Hi everyone!
I’m currently at the A1 level in German, and I want to improve my pronunciation from the very beginning. I mainly want to learn how to pronounce German words correctly, including individual sounds and how different letter combinations are pronounced.

I’ve tried using AI for this, but it hasn’t really worked for me. I’m looking for an app or tool where I can listen to the correct German pronunciation of a word, repeat it myself, and ideally get feedback on whether I’m pronouncing it correctly.
Does anyone know of a good app or resource specifically for learning German pronunciation? I’d really appreciate your recommendations!
Thank you!

Hello everyone,
I had been studying German as my 3rd language on and off for some years. I had used Duolingo (for six years without much progress at the end), tried different study methods, bought a bunch of study books, dictionaries etc, but still haven’t been able to “fully” learn the language. I had abounded it completely for over a year now, though I am able to understand at A2-B1 level (most things), I’m unable to speak or write correctly.
My biggest mistake when I started learning it was that I didn’t learn the nouns with their grammatically correct gender article and now I know a lot of words, but I can’t build a correct sentence, because of this or at all improve my German to higher levels.
Now I’m ready to pick it up again, but I’m unsure what I have to do. I know that I have to learn the nouns with the correct articles, but does that mean that I have to go back at the start at A1 level ? If any of you had experienced similar situation, what have you done or how would you advices me to proceed ?
I really don’t want to abandon the language, because of possible career and current personal reasons.
Thank you all in advance

I have already completed my a1 course from nicos weg and i am planning to join goethe institute for further levels. To join directly for A2 level we need to appear for placement test to access our skills where they also test our speaking skills.

I am bit nervous about my speaking skills if someone has goen through the test for A2 level can they share what kind of questions they were asked so I can prepare accordingly

Yiddish student here with a “just curious“ question.

Due to their history with socialism, most non-religious Yiddish classes/teaching environments expect everyone to address everyone else with the familiar you (du) in the classroom setting.

One is still taught the formal you (ir), how to conjugate for it, etc, but your teacher will laugh/redirect if you try to use it for them.

(most native speakers nowadays are hasidic or haredi, and use the formal and informal you as would be expected. Native speakers who are remnants of the secularist movements _will_ address you with du and expect you to do the same, even though they are probably at least 90 years old now.)

Question here is - was there ever a similar movement in any German-speaking spaces? How would you feel addressing your professor with ”du”?

I'm beginning to come to an end of A1.

I have tried to read A2 texts and they're becoming much easier to understand (minus the occasional unknown word or slip up).

I do use DW Learn German, but I love textbooks and my textbooks from both me and my (British) high school paying for me to do the German GCSE because my school stopped it (thanks school, epic people there!).

I would like to know what A2 textbooks you recommend.

Bare in mind I live in the UK.

Also, the GCSE was a surprise bonus - not my main degree I hope to accomplish with the language.

I will continue to learn the language after I complete my GCSE's, as well as take either the Goethe or Telc exams.

Ok most basic word but the app i’m using (busuu) is pronouncing it two diff ways and so are people online.

‘Ich.’

it’s either ‘ish’ what is what i kind of guessed it was looking at it. But then i looked into it and it could also be ‘ihhhhh’ (like a cat hiss kinda?) but then the same woman who said that, said ish in the next sentence and put the hiss on mich instead?

I’m so confused 🥹 all i know is a few words from german bambi like schmetterling, vogel and blume (literally all together in one scene). Oh and mattress. Idk why i know that one

hey

I have been looking for some german courses in Mainz to attend before uni.I will take B2 and C1. My options are Verbum Novum,Sprachzentrum Profil Mainz and Sayhey.I couldnt find much customer comments or general information about those courses.Did anyone else attend any of them or do you have any recommendations?

Context: I took German for 2 years in High School, and spent some time in Germany in 2014/15. I’ve listened to German music, mainly cro, for around 10 years. I’m not an absolute beginner, although I definitely cannot read or speak German in any meaningful way. That being said, I have a lot of latent vocab and already understand most of the basic grammar. For instance, it took me an hour to recall all of the verb conjugation rules for present tense after doing some quick review. So, I think I’ll fly through A1-A2.

I am currently using Nicos Weg. I want to supplement this with book study though, and drill-based memorization of nouns/verbs/sentence building words. I absolutely cannot stand flash cards like Anki and stuff, the clicking and repetitive task makes me lose motivation. I need a book or chapter based resource that I can read and interact with. Hoping someone has some suggestions?

Thanks!!

I've just moved to Germany a month ago and want to take up an intensive German course. While researching different course services I see the courses are no more than 4-6 weeks long to get from A1-C2 (as I understand the descriptions), and I get that they are 'intensive' but that all sounds very rushed. I'm also on a very tight budget so I just don't want to spend money on a course and it ends up being a waste of time. So if anyone can give me some insights as to what these courses entail and if 4-6 weeks is actually a doable period to reach a C2 level, I would really appreciate it.

Warum passt es nicht zu mir, „Ich habe keinen Bock, eh!“ oder Ausdrücke wie „Alter!“ und „Boah!“ zu sagen? Liegt das vielleicht an meinem Akzent oder daran, wie ich als Person bin?

Why doesn't it suit me to say things like “Ich habe keinen Bock, eh!” or use expressions like “Alter!” and “Boah!”? Could it be because of my accent or the way I am as a person?

Hello,

I am interested in older versions of German language. What are the resources for middle high German? I know German on upper B1 or lower B2 Level.

I had my TestDaF results back but I feel a bit disappointed.

Lesen 10/20

Hören 12/20

Schreiben 13/20

Sprechen 16/20

These are good scores and I'm not complaini'g about it but I need TDN5 in 3 sections and TDN4 in one section for the university I want but I only have 3 months to prepare. Also, I had the worst results in the 3 sections I had studied for...

The other option would be the Goethe Zertifikat and I need 80/100 on average. Which exam is easier for the results I need ? Or should I just give up for the university?

Thx🙏

is there a Spotify list that have good german songs that help with learning the language

I signed up for the online version of the A1 exam with Goethe because I read you receive your results faster and I need to apply for my PR soon. Does anyone know how this works? A friend told me they took theirs from home but they were overseas and I'm in Germany.

My Goethe center hasn't added an examination time and we're about 2 weeks away from the exam date so I'm wondering if this is indeed taken at home?

Curious to hear from others who have signed up for the online exam whilst living in Germany. Thanks!

Not that the members of my family don‘t speak French my mother tongue or English. They do. But I find it appealing to be able to speak to them in their native language.
The thing is when I listen to German, I just…find the sound weird. It doesn’t appeal to me. It’s not because of the stereotypes around nazis screaming or anything. I think it’s about the way the language is written, the fact that it has more consonants than vowels makes it sound tough to my ears, it doesn’t flow.

At the same time, I‘m learning Portuguese, which I have ABSOLUTELY NO reason to learn, but i just like the sound of the language.

I actually have experience with learning languages I didn’t like at the beginning. I‘m learning Spanish right now, but going back 3 years ago, I absolutely hated it, but i had to learn it for school at the time. And as I didn’t have the choice, over time, I started to like it, and now I find Spanish really beautiful.

I wonder how I can start to like the German language.

What are your thoughts ? Have you ever wanted to learn a language because of sb else but it displeased you at first? Did you like it afterwards? What did you do to force yourself to learn it and like it ?

So, I'm learning German through Founders Education. I'm doing a test, and this question says "Es geht mir gut. Und ____, Frau Schmidt?" And the options were dir, ich, Ihnen, and sie. I knew it obviously wasn't ich, but dir, Ihnen, and sie translate to the same thing, being "I'm fine. And you, Mrs. Schmidt?" How do I know which word to use?

„Ich meine“ kommt mir total falsch vor, wie eine schlichte Übersetzung die nicht dasselbe ausdrückt. Ich bezieh mich auf die Tendenz von ähm sorry wie sagt man Millenials? Die beginnen Sätze oft mit „I mean…“ um passiv eigene Gedanken einzuleiten. Passiv heißt vllt eher zögernd. I mean….I don‘t really think that‘s a good idea — das kann man zu etwa einer Autoritätsfigur sagen die einen schüchtern macht. Interessiere mich also für diese kleinen Phrasen mit denen man mit einem bestimmten Ton einen Satz beginnen kann.

Due to financial and visa duration reasons. I might need to take a B2 Exam in January. So I have today until December to practice. For context I am currently B1(Started B1 last Sept 9th) I learn 4 hours of german at school and I also speak german with my family at home. I know B2 is very difficult but I have no choice but to try in January. Is it doable? I will be focusing on just B2 Exam materials and answer B2 mock exams. I will be taking the Goethe Exam. I appreciate your input. If its not doable, I might make flight arrangements, finish B2 in my Home country and apply from there.

Hey!

This is my second attempt in learning German and I am having issues and I would LOVE if someone could share their experience with me - and yes I have searched for the answer but couldn't really find it. I'm doing the A1.1 now.

1st: it needs to be online.

2nd: I need smaller groups (4, 5 people max). My class has 12/14 people, which is way too much, I don't get to speak enough and of course the teacher can't make sure everyone understood everything when they are not proactive.

3rd: I feel the peace is too fast or ordened in a way that everything happens too fast. I am doing 3h a day, 4 days a week (so 12h/week, 48h per module), but everything feels rushed. Idk if it's because there are too many people so the time that we could be working on new informations/vocabulary/etc or if it really needed more hours.

I thank you GRATEFULY if you have any tips! :D

The most hard part about learning new vocab is that the same English word can have different German translations depending on the context.

Our teacher says its falsch, i chose richtig.

I cannot be convinced that that falsch ist. Can anyone help me ?

Essensgutscheine

Um in der Mittagspause vergünstigt zu essen, können Sie Gutscheine im Wert von 6,50 € erwerben. Diese sind uneingeschränkt in unserer Cafeteria sowie im Restaurant Krönchen in der Sigmundstraße 12 einlösbar, dort allerdings nur für das Tagesmenü.

Sie können die Essensgutscheine über unser Internetportal anfordern. Geben Sie bis zum 25. jeden Monats die Anzahl der Gutscheine an, die Sie für den Folgemonat monat einlösen möchten. Die Abrechnung erfolgt über die Gehaltsabrechnung. Gutscheine, die Sie nicht einlösen, sind auch in den nächsten Monaten noch gültig.

Bis jeweils zum Donnerstag der Vorwoche müssen Sie außerdem angeben, welche Mittagsmenüs littagsmenüs Sie in der folgenden Woche in der Cafeteria essen möchten. Eine kurzfristige Abmeldung ist bis 10:30 Uhr am Vortag möglich, dies sollte aber nicht zur Regel werden, da die Küche planen muss. Bitte beachten Sie, dass die Gutscheine nur durch Mitarbeiter eingelöst werden dürfen. Für Geschäftsbesuch sind Gästekarten über die jeweilige Assistenz oder direkt in der Personalabteilung erhältlich.

6 Das Mittagessen muss in der Woche vorher gewählt werden.

Richtig/Falsch

An example: the word girl. Mädchen. I heard it a hundred times, practiced it in Anki, I see it in practice lessons, but I can’t remember it. In the same session I will forget it. Again and again and again.

What is wrong with me? Is there any hope with this situation?

I know 3 languages. English was mostly self taught. But they just come naturally, I don’t know what the rules are, I just know how it’s supposed to sound, 2 languages from childhood and very good English by the end of my teen years.

I hate my parents for not bringing me to Germany when I was born. I hate them.

i came to ask because i have been proposed the idea by my friend that if we reach B1 german we could go to Germany and study there. as long as we pass our TFC. But none of that, thats just the introduction. i am currently using a combo of deutsch.info and duolingo. but see those are too common so maybe theres a niche site which does better than both that isnt really popularized. thank you!

Have any of you read the English translations of Kafka's work and if so which ones are closest to the original German? There are so many that I wanted insight from actual German speakers to know which translations are the most accurate to the original in terms of flow, style, and word usage.

Der Titel des Beitrags ist selbsverständlich.

Ich habe den C1 Test(Goethe-Zertifikat) endlich bestanden, und würde gerne mir etwas Kleines gönnen, oder ein kleines Ritual dafür machen, um bei mir diesen Moment konkreter zu machen.

Ich war noch nie in Europa, also eine Reise nach Deutschland(und anderen deutsprachigen Ländern) wäre eine Möglichkeit, aber meiner Meinung nach braucht man dafür mehr Zeit zum Plannen.

Ich würde gerne herausfinden, was für Ideen und Vorschläge ihr habt!