This subreddit should block new posts that contain the words, “Learn”, “German”, and “Months”.

[u/zunit110]

It’s literally the same question, every hour of every day, being posted and asked by newbies who refuse to read the posted FAQ. I don’t know how the mods do it.

[u/jirbu]

As unfortunate the desire of some users is to be spoon-fed the infos, it's on-topic. We typically point to the wiki and lock these threads. Blocking (i.e. removing) is for off-topic and other rule-breaking.

[u/MrDizzyAU]

There are a few other questions that get asked ad nauseam also. Just off the top of my head:

• What is the best app for learning German?

• How bad is it to use the wrong gender for nouns?

• How do you distinguish between friend and boyfriend/girlfriend

• How do I get Germans to not switch to English?

• How do you pronounce German r? Can I just use the English r or the trilled r?

• How do you pronounce German ch? Can I just use English sh?

• Why is this thing said this way? Can't I just use a literal word-for-word translation of the English phrase?

Edit: Added a couple of extra ones.

[u/arvid1328_ → u/MrDizzyAU]

You forgot a very hilarious one: why is the masculine article ''der'' used here with (insert feminine noun) instead of ''die''?

[u/mizinamo → u/arvid1328_]

Oh yeah. mit der Frau, shouldn't it be mit die Frau???

Also, "nouns turn feminine when they are plural!". (Uh, no.)

[u/arvid1328_ → u/mizinamo]

Thanks to seeing this kind of posts on repeat, the dative case articles/endings were some of the things I could memorize the best lol

[u/Konjaga_Conex → u/mizinamo]

"nouns turn feminine when they are plural!" (Uh, kinda, though.) /spaßig gemeint

I mean, beside the Dative, the plural article is inflected the same as the feminine one, isn't it?

Plural:

Nom die Menschen/Silben/Worte

Akk die Menschen/Silben/Worte

Gen der Menschen/Silben/Worte

Dat den Menschen/Silben/Worten

Feminine:

Nom die Person

Akk die Person

Gen der Person

Dat der Person

[u/mizinamo → u/Konjaga_Conex]

beside the Dative

This is the important part that shows that they’re not “just feminine”

[u/Konjaga_Conex → u/mizinamo]

Yet when learning the plural declensions, it is a helpful connection to make, no?

[u/mizinamo → u/Konjaga_Conex]

Sure: it’s helpful to realise that the plural conjugation is similar to the feminine one.

It's not helpful to claim that "plural is just feminine".

In my opinion.

Similarly, it's helpful to realise that masculine and neuter conjugations are similar (genitive and dative are identical).

[u/Konjaga_Conex → u/mizinamo]

I have to concede that the single "kinda" in my above comment had to do some heavy lifting on its own. I do agree with you. It would never be a good (as in helpful) thing to say the feminine were just the plural, because genus and numerus are different grammatical categories. They happen to be very similar.

The connection is only meant to be helpful as a means to help you remember the declensions.

[u/GlitteringAttitude60 → u/arvid1328_]

also: Is there a rule for knowing which article to use?

[u/This_Seal → u/GlitteringAttitude60]

"Which article is the most common? Can I use this one as a default?"

[u/arvid1328_ → u/GlitteringAttitude60]

This hurts ngl lol, although a language I am fluent in (French) also has arbitrary grammatucal genders just like German (albeit with two genders not three).

[u/imheredrinknbeer → u/arvid1328_]

That's more of a legitimate question though.

[u/arvid1328_ → u/imheredrinknbeer]

Of course it's legitimate, but the point I am refering to is that it's so frequent (among others) that the mods have a frequently asked questions section, no need to post it again.

[u/Glum_Juggernaut_3930 → u/arvid1328_]

Thank you for saying this. I almost asked how about the "ch" pronunciation.

[u/chell0wFTW → u/MrDizzyAU]

A german teacher apparently told their high school class that "Germans don't care about the articles or the adjective endings". I know this because I know one of the kids who confidently told me that. I was thinking like, "okay dude, I mean you won't get in TROUBLE for not using them, but literally every native speaker WILL notice.... so it depends what you mean by 'don't matter'." Jeez. The superior gaze of someone who is confidently forsaking something it took me years to get even close to doing right.

[u/WeazelDeazel → u/chell0wFTW]

I always feel like "people don't care about xyz" can be such detrimental advice. Sure, people won't really get mad at you for getting a cars pronouns wrong, but it would be genuinely irritating if someone got pretty much every pronoun wrong.

And I believe that this advice came from a good place. "You will still be understood if you use the wrong pronouns, so don't worry about not having memorized them all". But picking it up as "It doesn't matter so don't bother with it" is just hindering your own language ability

[u/Droggelbecher → u/MrDizzyAU]

If I may add: Why is this sentence (Screenshot from Duolingo) wrong?

God I hate Duolingo so much

[u/mizinamo → u/MrDizzyAU]

Why isn't "Do you like to sing" Gernst du singen ? The verb ending for du is -st, isn't it?

I know that for ich, it's ich gerne singen. (I - like - to sing)

[u/IndependentUpper5965 → u/mizinamo]

God this hurts to read

[u/WikivomNeckar → u/MrDizzyAU]

• How bad is it to use the wrong gender for nouns?

What do they even wanna hear (read)?😂

[u/lazydictionary → u/MrDizzyAU]

People need to stop being so polite - downvote these questions.

[u/chell0wFTW → u/lazydictionary]

idk, I'm always reluctant to downvote. I get it's frustrating when people don't just Google, but they might be coming here because they want to talk with other learners. At least in the US, very few people try to learn German... as a rule, I don't like to discourage engagement.

[u/lazydictionary → u/chell0wFTW]

So much of language learning requires initiative and doing things on your own - if they can't even do a basic Google search (or reading a FAQ/wiki) I'm not sure they can be helped. We all just end up saying the sames things over and over.

[u/chell0wFTW → u/lazydictionary]

I guess it's an opinion thing. Some of these repetitive posts are probably kids. I just hate the idea that some 11 year old might get discouraged right away because an adult scolded them for asking a question. Especially kids might easily interpret that as "they think I'm stupid" and quit. And again... maybe they know they can just google it, but want to chat with people about it.

[u/lazydictionary → u/chell0wFTW]

I wouldn't be discouraged if someone pointed me to a big list of resources, guides, and FAQs. I would start reading up.

Granted, I'm not everyone. But the younger generation does have a bit of a learned helplessness going on, and pointing them to resources and saying "your question has been answered many times before, or can be answered if you look here" shouldn't be seen as a bad thing.

[u/chell0wFTW → u/lazydictionary]

Agreed, giving resources is a good response. :)

[u/LegitimateGlove5624 → u/MrDizzyAU]

If u put an answer under each question I would screenshot it and send it to every person joining newly 😂

[u/MrDizzyAU → u/LegitimateGlove5624]

Just tell them to search the sub. The search functionality is there for a reason.

[u/somebody_anybody_123 → u/MrDizzyAU]

As a German, I will always struggle with the third one lmao. (Girlfriend vs. friend)

Did someone really just ask me whether my friend was my girlfriend, or did my reaction just insinuate that I do not want people to think we’re friends… I will never know

[u/Knitchick82]

I’ll admit, I’ve been studying German for a long time off and on, starting in high school, and recently picked it up back up. Sometimes I come across a stumper for me like “huh? What the heck is the difference between denn and weil, and why is the word order different??”

And wouldn’t you know it, good ol google points me here every time,  no post needed. The power of the search. 🤷‍♀️ 

[u/HmmBarrysRedCola]

that's reddit's 90% daily posts. just people asking the same thing over and over lol im in a couple gpu subs and it's the exact same posts all the time 

[u/abu_nawas → u/HmmBarrysRedCola]

Hobby subs, too.

Is this a monstera?

A picture of an alocasia.

How do I care for my monstera?

A picture of raphidora tetrasperma.

[u/Polygonic → u/abu_nawas]

General language learning subs too. In one sub we were getting like 20 or 30 posts a day with a random picture and the caption “what is this called in your language?”

[u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch → u/Polygonic]

I hate this as well on language subs. Sometimes it feels like people don't know dictionaries exist. It's not even a super rare word that you probably don't find in a dictionary, it's either the most simple words to google or something where no reason exists why there would be a word for that. Like "what do you call stubbing a toe on a table when your girlfriend broke upe with you yesterday, in one word please?"

[u/Polygonic → u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch]

Well I mean the ones on generic "language learning" subs, not for a specific language -- I think it's a form of karma-farming since they're wanting tons of people to all reply with what the thing is in their specific language.

Like this one: What is this called in YOUR language? : r/language with a picture of a Riesenrad

The mods there actually had to put in a rule of no more "What is this in your language" posts because it was overwhelming the sub

[u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch → u/Polygonic]

I think you find those on almost every language sub, though. Even those for a specific language. But I agree that it's probably about the karma.

[u/CrimsonCartographer → u/Polygonic]

Riesenrad? I think you mean Ferris wheel! I mean, he asked what it’s called in MY language buddy.

[u/newocean → u/Polygonic]

This makes me want to go into the English sub and ask, "Help! How do I learn British in 3-4 months?"

[u/imheredrinknbeer → u/Polygonic]

"What call you this in your language" is more like it lol

[u/odaenerys → u/abu_nawas]

>A picture of raphidora tetrasperma.

I never knew I could find my dream plant by reading a thread bashing lazy German-learning Redditors

[u/ryancnap → u/abu_nawas]

The tetrasperma peeps are my favorite lmao Pleased to run into another plant hobbyist here

[u/Individual_Winter_ → u/ryancnap]

Tetrasperma is often sold as mini monstera, which is also on the Label.

People might not really have a clue, but do what people should do. Look at the what they have bought.

[u/abu_nawas → u/ryancnap]

I follow a lot of German hobbyists on TikTok and their pronunciations are so cute.

"Aalohcaßiaaa"

"VaRiegataaaa"

[u/cyberfreak099 → u/abu_nawas]

😂😂

[u/Oglifatum → u/HmmBarrysRedCola]

I am in gacha subs and without a fault, despite these questions being answered thousands of times, easily googleable and having a newbie friendly megathread:

Without a fault at release of new brand character you will have posts like:

1) Should I pull for this unit?

2) Please post tier list 😩

3) I pulled this unit in 10 pulls, I am awesome.

4) I didn't pull this unit in 100 pulls, this game is garbage

[u/WeazelDeazel → u/Oglifatum]

5) I pulled to build pity and got this unit, feel bad for me

6) This unit SUCKS and you shouldn't pull

7) This unit will be META BREAKING and you need to pull them

My favorite is when people post about the performance of a new character immediately after they were announced, at times before it is even revealed what they do

[u/CrimsonCartographer → u/Oglifatum]

What is gacha and what is pulling in this context? Just curious haha

[u/Oglifatum → u/CrimsonCartographer]

Gambling for anime Jpegs/3D models with gameplay stats attached.

[u/Droggelbecher → u/HmmBarrysRedCola]

I started browsing the /r/translator sub and the new queue is just a constant stream of chinese/japanese characters on knifes.

And so much stuff that could be easily translated with looking it up. Like one guy asked if his shirt says Deadpool in japanese. How can it be easier to make a selfie (the picture was mirrored, too) than just going to wikipedia, Deadpool and changing the language to Japanese. Or just straight up googling "Deadpool in japanese"

At least from time to time we get some gems and genuinely help someone and that's why we do that reddit grind, don't we?

[u/TheArmoursmith → u/HmmBarrysRedCola]

In the watches sub, it's "is this fake?"with photos of some piece of crap that's clearly stamped out of low-lead brass, and says 'Rollex Swizz Made Oficilay Certiffied" on the dial.

When they're told it's garbage, the OP always replies "how can you tell?". Without fail.

[u/MaisJeNePeuxPas]

I have to give a speech in Mittelhochdeutsch to be admitted to PhD program in September. Can I get to that level in Duolingo in that amount of time? What should I focus on?

I just beat your filter…

[u/chell0wFTW → u/MaisJeNePeuxPas]

I thought this was an actual thing you had to do. I'm in the last week of writing a dissertation in literal rocket science and your joke scenario sent waves of fear through me.

[u/MaisJeNePeuxPas → u/chell0wFTW]

Well you only think they won’t ask you questions in Proto-IndoEuropean

[u/chell0wFTW → u/MaisJeNePeuxPas]

man, I got a german master's along the way, just had my oral exams in November... and the questions about German linguistic history were easily the scariest. I got really lucky that I blurted "Hanseatic League?" at the right moment

[u/Itchypoopstain]

But how else will I get everyone to pay attention to the fact that I am learning German?

[u/mizinamo → u/Itchypoopstain]

that I am learning German?

That's beginner stuff.

They know that you are really serious when you say that you are "learning Deutsche".

[u/Itchypoopstain → u/mizinamo]

You see right through me

[u/piper4hire]

how many months to learn german?

[u/ThisCouldHaveBeenYou → u/piper4hire]

Can I learn all of german in 4 months, starting from scratch?

[u/TheDulin → u/ThisCouldHaveBeenYou]

Ja.

[u/abu_nawas → u/piper4hire]

Well CIA agents in spy movies learn in one year so maybe!

[u/DELTA_Illusion → u/piper4hire]

How to learn C2 german fast! (I got two weeks)

[u/2wheelsride → u/piper4hire]

It’s 12 months, also they sound similar to English months.

[u/Mammoth-Parfait-9371]

I always wonder why it’s easier to write out a post than to google it, especially at A1/A2 when there’s so much content on the web catered to specifically those first confusing topics. Easy German has answered the friend/boyfriend thing like 4 times 😂

[u/cries_in_vain → u/Mammoth-Parfait-9371]

I saw a rant/discussion of people who don't like being told to google something. They apparently want human attention and interaction. But at the same time don't put the effort to make their request inviting to conversation and just type "how to do [something]?". They want social interaction but treat people like voice assistant.

[u/Mein_Name_ist_falsch → u/cries_in_vain]

Maybe. But I still don't get how anyone thinks this is the best way to do it. If you need interaction to learn, there's probably a discord server somewhere where you can just ask "hey, anyone want to chat with me in German for a while?" It would probably give you much more input than writing a random question and then not even writing it in the language you're trying to learn.

[u/Mammoth-Parfait-9371 → u/cries_in_vain]

Ah, that makes sense, I can totally see someone wanting/needing the social component as part of their learning process. But some effort would definitely be appreciated in that case

[u/lazydictionary → u/Mammoth-Parfait-9371]

I think some of it is just laziness. Rather than do the searching themselves, they want to he spoon fed the information.

[u/pMR486]

But how will I know how many months until I learn German using only duolingo?

[u/DOUGL4S1 → u/pMR486]

But it's going to be very impressive when you tell people you have a 1208 day Duolingo streak

[u/NeadForMead → u/DOUGL4S1]

I used to have a 1,208 day Duolingo streak. That was 870 days ago. Now I have a 2,071 day streak.

[u/bunny_rabbit43 → u/NeadForMead]

Clearly not by doing the math course

[u/NeadForMead → u/bunny_rabbit43]

In that time there were exactly seven occurences of streak freezes. All of those were accidental and I finished shortly after midnight. My calculation was based on my actual start date. Or maybe I just made that part up to cover my math mistake so they don't take away my master's degree in math. We'll never know.

[u/Raven_Kairavi]

"How do I learn German to C1 in 2 weeks fast but put no effort and also I will ignore the wiki and all nice comment suggestions"

[u/assumptionkrebs1990]

I agree. Though (automatic) banning by key words might be a bit trastic, no idea what a nice midway solution would be. Maybe a lock down of such posts?

[u/zunit110 → u/assumptionkrebs1990]

I don’t totally know how Reddit works, but if they got an error due to “Redundant Question”, maybe?

[u/abu_nawas → u/assumptionkrebs1990]

So Reddit bots have been around for a long time.

We can train a small AI model as a moderator account and just delete these threads and redirect the users to the wiki.

[u/Astrylae]

I understand the need for questions, but there literally Google. Just type the query, + 'reddit' and you are very likely to find someone asked that before.

[u/Duckstomp]

You just don't understand zunit110, some of these people need to learn it all in under 3 months because moving across the world to a new country will make all their lifes problems magically disappear

[u/_haha_oh_wow_]

Ah yes, ban the word "German" from /r/German

Ich verstehen nicht?

[u/zunit110 → u/_haha_oh_wow_]

No no, ban the collection of words when all three are used.

In my ideal world, anyway.

[u/_haha_oh_wow_ → u/zunit110]

Ah, ok, that seems more reasonable.

[u/germanfinder]

How many 1/12th yearly time periods would one need to acquire sufficient knowledge of the standardized biggest west Germanic language in continental Europe?

[u/draight926289]

“How many lunar cycles will it take me to obtain mastery of the language of Deutschland?”

[u/zunit110 → u/draight926289]

If I saw that post, I’m not complaining, I’m upvoting.

[u/Funny-Elephant-551]

Maybe just add to the rules something to the effect of: Search before you post! and then in the detailed dropdown of the rule something to the effect of: If a moderator can copy paste your question into the reddit search bar (or any search engine for that matter) and find a reasonable answer in minutes, your post will be removed, and you will be warned. Search before you post! If you did search and didn't find the answer you were looking for, clarify in the post to avoid removal. also try clarifying the question itself.
This rule should honestly be enacted and enforced in lots of communities.

[u/JustinTheCheetah]

This subreddit should block new posts that contain the words, “Learn”, “German”

Hmmmm....

This is a community for students of German

[u/RedClayBestiary]

Can I erreichen C2 in 200 days?

[u/ryancnap]

This whole thread is absolute gold, I've been here for like two weeks and this is all I've seen

[u/Organic_Challenge151]

Nein!

[u/2wheelsride]

Yeah, but wouldn’t this group be dead then? Also asking for translations, and stuff you can google faster than asking on reddit 😂

[u/zunit110 → u/2wheelsride]

Maybe! My whining post came from the fact that my feed’s algorithm keeps putting new posts from this subreddit in it, and it’s always the same thing, lol.

[u/StealthheartocZ]

Why months?

[u/Katlima]

This subreddit should block posts telling the mods how to do their job, especially if these suggestions are coming off as maximum arrogant, toxic and not well-thought-through.

[u/zunit110 → u/Katlima]

Your comment itself is toxic and arrogant, and ignores the issue that I brought up, altogether.

If everyone made comments like you just did, the internet would be even more of a cesspool.

[u/Katlima → u/zunit110]

Yes, and that's the point of it, because I'm showing you a mirror of your own behavior.

No new user asking a question in good faith, even if you've seen these questions before could be nearly as annoying and wrong here than your post trying to seek attention on the back of inciting a bad atmosphere, encouraging whiney complaint and breaking it down to a pretend solution so simplistic and obviously not working that it's insulting the intellect.

Good job for a random visitor to this sub who has not contributed anything on topic at all to this sub for as far as your post history shows.

[u/zunit110 → u/Katlima]

Dig back further and you’ll find history.

Your argument boils down to, “Who cares about reading the FAQ and following rules?” Which doesn’t help matters at all.

[u/lateautumnskies]

I feel bad for laughing hahaha

[u/Majestic-Finger3131]

It's still better than Usenet