Answer the questions in our test – and we’ll tell you how good your spelling skills are compared to those of other readers.
Unnecessarily complicated, I can’t, for God’s sake – many people have a toxic relationship with German spelling. Some remember with horror the running dictations in which students had to run all over the room and think about whether there was a “that” or “that” at the beginning of the subordinate clause.
For some, pointing out spelling errors in menus, WhatsApp messages or ZEIT texts is a constant source of joy (seriously: thanks for that!). Still others see the spelling rules as well-intentioned suggestions and commas as little lines that can be sprinkled into texts at will. Overall, reading and writing skills seem to be declining among German students, as the Pisa study 2022 showed (PDF).
