No matter if you are learning the German language with the help of the best German language institute in your area, you are likely to make mistakes various German language mistakes. However, you must learn from the mistakes and try not to make the same mistakes again and again if you wish to learn German in the correct manner.
Here are some of the most common mistakes people tend to make while learning the German language.
- Thinking in English
It is one of the most common mistakes people generally do while learning German. Most of the people think in English before translating the sentences in the German language. It is not bad to think something in your language first but translating each and every word according to the English language is not the right way to learn German. This way, you will end up speaking or writing incorrect sentences altogether which would make no sense at all. Hence, it is better to think in the German way so that it gets easy for you to write in German as well.
- Mixing up of genders
It is another highly-common mistake that is performed while learning German. People tend to mix up the genders while speaking or writing in German. You might or might not know that unlike the English language which has two genders, masculine and feminine, the German language has three genders namely masculine, feminine and neutral. Moreover, as every noun in the German language has its own gender, you need to learn the gender of each and every noun in the German language to avoid making gender mistakes. Usage of incorrect genders sometimes even changes the meaning of the sentence altogether making you look like an idiot.
- Wrong usage of Umlauts
Umlauts in the German language have a key role to play as they can either make a good sentence or can completely change the meaning of a sentence with one wrong usage of Umlaut. For instance, “zählen” means ‘to count’ whereas “zahlen” means ‘to pay’. Similarly, “Brüder” means ‘brothers’ (more than one) and “Bruder” means ‘brother’ (single). Hence, always remember to pay utmost attention while using umlauts in the German language and also, do not forget that umlauts in German are always used in ‘a’, ‘o’ and ‘u’.
- Not capitalizing nouns
The German language is the one language that requires every noun to be capitalized. However, there are few exceptions to it such as the adjectives of nationality in German are not capitalized as they are in the English language. Sometimes, even the German natives face issues due to such complex capitalization rule in the grammar of the German language.
- Incorrect usage of punctuations and contractions
In the German language, the punctuations, as well as the contractions, are not used in the same way as they are used in the English language. For instance, in the German language, possessives are not written with an apostrophe. Many common German expressions involve an apostrophe whereas many do not.
Conclusion
And so, these were the topmost mistakes people make while learning the German language. Now, while you learn German with the help of the best German language course, do remember to avoid the aforementioned mistakes to ensure correct learning of the German language.