Since social media is a big part of modern life, it only makes sense to use it to its full potential. Yes, it might seem like a place reserved for angry rants and photos of people’s breakfasts, but if you use it in the right way it can be extremely useful, too! And this is definitely true if you’re learning a language. For those of you on Twitter, today I want to introduce you to some German Twitter accounts that you might like to follow to up your daily intake of the glorious German language.

Just to clarify: I’m not talking about accounts specifically designed to teach you German (you should already be following @TLILanguages, the Transparent Language company blog, and @germanlanguage, the Twitter account for this blog, for that!). I’m talking about normal German speakers that just use the language really well.

I do not know who any of these people are, but I love their words. Some are witty, some are quirky, some are simple, and some are poetic. One of them is a rat. The majority of their tweets are short and simple, so they aren’t overwhelming. I think these people do the German language justice. So I’d like to share some of them with you, in the hopes that you feel inspired to follow and interact with them, and other users like them – or just to have a browse!

https://twitter.com/flutmeer/status/614901602139418624

 “Every wave a kiss on the forehead from the ocean”

https://twitter.com/meterhochzwei/status/614699447340109824

“The child sees a bald man.

‘Mummy, mummy, look! That man is pregnant on his head!'”

Total süß, wie die Babykatze mit meinen Wimpern spielt!
Mal was anderes:
Ist hier jemand Augenarzt?

— Tomster (@namenlos4) July 9, 2015

“So sweet, the way my kitten plays with my eyelashes!
On an unrelated note:
Is anyone here an eye doctor?”

Nacht trifft Morgen. pic.twitter.com/egHibFGEys

— mastodon.social/ (@lenecorso) July 4, 2015

“Night meets morning.”

How can following German Twitter users help with your German?

So you might not understand everything these people are saying, but that’s not the point. The point is that you might, as you flick through your timeline, recognise a couple of German words in a tweet. As you progress with your German you might start to recognise a few more, or even the entire thing – and that’s sure to make you feel good! Alternatively, you might notice a certain phrase or grammatical turn that you’ve just learnt in your German lesson. Or you might not understand anything, but feel compelled to look it up in a dictionary to find out.

These are all little victories in language learning because they catch you off-guard, and are done outside a designated learning time. You start off innocently browsing Twitter – you end up learning German! Sometimes it can be as simple as seeing the words “Gute Nacht” on your timeline, to remind you of the basics at a time when you’re not expecting it. Basically, it’s supplementary to any learning you’re already doing!

Of course there are plenty of other, more popular German accounts, such as @GrumpyMerkel, a parody account ‘belonging to’ Angela Merkel, or German news accounts such as @dw_deutsch (Deutsche Welle) to follow for current events, but today I specifically wanted to focus on people who use the language in a creative way – and to show you that German can be beautiful, too! 🙂

Whatever the topic or style, be sure to leave suggestions in the comments of other people to follow, so we can all find some great accounts that add that little bit more German to our daily lives!

Bis bald!

Constanze x