messages about that popular TV series at de.rec.sf.startrek.aktuell. German fans of the popular, long-running series of Perry Rhodan mystery books discuss their interest at de.rec.sf.perry-rhodan. It's also fun just trying to guess the topics of groups such as de.comp.graphik, de.markt.arbeit.biete, de.alt.comics, de.rec.tiere.katzen, or alt.fan.bluemchen. No, that last one is NOT for lovers of flowers. ("Blümchen" happens to be the name of a German teenie star.) But de.rec.tiere.katzen IS for German-speaking cat lovers. (If you're interested in flowers, try de.rec.garten.) Want to read film reviews in German? Subscribe to de.rec.film.kritiken. Interested in photography? You want de.rec.fotografie.

AOL users will also find it extremely easy to read messages from, or to join German-language discussion groups. (Other online services offer a similar feature.) Once you are in the Newsgroups section at AOL and have selected a particular group, all you need to do is click on either "Read messages in this newsgroup" or "Subscribe to this newsgroup." AOL also offers a helpful guide to newsgroups. If you're not an AOL subscriber or you just want to find out more about how newsgroups work, I suggest you look at Arlene Rinaldi's excellent set of guidelines for Listservs/Mailing Lists/Discussion Groups (part of her The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette site). The Liszt: Intro to Mailing Lists page is also good for mailing list newbies. Another helpful site, if you read German well enough, is de.answers - Einfuehrung (at Ohio State). The de.answers "Newsgruppe" itself is a collection of FAQs (frequently asked questions) related to German and other newsgroups.

Some final points about newsgroups. Not all mailing lists and discussion groups are open to the general public. Some groups (private or otherwise) are moderated and some are not. As elsewhere on the Net, there are also kooks, weirdos, and spamers out there. Just be aware and try to get a feel for a newsgroup before joining. Some lists will put tons of messages in your mailbox every day, while others may produce only a few messages a week. (Most lists offer a "digest" option that gives you a weekly list of message topics.)

As we pointed out in an earlier feature, Using the Web to Learn German, the Web and the Internet have a lot to offer us language learners. Now you know one more way the Internet can help you learn German.

Instructors of German should also see our new For Teachers Net Links. (Many of the links may also be of interest to students.) U.S. German teachers may wish to subscribe to the AATG mailing list at LISTSERV@iupui.edu. Send this one-line message: SUBscribe AATG YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME.

German Language

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