C2.1 · 24 of 30
Schreiben: Zweimal dasselbe
Lesson · 3 rules · about 5 min
Write the same news twice, once for a friend and once for the record.
- 1Register moves on two axes
- 2Neutral is not formal
- 3Impersonal, not evasive
Why this matters
The question here is not whether you can write German but whether you can choose which German. Write the same piece of news twice: once to a colleague you like, once as a formal notice. The facts stay identical. Only the register moves, and it moves on two axes at once, the words and the sentence shapes. Write 1200 to 2500 characters for both together. The commonest failure is a leak: one gehobenes word in the chatty version, or one spoken particle in the formal one. The correction will hunt for exactly that.
Rule · 1 of 3
Register moves on two axes
Words carry some of it, structure carries the rest. Formal German reaches for nouns, the passive and the impersonal; informal German reaches for verbs, active subjects and short main clauses. Moving only the words leaves a text that still sounds spoken.
- Wir haben das jetzt geändert, ab Montag läuft es anders. We have changed it now, from Monday it works differently.
- Die Regelung wurde angepasst; sie tritt zum kommenden Montag in Kraft. The rule has been amended; it takes effect from this coming Monday.
Over-formality in a message to a friend is a register mistake too, and it is the one most people make once they have learnt the formal words.
Quick check
Which belongs to the formal version?
Rule · 2 of 3
Neutral is not formal
Most German words are neutral: Geld, beginnen, sagen, bekommen. They fit both versions, and they are the backbone of each. Only a few words are genuinely marked: kriegen is informal, erhalten is formal, bekommen is neither. Hunt for the marked ones; leave the rest alone.
- Ich kriege die Zahlen morgen. / Die Zahlen gehen Ihnen morgen zu. I get the figures tomorrow. / The figures will reach you tomorrow.
- Wir reden Montag drüber. / Der Punkt wird am Montag erörtert. We will talk about it on Monday. / The matter will be discussed on Monday.
Quick check
Which word is neutral, fitting both versions?
Memory trick · 3 of 3
Impersonal, not evasive
The formal version may drop the personal subject, but it must not lose who is responsible. „Es wurden Fehler gemacht“ hides the agent; „Die Abteilung hat den Termin versäumt“ is just as formal and still says who. The difference is noticed.
- Hiermit teilen wir Ihnen mit, dass die Frist um zwei Wochen verlängert wird. We hereby inform you that the deadline is being extended by two weeks.
- Die Verzögerung ist auf einen Fehler in unserer Planung zurückzuführen. The delay is attributable to an error in our planning.
Quick check
Which is formal without hiding the agent?
Listen
Play it, then pick what you heard.
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Cheat sheet
What to take with you
- Register moves on two axes
- Neutral is not formal
- Impersonal, not evasive
How to remember it
- Two axes: the words and the structures. Move both or neither.
- Most words are neutral; only a few are marked. Hunt the marked ones.
- Formal may be impersonal, but it must not hide who did what.
- A single leaked word gives the whole version away.
Writing the same content in two registers is a C2 task, and it is what anyone drafting at work does every day without noticing.
Say the same thing twice. Pick one piece of news: a decision at work, a change to a rule, or something that went wrong. Write it first as a message to a close colleague, then as a formal notice to everyone affected. The facts must be identical; only the register may change. Both versions go in one message, each labelled, and the length limit is for both together.
- keep the content exactly the same in both versions, including the facts and the dates
- move the register with word choice: kriegen against erhalten, reden against erörtern
- move it with structure too: short main clauses against nominal style and the passive
- keep each version internally consistent, with no stray word from the other
- make the formal version impersonal without making it evasive
0 of 1200 characters — keep going 0 words
2 Copy the correction request
This carries your own text. Paste it into your AI assistant and it will correct what you wrote, then give you a score and a short list of fixes.
3 Open your assistant
Copy the request first (one step back), then paste it into your assistant.
4 Bring the correction back
Paste the whole report. The SCORE= line is read
automatically, and the fixes are saved as your next things to work on.
Report a problem
Exercise
Schreiben: Zweimal dasselbe · C2.1
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