Locate a German entrance from landmark directions

01Make a destination card

Write entrance at the centre of a sheet. Reserve spaces around it for route, landmark and wrong entrance. This discourages choosing the first recognisable shop or building as the destination. Directions often use a visible feature to guide you towards a less visible door.

Choose a real walking tour or location video with a spoken entrance description. Prefer a passage where the camera pauses near the building. Do not rely on a video for current accessibility or opening information. This exercise trains reference tracking. The original example below describes no actual visitor route, and you do not need to leave home to complete it.

02Read past the visible landmark

Gehen Sie am Supermarkt vorbei und dann rechts in den Innenhof. Der Eingang zur Beratung ist links neben dem Fahrradständer. Nehmen Sie nicht die Glastür direkt an der Straße; die gehört zum Laden.

Translation: Walk past the supermarket and then right into the courtyard. The entrance to the advice service is on the left beside the bicycle rack. Do not take the glass door directly on the street; it belongs to the shop.

Am Supermarkt vorbei means past the supermarket, not into it. Links locates the entrance after the right turn. The two directions apply at different stages. The glass door is explicitly the wrong entrance for this task.

03Resolve apparent contradictions

Explain why turn right and entrance on the left can both be correct. Draw the courtyard before placing the entrance. Write an instruction for someone standing at the glass street door. Move them away from the rejected entrance and towards the correct landmark. Do not send them through the shop unless the message says to do so.

In a real clip, separate route words from final-position words. Note a camera turn only when you can relate it to the voice. Replay vorbei or neben if it blocks your sketch. A caption can identify the relationship, but the full spoken sentence determines its reference point. A visible object alone is not a direction.

04Answer key: two frames

The visitor passes the supermarket, turns right into the courtyard and finds the advice-service entrance on the left beside the bicycle rack. The street-facing glass door serves the shop. Right describes entry into a new space. Left describes the entrance within that space. There is no contradiction.

The text gives no floor, opening hours or accessibility details. Do not add a lift or step-free route based on Innenhof. If you placed the advice entrance inside the supermarket, check vorbei. If you retained the street door, check nicht and the explanation that follows. The reason helps confirm which entrance is rejected. Your final sketch should show one route, one correct door and the explicitly excluded door.

05Transfer to a less visible destination

Jibber Jabber is our app. Interactive captions and lookup can help you inspect place relationships in German video. Check a blocking word such as Fahrradständer, then replay the complete direction. The app does not confirm building access or replace current visitor instructions.

Choose another passage about a reception desk or meeting room. Separate route and final position again. After listening, give directions from the last unmistakable landmark rather than repeating every sentence. Keep a wrong-turn warning if the speaker provides one. This turns notes into a useful route while preserving the information that prevents a mistake. State any missing access detail as a question.

See our video-player guide ↗