University and Education > The German language Learning German on the world wide web
Merging a virtual classroom with online tutorials and other electronic media elements, Munich University’s unique DUO platform brings together several thousand German learners from around the world. Young Germany takes you on a tour of the “Language Shop.”
 Professor Jörg Roche Professor Jörg Roche remembers the old days of e-learning all too well. It was the 1980s, when computers still weighed 15 pounds or more and occupied half your desk. If you used that technology to acquire the language of German, you were essentially working with simple DOS programs and rudimentary translation software.
Understandably, Roche, who was working in Canada at the time, felt there was room for improvement and growth. There had to be a more effective way to learn German in an electronic environment.
“I knew there was a lot of room to grow electronically-based learning tools for German,” said Roche.
And so Roche and his colleagues developed a computer-based program for learning German. But there was more to it than good old language acquisition: Roche and his team also wanted to relay in-depth knowledge on a given subject matter. “We used the electronic media to transport scientific knowledge.”
The program the team developed gave learners the basic language tools, in addition to preparing them thoroughly in their area of expertise - whether it was chemistry, music or art history.
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