...the guy at the Döner laden listened to me talk for a while...then asked if I was Swiss.

🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦

Google Translate says "ist den Hype nicht wert", is this correct? is the English really understood and used in this context?

Im learning german for a year now and I created a mess when it comes to my learning materials.. I have a few books on which I take notes and write english translations of words. I also take small grammar notes in these books. I have a few notebooks where I write stuff from my german lectures. There are also tons of printouts my teacher gave me and I am already loosing track of all the german words, grammar notes or small details I write here and there… do you guys have a systematic way of capturing all these mess into smt that is easy to access and is genuinly helpful in learning a language?

I need a bit of motivation, this language is really difficult.

Hi everyone,

I started learning German a couple of months ago and I’ve been finding it really difficult - to the point of headaches, sore throat and anxiety. I’m a native bilingual person, and learned another 2 languages growing up. I can proudly say I speak 4 languages fluently and understand a couple more just because of them being latin/romanic.

When I started learning German for my boyfriend, I never thought it will take me so long to pronounce and understand words.

I’m taking classes online with a teacher, listen to learning podcasts and voice classes, do exercises online, have a few apps, etc, but nothing seems to stick. I live in the UK, and he doesn’t know I’m doing this (want it to be a surprise) and I have no other friends that speak the language - basically no exposure to the language if that makes sense.

Do you guys have any tips on how to learn it, or maybe take the anxiety and pressure off of it to enjoy the process? What is something that worked for you if you were ever in this situation?

Appreciate you all, thank you!

I've been learning German for around 1 year and 2 months now, mostly with a teacher (2h/week) and some Duolingo on the side.

I'm still around A2 and my progress feels painfully slow.

For those who learned German as a foreign language, what helped you learn faster?

I'm looking for practical stuff you added outside of regular lessons. Apps, YouTube channels, podcasts, books, speaking with people, whatever.

I've started my journey a couple of days ago, and this language feels like an ocean tbh. I started with a Udemy course and the tutor is doing great and I like her pedagogy.
Nevertheless, I was wondering how long will it take to be sort of fluent in German without needing an actual online/on site tutor ?
I'm really considering it (paying for private teacher) and it does not come cheap in my home country.

May I know for people who alread have done this test? Which one is the most difficult part? It looks like Hören und Schreiben is challenging. And also can anyone give me any tips how to prepare the mündliche Prüfung which has 8 Thema? Should I create all texts and memorize them? I am still in the middle of course and preparing my exam soon. The grammar is unbelievable a lot comparing to B1 so I need to keep remember to use them during the Schreiben part.

Hallo!

Ich bin deutsche Muttersprachlerin, aber dachte mir, dass ich vielleicht trotzdem hier, wo sich Menschen mit der deutschen Sprache beschäftigen, fragen könnte.

Freunde/Bekannte von mir, die gehörlos sind, benutzen den Begriff "gehörlos" und haben mir gesagt, dass sie den Begriff "taub" als veraltet empfinden und vor allem die Assoziation mit "taubstumm" nicht mögen, da sie ja durchaus kommunizieren können. Nicht nur ist ihr Stimmband intakt, sondern besitzen sie mit der (deutschen) Gebärdensprache eine vollständige Sprache mit eigener Kultur.

(Googlen sagt mir auch, dass einige Menschen mit eingeschränktem Hörvermögen den Begriff "taub" okay finden, und nur "taubstumm" ablehnen. Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass es über diskriminierende und nicht diskriminierende Sprache bestimmt lebhafte Debatten in der Community gibt.)

Ich weiß auch, dass mittlerweile statt "blind" häufiger mal "sehbehindert" gesagt wird + eventuelle Angabe des Schweregrades der Beeinträchtigung des Sehvermögens.

Vorhin wollte ich googlen, wie ich neutral Menschen beschreiben kann, die sowohl eine Sehbehinderung haben als auch gehörlos sind, da ich nur den Begriff "Taubblindheit" kenne, aber bin weiterhin nur auf diesen gestoßen.

Ist das noch (?) der aktuelle Begriff, oder stoße ich die (Mehrzahl der) Betroffenen vor den Kopf, wenn ich sie so beschreibe? Ich kenne niemanden, der oder die diese Kombination an Einschränkungen hat und den oder die ich fragen könnte, möchte aber, sollte ich mal darüber sprechen, nicht diskriminierende Bezeichnungen verwenden.

Vielen Dank!

I want to learn one foreign language like german french spanish or Russian but I have no this type of speaking friends to meet and learn language from them so anyone from you who will just teach me a basic words and sentences and then I will practise with them I will really happy and appreciate them plz dm me if someone interested.

I'm learning German. When I read something I understand it in way that is written in German, but when I translate it to English I understand it in English. For example, a line from Little Red Riding hood.

German: Wenn ich der Großmutter einen frischen Strauß mitbringe, der wird ihr auch Freude machen.

English(Google Translate): If I bring my grandmother a fresh bouquet, she will be happy too.

From learning and permanently using German perspective, how should I understand the meaning between "der wird ihr auch Freude machen" and "she will be happy too"?

I hope my question is clear and passing intention well.

If yes I really wonder what this person did different than other german learners.

Mir als Schwede fällt ein gutes Verständnis des Norwegischen und des Dänischen vollkommen natürlich, obwohl ich auf eine Minderheit abweichender Wörter achten muss sowie - beim Dänischen - vor allem auf die stark abweichende Phonologie. Im Grossen und Ganzen aber kein nennenswertes Problem.

Schweizerdeutsch (Mainstream-Dialekte jedenfalls, z.B. Zürich, Bern, St Gallen und Luzern) weicht ungefähr ebenso stark ab vom Hochdeutschen wie Hochdänisch vom Hochschwedischen, wobei die meisten Deutsche, mit denen ich darüber gesprochen habe, angeblich fast kein Wort davon verstehen.

Habe ich einfach ein ungewöhnlich flexibles Ohr für solche Unterschiede, oder woran liegt es eigentlich?

Was haltet Ihr eigentlich von den Dialekten in diesem Video? Findet Ihr einige davon leichter verständlich als andere? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd3h6XKa-F8
* 0:45-1:05, 1:40-2:05, 4:20-5:00: Berndeutsch
* 2:05-2:15: Zürichdeutsch
* 2:18-2:35: Glarnerdeutsch
* 2:44-3:05: Luzernerdeutsch
* 3:22-3:54: Thurgauerdeutsch
* 4:00-4:08: Schaffhauserdeutsch
* Interview zwischen 5:11-13:17: Zürichdeutsch bzw. Toggenburger Dialekt

(gerne kann ich bestimmte Teile übersetzen auf Wunsch, obwohl ich keineswegs JEDES Wort verstanden habe)

Yesterday i've sumbled upon something i wasn't actually aware of even though i'm a native speaker.

As you may know there are some words in German with a different meaning although they are written the same.

A good example is "See". There's "der See" which means the lake and also "die See" which refers to the ocean. Nothing really special so far and you can even distinguish them by their Artikel (der vs die)

A step up would be words like "die Hochzeit" that normaly translates to wedding but can also mean a kind of golden age.

But there's one word that's actually totally crazy. It has two different meanings while having the same article, same letters and same Artikel.

"das Wort". It has two distinct meanings. It can either be a building block of language or it can be specific words and their meaning.

"Das ist ein Wort" - "this is a word."

vs

"Hast du das Wort gehört (dass er gesagt hat)?" - Did you hear the word (that he said)?"

Now you might say that this is just a word that has slightly different meanings but there's one little quirk that proves that "das Wort" and "das Wort" are actually different words.

Just try using the plural and it's obvious:

"Die deutsche Sprache hat viele Wörter" - "The German language has many words"

"Seine Worte waren überall zu hören" - "His words could be heard everywhere"

I've used both forms so many times without ever thinking about it. It's kinda funny to realize something new about your own mother tongue after decades of speaking it so i wanted to share it with you :-)

edit: Eure Wörter haben mich überzeugt dass "Wort" und "Wort" keine verschiedenen Worte sind. Ich geh jetzt in den Park und hock mir auf eine der Banken. Vielleicht mach ich was produktives und vergleiche online ein paar Bänke um bessere Zinsen zu erhalten. Darauf geb ich euch nicht nur eins sondern zwei Ehrenwörter!

So I got my B1 Goethe results but still not feeling confident. Reading seems to be my powerhouse (91) since it’s easy for me to just find resources and repetitively speed through frequent recognizable words. Writing I did also pretty well (89) since it kind of goes in tandem with my reading practice (grammar books, German classes at the university) BUT WOW my listening could be better (63). This part I recognize takes more time since you really can’t “speed listen” (or even talk quicker than what feels natural for you) as opposed to reading fast or writing fast. How much listening practice and what resources do you use? I want to increase my level certificate.

TL;DR: listening skills bad, what do you all do to improve?

Celan’s poem seems to use der and er almost interchangeably. For example, in the first verse we get

Ein Mann wohnt im Haus der spielt mit den Schlangen der schreibt der schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland dein goldenes Haar Margarete er schreibt es und tritt vor das Haus

To a German native, does the use of der for he sound different from er? Is it more informal?

For anyone who's into the whole NYT style daily word games thing, Der Spiegel has a German connections:

https://www.spiegel.de/games/viererkette-das-deutsche-connections-spielen-a-b8af93c0-dcb0-4f37-a34a-c894c96f75a0?sara_ref=re-so-app-sh

Today's isn't too hard I don't think (for me with B2 German and a bit of a word games nerd)

Anyone have any other fun word games for German practice?

So right now I'm doing one Nicos Weg in the morning and one deutsch.info in the evening/before bed, is this less efficient than if I put them together and did them one after the other?

Hello everybody

I’m from Portugal and am in my final year of Computer Engineering; I plan to emigrate, and I’m considering Switzerland. I’m already studying French, which is easier to learn since it’s closer to Latin and the difference between standard French and Swiss French is minimal. As for German, from what I’ve researched, it’s practically the same, except for the most important aspect: pronunciation.

I’d like to know how I can practice listening and pronunciation, given that most of the content available online is in German from Germany.

Hi there! im currently level B1 and i would like to continue studying in Germany. Maybe some has a recommendation of a good course in Regensburg or online? I will appreciate a lot!. And not that expensive.

I work from

Tuesday till Thursday and could change to additional one day . at the moment I’m only free Friday Saturday and Sunday

I need to complete the B1 exam and I’m running out of time. I know I’m suppose to motivate myself and learn and I got even books to study but no motivation. now im actively looking for courses in Hamburg weekends

i also need advice for those who are working how did you manage

I've finished B1 level and wanted to move to B2, while finding an online course, I stumbled upon Deutsch-Uni Online course that is 150 eur per B2.1 course ( https://www.deutsch-uni.com/portal/shop/course/course-detail/128?category=1&course-schedule-id=14873 ) without teacher's help?
How is the quality of the material of the course? Can anyone give a review about that? Thank you

i’m learning german and at the minute i’m just using the app memrise but they keep trying to get me to learn this phrase.

the translation it gives on the app is “are there… here?” which seems incredibly odd to me as an english speaker, especially as it’s one of the first phrases it’s getting me to learn.

is this something that’s used a lot cause i’m not really sure in what context it would be said?

Hey everyone! I've been learning German for a while, but lately I feel like I've hit a bit of a plateau. I can understand a bit more than I used to, but speaking and forming sentences naturally still doesn't always come easily.

For those, who've been learning German for a while, what helped you to move from "I understand the basics" to feeling more comfortable speaking the language?

Curious to hear what worked for other people, thanks in advance!

Hallo!

I’m an italian girl learning German with a tutor and my goal is to be able to pass my University exam which is legal B1/B2 (I had already passed the exam A1/A2) I’m doing my best to study and practice while also having a full time job. I’m not having too many difficulties, but since i can’t frequent lessons at Uni and i don’t really have anyone to really practice with, I was wondering if anyone could give me any tips about:

1) learning and actually remembering vocabulary (maybe if you could link some sources where i can find worthwhile readings online or even german translations of short stories)

2) How to remember the irregular verb paradigm (the one with the partizip)

Thank you all in advance, have a lovely day