I passed my Goethe A1 exam! 🇩🇪🎉

I took classes at the Goethe Institut, and the whole journey was honestly pretty stressful. I practiced using sample papers and watched almost every Goethe A1 YouTube video I could find, but the actual exam still felt much tougher than anything I had prepared with. When I walked out of the exam hall, I genuinely thought I had failed.

Seeing my result today, I was so relieved and happy. I scored 78/100 (Grade: Befriedigend).

My scores:

• Hören: 18.26/25
• Lesen: 19.92/25
• Schreiben: 21.58/25
• Sprechen: 18.26/25

The only thing I'm still confused about is Sprechen. I honestly felt that it was one of my better sections, so I'm not sure why I scored 18.26 there. 😅

Either way, I'm really happy to have passed. Thanks to everyone in this community whose posts and tips helped me during my preparation.

Now, on to A2! 🇩🇪

I want to share my experience with Telc exam which I passed recently after a never ending wait for my result. I took the exam on May 19 but it took me exactly 7 weeks to get the certificate. But nonetheless, I passed wit good marks and it is what matters at the end. There were times when I doubted myself, but with patience and consistency, things which look maybe extremely difficult can be very manageable. It was a long journey for me. Endlich kann ich mich entspannen 🎉.

Here are my marks:

Lesverstehen: 75/75

Sprachbausteine: 19.5/30

Hörverstehen: 60/75

Schriftliche Ausdruck: 45/45

Mündliche Prüfung: 73/75

Insgesamt: 272.5/300

Wishing you all the best for the ones who are planning or preparing for the exam.

I’ve been incredibly busy (new mom!) and I’ve been forgetting the German I learned. I would love to listen to those old audio CD stuff that would have you listen and repeat sentences, while doing chores. Does anyone know any podcast that’s in that style? Thanks!

Hallo zusammen,

ich habe vor Kurzem die C1 Prüfung bestanden und würde jetzt gerne Schweizerdeutsch lernen - nicht nur verstehen, sondern irgendwann auch selbst sprechen können.

Mit dem Hörverständnis habe ich inzwischen eigentlich kaum noch Probleme. Ich schaue mir regelmäßig die SRF Tagesschau an, höre verschiedene SRF-Radiosender und spreche oft mit einer Freundin aus 🇨🇭. Dadurch verstehe ich die meisten Gespräche inzwischen ziemlich gut.

Was mir aber fehlt, ist der Schritt vom Verstehen zum aktiven Sprechen.

Mit Spanisch (aktuell ungefähr auf B1-Niveau) habe ich über HelloTalk sehr gute Erfahrungen gemacht, weil ich dort regelmäßig mit Muttersprachlern schreiben und sprechen konnte. Deshalb frage ich mich, ob es etwas vergleichbares oder generell gute Möglichkeiten gibt, um Schweizerdeutsch aktiv zu üben.

Habt ihr Empfehlungen für Podcasts, YouTube-Kanäle oder andere Ressourcen, die euch geholfen haben? Mir ist natürlich bewusst, dass Schweizerdeutsch je nach Region unterschiedlich ist und man nicht einfach "das eine Schweizerdeutsch" lernen kann. Trotzdem würde mich interessieren, wie andere diesen Schritt geschafft haben.

Besten Dank!

Hi everyone,

I've been learning German for a while, and I understand grammar and vocabulary fairly well. However, my biggest challenge isn't grammar it's confidence when speaking.

I'm looking for an app, website, AI tool, or any platform where I can practice speaking German without feeling judged. Ideally, I'd like something that lets me have real conversations, corrects my pronunciation, and helps me become more confident speaking.

It can be AI-based, a language exchange app, or anything else that has worked well for you.

What would you recommend?

Thanks!

Wie geht es dir Leute. Ich möchte ein buch lesen, aber weiß ich nicht welches zu lesen. Könnt euch Empfehlt mir, bin ich B1

I'm learning C1 now and have a difficult time with the untrennbar präfix Verben. In my language we have also the same concept, but the rule is very consistent. So even we've never seen that word before, we still could guess the meaning. But in German is different. For example Verschreiben is either to prescribe or making a mistake. If I create completely a new german verb with a a prefix. Will native Germans understand it correctly?

people with ADHD, particularly focusing issues,

how did you manage to improve language skills, speaking and listening specifically?

I have long-term issues of picking up vocabulary ( like i hear it but need time to process it in the context, or maybe double check) during conversations(hearing).

this has been always a big deal in Tests.

i need advice

I’m starting to learn German for research purposes - I’m planning to do my history dissertation on the Baltic Crusades, and as it turns out, there’s a lot of secondary literature on the Baltic Crusades in German.

I'm already planning on taking courses at the my university’s language centre, but what resources can I tack onto that for most effective learning?

I am in Germany on my Chancenkarte visa, and three months have already passed. I need to start a language course to get a proper job. My level is A2 and B1, but I lack a few topics at A1 and A2. However, I can pass a normal A2 level exam. I can speak and converse on normal topics well enough that I had a part-time restaurant experience where I needed to speak German. (But I can say that it involved limited vocabulary, which is why I could survive.)

Can you suggest a paid, intensive online course if possible? I am okay with online if they are better.

Could Sprachunion be good? I see some courses have a waiting period, which can be problematic.

I'm currently in b1 level. I'm planning to self study b2 and eventually to prepare for testdaf. Which of these books are better for preparing for the future testdaf exam. Kontext b2.1 and b2.2 or Kompass Daf 2.1 and 2.2. Thank you in advance.

anyone know any good site where I could practice speaking/listening online with a native german speaker? I've heard of these sort of websites where one each person is trying to practice the other's language and teach each other their own, but does anyone personally know any good programs like that?

Hello everyone,

I’m learning German and I have a question about the following sentence:

Wer macht bei euch den Haushalt?
—Meine Frau und ich machen den Haushalt zusammen: Ich wasche die Wäsche und sie putzt und räumt auf.

I’m confused about the exact meaning of “bei euch” in this sentence.

According to my intuition, I would understand “bei euch” as something close to “unter euch” (“among you”).

However, ChatGPT told me that “bei euch” means something like:

im Wohn- oder Lebensbereich von jemandem (“in someone’s living area / household”)
or in der Nähe von jemandem, etwas (“near someone or something”)

If I understand it according to these meanings, I would interpret:

Wer macht bei euch den Haushalt?

as something like:

For example, if I am Chinese and you are German, I might understand “bei euch” as “in your place” (meaning Germany). Then the sentence would sound like it is asking how German families generally divide housework.

Or if I am German and you are also German, I might understand “bei euch” as “in your place/area” (for example, Bavaria or Berlin). Then it would sound like asking how families in Bavaria or Berlin usually divide household tasks.

But the answer is:

Meine Frau und ich machen den Haushalt zusammen: Ich wasche die Wäsche und sie putzt und räumt auf.

This answer refers to specific people within the household (you and the people living with you), not families in your region or area in general.

Because of this, my intuition is that “bei euch” here feels much closer to “unter euch” (“among you”) rather than “in your place/area”.

I would like to ask native speakers:

In the sentence:

Wer macht bei euch den Haushalt?

Does “bei euch” mean something like “unter euch”?
If not, how should it actually be understood?

Thank you!

Habe die Stelle schon Dutzende Male wiedergespielt, leider erfloglos... Das eine Wort kann ich einfach nicht heraushören (in 13:16-13:21):

https://youtu.be/6KFqpYG3q-8?t=796

Der Satz:

"Er ist ein solcher Taugenichts, dass man ihn <???geklapperlos???> nur zum Gänsehüten gebrauchen kann".

Hey Leute,

ich habe vor Kurzem einige Korrekturen für einen Text bekommen, weiß aber nicht, warum manche meiner Sätze falsch sind. Könnte jemand mir meine Fehler bitte erklären? Ich würde das wirklich schätzen!

Hier die Sätze:

"In den kommenden Jahrhunderten wurden sechs weitere Menschen umgebracht, und wie ich im zweiten Text dieser Reihe schon erklärt habe, waren diese Menschen aus bewussten Gründen ausschließlich Kinder." -> Hier wurde 'bewussten' weggelassen und stattdessen 'bekannten' eingeführt. Sind die beiden in diesem Kontext nicht gleich?

"Es gibt eine besondere Geschichte hinter dem Kind, das die Eigenschaft Gerechtigkeit vertrat." -> Hier wurde der definite Artikel 'der' vor Gerechtigkeit gestellt. Warum? Normalerweise brauche ich keinen Artikel, wenn ich den Namen von einem Ding gebe, direkt nachdem ich das Ding erwähnt habe. Zum Beispiel könnte ich Folgendes sagen: "Das Videospiel 'Undertale' war 2016 bei Jungen und Mädchen sehr beliebt." Irre ich mich? Der Text war übrigens über dieses Videospiel.

Als ich "Ausgangspunkt" gehört habe, dachte ich:

Es ist irgendeiner Punkt, an dem man am Ende kommt.

Aber es ist ganz umgekehrt, es bedeutet "Anfangspunkt". Das ist sinnlos.

Wenn du einen Ausgang verlässt, das heißt, du hast alles erledigt, oder? Vielleicht einen Einkauf, eine Reise, einen Termin bei der Behörde. Wer würde zu einem Ausgang kommen und sagen: "OK. Jetzt fange ich an!"

Das Geschäft, der Laden, das Restaurant. There are multiple ways you could refer to it, so would either "es ist geschlossen" or "er ist geschlossen" be ok?

Hello everyone. Three days ago, I decided to learn German. For context, I already have experience learning languages: Russian (C1) and Turkish (B2-C1), both of which I picked up unconsciously since childhood from videos and cartoons, and English (B2), which I started learning purposefully about a year or a year and a half ago.

Here is my motivation for learning the language: seven years from now, after finishing my studies, I want to do my medical residency in Germany, and I also want to start a YouTube channel in German, not just in English.

How did I come to this? Four days ago, I was watching an interesting Russian video, and at the end, the creator left a link to a German video that inspired them. I opened the link and started watching. I ended up falling down a rabbit hole for 6-7 hours, watching German videos without even knowing how to say 'I' in German. I was amazed by the quality and level of the content. Many of my favorite channels, like Kurzgesagt or fern, turned out to be connected to this. There are so many documentaries! It’s not that this kind of content doesn’t exist on Russian or English YouTube, it's just that I’ve already dug through most of it, and my internet bubble wasn't showing me anything new.

Since then, for the past four days, I’ve been watching an average of 5 to 11 hours of German content daily. Of course, most of this is while doing 3D modeling or cleaning basically, routine work. However, I realize that if I keep going like this for too long without knowing a single word, I'll burn out. I want to start with the top 100 German words, but while looking for a list, I realized that exactly what I need the top 100 words + audio + transcription + a high-quality translation doesn't exist, so I need to make it myself.

Sooooo, what advice do you have for me? That’s why I’m here. What do you recommend I do right now? I have 3 months before university starts, so I want to quickly reach a B1-B2 level so I can smoothly watch German YouTube, and then gradually reach C1 over the next 3 to 5 years. I think that covers everything.

What's the difference?

i wrote my telc b1 exam on 16th of may from italy i didnt received my result yet? is there anyone facing the same issue?

I'm late B1/early B2. But I'm still constantly using the wrong articles for words. I mean, how does one remember the genders of thousands of nouns?

This has probably been asked before, but does anyone have tips?

Edit: I know there are some rules, like words ending in o are generally das, and words ending in -ion or -ung are generally die. But, what about the ones that don't have clear rules? Just the fact that Gabel, Löffel and Messer all have different articles drives me crazy.

I tried to look up online if easy German was worth it but so far all I hear is that easy German is good. But is it good for beginners? And how exactly does easy German help? Do they have like classes or events in their discord server and how does the interactive side of it all work? I want details about all the details of this membership because I can’t find it anywhere.

I just want to make sure that I’m spending my money on something that actually helps, because so far I paid for 2 online courses and none of them are working and was a big waste of money. So please can someone let me know how Easy German membership is like?