this is from a goethe a2 sample paper, are a2 students expected to know ALL these words? i don't understand many words here

by Otherwise-Ad-5542

43 comments

  2. It’s a really simple text without any fancy words. So yeah A2 should be expected to at least understand what it is about.

  3. My German is around A2 and I can understand almost everything here.

  4. ChatGPT thinks it’s B1. I recently did B1 cert and I can say it’s B1

  5. It is really simple german. You don’t need to know all the words, but you should be able to understand the context with relatively low german knowledge. From the complexity this looks not that far off from A2 tests I took for other languages.

  7. I would call this A2, yes. (Also this is the wrong sub, you want r/german.)

  8. The text is also written in simple language.

    There are several sentences which stick out to a native speaker because you wouldn’t normally write them that way.

  9. If it’s straight out of an official sample paper… what more confirmation do you need? You need to understand enough of those words to answer enough of the associated questions correctly to get a passing mark. And in official contexts, “passed a recognized A2 examination” is the definition of being at or above A2 standard.

    If you fail the exam, telling Goethe “But reddit said I didn’t need all those words!” won’t change your mark.

  10. I don’t think A2 would necessarily cover the verbs in Präteritum outside of modals, or the genitive “wegen” construction, but a lot could be guessed from context.

  11. Maybe a tiny bit on the B2 side, there are a few (small) grammar points that might not already be covered in A2.

  12. As someone between A2 and B1, this text is very easy, I know all the words here.

  13. In addition to the simple structure of the sentences, some of the words can be more difficult to understand in my estimation. “Dauernd” is a variation of “Andauernd. “Realschule” is a term specific to the German education system. “Fernsehshow” is a combination of a German and an English term. And “Lokal” also exists in lower case as an adjective.

  15. A2 is already probing for passive vocabulary and for you to recognize word roots. So you don’t need to know every word, but they expect you to be able to figure a lot out.

    I recently passed Goethe A2 even though I did very bad with reading. Practice lots of vocab!

  16. It’s more or less bordering A2 and B1, but as long as you’re able to understand the context as a whole even if some words are brand new (which is actually the best way to crack the GZ exam imo), you’re good. Try practicing a couple of papers where you try to figure out the context behind the sentences rather the meaning of each and every word.

  17. It’s B1. You see the most ridiculous “vibe” answers here which have nothing at all to do with the language learning curriculum amd certification.

    The second half contains passive clauses and Präteritum, both of which are taught in B1. Those are just the most clear cut portions. You’ll probably find more examples of elements taught in B1.

    https://kapitel-zwei.de/kursinhalte-sprachniveaus/

  18. Don’t listen to the native Germans posting here. They have no idea how difficult their language is, because it’s easy *for them*.

  19. I’m teaching German as a second language and i would say the text is pretty challenging for A2 learners but they should be able to unterstand the general gist of it

  20. I am learning German currently (B2 level), you must understand the difference between the different skills, and here especially the reading/writing skills. You aren’t expected to be able to write that, the grammar there although not hard to understand, it is hard to use and write perfectly even for higher levels (yes it’s not very nested as someone commented, but there are some usages os a bit complicated grammar rules that you need some level of fluency to think of easily and use without burdens).

    For reading, this is definitely something that you should expect while studying A2, because reading is the skill that helps you polish the other parts of the language (
    Learning new vocabulary for writing, learning and spotting new grammar here and there to better your grammar skills, and since you already have the foundations you should be able to understand everything using the context). Basically, if you only read what you are supposed to be able to write, you won’t really advance at all and will be stuck.

  21. This seems to be on the higher end of A2. I’ve seen B1 Texts that were less complicated to me but this is exposing some gaps in my knowledge.

  22. The second paragraph is definitely A2, the first one not so much.

  23. I have to disagree with the majority here and say, that this is not A2. The words themselves are fine, but the grammar is too complex for A2. You have

    – Relativsätze mit Präpositionen
    – komplexe Genitivstrukturen
    – Umstellung von Konnektoren auf untypische Positionen
    – sehr viel Präteritum
    – Präpositionen mit Genitiv (vielleicht A2, aber eher B1)

    One or two of the above would be fine, but all of them in one short little text seems too much for me.

    Especially the use of Präteritum is a clear marker of B1.

  24. I understand most of it perfectly fine and I’m studying A2 Goethe as well

  25. You shouldn’t ask this here, as all native speakers will say the text is super simple and easy. Ask in r/German. My German is C2, but I reckon this text might sound a bit too complex for an A2 student (do you even learn Präteritum on A2?)

  26. I’m Dutch and can read all of it without having studied German since I was 14 in high school.

  27. I’d say it’s on the verge to B1 maybe (without knowing the exact reference frame for it in German) . Yes the sentences are short and not overly complicated but there’s 2 different past tenses.

  28. „, von denen“ „Lokal aufmachen“, „bewusst dagegen entscheiden“, „fuhr durch die Welt“, even maybe „nahm die Stelle an“.

    I guarantee you no-one learning German on courses for the level A2 would answer what do those phrases mean. If you think this is a sample text from A2 study book – you simply never studied German and vibe-checking.

  29. I’ve passed a2 and this is considerably harder. Vocab esspecislly. Sure, a2 should be able to get the gist, but probably missing words nearly every sentence.

  30. Fun fact: there is no “stefan berger” that is a chef and no “Bremer lokal” in bremen. There is a Stefan ladenberger, who owns “das kleine lokal” in bremen. And is a prized chef 😁

  31. Fun fact: story is based on real life “stefan ladenberger” who owns thr “das kleine lokal” in bremen and is a prized chef.

  32. Fun fact: story is based on real life “stefan ladenberger” who owns the “das kleine lokal” in bremen and is a prized chef.

  33. For A2 this would probably be right in the sense of you can get the gist of it. If it was about understanding every single word, it’d be B1.

  35. as a German learner, this should be nearly B1 level, auf keinen Fall A2 xd

  36. I think there are some words that are unnecessary for A2 students. There’s no reason why you would need to know “Lokal” in addition to “Restaurant” or all of “Stelle”, “Arbeit”, “Job” and “Beruf”. The meanings might be slightly different but it’s unusual for language students to learn all of them right away.

  37. At the end of the A2 semester (A2 is usually broken into A2.1 and A2.2), yes. Or as the B1 placement test. It’s about understanding the concept, not the ability to translate each sentence and replicate.

  39. This is kind of a side question but are there tools that can translate this 1 for 1? In other words, instead of an idiomatic (and correct) translation like DeepL would do, it would spit out the raw translation of the words in the same order without any grammatical affordance. Of course this would purely be for learning and finding misunderstandings of the vocabulary (and also identifying the fundamental grammatical differences between the two languages).

  40. When I studied for a2 and b1 sometimes I was given these texts that are above the level a little bit and you’re supposed to understand it and may not know all the words or grammars. Being able to extract info is very important in any language course

  42. Yes it is. People severely overestimate their abilities and underestimate what the levels truly mean. This is simple stuff and talking about simple topics after a few months of learning will put you at A1, low A2 max. B level is already complete functional fluency in most cases.

  43. I suspect you should know almost all of them at A2 and where you don’t should be able to put them in context. For example, you may not know Berufsausbildung, but probably know Beruf and Ausbildung individually.

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