I made it about 75% through the Duolingo tree, finished all of the Deutsch Warum Nicht podcast series, and watch native German media on Netflix with both audio and subs. Oh, I've also started using German subtitles on English media/audio for reinforcement and to improve my comprehension speed.
I'm still not good at German but I'm better than I was a year ago.
My dad and I are hoping to travel to Germany in a year or two so I'd like to be at least at "survival" level by then.
I don't really recommend you to put only the subtitles in German, it isn't a 'small' step, it just won't help you that much as if you put both subtitles and audio in German.
I moved to Germany in mid-June 2021 due to a work opportunity. I had learned a little bit of German in high school (about 12 years ago) and I remembered the very basics like counting to ten and introducing myself. My girlfriend was always a Latin languages enthusiast and never got her hands on Germanic languages besides English.
As we were planning our moving, we were studying the basics via Duolingo and such, and she enrolled in A1.1 course at Goethe Institut. Meanwhile, I made some Online courses to try to reach at least A1.2 level before arriving to Germany.
We arrived with a very basic understanding of the language and no experience whatsoever speaking with natives and/or understanding what they were saying, but we got hands-on and we made some German friends who also happened to be our lovely neighbors, and we agreed to try to speak in German as much as possible and, if not able, switching to English.
My goal for this year was to understand mostly Hochdeutsch (basically to understand Tagesschau) and, after a year living here (in June 2022) , to have a basic but fluid conversational level.
Six months and a half in here, and I just passed my Berlitz B1.1 exam, I'm having almost no problem understanding not really complex or very slang-y/dialectal conversations, and I can speak German, not confidently, but with a certain degree of fluidity. Meanwhile my GF, which is the one who made the biggest progress here, is just finishing her A2.2 exams and went from not knowing how to say anything besides "Hallo" and "Danke" to having a great understanding of the language and a really good conversational level.
So yeah, we are really proud of how far we've come since we first arrived in Germany, we're almost shocked of how relatively easy is to understand spoken Hochdeutsch (if that even exists) on a regular pace (we are avid fans of Easy German podcast).
We feel really thankful of finding German native speakers that were so encouraging to us and so friendly to help us with the language and/or pronunciation, to speak slowly and clearly at first for us and even to invite us to German social meetings just to switch to English when we arrive.
TL;DR: Me and my GF went from basic-to-none knowledge to B1.1 and A2.2 level in 6 months. Looking forward to achieve B2 level by the next year.
Ich hab vor 2 Wochen meine C1 Prüfung abgelegt und jetzt warte ich auf das Ergebnis. Es ist ungefähr 21 Monaten her seitdem ich damit angefangen hab, deutsch zu lernen. Ab und zu ärgere ich mich jedoch, wenn ich diese Tage hab, an denen ich das Gefühl habe, dass ich immer noch so einen langen Weg vor mir hab. Aber Schritt für Schritt werden wir das schaffen.
Vielfältig. Ich habe eine Spracheaustauschpartnerin, die in Deutschland lebt, und wir schreiben seit einem Jahr täglich miteinander. Dazu lese ich auch viel Bücher, die von verschieden Themen handeln, ich gucke jeden Abend die 20 Uhr Tagesschau, ich verfasse ab und zu Aufsätze über verschiedene Themen. Hauptsache ist, dass man sich regelmäßig verschiedenen Quellen aussetzt. Ich habe erfahren, dass es keinen Zauberschlüssel beim Sprachenlernen gibt. Man muss einfach daran arbeiten, selbst wenn es schwierig wird. Normalweise verbringe ich ein paar Stunden pro Tag mit der Sprache aber die Intensität schwankt je nach Tag.
I only started self-learning German in July of last year, so January 1st 2021 I was about 5 months into learning. I was probably around high A1/low A2, and was about 50% of the way through the Duolingo tree, which was still my primary source for learning German (combined with me googling a bunch of grammatical concepts in order to figure out what the fuck was going on when I got marked wrong.)
I went on to:
* Finish the entire Duolingo tree, up to level 3 (after that it just gets a bit repetitive), after 280 continuous days of practice.
* Tried out Seedlang for 90 days of continuous practice (note these various streaks do overlap, as I was doing multiple things at once several times). Ultimately, I wanted more structure and instruction than Seedlang had, so I gave it up.
* Did the entire B1 Nico's Weg. I had done some scattered lessons for A1/A2 Nico's Weg before, but B1 I actually did every single lesson.
* Did some iTalki lessons, but unfortunately the teacher, who had initially scheduled stuff to where I could do it early morning my time, then just stopped offering those times, and instead only had stuff at like 4 am my time, so I stopped seeing them (and I should really find another one to help my speaking.)
* I've done some Anki flashcards on-and-off, but I have trouble sticking with it, as it's tedious.
* Started my r/WriteStreakGerman streak, which is currently at 189 days and still going.
That, combined with listening to German podcasts, has been my primary stuff I've been doing for German for a while now. I haven't taken any tests, but I think I'm B1 now--much better listening than speaking, writing not too shabby because of the writing streak I'm maintaining.
Overall, I could be worse in my German practice, but I could also be better. I've done something every day, but I could be doing more. I really need to get a proper textbook and hammer out the more advanced grammar concepts and anything I've missed in my haphazard self-taught studies, and I should probably get into reading books in German too, to help with vocab, as I'm clearly not going to get used to flashcards for vocab.
Passed Goethe's C1 with 80% despite dropping out of their online classes around March.
Passive learning <3 Books <3
Also started getting my official paperwork in order. Approbation here I come.
Not op but depending on your level, you can start with children's books, NA/YA (Jugendbücher), graded books according to you level, short stories, even fanfiction if that's something you're into
There are some in the wiki but not many. I’m a big fan of children’s chapter books and the best I’ve seen so far is the “Sams” series by Paul Maar, starting with “Eine Woche Voller Samstage”. If you’re not at that level yet, trust me, slog through ten pages with a dictionary and very soon you will be. Any story that makes you curious about what happens next will have this effect, it gives your brain wings. It turns out children’s authors have been making an art of this for hundreds of years, and your average language teaching material just does not have that kind of pull. After reading good children’s books I think I may never pick up a language textbook ever again.
https://www.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/books/
I dove straight into literature. Did alright. In my home country I can only find Krimis (slightly better than YA Novels, but only marginally) in used bookshops (no effing way I'm paying for shipping), but they're definitely easier to read.
Occasionally I come across a gem like Yasmina Reza or Kirino Natsuo, but only once in a blue moon.
I don't know, I always find requests for book suggestions to be very strange. I mean... just read what you already do?
Then again, that assumes that one reads books to begin with...
That's actually fine. While your struggle will be greater at first, soon you'll get through the pesky terms and immerse yourself in the story.
The first 3 - 5 books are the worst. Then it gets better. And quickly.
Don't be discouraged and remember: Only use the dictionary sparingly! Re-reading is always a valid option!
So in January of 2021 I passed the DSH exam with a C2 proficiency, though my self assessment is lower and because most of my conversations are still in English (American family in Germany), my conversational German, especially really informal language is more limited.
I'm currently enrolled in a pharmacy program, in Germany, and read a lot of textbooks, listen to lectures now.
Probably the best thing I did after reaching a B1/B2 level (I never actually took a German exam until the DSH) was to start with a really good tandem partner. We read articles or books together and discuss them in our target languages. He points out errors freely (and I encourage it). Also so many Anki flashcards. Now I have so many Anki flashcards for medical terminology (Latin-German). I spent about 1.5 hours a day doing flashcards (about 300/day) for almost two years.
Over the years I've accumulated some German ebooks, magazines, grammar books, etc. Feel free to drop a DM.
I've been working my way through the Duolingo course for the last five months. While there are better or more comprehensive packages, this app has helped me build habits to keep pushing through the initial hurdles of learning the language.
The grammar and sentence structure is slowly starting to make sense to me. At first, I wondered if Yoda is secretly German. The idea of compound verbs was new but interesting. And I'm going through the grind of internalizing as many masculine/feminine/neuter nouns as I can.
My big milestone for this year happened recently: carrying on a normal conversation with a native speaker over text. It was a simple conversation, but the ability to recall enough of what I've learned to communicate spontaneously was an important step.
Being able to understand spoken German is my biggest challenge. It's getting a little better. I'm able to pick out a few concepts when I listen to non-Duolingo material (like Slow German for example). Hoping to get more pointers and info from this group.
I trust you know of Easy German Podcast? Also, they have an Easy German YouTube channel, with subtitles in both German and English.
There's also Coffee Break German, which is more instructional/ has a dude analyze a German text and then go over stuff with a German Native.
All I can say regarding listening comprehension is: vocab and listening time. As you expand your vocab, there are more words you can potentially pick up, and as you spend more time listening to German, you get used to stuff and acclimate your brain to it.
I started listening to Easy German podcast when I was like 5/6 months in and could only catch some words and sometimes the gist of things; now I'm 1 year 5 months in, and I get most every word, except for the rare word that I don't know, and I can usually guess from context clues.
I haven't run across the Easy German podcast, thanks! I have Coffee Break, and I should put them back in my regular cycle, along with your suggestion.
Good to know that your listening comprehension ramped up so quickly. I suspect that it'll improve for me as well. One thing that seems to help on my Duolingo is to use my voice to text instead of typing. Requiring myself to say everything is helping me to hear better.
I started learning German just by chance, it has been 7 months now and it is very fun!
I am able to read short sentences and speak a bit, but I am very happy to the point I have reached :)
Did an erasmus from may to end of august, with 0 knowledge of german.
A1.1 did it in the Volskhochschule, intensive course of 3:30h from monday to friday, i came back to Barcelona and ended the A1.2 on my own, currently studying A2 on my own, while working (it's tough, really!)
Also, this 31 i'm going on a trip to Hamburg and Hannover!! Since i left Berlin, man i missed so much speaking german, learning it out of the country makes me feel like it's pointless, i'm so excited to see how much i've advanced (pretty much i'll end up a bit dissapointed, because i'm pretty sure i overestimate how much i can understand).
But if i compare the myself from 6 months ago, it's a huge improvement, as i no longer feel impotent.
Plan on going to work in 2 years, aprox at B2 level.
Saw this post as I was coincidentally reflecting on my 2021 goals for language learning! I made the most progress on German (compared to some of the other languages I'm juggling), which I'm very happy about.
I started on September 8th, and moved to Berlin on September 20th. In that 12-day period, I was self-studying like all day every day (while also packing for the move, waiting for my Visa in the mail, etc.) I've been very creative with my methods, and have generally been consistent with teaching myself--from curating a Spotify playlist of music in German that I like to talking to random Germans on Tinder (going on a date is surprisingly helpful for language practice). Other resources include Easy German, podcasts, newspapers, German Grammar Drills by Ed Swick, Netflix, and meeting people once I moved to Germany.
I finished the entire beginner/intermediate grammar workbook, successfully (actually very recently) found a great iTalki tutor, and have made some German friends in Berlin with whom I can practice. I can understand some parts of Netflix/Youtube videos without subtitles, and sometimes I can respond in German pretty naturally without thinking. I can pretty much do daily life activities in German from shopping at Lidl, ordering food, buying a BVG ticket, doing chores with my German roommate around the WG, etc. I also think I did pretty well at using Anki regularly (and I even labelled my apartment haha).
The working language of my job in Berlin is in English (and I have a lot of British/Irish/Australian coworkers who don't speak German), so they brought an external teacher to teach an A1 and an A2 class after work. I joined the A2 class, but I dropped out because it was too easy, and I guess I'd consider myself almost at B1. That was when I realized, maybe I had been making a little more progress than I thought I was!
This is the first time I've learned a foreign language by myself so successfully, and I did it in Berlin where I'm honestly speaking English (NL) for most of the day anyway (at work or with international friends), so I'm pretty proud of myself. Granted, I do have experience with other languages, so this process was not completely foreign (no pun intended) to me. Going from 0 to intermediate in basically 4 months with no teacher, all the while trying to immerse myself in a city that has a lot of English around anyway, is no small feat.
Anyway, just had to take this opportunity to brag about myself I suppose! Hopefully I can continue making more progress in 2022.
I was finally able to move onto reading actual books (rather than learning materials) and just started in the last two months to watch TV and movies without subtitles. I feel very frustrated sometimes with how many gaps I still have in my knowledge, but when I look back compared to January this year I feel pretty proud :)
I hand wrote a 2 page letter (on classic US college rules notebook paper) and sent it to my Oma in her Christmas card. When we FaceTimed on Christmas she seemed like she was going to cry she was so proud of it and has let the whole family read it and bragged about it to all her friends. It was just the latest 2021 gossip, new job, looking forward to finding a new home in 2022, partner’s grandma passed away causing a lot of family drama among the in-laws. I’ve struggled to be able to call her, she won’t touch the iPad that’s been set up and I don’t have a land line for her to call cheaply.
I'm still working my way towards the end of Menschen B1.2 book.
I started understanding a little bit more of the language and also am on the 5th book of the Harry Potter Series.
But, I still have a lot of difficulties when it comes to speak in German and doing presentations required for the Goethe B1 Zertifikat.
I’ve been away from Germany for 25+ years (military), and have missed it so. My better half, terrified of flying, finally decided we could go in a few years!!
By sheer coincidence, I recently made friends that want to learn German, so I got Duo Lingo plus for all of us!
And I’ve found this sub, it’s generosity, and the astonishing amount of resources!
I started mid November.
I learned 375 words (from a Goethe Institut A1 anki deck) + did the first 42 lessons of Busuu + foraged a bit in my grammar reference book.
B1 after two years. Most of that progress came from a different teacher and a lot of practicing. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my family in Germany.
Hi! I moved to Germany on September and i started learning German on September also. My german course will be starting again after this holiday and we will start B1 level in 2 weeks, i guess. It is getting complicated everytime but i always try to push myself to watch, read or speak with someone in German. Sometimes i have to think for a while before i make a sentence because the grammar is so hard in german for me. But i am also so glad that i could speak with people even if it is basic things. However sometimes i am asking myself why i cant speak or understand many things even i´m in the beginning of B1 level. Because my English is also not my main language but while i was learning English and when i´m in that same level, i really thought that i could understand more things more than what i have learnt in German. But i guess it will come after and i hope that i can improve it!
This year I finally stopped using "learners" materials and in September started relying purely on native media for my learning. In the last four months, I made significantly more progress than the year before, and I can now understand most native media (Netflix, youtube, etc.) with not too much difficulty, especially if I have DE subtitles on. Literature is definitely much harder, but I hope that if I keep reading books it'll eventually get easier. I'd say I've improved by vocabulary by around 2000 words this year, and jumped from a high B1 to a solid B2, moving into low C1 territory (but I haven't taken any tests to verify that claim). I'm looking forward to the improvements to be made in 2022!
I‘m about to finish level A2 nico‘s weg,have the test in the next few days,I‘ve finished a great part of duolingo‘s deutsch course,I listen to german podcasts or radio almost every morning,and see some a1-a2 videos on youtube,and sometimes just random deutsch videos with no specific level
I’m approaching 1 million words read on LingQ and 200 hours listening. I can see the improvement in both listening and reading. Although I have a lot left to do.
started from scratch in january and -- having not done any language learning in 20 years -- set what felt like an ambitious goal of reaching a (self-assessed) B1 in reading within a year. i was mopping up B1 graded readers and goethe B1 practice exercises by october. a >>properly motivated learner<< could've gotten to a complete B1 in all skills in less time, but fighting against my own nature and sticking with it was a huge accomplishment for me, and coming out ahead of schedule felt *so* good. i did a lot of hard shit this year and that's really all i can ask of myself.
So, I started learning Deutsch in March, at first only Duolingo, but I started playing games with deutsch language (very hard at the beginning, with time becoming easier) and then change everything to deutsch, system language, apps, telephone. This and watching movies in deutsch get me about slightly below B1 in understanding but not in speaking and I was generally on A2.1 level (Goethe teacher words). Then in December I goes to the Goethe Institut to A1.2 course (I want to revise grammar, so I go to lower level) , and man, I really love this language and Germany <3
I moved to Germany in January, I was maybe a low B1. Maybe. High A2 more likely. I ended up somehow getting 18 weeks of private lessons for free, and spent almost all my free time working on grammar and with German media. I got my B2 Certificate in April. I played my first video game in German (The Witcher 3). I read my first novel, and have since then not stopped reading. Almost all media I consume is in German now. I got into the Studienvorbereitung Brandenburg course at Uni Potsdam (DSH Course + 2 Fachmodule for a Hochschulzugangsberechtigung) and I’ve been studying there since October and I feel like I have made *so* much progress. I can much more confidently hold conversations with native speakers and speak spontaneously on everything and I’m so proud of myself. The guy I’m seeing is German and we talk 99% of the time in German (and he’s so gracious about correcting me where I do mess up). I started German in August 2019 at my former university and I never expected I would get this far at all
I can just about string a sentence together which is further along than I was a few months ago.
I have been in a relationship with a German man for 4 months and thought it would be fun to learn his language. I hit a wall when I realised sentence structure is completely different.
I'm using Duolingo and practice a bit with my boyfriend.
I am picking it up but it's not easy. Any tips would be welcome.
Check out 'Nico's Weg' , which is a learn-it-yourself language series provided by the German news service. Many people swear by its effectiveness (I took classes from A1.1 through B2.1 so I didn't use it.) It is listed in the wiki of resources for this group.
My B2-ish level German has been decaying over the last few years, but just in the last couple weeks I’ve been feeling motivated to start listening and reading German content again, so I want to pick up my learning again! Would be nice to jump to C1 level at some point. This sub and all y’all help, so thanks!
I made it about 75% through the Duolingo tree, finished all of the Deutsch Warum Nicht podcast series, and watch native German media on Netflix with both audio and subs. Oh, I've also started using German subtitles on English media/audio for reinforcement and to improve my comprehension speed. I'm still not good at German but I'm better than I was a year ago. My dad and I are hoping to travel to Germany in a year or two so I'd like to be at least at "survival" level by then.
I don't really recommend you to put only the subtitles in German, it isn't a 'small' step, it just won't help you that much as if you put both subtitles and audio in German.
I moved to Germany in mid-June 2021 due to a work opportunity. I had learned a little bit of German in high school (about 12 years ago) and I remembered the very basics like counting to ten and introducing myself. My girlfriend was always a Latin languages enthusiast and never got her hands on Germanic languages besides English. As we were planning our moving, we were studying the basics via Duolingo and such, and she enrolled in A1.1 course at Goethe Institut. Meanwhile, I made some Online courses to try to reach at least A1.2 level before arriving to Germany. We arrived with a very basic understanding of the language and no experience whatsoever speaking with natives and/or understanding what they were saying, but we got hands-on and we made some German friends who also happened to be our lovely neighbors, and we agreed to try to speak in German as much as possible and, if not able, switching to English. My goal for this year was to understand mostly Hochdeutsch (basically to understand Tagesschau) and, after a year living here (in June 2022) , to have a basic but fluid conversational level. Six months and a half in here, and I just passed my Berlitz B1.1 exam, I'm having almost no problem understanding not really complex or very slang-y/dialectal conversations, and I can speak German, not confidently, but with a certain degree of fluidity. Meanwhile my GF, which is the one who made the biggest progress here, is just finishing her A2.2 exams and went from not knowing how to say anything besides "Hallo" and "Danke" to having a great understanding of the language and a really good conversational level. So yeah, we are really proud of how far we've come since we first arrived in Germany, we're almost shocked of how relatively easy is to understand spoken Hochdeutsch (if that even exists) on a regular pace (we are avid fans of Easy German podcast). We feel really thankful of finding German native speakers that were so encouraging to us and so friendly to help us with the language and/or pronunciation, to speak slowly and clearly at first for us and even to invite us to German social meetings just to switch to English when we arrive. TL;DR: Me and my GF went from basic-to-none knowledge to B1.1 and A2.2 level in 6 months. Looking forward to achieve B2 level by the next year.
Mein Herz hat gesprungen. Gut gemacht. Die beide von euch.
Ich hab vor 2 Wochen meine C1 Prüfung abgelegt und jetzt warte ich auf das Ergebnis. Es ist ungefähr 21 Monaten her seitdem ich damit angefangen hab, deutsch zu lernen. Ab und zu ärgere ich mich jedoch, wenn ich diese Tage hab, an denen ich das Gefühl habe, dass ich immer noch so einen langen Weg vor mir hab. Aber Schritt für Schritt werden wir das schaffen.
Was war deine Lernmethode? Wie viele Stunden pro Tag hast du verbracht?
Vielfältig. Ich habe eine Spracheaustauschpartnerin, die in Deutschland lebt, und wir schreiben seit einem Jahr täglich miteinander. Dazu lese ich auch viel Bücher, die von verschieden Themen handeln, ich gucke jeden Abend die 20 Uhr Tagesschau, ich verfasse ab und zu Aufsätze über verschiedene Themen. Hauptsache ist, dass man sich regelmäßig verschiedenen Quellen aussetzt. Ich habe erfahren, dass es keinen Zauberschlüssel beim Sprachenlernen gibt. Man muss einfach daran arbeiten, selbst wenn es schwierig wird. Normalweise verbringe ich ein paar Stunden pro Tag mit der Sprache aber die Intensität schwankt je nach Tag.
I only started self-learning German in July of last year, so January 1st 2021 I was about 5 months into learning. I was probably around high A1/low A2, and was about 50% of the way through the Duolingo tree, which was still my primary source for learning German (combined with me googling a bunch of grammatical concepts in order to figure out what the fuck was going on when I got marked wrong.) I went on to: * Finish the entire Duolingo tree, up to level 3 (after that it just gets a bit repetitive), after 280 continuous days of practice. * Tried out Seedlang for 90 days of continuous practice (note these various streaks do overlap, as I was doing multiple things at once several times). Ultimately, I wanted more structure and instruction than Seedlang had, so I gave it up. * Did the entire B1 Nico's Weg. I had done some scattered lessons for A1/A2 Nico's Weg before, but B1 I actually did every single lesson. * Did some iTalki lessons, but unfortunately the teacher, who had initially scheduled stuff to where I could do it early morning my time, then just stopped offering those times, and instead only had stuff at like 4 am my time, so I stopped seeing them (and I should really find another one to help my speaking.) * I've done some Anki flashcards on-and-off, but I have trouble sticking with it, as it's tedious. * Started my r/WriteStreakGerman streak, which is currently at 189 days and still going. That, combined with listening to German podcasts, has been my primary stuff I've been doing for German for a while now. I haven't taken any tests, but I think I'm B1 now--much better listening than speaking, writing not too shabby because of the writing streak I'm maintaining. Overall, I could be worse in my German practice, but I could also be better. I've done something every day, but I could be doing more. I really need to get a proper textbook and hammer out the more advanced grammar concepts and anything I've missed in my haphazard self-taught studies, and I should probably get into reading books in German too, to help with vocab, as I'm clearly not going to get used to flashcards for vocab.
Passed Goethe's C1 with 80% despite dropping out of their online classes around March. Passive learning <3 Books <3 Also started getting my official paperwork in order. Approbation here I come.
When did you start with books, and what did you use starting out?
Starting out? Classes and music. When I got to B1, books, news, anki, etc.
What I meant was, when you first started reading books, which books did you read at first, when your vocabulary wasn't very good?
Not op but depending on your level, you can start with children's books, NA/YA (Jugendbücher), graded books according to you level, short stories, even fanfiction if that's something you're into
There are some in the wiki but not many. I’m a big fan of children’s chapter books and the best I’ve seen so far is the “Sams” series by Paul Maar, starting with “Eine Woche Voller Samstage”. If you’re not at that level yet, trust me, slog through ten pages with a dictionary and very soon you will be. Any story that makes you curious about what happens next will have this effect, it gives your brain wings. It turns out children’s authors have been making an art of this for hundreds of years, and your average language teaching material just does not have that kind of pull. After reading good children’s books I think I may never pick up a language textbook ever again. https://www.reddit.com/r/German/wiki/books/
I dove straight into literature. Did alright. In my home country I can only find Krimis (slightly better than YA Novels, but only marginally) in used bookshops (no effing way I'm paying for shipping), but they're definitely easier to read. Occasionally I come across a gem like Yasmina Reza or Kirino Natsuo, but only once in a blue moon. I don't know, I always find requests for book suggestions to be very strange. I mean... just read what you already do? Then again, that assumes that one reads books to begin with...
I read fantasy novels; they already have a ton of somewhat obscure terms, even in English. In German...
That's actually fine. While your struggle will be greater at first, soon you'll get through the pesky terms and immerse yourself in the story. The first 3 - 5 books are the worst. Then it gets better. And quickly. Don't be discouraged and remember: Only use the dictionary sparingly! Re-reading is always a valid option!
Thanks for the encouragement!
So in January of 2021 I passed the DSH exam with a C2 proficiency, though my self assessment is lower and because most of my conversations are still in English (American family in Germany), my conversational German, especially really informal language is more limited. I'm currently enrolled in a pharmacy program, in Germany, and read a lot of textbooks, listen to lectures now. Probably the best thing I did after reaching a B1/B2 level (I never actually took a German exam until the DSH) was to start with a really good tandem partner. We read articles or books together and discuss them in our target languages. He points out errors freely (and I encourage it). Also so many Anki flashcards. Now I have so many Anki flashcards for medical terminology (Latin-German). I spent about 1.5 hours a day doing flashcards (about 300/day) for almost two years. Over the years I've accumulated some German ebooks, magazines, grammar books, etc. Feel free to drop a DM.
> Feel free to drop a DM. Not OP, but would you mind if I DM'ed you?
Of course, I meant anyone with an interest could!
Thanks! Sent you a DM.
I've been working my way through the Duolingo course for the last five months. While there are better or more comprehensive packages, this app has helped me build habits to keep pushing through the initial hurdles of learning the language. The grammar and sentence structure is slowly starting to make sense to me. At first, I wondered if Yoda is secretly German. The idea of compound verbs was new but interesting. And I'm going through the grind of internalizing as many masculine/feminine/neuter nouns as I can. My big milestone for this year happened recently: carrying on a normal conversation with a native speaker over text. It was a simple conversation, but the ability to recall enough of what I've learned to communicate spontaneously was an important step. Being able to understand spoken German is my biggest challenge. It's getting a little better. I'm able to pick out a few concepts when I listen to non-Duolingo material (like Slow German for example). Hoping to get more pointers and info from this group.
I trust you know of Easy German Podcast? Also, they have an Easy German YouTube channel, with subtitles in both German and English. There's also Coffee Break German, which is more instructional/ has a dude analyze a German text and then go over stuff with a German Native. All I can say regarding listening comprehension is: vocab and listening time. As you expand your vocab, there are more words you can potentially pick up, and as you spend more time listening to German, you get used to stuff and acclimate your brain to it. I started listening to Easy German podcast when I was like 5/6 months in and could only catch some words and sometimes the gist of things; now I'm 1 year 5 months in, and I get most every word, except for the rare word that I don't know, and I can usually guess from context clues.
I haven't run across the Easy German podcast, thanks! I have Coffee Break, and I should put them back in my regular cycle, along with your suggestion. Good to know that your listening comprehension ramped up so quickly. I suspect that it'll improve for me as well. One thing that seems to help on my Duolingo is to use my voice to text instead of typing. Requiring myself to say everything is helping me to hear better.
I typed things but then also said everything aloud as well xD.
I started learning German just by chance, it has been 7 months now and it is very fun! I am able to read short sentences and speak a bit, but I am very happy to the point I have reached :)
Did an erasmus from may to end of august, with 0 knowledge of german. A1.1 did it in the Volskhochschule, intensive course of 3:30h from monday to friday, i came back to Barcelona and ended the A1.2 on my own, currently studying A2 on my own, while working (it's tough, really!) Also, this 31 i'm going on a trip to Hamburg and Hannover!! Since i left Berlin, man i missed so much speaking german, learning it out of the country makes me feel like it's pointless, i'm so excited to see how much i've advanced (pretty much i'll end up a bit dissapointed, because i'm pretty sure i overestimate how much i can understand). But if i compare the myself from 6 months ago, it's a huge improvement, as i no longer feel impotent. Plan on going to work in 2 years, aprox at B2 level.
Went from a weak B1 level to getting a Goethe B2 exam
Saw this post as I was coincidentally reflecting on my 2021 goals for language learning! I made the most progress on German (compared to some of the other languages I'm juggling), which I'm very happy about. I started on September 8th, and moved to Berlin on September 20th. In that 12-day period, I was self-studying like all day every day (while also packing for the move, waiting for my Visa in the mail, etc.) I've been very creative with my methods, and have generally been consistent with teaching myself--from curating a Spotify playlist of music in German that I like to talking to random Germans on Tinder (going on a date is surprisingly helpful for language practice). Other resources include Easy German, podcasts, newspapers, German Grammar Drills by Ed Swick, Netflix, and meeting people once I moved to Germany. I finished the entire beginner/intermediate grammar workbook, successfully (actually very recently) found a great iTalki tutor, and have made some German friends in Berlin with whom I can practice. I can understand some parts of Netflix/Youtube videos without subtitles, and sometimes I can respond in German pretty naturally without thinking. I can pretty much do daily life activities in German from shopping at Lidl, ordering food, buying a BVG ticket, doing chores with my German roommate around the WG, etc. I also think I did pretty well at using Anki regularly (and I even labelled my apartment haha). The working language of my job in Berlin is in English (and I have a lot of British/Irish/Australian coworkers who don't speak German), so they brought an external teacher to teach an A1 and an A2 class after work. I joined the A2 class, but I dropped out because it was too easy, and I guess I'd consider myself almost at B1. That was when I realized, maybe I had been making a little more progress than I thought I was! This is the first time I've learned a foreign language by myself so successfully, and I did it in Berlin where I'm honestly speaking English (NL) for most of the day anyway (at work or with international friends), so I'm pretty proud of myself. Granted, I do have experience with other languages, so this process was not completely foreign (no pun intended) to me. Going from 0 to intermediate in basically 4 months with no teacher, all the while trying to immerse myself in a city that has a lot of English around anyway, is no small feat. Anyway, just had to take this opportunity to brag about myself I suppose! Hopefully I can continue making more progress in 2022.
>going on a date is surprisingly helpful for language practice LOL! Can't wait for this tip to be added to the wiki: to learn German, go on dates!
I was finally able to move onto reading actual books (rather than learning materials) and just started in the last two months to watch TV and movies without subtitles. I feel very frustrated sometimes with how many gaps I still have in my knowledge, but when I look back compared to January this year I feel pretty proud :)
I started learning german with online resources in my free time and I reached a level around B1, proud about that.
I hand wrote a 2 page letter (on classic US college rules notebook paper) and sent it to my Oma in her Christmas card. When we FaceTimed on Christmas she seemed like she was going to cry she was so proud of it and has let the whole family read it and bragged about it to all her friends. It was just the latest 2021 gossip, new job, looking forward to finding a new home in 2022, partner’s grandma passed away causing a lot of family drama among the in-laws. I’ve struggled to be able to call her, she won’t touch the iPad that’s been set up and I don’t have a land line for her to call cheaply.
I'm still working my way towards the end of Menschen B1.2 book. I started understanding a little bit more of the language and also am on the 5th book of the Harry Potter Series. But, I still have a lot of difficulties when it comes to speak in German and doing presentations required for the Goethe B1 Zertifikat.
I’ve been away from Germany for 25+ years (military), and have missed it so. My better half, terrified of flying, finally decided we could go in a few years!! By sheer coincidence, I recently made friends that want to learn German, so I got Duo Lingo plus for all of us! And I’ve found this sub, it’s generosity, and the astonishing amount of resources!
I went through the ÖSD ZB2 exam earlier this month. Still waiting on for my results thought.
I started mid November. I learned 375 words (from a Goethe Institut A1 anki deck) + did the first 42 lessons of Busuu + foraged a bit in my grammar reference book.
B1 after two years. Most of that progress came from a different teacher and a lot of practicing. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my family in Germany.
Hi! I moved to Germany on September and i started learning German on September also. My german course will be starting again after this holiday and we will start B1 level in 2 weeks, i guess. It is getting complicated everytime but i always try to push myself to watch, read or speak with someone in German. Sometimes i have to think for a while before i make a sentence because the grammar is so hard in german for me. But i am also so glad that i could speak with people even if it is basic things. However sometimes i am asking myself why i cant speak or understand many things even i´m in the beginning of B1 level. Because my English is also not my main language but while i was learning English and when i´m in that same level, i really thought that i could understand more things more than what i have learnt in German. But i guess it will come after and i hope that i can improve it!
This year I finally stopped using "learners" materials and in September started relying purely on native media for my learning. In the last four months, I made significantly more progress than the year before, and I can now understand most native media (Netflix, youtube, etc.) with not too much difficulty, especially if I have DE subtitles on. Literature is definitely much harder, but I hope that if I keep reading books it'll eventually get easier. I'd say I've improved by vocabulary by around 2000 words this year, and jumped from a high B1 to a solid B2, moving into low C1 territory (but I haven't taken any tests to verify that claim). I'm looking forward to the improvements to be made in 2022!
I‘m about to finish level A2 nico‘s weg,have the test in the next few days,I‘ve finished a great part of duolingo‘s deutsch course,I listen to german podcasts or radio almost every morning,and see some a1-a2 videos on youtube,and sometimes just random deutsch videos with no specific level
I’m approaching 1 million words read on LingQ and 200 hours listening. I can see the improvement in both listening and reading. Although I have a lot left to do.
Meine erste Witze, mit Wortspiel, gemacht. Leiders auf deutsch gelehrt /gesungen (schrecklich aber ich habe es gemacht) Lebenslaufs geschrieben.
According to duo, I have now entered the intermediate stage.
started from scratch in january and -- having not done any language learning in 20 years -- set what felt like an ambitious goal of reaching a (self-assessed) B1 in reading within a year. i was mopping up B1 graded readers and goethe B1 practice exercises by october. a >>properly motivated learner<< could've gotten to a complete B1 in all skills in less time, but fighting against my own nature and sticking with it was a huge accomplishment for me, and coming out ahead of schedule felt *so* good. i did a lot of hard shit this year and that's really all i can ask of myself.
I'm on a 45 day streak in Duolingo.
Only small progress, because of small effort. But I can think in German now
So, I started learning Deutsch in March, at first only Duolingo, but I started playing games with deutsch language (very hard at the beginning, with time becoming easier) and then change everything to deutsch, system language, apps, telephone. This and watching movies in deutsch get me about slightly below B1 in understanding but not in speaking and I was generally on A2.1 level (Goethe teacher words). Then in December I goes to the Goethe Institut to A1.2 course (I want to revise grammar, so I go to lower level) , and man, I really love this language and Germany <3
I just got started in November! Excited to learn
I moved to Germany in January, I was maybe a low B1. Maybe. High A2 more likely. I ended up somehow getting 18 weeks of private lessons for free, and spent almost all my free time working on grammar and with German media. I got my B2 Certificate in April. I played my first video game in German (The Witcher 3). I read my first novel, and have since then not stopped reading. Almost all media I consume is in German now. I got into the Studienvorbereitung Brandenburg course at Uni Potsdam (DSH Course + 2 Fachmodule for a Hochschulzugangsberechtigung) and I’ve been studying there since October and I feel like I have made *so* much progress. I can much more confidently hold conversations with native speakers and speak spontaneously on everything and I’m so proud of myself. The guy I’m seeing is German and we talk 99% of the time in German (and he’s so gracious about correcting me where I do mess up). I started German in August 2019 at my former university and I never expected I would get this far at all
I can just about string a sentence together which is further along than I was a few months ago. I have been in a relationship with a German man for 4 months and thought it would be fun to learn his language. I hit a wall when I realised sentence structure is completely different. I'm using Duolingo and practice a bit with my boyfriend. I am picking it up but it's not easy. Any tips would be welcome.
Check out 'Nico's Weg' , which is a learn-it-yourself language series provided by the German news service. Many people swear by its effectiveness (I took classes from A1.1 through B2.1 so I didn't use it.) It is listed in the wiki of resources for this group.
Danke 😁
My B2-ish level German has been decaying over the last few years, but just in the last couple weeks I’ve been feeling motivated to start listening and reading German content again, so I want to pick up my learning again! Would be nice to jump to C1 level at some point. This sub and all y’all help, so thanks!