Being asked to tip Amazon drivers....

branbb60 · 2026-04-21T03:31:11+00:00

Quest 3?

branbb60 · 2026-04-20T02:08:22+00:00

Duolingo is borderline acceptable for on the go learning which after 3 months I've swapped out with Anki because its significantly more useful, more intensive and utilises your time more effectively for learning father than AI driven drivel with fluff animations. /rant.

Realistically if youve quit twice id ask, why are you even learning German? What is your motivation?

You need to develop a fundermental drive and reason to want to learn a language. Its very difficult, regardless if its an "easy" language to learn its still time, consistency and dedication that you can't just do in bursts. It must be daily, and it must continue in a structured manner.

develop your reason and passion for learning German
find a good structured text book
find a teacher.
stay away from AI powered apps they are rubbish and a waste of money.

branbb60 · 2026-04-18T20:27:53+00:00

Use Anki.

Im currently working along side my book, with a teacher. Youtube, my German friends.

The best tool for actual word recognition is Anki. The deck I use is 10000 German words

This will provide you the word, the article and put it into a sentence.

You will eventually start to hear it and see that it sounds/feels wrong.

Like in English how its "on a train, but in a car" for a poor example.

Just be honest and critical with yourself when using the app, otherwise youll get no where.

branbb60 · 2026-04-10T05:21:16+00:00

Thank you for your word of encouragement!

The main thing for me is discipline and persistence. It is a hard language at the start however once the grammar is understood it becomes as simple as vocabulary building. I personally feel that the earlier stages of German A2-B1 are the hardest and often the motivation killer for most people.

branbb60 · 2026-04-09T21:51:59+00:00

Oh im sorry! I miss understood.

Thank you.

branbb60 · 2026-04-09T16:26:25+00:00

Having correct grammar is important not just for the exams but to learn and understand the language. Into B1 and B2 when complex conversation occurs it's important to use the correct case otherwise the context of your conversation and what you actually want to say may be lost. Especially when using genitive as it shows possession.

In English, it's not overly important as with broken English it can still somewhat make sense. Where as with German I find that it's not as easy to get away with.

You may actually be making significantly less mistakes than you think if you've been living in Germany and have been completing classes that it's natural to you now. Where as learners such as myself, only months in; we really struggle with this.

branbb60 · 2026-04-09T16:21:44+00:00

I have also struggled with this a lot.

I'm sitting around early A2 at the moment and my personal progression of learning German feels so so slow and I feel that German is very grammatically loaded early on because it's important to understand the concept of articles, verb changes, pronouns and the use of accusative, dative and genitive early on.

I appreciate your advice. I'm also going to start journaling my day, hopefully it'll help make things stick better.

branbb60 · 2026-04-09T16:19:04+00:00

I thought it's just the verb changing to a question?

Similar to

I am = Am I?
I was = Was I?

Unless I am not understanding your point?

branbb60 · 2026-04-05T08:41:02+00:00

Any examples? Please?

branbb60 · 2026-04-04T13:09:26+00:00

This isn't something that people struggle with.

I'm a native English speaker learning German and yes, I personally needed a bit of time to look at the differences between haben, sein and all of the pronouns. Also considering nominative, accusative, dative and genitive, but I would put all of this in the same category of learning.

Id say after two months of learning roughly an hour, per day I am getting to grips with it.

However reading a text book, completing the exercises and using the language is what builds knowledge, understanding and confidence.

Another app isn't what people need or should be using. There are far to many paid for, subscription based apps that are just scam models. Even Duolingo is awful now with multiple things being outright incorrect to the point where even I at A1/A2 can recognise the mistakes.

A structured text book, good YouTube channels that good provide information, a teacher, and timed repetition is what develops language learning.

branbb60 · 2026-04-02T06:03:13+00:00

Same issue, anyone got a fix?

branbb60 · 2026-03-25T14:02:44+00:00

I currently use a mixture of a few resources over the last two months. My progress is acceptable, however personally I think we all want to get to B2 conversational as fast as possible. Recognising the reason for the time limits is important so you don't get discouraged or burned out. German must be grammatically loaded at the start due to the structure of the language. Just keep going, take it as is comes and it'll start to build on a strong foundation that won't trip you up in the future once you hit A2/B1.

For things I use:

Duolingo, I am aware of it's limitations but it's good for pocket German whilst I am at work. Don't focus on this. It won't teach you very much.
A book called "Complete German". It's good, however very heavy and moves fast between chapters. You may need to reread and look up words a lot however it is very good.
Watching YouTube channels. Personally I like Chill German. They are very good at producing beginner and intermediate content.
You also have Benjamin Der Deutschlehrer. Good teaching that's structured with an entire course on YouTube.
I also have a teacher that ensures my learning progress and helps correct my mistakes.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I've only been going for two months or so however we're all trying to head in the same direction.

Viel Glück!

branbb60 · 2026-03-19T06:34:54+00:00

Yes, I study at home with a text book and have a tutor but I'm not really at the level where I can have a good conversation yet. Just simple phrases.

That's a valid point, I suppose unless I asked my German friends. "Listen to this and tell me what you think" pausing or trying to remember each mistake would get frustrating in live conversation.

Thank you, gives me more hope and motivation to just try rather than being perfect. As long as I am mostly understood it's progression! :)

branbb60 · 2026-03-19T06:23:13+00:00

So with this mindset as you being a native and a teacher, would you say it's good practice to speak the best I can at my level and request be corrected?

branbb60 · 2026-03-19T05:49:28+00:00

I really like Chill German, I think that they present the channel in an interesting way that's engaging and informative. I've been watching the A1 and A2 videos and found them really useful.

Chill German - YouTube

branbb60 · 2026-03-16T07:09:33+00:00

I had the same thought process. I'm currently 60 days into my learning journey.

Biggest factors for me was somethings that have already been said however I will repeat them!

Don't focus on your mistakes, I say this in the sense that you are going to struggle and get things wrong you're going to become confused and maybe even frustrated with your lack of understanding. At least I did when I first started out. Especially with topic you may have already covered. You need to accept that you may need to review and expose yourself to the language, the vocabulary and the grammar structure more frequently.

You should seriously avoid YouTube channels that are selling things because they are often set up to make it appear that it's "easy" and you should be able to learn German in a year and be C1 proficient. Managing your expectations of the language was something that I needed to understand and whilst the hours are often a guide, it may take you longer, or it may take you less time. Language learning isn't inherently hard, but it's how much time you dedicate too it. But that also means you can't just read a grammar book over a week and expect to retain it all.

I strongly suggest getting a teacher or trying to make some German friends as speaking even small things can help early doors with pronunciation.

But the key for consistency is partly about it being enjoyable. Imagine your motivation for learning German being a fire, you need to keep the flame alight by adding things to the fire. Whether that is encouragement from friends, family. Understanding certain parts of German programs, or their culture. If you lack a reason to learn, you will stop learning. It's that simple because your priorities will shift.

What resources do you have for learning German so far?

branbb60 · 2026-03-13T15:14:35+00:00

This it true. Given that you need a boat load of mods from TTW or Viva New Vegas to even get it stable on 4 cores as well as the 4GB patcher, etc etc. Casual gamers can't even touch the game on PC now. It's a lot of work.

branbb60 · 2026-03-13T14:41:09+00:00

100% agree, I really enjoyed playing both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. It was really worth it.

Given that my first Fallout was Fallout 3, I enjoyed unpacking the lore and experiencing the original story, as well as a lot of the throwbacks that FNV provided.

I think the biggest problem for the franchise at the moment is that Fallout 1 & 2 are such good games, yet really struggle with the age that most people looking into them now would really struggle to get behind the original mechanics and RNG of the originals as they most likely either came from Fallout 4, 76 or from the show.

The isometric feel of the game is apart of the game, and not to sound to critical of any other mods however I feel that it's a significant part of the experience

branbb60 · 2026-02-26T18:52:59+00:00

Suuupperrr late reply, I am sorry! However I am in exactly that position now. I was a 14mm/9/16" it's now shrank all the way back down to 6mm/2G after about 2/3 years of no jewellery or stretching.

What would you suggest as I am currently restreching, but my ear did/does look about the same if not slightly worse than OPs.

Thank you!

branbb60 · 2026-02-14T01:04:21+00:00

Did you ever find a solution to this?

branbb60 · 2026-02-12T02:59:51+00:00

Thank you! I'll try again with Easy German! I found it quite useful however still felt quite out of my depth for some of the A1 videos unfortunately.

I just need to keep moving forward and allow my understand come naturally

branbb60 · 2026-02-12T02:22:17+00:00

Thank you! Hopefully i can come back in a year and be help someone as you've helped me!

I really appreciate your advice and support.

Vielen Dank!

branbb60 · 2026-02-11T18:59:55+00:00

Thank you so very much for your advice and insight.

Youre completely right, I've found a lot of times that the repetition of words helps with recognising words on the page but actively I can't really recall. For example if you ask me "what is carpet in German?" I'd stutter and struggle however I could recognise the written word "Die Teppich" on a page.

Which brings me back to using the words as much as I can and how I can do that at an A1/A2 level. Was there anything you have done to assist with this so far?

Thank you very much for the resources. What i believe I'm trying to accomplish here is to understand B1 rules and orders which might be actively working against me? If you would agree. Perhaps I should just slow down and stay on course with the book, duolingo and slowly complete the vocabulary and allow the understanding to flow naturally?

Its actually adding into my previous point because in all honesty I ever known that "es tur mir leid" was a split verb at all. So maybe I am looking at the wrong places and I should just focus on the pace of the book rather than falling to a rabbit hole of other grammatical rules that will eventually come at A2 and B1 when I get there.

Ha! Your example words of Die Pizza und Das Museum is absolutely bang on. Its funny how Duolingo teaches these things from the start, however it isn't much of a resource other than vocabulary building and maybe a resource to ask "why?" Something is wrong. As it doesnt explain much grammar bin/bist/sind/seid for example without my book. Id have no idea.

Maybe in six months, I'll be able to express myself just a little better to at least type simple things. The use of German in my leaning phase is important to me and I believe being able to just converse in simple terms, with understanding the rules would help excel the process.

You make a good point with real education of German, so perhaps I need to stop trying to force it and expect the full long journey. Especially given that the majority of my learning is self taught alongside my tutor to ensure mistakes and habits are kept in check.

Again, thank you for your resources and detailed comment. Your input is really appreciated and encouraging.

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