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As I see, most of the question is about some interesting/uncommon questions of German learners. What I also see, they are often not understable by the native speakers or they find it too trivial. The same problems are coming often in the IRL life, fortunately here the voting-commenting mechanism provides a communication standard where we can continously clarify-clean our questions until they will be mutually understable and also grammatically clean. :-)

That is ok, but I think, answering these questions is not so funny for a native speaker. Or it is?

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  • @CarstenS Reading the accepted answer can maybe help you understand also the question.
    – peterh
    May 7, 2016 at 10:57
  • @CarstenS Nein, aber das ist imho nicht wirr. Du könntest es auch fixen, oder mich fragen. Ich tue alle mögliche, die beste Qualität geben, und so schlimm bin ich nicht (sonst die anderen auch so schlechte Rüchmeldungen gegeben hätten).
    – peterh
    May 8, 2016 at 13:21

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Well, for my part I like teaching concepts. The big picture, not so much the tiny exception. It’s more or less the same thing with chemistry, where I enjoy answering the conceptional questions and not the why is this case special-questions. You may need a certain fondness for the teaching in itself to enjoy that part. I will totally admit that not everybody has it.

Part of why I enjoy it is that non-natives learning the language may stumble upon issues that are fascinating and interesting but generally not noticed by natives. I love it when answering a question requires thought, understanding, research. That is the scientist in me. Once I have understood the underlying mechanism or concept, I then also enjoy writing up the answer, see above.

And then finally, I will have to admit to being a badge- and rep-whore, enjoying the trickle of reputation points and the badges I earn from it. Shiny collectables that don’t even clutter up the shelf. I know, that shouldn’t be what the site is about, but it’s still a cause for me.

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I mostly enjoy clarifying differences in the meaning of words. Although I choose my words very carefully, it is not always easy to point the finger to the exact difference. All the more satisfying it feels when it happens. This site often prompts me to think about differences I have not explained before.

Then, there are a lot of questions by native speakers that I can't answer and I wait for the answer almost as eagerly as they do.

In addition, I have been teaching German for a very long time, albeit not regularly. Finding, or more often, reading a good way to explain something is a welcome assistance.

And then there are some people on this site, that take so much time to craft answers that are beautiful in every respect!

And finally, the joy of helping. It is not original, I know, but I do feel it and I do enjoy it. It makes me feel just a little more appreciated and a little more useful - and most of us crave that, whether we admit it or not...

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Ich denke auch als Muttersprachler kann man hier Fragen finden, welche einer Antwort warten und man muss ja auch nicht jede Frage mitnehmen. Ich für meinen Teil hab bis jetzt noch kene Frage gelesen, die ich nicht zumindest versuchen würde zu beantworten, oder selber zu stellen.

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I go with nearly all the answers before and would simply like to add another aspect:

I think this site is a real good place for German expats to stay in touch with their language. Would be really interesting to know how many of the contributors are Germans living in another country.

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  • Frag das ruhig; ich denke, auf Meta sollte das möglich sein ;)
    – Jan
    Jul 29, 2016 at 23:00

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