WARNING

do not use this template unless you have at least a moderate reading skill of German. If you do not speak German at all and if you want to show sympathy for German culture you may end your qso with a formula like 'awdh'. But this should be done at the END of the qso because the start of the QSO is to be considered as a negotiation of the language to use. The default choice is Basic English.

The strongest element of this negotiation is the prefix. A DL or OE station may be talked to in German by default, a station outside the German speaking areas definitely not.

If your intention is to use German and if you have a different prefix you should manifest this intention as clearly as possible and as early as possible.

However, it is not recommended to pretend a language skill which you don't have. Text elements from a ham compendium are not enough to try a QSO in German. At best they are a help for foreign speakers of German to learn about some specific terms.

What if your language negotiation fails?
Considerate German speaking operators will support you if you are studying the language, others probably won't, some may even be hard to convince to come back in German. Usually this is because your qso partner has a poor copy or may be using a decoder which is operating too close to the decoding threshold. Other reasons may be the use of macros written in English. In extremely rare cases it is the vanity to expose a brilliant English and almost never it is the implicit idea that your German is too bad to be usable. Don't be discouraged. CW is a great method to practice a foreign language. You do not have to struggle with accents or pronounciation and you can use it while you language skill is still basic. Be ready to accept that a good share of DLs will ignore your German if you try to use it. But most German speakers will appreciate your effort and praise you tacitly or openly.

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