An odd one this … but bear with me.
Sprachbar is part of the Deutsch for Ausländer (German for foreigners) programming of Deutsche Welle, the German equivalent to the BBC World Service.
To quote from the website
Sprachbar is an offering that introduces you to the subtleties and secrets of the German language. You will listen to explanations of current headlines, quotes from literature, figures of speech and grammar.
I like it because my wife is German and though my writing and speaking skills are minimal, my aural comprehension is quite good, and I can actually understand these short, humorous explanations of the idioms of modern German. In other words, it helps to keep my ear in.
Deutsche Welle (dw-world.de) provides lots more interesting resources for the budding German speaker, potential visitor, or home-sick native. And don’t worry, lots of the web site and resources is actually in English. For the serious student there are also Lots of German as a Foreign Language resources including news, programming, videos and Podcasts.
The latest Sprachbar podcast is Ein Loch kommt nie allien:
Sommerloch – Astloch – Stopfloch: Es “löchelt” viel in der deutschen Sprache. Wer genug Löcher in die Luft gestarrt hat, besucht Loch Ness – und fällt dann vor Ent-täuschung in ein tiefes Loch.
There’s a full transcript (in German only!) on the site.
I can’t wait!