German Language Blog

Here´s the solution to the quiz I published some days ago. Compare it to yours…

1. How many residents are there approximately in Germany?
About 82,45 Million.

2. Name three rivers in Germany!
Rhein, Donau, Elbe, Neckar, Spree…

3. How many “Bundesländer” are there in Germany? Name three of them, including their capitals.
There are 16 Bundesländer. For example Bayern (München), Niedersachsen (Hannover), Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf), Thüringen (Erfurt), Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart), Sachsen (Dresden), Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel)…

4. What is the name of the highest mountain in Germany?
Zugspitze

5. Who is currently Bundeskanzler/in of Germany?
Angela Merkel

6. Name three neighboring countries of Germany!
France, Denmark, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands…

7. The first republic with a democratic constitution was proclaimed in 1918. What was its name?
Weimarer Republik.

8. What was the name of the party that ruled between 1933 and 1945?
NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

9. What happened on the 8th of May, 1945?
It was the end of World War 2 in Europe.

10. What does DDR mean?
Deutsche Demokratische Republik.

11. When was the German reunification?
In 1990. The fall of the Berlin wall took place in 1989.

12. Which right is protected by Artikel 1 of the German constitution?
The dignity of humans.

13. Which political parties are currently represented in the German Bundestag? Name at least three of them.
CDU, CSU, SPD, Grüne, FDP, Linkspartei.PDS

14. Germany has some important universities. Name three of them!
Heidelberg, Münster, Göttingen…

15. Name one nationwide newspaper and one public TV channel!
Newspapers: “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, “Die Welt”

TV Channels: ARD, ZDF.

16. Name three German actors or actresses!
Muriel Baumeister, Meret Becker, Heike Makatsch, Til Schweiger, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Brühl…well, there are hundreds of others as well

17. Name three German sportspersons!
Michael Schumacher, Oliver Kahn, Dirk Nowitzki, Heike Drechsler…

18. What did Johannes Gutenberg invent?
Printing.

19. There were two pioneers in automotive engineering in Germany. Do you know their names?
Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler.

20. Do you know the colours of the German flag? And how are they arranged?
Black, red, gold. In this order from top to bottom.

Hi everyone,

due to the sunny weather over here, I´m in the mood to give you a little quiz about Germany. Test your knowledge about the country! Here we go…

1. How many residents are there approximately in Germany?

2. Name three rivers in Germany!

3. How many “Bundesländer” are there in Germany? Name three of them, including their capitals.

4. What is the name of the highest mountain in Germany?

5. Who is currently Bundeskanzler/in of Germany?

6. Name three neighboring countries of Germany!

7. The first republic with a democratic constitution was proclaimed in 1918. What was its name?

8. What was the name of the party that ruled between 1933 and 1945?

9. What happened on the 8th of May, 1945?

10. What does DDR mean?

11. When was the German reunification?

12. Which right is protected by Artikel 1 of the German constitution?

13. Which political parties are currently represented in the German Bundestag? Name at least three of them.

14. Germany has some important universities. Name three of them!

15. Name one nationwide newspaper and one public TV channel!

16. Name three German actors or actresses!

17. Name three German sportspersons!

18. What did Johannes Gutenberg invent?

19. There were two pioneers in automotive engineering in Germany. Do you know their names?

20. Do you know the colours of the German flag? And how are they arranged?

Try your best and share your solutions in the comment field. I´ll publish some answers in a couple of days…

Since a couple of days, the Europameisterschaft (European championship) 2012 is running in Poland and Ukraine. You might ask “Which sport?”. But if you are in Europe these days or if you know a little about European sports, there is only one answer: Fußball (soccer). Especially in Central Europe, people are crazy about this game so they are happy that the long expected games finally started.

After a phase of qualification, 16 teams made it to the Endrunde (final round) that started last Friday. And glücklicherweise (fortunately) Germany is among them. The Mannschaften (teams) are separated in four groups. The best two teams from each group will reach the Viertelfinale (quarter final) and so on.

The first match for Germany was on Saturday where they had to struggle the Portuguese.  In the end Germany won by  one goal to zero. Though the match wasn´t very good, the victory was pretty important for the German players to develop some self-confidence against strong Gegner (opponents) like the Netherlands, Spain or Italy. And of course it is always good to start a Turnier (tournament) like this with some well deserved points.

Yesterday there was the second match for the German team. This time against the Netherlands. I don´t know exactly why, but regarding soccer, there is a deep Rivalität (rivalry) between Germany and the Netherlands. So the game was expected with high tension. I guess most of the German fans were a bit doubtful if they could win against the strong players of the Netherlands. But when the Schiedsrichter (referee) started the match, all skepticism has gone away. The erste Halbzeit (first half) was fantastic and Germany could come to the fore with two Tore (goals) by Mario Gomez.

In the second half, the Netherlands became stronger and stronger and finally scored a goal. But fortunately (for Germany) the match was over before they could balance it by scoring a second one.
As you can imagine, a lot of German fans started a big party after this.

The next match will be on Sunday against Denmark. I think a Unentschieden (draw) would be enough to reach the quarter final. But winning is always better

So what are the most popular sports in your country? Are you watching the European championship as well? Do you have similar tournaments? Tell us by posting…

Some vocabulary to this post:
die Europameisterschaft – European championship
der Fußball – soccer
die Endrunde – final round
glücklicherweise – fortunately
die Mannschaft – team
das Viertelfinale – quarter final
der Gegner – opponent
das Turnier – tournament
die Rivalität – rivalry
der Schiedsrichter – referee
die erste Halbzeit – first half
das Tor – goal