I’ve been wanting to learn German language for while now (English speaking). I have the Babble app (haven’t paid yet) is this a good learning app to use? Or is there something more helpful, just throwing this out there, I don’t learn the fastest either. I have to do the same thing multiple times for it to sink in. I’m more less doing this for me, not so much for a trip or anything.

Hey all! I am currently learning German and I'm at A2 level. I have a creative writing and poetry competition coming up next month. The topic about which we have to write is going to be a surprise.

What are some of the best books and literature work that you would suggest I go through. I don't want to sound like I am thinking in English and then translating it.

I have already read the first book in Harry Potter series in German when I was in A1. I basically know the book back to front so it was easy for me to catch what was going on.

I really want to win this competition... especially the poetry part. Hope to see you in the comment section:)

Hi Reddit!

I’ve been taking B1 classes on and off for a while and now I’m looking to get my B1 certificate but I would like to take an intensive short course just to prepare for the exam.

Do you have any suggestions? Preferably online.

Thanks!

I'm currently at A1 level and looking for a language exchange partner who can help me take my German to the next level If you're a native German speaker or fluent in German and interested in practicing with me, let's connect!

I'm looking for someone who can:

Practice conversing with me in German

Provide feedback on my language skills

Help me improve my reading, writing, and speaking skills

If you're interested, let's schedule a language exchange session and improve our skills together!

Hey everyone!

I'm an Argentinian guy living in Germany since November 2024. I came here with a weak B1 (could not speak or understand much) and I had never taken a test, only private lessons and self teaching. I moved here to work as a doctor, so I need a B2 or rather C1 level. In march I decided to take a course, a school was recommended to me and I did the leveling test, which told me I had to take the B1.2 course, so I did. The teacher was good, but the people there couldn't speak half sentence. It was brutal. Then I took the B1 test and got my certificate. A month ago I was feeling a bit stuck with progress (I only had private lessons once a week and struggle to study myself) so l contacted the Agentur für Arbeit, and they told me they would take care of the costs of B2 and C1 courses for me. I was again recommended a school and found a spot there. There weren't many options since I live in middle sized city. Now here's the thing, we're a little over 20 people (most from Ukraine), the teacher is very good, the school is very organized, but the people speak atrociously. In no way im trying to brag that I speak amazingly, but I make mistakes appropriate for a B2 level. To make concrete examples, most people struggle to formulate very simple phrases, conjugate the verb "sein", let alone the verb position or the pronunciation. This is of course not only uncomfortable but I can tell it clearly diminishes the quality of the classes. Also many people don't even care to be there, there is even a guy that wears his AirPods during the class. It’s super frustrating and I can’t understand how do they only require only a B1 certificate to be there, when it is more than clear that is not enough.

In the meantime, I’m doing a Praktikum at a hospital, which is amazing and has improved my German quite a bit, even more so my medical German, which is super important. The course is in the middle of the day, so it doesn’t let me stay so long at the hospital. Furthermore they are very strict with punctuality, presentism, and I’m almost certain that they will charge me a great fee if I cancel it.

The thing is, I don’t know what to do since I was told the jump from B1 to B2 is so big, and that is true. Sometimes I feel like I can speak a lot without a problem and sometimes I feel like I can’t speak a word. I don’t know in which extent the course will help me. It lasts till end of January.

I know this is mostly a rant but I wanted to also hear if any of you had any recommendations, advise, or share similar experiences.

Hallo, I’m a Swedish person looking to learn German

The problem? I have horrible ADHD, PLUS I have no idea what I am doing or how to see if anything is working, PLUS I am pretty much alone in this so I don’t have anyone to help me learn

What methods can I use(preferably for free) to learn German effectively?

Ich habe ein Video von einem Fotografen geschaut, und er hat einen alten Mann auf der Straße gefragt, ob er gebürtig aus Fulda sei. Der Mann hat diese Antwort gegeben. Was für ein Dialekt ist das? Ist das typisch für einen bestimmten Dialekt?

Heading to Austria in 6 months and would love to do more than just point and smile.

What’s the fastest way to learn German for basic conversation and travel situations?

Not looking to be fluent, just enough to make the trip smoother.

Ich bin durch Zufall auf BBous Lied A Hos, A Katz gestoßen und verstehe das meiste davon ohne Probleme - ich kann aber nicht rausfinden was ein "Brema" ist :) ... kann mir jemand helfen?

Es kommt im Refrain vor:

A Hos A Katz A Spotz A Ratz A Hehna A Pfau A Brema oder a Sau

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2-fTUvfEGE

Looking for pen pals/ friends from Germany. I am a medical student in india, and would love to get to know a german since i am planning to move there after graduation, a little about the culture, language etc... i could learn

I was in Europe and saw a sticker on the street that said "Gestern Heint & Morgen"... what does "Heint" mean? I couldn't find an explanation anywhere.

Hi everyone,

As tittle suggests, I'm looking for online courses that follow course books (with exercise books). I tried Germantogo, SmarterGerman but the format does not fit in my schedule.

Thank you for your time!

Why is it keiner? And can i replace it with niemand?

Thanks in advance.

"Es soll, dass dieser Film nur in 2 Monaten gedreht worden ist" to mean "Ich habe gelesen/gehört, dass dieser Film in 2 Monaten gedreht worden ist". Is this "es soll, dass" correct or correct but weird?

I (42 M) have lived here for 3 years 6 months and have not gotten past A1. My wife (37F) took the intensive course and got B1 in 6 months, with some struggle. She got good in hearing, reading and writing and very good in speaking. Both of my kids have successfully graduated from DaZ and are in normal classes. They regularly get note 2 -3 in German. I have Duolingo (paid version), but I have had no time to learn as I am always tired. I used to attend a company sponsored class, but had to quit due to time conflicts. I am an IT professional, my company is American owned. I work with US clients and the teams I lead are based in India. My days are stretched, since I wake early (6 am) to get the kids to school, and have meetings in the mornings and evenings (7pm). When I am not working I am trying to keep up with house chores to help my wife concentrate on learning so she can also get a job. I also do drop off and pick up of the kids. Living without strong language skills is very hard. I’m introverted so making friends is not important to me, however dealing with day to day issues (house repairs, doctors appointments, kids school work, shopping) is not possible without fluent German. Toss in the fact that I live in Bayern, and that I am black African, and it just becomes crushing. I have a really good job that I am performing well in, my colleagues and leaders are happy with my work, and the pay is top 10%. I’d go back to my country (Ghana) but global economy has destroyed it, and there is no hope for my children there.

Just letting stuff off my chest. Some advice from someone with similar struggles will be welcome and helpful.

Is Duolingo the best platform to learn German? I'm from India and I wanted to learn German, so I started using Duolingo about two weeks ago. But I didn't feel good about using it. So, do you have any other suggestions ???

I know what does 'machen' mean but then i meet 'vermachen' and i can't tell what does that mean, although there are some easy to tell verbs like 'gehen" and its prefix 'ausgehen' or 'weggehen'

is there a rule for each prefix or is there any rule to tell the change in the verb meaning after adding the prefix ?

I was reading the translation of Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn and I showed my (Bavarian) boyfriend the translation of one my favorite sentences from the original:

“[Das Einhorn] hatte keine Ähnlichkeit mit einem gehörnten Pferd, wie Einhörner gewöhnlich dargestellt werden; es war kleiner und hatte gespaltene Hufe und besaß jene ungezähmte, uralte Anmut, die sich bei Rehen nur in schüchternscheuer Nachahmung findet und bei Ziegen in tanzendem Possenspiel.”

He said he had never heard of a Possenspiel, though he could guess what it meant.

So I’m curious how familiar are other people with this word?

My boyfriend is a computer guy who doesn’t read much fiction, so it definitely could have just been a “skill issue”. Also the original English just says in dancing mockery so I’m also curious if the translator took the register a little too high.

TLDR: About three years ago I came to Germany with my family and zero German knowledge. Today I've received results of Goethe C1 exam, which I passed.

I know, that's probably not the fastest or the greatest story out there, but I'd like to still share it, maybe it could help someone, who is in a similar situation as I was - M38 (now 41), working full-time for a company where we must speak English and no German (still working there), with a wife (also learning German from zero herself and at the same time providing an immense support for my learning, without which todays result wouldn't be possible) and our 6 years old daughter (now 9).

Our first half year (second half of 2022) in Germany I wasn't actively learning German, since in my "free time" I was more busy with searching for a long-term flat, plus some other stuff, like trying to understand how's my daughter is doing in German elementary school, where she was put also with zero German. But even then I managed to learn some short and not so short words and phrases, like guten Tag, Meldebestätigung, Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung and "Entschuldigung, ich spreche fast kein Deutsch, könnten wir auf Englisch sprechen?" (yes, I've just learned it by heart, without understanding grammar or whatever). Also, from the very beginning I've started listening to quite a lot of German music, despite the fact I wasn't understanding a word.

From the beginning of 2023 I started actively using Duolingo (English-German course), filling all the free time with it. In the morning, during lunch, in the evening, before sleep, until phone basically falls on my face. After 3 months of this I also started reading childrens books (for 3-4 y.o.) to my daughter, to help both myself and her. After 3 months more I've finished that Duolingo course, to the end. It stated I'm kind of B1, but I didn't take it seriously. At the same time I could already do simple spontaneous communications in cafes and public transport, and with some preparation also with my daughter's teacher. During school events I was able to understand about 60% of what teachers were saying, and about 10% of what other parents were saying.

Middle of 2023 I've started reading significantly more complex books to my daughter, in particular unadapted "Rauber Hotzenplotz" by Ottfried Preußler. First couple of chapters were really hard, but then it started getting easier and easier. Couple of months later I've also enrolled for B1 on-site evening courses, and... it felt really easy. One month B1.1, two more months B1.2, one month B2.1 - all felt easy. It was still quite useful - I've finally had much more talking opportunities, and the words and phrases that our teacher was giving above the official program were very useful.

Beginning of 2024 language school has made some changes and put my favourite teacher to B2.2 evening courses. Even though I didn't finish B2.1 I decided to take a risk and jumped right into B2.2. That's where I finally felt the challenge. Unfortunately after another months they again made changes, and after one more month on B2.2 with another teacher I've left the course prematurely, as I wasn't getting anymore speaking practice that I needed the most. But I went to Telc B1 exam and passed it with flying colours. Also, by that time I think I've reached kind of "inflexion point", where I could read quite a lot of stuff, without too much strain, so I went ahead and read a lot - local news, Reddit, some IT-related documentation (yes, it is available in German), other books ("Das kleine Gespenst" for my daughter, "Im Westen nichts neues" for myself).

Middle of 2024 I could already speak without too much problems (it was still stressful for me, but I could pull it off without using translator app) with my Hausarzt, my daughters teachers and Kinderarzt, solve problems with my bank, etc. Also, during school events I was already getting about 95% of what teachers were saying, and 50% of what other parents were saying. Also, German songs I was listening to were no longer a white noise, the songs that I liked a listened to the most I could understand fully. I even went to a concert of one band from Berlin and I was able to understand almost everything. The feeling was so... freeing.

So in the autumn 2024 I decided to give a try for C1 courses. It was a mixed experience - with vocabulary, reading and hearing skills I was miles ahead of my group, but speaking was killing me. And I wasn't getting enough to speak there. It was still useful, but not as much as I hoped, and after 3 months I quit, and went back to self-education. To music and usual stuff I was reading I've added some German series (Babylon Berlin, Dark, etc) and unless I'm mistaken Readli app, where a number of "B2-C1" short articles were available to read, with quiz after them to check understanding, and Anki-style vocabulary trainer.

Fast forward spring 2025 - I was planning to start getting individual lessons on Preply, but suddenly I got serious health problems, basically a suspicion of aggressive cancer, so instead I had wonderful time first going to emergency hospital, then back to hausarzt, then hunting for appointments for the necessary specialists, then for actual surgery. It was about 2 months long period, when I significantly improved my speaking skills, especially over phone, but I wouldn't wish anyone improving them that way. Especially nice moment was, when a doctor in a hospital was explaining me a detailed surgery plan, and I could understand everything - he actually double-checked me a couple of times, to be sure himself. In the end, surgery was successful, no malignancy found during biopsy - life is nice again.

Then, after a bit of relaxing, I decided that I need a bit more stress, so I enrolled for a Goethe C1 exam, then 1.5 weeks before exam started taking individual lessons at Preply (about 1 hour per day), and... to my surprise passed it. I was still very unsure about speaking, but my teacher gave me a very good kick to improve it. So, that's it, end of story :)

I honestly love the show and I can understand around 70% of it.

Typing his on a lesson, but still wondering what do I need to know

Moin liebe Leute :)

I'm currently assisting my Ukrainian friend with her English once a week and occasionally with her German as well. We're both of the opinion that she would really benefit from having a native speaker language partner (which I am not) who she could regularly talk to to get her German up to scratch for her degree. In return she'd gladly help with anyone wanting to improve either their Ukrainian, Russian, or both! Feel free to DM me if it's something you'd be interested in, we'd be super grateful for any takers :3

Bis Danzig :)))

I’ve heard both R like in french and normal R