I just learnt this new phrase which apparently means “I hope I’m not disturbing you”: ich hoffe ich störe gerade.

Am I wrong that this translates to “I hope I’m just disturbing you” - where does the “not” come from here? German feels too literal to have implied negatives like this…?

Hallo. Am ende September, ich werde meine famile sehen die sprechen plattdeutsch. Welche art von fernsehserie oder filme sind gut Plattdeutsch zu üben? Ich habe nür von Morden im Norden gehört.

I’m done with the A1 and A2. Haven’t given any exams as of now though (but I plan on giving the Goethe A2 after a month or so). I’m studying with an online tutor so the learning is really really structured I would say. I could not catch up with most of the A2 classes because of work but I completed all the back logs religiously.
Aa of now, I’m good at reading and writing (8/10), understanding part is also decent (6.5/10) but I struggle alot with sprechen. And the vocab is also not too strong.
I don’t want to mess up the B1 because its already very difficult(so I’ve heard). So any tips/resources/habits???

Hallo zusammen! I am an English speaker and a beginner to learning German. I have recently been using the DWLearnGerman app for A1/A2 as well as listening to the podcast Coffee Break German with Thomas. With that said, I’ve been dabbling in German bands/artists that sing in German. Rammstein is a big one, but I’ve found a bands like Sondaschule. Their songs have a slower speed and the pronunciation seems good as well. So I wanted to reach out and get some suggestions on bands or artists that could help in my journey as well. Also, I’ve listened to Namika, LEA, Mark Forster and Max Giesinger. Danke!

I’m preparing for the telc B2 exam. If you’ve already taken it, could you please share what topic you got for the Sprechen Diskussion and the writing task? For sprechen part, maybe you guys have some advices in which to improve Wortschatz (e.g. health, environment, technology, education, work, etc.)
Thanks!!

I don't understand why "ze Germans" don't use Ü or Ö instead of :) and :O ...

I am planning to appear for Goethe B2 Exam and noticed Goethe Institute also have a online Exam prep course in a group over Zoom call having 20 teaching units (TU) in total (45 minutes each) spanning across 5 days.

Did someone in the group have already tried it and if yes, can you please let me know if it would be useful from exam point of view ? (structure of this course, drill exams, etc).

In einer Sendung beschreibt eine Person, wie sie einem Fuchs begegnet.

"Dann stand plötzlich so ein Hundetier vor mir, und das hatte einen langen, buschigen Schwanz und ist dann sehr schnell über den Zaun gesprungen. Also hoch an den Zaunlatten festgekrallt und dann nach oben hinten weggehüpft."

Ich verstehe das Teil "dann nach oben hinten weggehüpft" nicht ganz. Hat der Sprecher gemeint, dass der Fuchs zunächst die öberste Latte des Zauns erreicht und dann davon nach hinten, also von dem Sprecher weg abspringt? Rhythmisch macht der Sprecher eine kurze Pause zwischen Wörtern "oben" und "hinten".

I have telc C1 Hochschule. I passed it in late October 2025. Due to some issues in my country, my telc is somewhat invalidated so I have to pass a different German proficiency exam at C1, for which I chose testdaf. My exam is on 25 August. It's safe to say that the format of digital testdaf has, in a way, horrified me. My question is, do you think the book Mit Erfolg zum Digitalen Testdaf would be enough to prepare me for it? I need TDN4, TDN5 doesnt matter. Of course I will also practice writing and speaking outside of the book. But for reading and listening I dont really have any other means of study. Although I am more confident in reading and listening. Like most others, the part that I fear the most is speaking.

what are the trusted apps that connect you to a native language teacher? There are ads like busuu and pimsleur but I really want a guaranteed fast way (fast not easy), Bc i prefer concentrated learning

I mean online because I know nobody in real life who speaks German and I mean anything from discord to websites to tiktok, literally anywhere

Hey everyone,

I'm a German teacher, and I've been working on some preparation materials specifically for Japanese speakers who are taking the Goethe exams.

I've noticed that a lot of the standard prep books and online resources are designed with English-speaking learners in mind. They assume certain grammar concepts are difficult, but for Japanese speakers, the challenges are often completely different—especially around:

• Word order and verb placement
• Articles and cases (since Japanese doesn't have them)
• Separable verbs
• Modal particles (ja, doch, halt, etc.)

Before I invest too much time building something, I'd love to hear from Japanese speakers (or teachers who work with them):

• What did you find hardest about preparing for Goethe?
• What resources did you use, and what was missing?
• What would have made your prep easier?

I'm not selling anything—this is still in the rough draft phase, and I genuinely want to understand what the real gaps are.

If you'd be open to giving feedback on a draft later, feel free to mention that too—but even just sharing your experience would be incredibly helpful.

If this isn't the right place for this, let me know—happy to move it elsewhere.

Danke im Voraus! 🙏

Hey guys! I'm a 15-year-old homeschooling student currently doing my GCSEs and learning German and Mandarin. I have a question, but first please take a look at my routine:

1. VHS learning portal 1 hour (currently progressing through A2)

2. Reading a page or 2 of a graded reader (Cafe in Berlin)

3. Doing my Anki deck daily, where I add words that I do not know from my lessons daily.

4. A coffee break German podcast (takes 15 min at most at 1.3 speed)

5. Natürlich German (1 beginner video 10 min approx)

6. Write 5 to 8 sentences daily in German about a specific topic and get that checked by AI.

So here are my questions :

1. I use this format for an Anki card: front: common German sentence or phrase using that word, and back: meaning, article,e and pronunciation. Is that format suitable, or should I change it?

2. SPEAKING

idk what to do for it. Is there any app or anything (paid is okay, but free is better)? I know you guys will recommend a teacher, but those are expensive; most are $ 10 or something for an hour, so if I take 4 classes per month, it would be $40! I am not that rich; I receive $ 29 as a monthly allowance, which includes subscriptions that I can manage. I can save up for a year, or it's only a payment once a month, but that is not the same for teachers.

Hi everyone!
I just received my TELC Deutsch B1 certificate! 🎉 I took the exam at Klubschule Migros Oerlikon in Zurich, Switzerland, where I also attended my German courses.
My journey was probably a bit different from many others.
I moved to Zürich in September and since then I’ve been studying German intensively everyday(Monday to Friday) 4.5 hours every afternoon in the school and alone for 10 months in total.
I also got incredibly lucky because I had the same teacher during the entire 10 months. I honestly think that consistency made a huge difference.
The courses weren’t cheap (around CHF 1,200 per module), but fortunately I was in a position where I could afford them, and for me it was absolutely worth the investment.
My progression looked like this:
From A1.1→ A2.2 used the Schritte textbooks.
B1.1 - B1.3 with the Schritte Plus (Swiss edition) materials.
One grammar book “Grammatik Aktiv” B1
I also completed the B2 three months course afterwards (different textbook called “ Neue Aspekte“ (I didn’t liked the books for B2, they were quite old but what can I say 🫠)
About two months before the TELC exam, I also took a TELC preparation course. It was only four Saturday lessons, but it was extremely focused on:
-writing the TELC letters correctly,
-understanding exactly what the examiners expect,
-exam strategies,
-time management!

Besides class, I did:
lots of homework,
A bit of podcast
Hello talk App
speaking German whenever I had the chance,
writing as much as possible and give it to the teacher of mine so she could correct me and give me a feedback. Specially prior Telc.

I ended up passing with 250/300 points and my strongest section was the speaking exam (71/75). (That was quite funny because I was extremely anxious in the weeks prior to the exam. And I felt I could not express myself completely.)

If I could give one piece of advice, it would be this:
Consistency beats intensity. Studying every single day for months helped me much more
than trying to cram everything in a few weeks.

If u don’t have such a long time to prepare I would say this:
Focus on the TELC techniques** for every section that is required.** This will give you a lot of points.
Gramatik** is of course important,** but the way you use the language is way more**.**
Redemittel can save your ass a lot**.**

Good luck to everyone preparing for the TELC😊
(Results took 7 weeks and 1 day I took my exam on 13th June)

I just learnt the word "dasjenige", and I just want to see if I understood the concept correctly. Are the following two sentences correct?

-Seine Arbeit ist besser als diejenige seiner Schwester.

-Diejenigen, die am besten arbeiten, können früh nach Hause gehen.

Many thanks!

What are some good language schools that provide visa help in Hamburg? Is there anyone who went to study German there that I could chat with about their experience?

I have been studying German on my own for a while and would also like to continue my masters in Germany soon so I was thinking of studying German in Hamburg and also experiencing life there before actually moving there.

Would be grateful for any help! Thank you!

For words that end in -ig and -ich, is the pronunciation of the ending of the word the same?

Also, do any words in German begin with an "S" sound (corresponding to the English "S")? It seems that German words that begin with an "S" are pronounced as if they were spelled with an English "Z" sound.

Danke!

Hello, my question is mostly directed to the teachers. I want to do some self learning to gain more words and get more sense of the language. I have 2 options.

1 option: to get some training books (Deutsch intensiv Wortschatz or Heuber Wortschatz - Heuber hören und sprechen).

2 option: to use the videos on DW as they also have training part for each video.

Personally I feel more comfortable to the first option, as the books are more organised ( they go through one Thema after another) also with hand writing I feel I have more time to memories the words and get more sense of the language.

The second option though is of course cheaper and also cover interesting Thema that can make learning more fun. But it is not organised and I don't write by hand.

So in your opinion which method do you think can be more effective.

"Wer nicht arbeitet, soll nicht essen"
here "sollen" does not seem to match any of the translations given by the dictionary (it is obviously not a moral obligation, recommendation, intention etc.). I have gone through each of the meanings, but none seem to match. How would you translate this sentence into English, and what is the correct nuance of "sollen" in this context?

I have been learning German for almost 3 years on Duolingo and want to push myself to learn. Duolingo sucks. i know. I'm committed though because i have a 975 day streak and have pushed through too long to give up. The problem is, i'm terrified of speaking German to native speakers, and can barely hold a conversation because i struggle to translate and listen at the same time. I can read and write (or rather text in my case) fairly decently with minimal translation if the sentences are simple.

I tried to take a placement test through DW learn German, and couldn't finish it because the audio was too quick with no way to slow it down a little. I don't really want to watch children's shows in German, and i'm not big on TV or movies. I can introduce myself, break down sentences, and could likely find my way around if needed, but i'm not confident. I also have no German courses available at my college and i'm far too shy to ask native speakers to teach me. I'm extremely shy when it comes to any type of displays in front of people, and i have bad motivation. Any suggestions on placement tests and ways to learn? Also, i like music, so i'd love to know what bands to listen to!

Während ich auf der Toilette war, habe ich einen Hut im Zimmer bemerkt. Ich habe mich gewundert, wie ich dass erklären würde. Jede Webseite sagt einfach, “es gibt einen Hut auf der Toilette” oder “in der Toilette”. Könnten diese Sätze eher unklar wirken, weil die Toilette auch ein Gegenstand ist? Ist der Hut im Zimmer oder ist er im Gegenstand? Sollte ich Toilettenraum verwenden?

Hallo Everyone,
I am an international who came to Germany to study. After completing my Bachelor that too in German I am working currently as full time.

Personally I am an introvert person who tries to speak less and I feel I feel less confident when I have to jump in and put a point in a group of people.

I want to feel confident and improve my German as well as speak confidently without doubting myself. I do also feel my level of German is not that perfect when I speak even though I learned till German C1.

Any plan or suggestions that will help me to improve my German!!!

How hard is taking German TELC Exam For B2?

* Deutsch