Forums
Willkommen! Welcome to our two German Language forums! I'm Hyde Flippo, your About Guide for German. Our Forum leader is Brigitte ("Gitte") Dubiel. She is assisted by several volunteer Forum hosts. (See Meet Your Hosts for more about our chat and forum hosts.) We invite you to join us here for discussions in German and/or about German. If you have a grammar/vocabulary question or you just want to practice your German, this is the place.
As your Guide I visit the forum regularly and contribute to (and moderate) discussions, but Gitte is the main forum manager. She and the forum hosts, as well as other forum members, will gladly answer your questions and join in most discussions in our two German forums. See more about our forum rules below.
As a guest you can read all messages in our forums, but you have to become a member in order to reply or post new messages. Forum registration is simple and free. If you are already a member of another About forum, then that membership also applies to our German forums.
Forum sign-in is case sensitive. If you sign in the first time as "heinz57," be sure you don't sign in later as "Heinz57," because it won't work. It's the same for your password. For more about our German forums, see our rules and the Forum FAQ below.
Our forum rules are simple and very similar to those for our chat room. Please read and follow them!
1. There are two German forums! Forum I is primarily for beginners (Anfänger) and intermediate German-learners. The language for Forum I is either English or German. Your Guide and the forum hosts understand both of these languages.
2. If you want to "speak" mostly German, please do so in Forum II. English is not prohibited, but the main language in Forum II (Das Deutsche Forum) is German. In our second forum just about any topic is allowed, as long as you discuss it in German (but also see Rule 5 below). Naturally, you are welcome to use English in Forum II's "Help with English" folder.
3. Make sure you are familiar with "Netiquette," the rules for email, bulletin boards, and forums in general. If you want to review some email guidelines, take a look at the About Email site.
4. Speaking of Netiquette, please remember, NO TYPING IN ALL CAPS—in either language! Typing in all caps, except to emphasize a WORD or phrase, is considered rude and means you're shouting.
6. Stay on topic! Remember why you came to the forum in the first place! If you're not talking about German or in German (in Forum I), then you're probably off topic. And PLEASE always use an appropriate topic heading (subject) in any forum! If your reply to a message changes the subject, then you should change the subject heading by selecting "Post New Message" (or "Neuer Beitrag") to create a new thread.
7. Practice safe email. Don't reveal your full name, home address, phone number, or other personal information to anyone you don't really know—and sometimes not even then. You don't have to give out any information you don't want to.
Have fun and enjoy our German forums! Viel Spaß!
FAQ
- Q. Do I have to use German for posts in the German forums?A. Nein. No. Although we encourage posts in German, you are free to use English or German, as you prefer, in our German Language Forum (Forum I). If you have a grammar or vocabulary question, it may be simpler to ask in English. Only in our Deutsches Forum (Forum II) is German the preferred language. But even there English is OK for certain topics. Just be aware, however, that Forum II is for native German-speakers and advanced speakers of German, who are fairly fluent in the language.
- Q. What kinds of topics are discussed in Forum I?A. In Forum I we talk about the German language and we talk in German or English. If you use German, you can talk about pretty much anything you want. If you use English, you can discuss German grammar, vocabulary, or anything related to learning the German language. Perhaps you'd like to recommend some software or a Web site for German that you just found. We also have specific sections (folders) for certain topics. Take a look before posting a message to be sure you're in the right place.
- Q. What kinds of topics are discussed in Forum II?A. Forum II is for discussions of just about any topic—in German. This forum is primarily intended for native-speakers of German and others who are proficient in German. It's defintely not for beginners! Discussions in Forum 2 can be on just about any topic, usually in German. We even have a special folder for "Help with English" that is aimed at German-speakers who want help with their English skills.
- Q. May I include my own Web site or product in my signature?A. You are allowed to include your personal Web site URL as part of your "signature" by placing it under your name at the end of your posts. However, commercial messages or ads of any kind, in a signature or message, are not allowed in the forums. They will be considered spam and be deleted.
- Q. Why doesn't my new message appear after I hit the "Post" or "Senden" button?A. Newly posted messages are sometimes subject to a delay of several minutes before they appear. Sometimes, when the forums are very busy, it may take a little longer before your message shows up in the forum. Just be patient!
- Q. My existing post has vanished! What happened?A. There are at least two possibilities. First, for housekeeping reasons, older forum messages are deleted on a regular basis. Your post may be gone for that reason. (You can always post again.) Second, if your post was inappropriate or violated our forum rules in some way, it may have been removed by a forum host. We also preserve some messages and threads in our "Archives" folder in Forum 1. That's a good place to look for frequently asked questions or what we call "forum gems" from the past.
- Q. What's a "read-only" folder?A. Some of the topic folders in our forums are intended to provide information or announcements only, without replies or discussion. Such folders include the "Archives" and the "Tutor Directory" (listing tutors of German around the world). If you want to ask or comment about an item in a "read-only" folder, you can do so in another appropriate topic folder.
- Q. Do you also have chat for German?A. Ja! For chat, visit our German Chat page to log in. You may also want to post a message here in the Forum inviting others to meet you for chat at a particular time. The German chat room is always open, but we offer regularly scheduled moderated chat sessions. To see when there are scheduled chat sessions for German, see the schedule on the main chat page. There is also a German version of the chat page.