C1

"Jein" is definitely one of the best words in the German language.

It's one word for both yes and no.

ja + nein = jein

Knowing the word "jein" in German opens up a whole new world for German learners and their eyes get really big and their ears perk the first time they hear the word.

"Jein" also has several uses; for starters, "jein" allows you to give two simultaneous answers to one question: ja und nein - yes and no.

This is perfect for difficult answers.

When it's impossible to give a s…

Christian Holidays are often public holidays in Germany, so these are good words to know whether you're non-religious, atheist, agnostic, or religious.

The schedule carries over into school and school breaks, too. One of my clients is currently on Osterferien, Easter Holidays, and doesn't have school this week or next.

This week is Karwoche, or Holy Week, and in a non-pandemic year there would be much singing of the Bach Passions: the Matthäus-Passion (St. Matthew Passion), the Johannes-Passio…

The Plusquamperfekt is a form of the past tense in German.

It's generally reserved for high intermediate and advanced learners at levels B2 and C1.

If you're not there yet, I recommend you save this blog post for later.

The remainder of this blog post is in German, as is the explanation video.

Das Plusquamperfekt ist sehr hilfreich, wenn Sie über zwei verschiedene Ereignisse reden wollen, und beide bereits passiert sind.

Es kann viel Spaß machen, wenn Sie das Plusquamperfekt bilden und au…

Wenn man nicht reisen kann, egal ob man zu wenig Geld hat oder es eine Pandemie gibt, kann man immer das Internet benutzen, um eine virtuelle Reise zu machen.

Es kostet nichts und man kann die gleiche Reise immer wieder machen.

Diese Woche gibt es eine Videoreise nach Bayern. Sie können verschiedene Seen sehen, eine Wiese, verschiedene Städte und vieles mehr.

Kommen Sie für 4 Minuten, 30 Sekunden mit nach Bayern. 

When the time isn't right to travel, no matter if it's because money is tigh…

If you've seen the combinations A1, B2 or C1 on your German books but you don't know or understand what they mean, this post is for you!

There are six total combinations of letters and numbers: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. These are simply guidelines for figuring out where you are in the German learning process.

The name for this straightforward scale is the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or the CEFR.

Why the CEFR is so helpful

This scale is so clear, so helpful for Germa…

Ask any new German learner and they will say German has a million parts and a gazillion words and then you can add the words together to makes new words and...

Stop!

There are only six parts to learning German.

No one part is more important than the other, either, as they are all part of the same machine, if you will.

Think of it like a car.

Does a car function well if part of it is missing or broken? Not usually!

A couple of weeks ago my car battery died (I'll spare you the details becaus…

der Zungenbrecher = tongue twister

Heute können Sie einen Zungenbrecher üben! Hier können Sie das PDF herunterladen:

 PDF herunterladen

Dann schauen Sie das Video. Ich helfe Ihnen dabei, das /ts/ aussprechen zu können und den Zungenbrecher zu lernen. Viel Spaß dabei!

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auf Englisch:

Today you can practice a tongue twister! You can download the PDF here:

download PDF

And then watch the video. In the video I'll help you correctly pronounce the /ts/ sound and to learn the tongue twister. Ha…

Guten Morgen allerseits!

Heute habe ich ein Gedicht für euch. So können Sie das Gedicht lernen:

1. Laden Sie das PDF herunter und lesen Sie das Gedicht.

PDF herunterladen

2. Schlagen Sie Wörter nach, die Ihnen neu sind. Schreiben Sie einen Kommentar, wenn Sie eine Frage haben.

3. Schauen Sie das Video.

4. Schauen Sie das Video nochmal und sprechen Sie mit.

5. Sprechen Sie das Gedicht laut vor. Gut ist's!

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Good morning everyone!

Today I have a poem for you. Here's how you can le…

The long-awaited Ach-Laut video is here! Hurra!

The "Ach-Laut" means the "ach sound" and it is the airy, throaty sound you hear in the words "ach" and "machen."

Phonetically, this sound is written as /X/ and to that we say "ach." In this video I've broken down for you:

1. What the sound /X/ is and what it isn't.

2. How to feel where it takes place and

3. How to practice the sound, first slowly and then speeding it up step-by-step.

The words we concentrate on in this video are Ach, Bach, Sa…

There isn't much of a secret to language learning because it's all about working with the language as much as possible over a length of time. However I can give you tips on how I learned to speak German fluently (and I mean--I could say anything I wanted or needed to say) within about 6 months. Konjunktiv II? Kein Thema. Polite discourse? Absolut! Telling someone off? That, too.

Don't get me wrong--learning German in 6 months was really tough. I started at an A2 level (the second-lowest level) …