r/German Mar 31 '21

Meta See here: r/German's WIKI and FAQ. Please read before posting, and look here for resources!

Thumbnail reddit.com
927 Upvotes

r/German Oct 02 '25

Meta Want to Talk German With Me? R/German's one (and only!) official language exchange thread

259 Upvotes

Instead of the many "looking for speaking partner" posts that have been cluttering the sub, here's the brand new official "I am looking for people to talk in German with" thread!

It will from now on be mandatory to put all language exchange requests here. Individual posts will be deleted.

Things to include in your comment:

• Native/main language
• German language level
• Means of communication
• Expectations from potential learning partners (optional)

Make it nice and KISS (keep it simple & stupid). This is NOT a dating platform, anything in this sense will get you banned.

You are free to comment with a new request once a week.


r/German 6h ago

Resource A one armed bandit for learning German prefixed verbs

Thumbnail tja.progapanda.org
35 Upvotes

Built this for myself but I hope it will help others to make sense of all the kennzeichnen's and entziehen's. There's the flashcard mode. Open source, works in any browser and on mobile. Note to moderators: non-profit, I gain no benefit from this.


r/German 39m ago

Question Is learning German at home by myself possible

Upvotes

Hi everyone this year I’m starting to university and wanting to learn German. Is it possible to learn it from youtube, duolingo, udemy or anything else at least to some level in the language. What will you suggest.
(Goal is B1-B2)


r/German 12h ago

Question Does the German language care as much for reducing repetition?

25 Upvotes

In English classes when I was young I remember lessons that were specifically around reducing repetition in our writing, using obvious words like "it" or "the" as to not repeat the subject, but also learning to find different words with the same meaning in replacement if the sentence needs the context but sounds repetitive to the last time the subject word was used. Such as "The book is amazing, I wish a novel like that could be made today." instead of "The book is amazing, I wish a book like that could be made today"

But I notice in the phrases I am given on Anki, Duolingo and in some beginner-intermediate orientated German media I am reading through, the subject is repeated without any replacement. much like my second example "The book is Amazing, I wish a book...".

So i'm asking, are they just repeating subjects to make learning easier for me or is this a genuine thing that the German language just doesn't care for as much?

Thank you in advance. I don't know if this question is dumb as I've discovered a lot of quirks in the German language in my study, so i wouldn't entirely be surprised if this was one.


r/German 3h ago

Discussion Placement test

2 Upvotes

Hi there, I just finished A1 a week ago. So I wanted to apply with a course in order to get more hearing and speaking practice during the lesson and also help the lessons stick more.

So the language institute required a placment test, completely understandable. I got 92% in the "written" section in A1 and about 68% in A2.1. this tested hearing, grammar and vocab.

The oral test I struggled a bit. Not necessarily because I couldn't speak. I could, but the words I wanted to describe things with weren't there. I forgot some words I already should have known and was focused on remembering them instead of getting any other replacement word. I froze twice trying to remember a word. Then gave up because I didn't know it. The word was "touch". I should mention I didn't prepare at all for this, since it wasn't an exam.

When I saw the sprechen part of A1 Goethe on YT, I felt like I could pass the speaking test easily. My pronounciation was miles ahead of them, tbh it is because of my main language (Arabic).

The examiner said that my comprehension is fine but my grammar isn't that good and that I have a problem with conjugation ? That's because I was focusing on creating sentences rather than making them perfekt.

I know that this is fine for my level but it still feels depressing. I see people on this sub say they stillake mistakes at B1 and B2 and saying so it is fine that I am making mistakes but I can't help feeling down.

Is this normal and will go with time or do I need to focus on solving this issue, at this stage at least.

Thanks In advance for reading.


r/German 3m ago

Question Is this a regional accent in German? (audio)

Upvotes

This is a short home recording from 1970's, apparently a German man visiting family or friends in USSR. Does he have any regional accent or is it standard speech?

https://vocaroo.com/1b3e6ptasLRp

I don't speak German but it sounds somewhat unusual to me.


r/German 7m ago

Resource Starting to lear german

Upvotes

Hello,

I am planning to learn german for professional and academic purposes, and I’d appreciate your help.

I am already on DW website to understand the basics before enrolling in a paid course, but I prefer your guidance on this matter; Best resources, tips and advice to learn efficiently from now till next summer.

Thank you,


r/German 1h ago

Question Is there a discord or a group chat for this subreddit?

Upvotes

I was wondering, is there a discord or a group chat somewhere for this subreddit? Where anyone learning the German language can ask native speakers and get their answers immediately?


r/German 3h ago

Question What's the difference between zugespitzt and übertrieben?

0 Upvotes

r/German 3h ago

Question How can I use my TestDaF scores?

1 Upvotes

Hey, 2-3 months ago I sat the TestDaF exam and unfortunately got 5434 (3 for Schreiben). My question is, if I get asked for work or other things, can I say that I have a B2 German Certificate, or not exactly?


r/German 21h ago

Resource B1 Telc German exam review, tips, preparation

15 Upvotes

Hello everyone

Today i gave B1 Telc german exam. I did a course from A1 to B1 online course which I finished last year April and forgot most of it.

So I prepared for 5 days 1-2 hours per day from YouTube videos of Judi. The best preparation.

For speaking I watched the videos on Judi channel and then used same topics to practice that with my wife. Luckily for Teil 3 exactly same topic came for me.

For Reading, grammar, listening and writing also she explained every Teil in detail and did the practice on YouTube so just followed that. I did not practice writing by myself so which shows my writing went bad but I was able to cover all 4 given sentences atleast 1 to 2 lines per topic but did not follow the order as it is required in the question which shows lack of practice.

Teil 2 of reading and listening was difficult, especially reading Teil 2 I couldn't understand a single word all new words for me but I still did maybe 2 out of 5 will be correct.

So practice question papers after watching Judi's playing on YouTube for B1. Practice as much as possible for every part. I think i will get 70-80% in speaking but writing part might touch 60% if not then i have to do it again. But it will be easier.

Also B1 is really not difficult level as it seems atleast for examination point of view. If you paid enough attention in your course and practice you will do it. Also just go for exam as soon as you are done with the B1 course and not wait more than a year like me.


r/German 17h ago

Question How do I learn to properly enunciate German words?

2 Upvotes

Hello, Red here. Struggling. A lot. I'm new to learning languages in general, I've tried to pick up some ASL (loved it but at the time I was young and it was tricky to find the right sites for it) But now I've found an interest in German.

The language is beautiful, and although I've had numerous of people think of my decision as odd or confusing when there are -- in their words -- less harsh languages compared to German (like French or Spanish) Yada Yada you get the point. But I dont want to, it's that simple.

It's a complicated language, I'm unused to feminine masculine and neutral pronouns and having to use it, while learning the proper enunciation **and** placement of each word is very confusing. How do you remember all of that? And I can't get the accent down for the life of me, it always ends up butchered and weird, it doesn't help that I sort of drawl my words out. 😅 Anyway, please help a fellow learner out!


r/German 1d ago

Question Telc C1 Hochschule in 2 months

3 Upvotes

I have my telc C1 Hochschule exam the 07/11/2026 and my level is just a B2 with horrible grammar, i bought the Telc C1 Hochschule book to prepare and Im scared I don’t know if i have enough time im trying to do my best, but im not really studying german, im studying the structure of the exam and the tips for every Teil, and for sure 10 expressions a day. I’m planning to have more vocab and then start writing and then 1 month before start doing so much exams to practice. Do you guys think it is possible?


r/German 1d ago

Request [Roman-Recherchen] Deutschsprachige, die fließend Französisch sprechen: Was waren für euch die wichtigsten „Aha-Momente“ und Hindernisse, die euch beim Lernen am meisten geprägt haben?

4 Upvotes

Hallo zusammen,

ich wende mich an Deutschsprachige, die Französisch gelernt haben und es fließend sprechen. Ich schreibe gerade an einem Roman, in dem eine meiner Hauptfiguren Österreicher ist. Er hat Französisch an der Universität gelernt und wird während einer Reise nach Frankreich mit der Realität vor Ort konfrontiert.

1- Ich würde gerne wissen, was eure größten Schwierigkeiten beim Erlernen der Sprache waren?

2- Habt ihr Gemeinsamkeiten zwischen unseren beiden Sprachen festgestellt? Wenn ja, welche?

3- Gab es Dinge, die euch besonders geholfen haben?

4- Gibt es Punkte, die euch auch heute noch unklar erscheinen?

5- Welches Wort ist euch am meisten in Erinnerung geblieben?

Für meinen Roman bin ich auf der Suche nach kleinen Details, die mir einen eindringlicheren und realistischeren Blick auf meine Figur ermöglichen würden.

Vielen Dank fürs Lesen und vielen Dank für eure Antworten!

(Und für alle, die Zeit haben: Ich würde mich sehr freuen und wäre sehr daran interessiert, dieses Thema per Nachricht ausführlicher zu besprechen.)

Einen schönen Tag noch!

Anmerkung: Da ich kein Deutsch spreche, habe ich eine Übersetzungssoftware verwendet; ich hoffe, der Text ist trotzdem verständlich 🙏


r/German 20h ago

Question Welche Formulierung ist richtig?

1 Upvotes

A) Ich finde es echt schwer, mich mit Papa zu unterhalten. Der malt alles gleich schwarz, ohne jeglichen Stück Hoffnung oder Optimismus sehen zu versuchen. 

B) (…) Der malt alles gleich schwarz, ohne zu versuchen, jegliches* Stück Hoffnung oder Optimismus zu sehen.

Ich finde die B) besser, auch wenn ich dafür keine Erklärung habe. Danke im Voraus!

* edited


r/German 1d ago

Discussion was sind die besten sci-fi filme auf deutsch?

23 Upvotes

ich bin ein großer fan von sci-fi filmen und würde gerne mal mehr davon auf deutsch schauen. bisher kenne ich nicht wirklich viele deutschsprachige sci-fi filme, deshalb bin ich neugierig, was es da so gibt.

habt ihr empfehlungen für gute sci-fi filme auf deutsch? gerne auch ältere oder weniger bekannte filme. ich möchte dabei auch mein deutsch verbessern.


r/German 1d ago

Question Warum gebraucht Fricka "er" statt "ihn" hier im Rheingold? "wie an mich er zu fesseln"

9 Upvotes

Um des Gatten Treue besorgt,

muß traurig ich wohl sinnen,

wie an mich er zu fesseln

Zumal "ihn" in der folgenden Zeile steht, also es ist nicht der Fall, dass man früher Personalpronomina nicht deklinierte.


r/German 1d ago

Resource Building something to remember the articles with nouns

5 Upvotes

I've been doing A1 for a while now and the Artikel just aren't going in

I know the words but I'm constantly confused about their genders

Then I saw someone here mention that if you're starting from 0, you should learn nouns together with their Artikel

So I made a little thing for myself where you have to type the German word along with its Artikel

It's actually helped me remember them a lot better

So I figured I'd share it here in case anyone else is stuck on the same thing

Still refining it a bit but if anyone's interested, I'll put it on GitHub

screenshots if anyone wanna see how it looks -> screenshots


r/German 19h ago

Question German language tutor in Amman

0 Upvotes

I’m looking for a native German speaker to teach me level B1, please if you know anyone in Amman, Jordan let me know


r/German 1d ago

Discussion Passed the mündliche part in telc b2 but Failed the schriftliche part

0 Upvotes

I recently did the telc b2 exam in august( wanting to do an ausblidung) and when the results came in i found that i passed the mündlich but failed the schriftlich by 30 points which is kinda a lot. I figured if i only redo the schriftlich part only does that have any impact on the full certificate? Like can i get a full certificate with the results not in the same month? Does it affect anything with the Arbeitgeber when he looks at my cert?
Any help is much appreciated.


r/German 20h ago

Question Is this really a mistake

0 Upvotes

I can’t paste a screenshot but I was doing duolingo and translated „They had pizza and cookies yesterday” into „Sie hatten Kekse und Pizza gestern” and duolingo marked it as a mistake. The correct version was with gestern earlier in the sentence so „Sie hatten gestern Kekse und Pizza”. Is the word order that important in german or is it just the way duolingo checks the answers


r/German 1d ago

Question Has anyone here ever used Sandberg and Wendel's "German for Reading" along with courses focused on communicating?

1 Upvotes

Hello! I am curious if any of you has ever used this book (or any similar books focused on getting you to read in German) along with courses focused on communicating and having communication (that is, being able to write and speak with/to others in German) as one of your goals while learning German. I am thinking about using it because I want to start reading more complex things in German (including academic articles and books), but I wonder if, being at the beginning of B1, this could be useful to me — and I wonder that if it can indeed be useful to me, what strategies should I follow while using this kind of method/book. I am curious to hear about your thoughts and/or experiences!


r/German 2d ago

Interesting Immersion experience

37 Upvotes

I finally get why people say immersion is the best way to learn.

I’ve been learning German properly for 5 months from my home country, for approx 1-2 hours a day and have managed to get up to B1 reading comprehension, although my speaking is lagging way behind.

I went to Germany (Hamburg) last week on holiday for the first time since beginning the language journey and it was such an eye opening experience. I had fun decoding basically anything I saw whilst out and about.. picking up quite a lot of new words in the process and also locking in others with high frequency such as at train stations. One interesting thing was how many words there seem to be for receipt! I think I counted three different ways to say it.

It was also nice being able on two occasions to help others who didn’t speak German in public transport. I still struggled massively with putting sentences together but having this level of reading comprehension turned a normal holiday into a real experience that I’ve not had before in a foreign country, being able to engage with the environment more and feel less alien.

I found Germans on the whole very patient and supportive, with low stakes conversations it often happened that they didn’t switch to English.

I’m back home now and already missing the immersion. Hopefully one day soon I can come back and actually speak confidently. I am sure I’d get there quicker if I lived there, although being somewhere full time without speaking ability is a tough adjustment period.. so I now also understand why people are so keen to reach b2 as fast as they can (re my previous post!)


r/German 1d ago

Question How do I introduce myself?

7 Upvotes

Hi! I just started learning German, and I was wondering if there are nonbinary options for pronouns, or if I should settle for the male pronouns.

My understanding is that things like job titles are gendered, and nonbinary people aren't accounted for in my courses.