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…

The weekend before last, I have been to the International Green Week (IGW) in Berlin for the very first time. The IGW is the world’s biggest fair for food, agriculture, and horticulture and one of the longest-standing fairs in Berlin. Originally, it was a local produce exchange, which was simply called Grüne Woche (Green Week) in the beginning. The term International was only added later when also companies from abroad started to exhibit their products there.

The first fair of this kind took place from 20 February to 28 February 1926. Back then 50,000 people visited the fair. Meanwhile, the number of visitors has increased eightfold and exhibitors come from all around the globe. This year, 1630 exhibitors from 67 countries presented their products.

Usually, I am not a keen fair-walker since I find it exhausting to walk around for hours in order to eye goods. But since I was promised that I could eat there for free there, I agreed to give it a try and eventually made tracks. But as soon as I got to the fair my anticipation vanished jerkily because I realized that having a taste was charged. Most samples cost between 0,50 and 1,50 Euros. Given the fact that one sample was really just one bite, a whole meal would have been quite expensive for me. Thus, I decided to only have a look instead of eating my way through the stands.

I guess that this form of parsimony of the exhibitors is rooted in the downward movement of economy. It seems that companies cannot afford anymore to give away goods for free. I remember that some years ago, visitors of fairs were deluged with promotional gifts, such as ballpoint pens, key chains, lanyards, flags, bags, buttons, and so on. This has changed completely. I could not find a single stand where they gave away any promotional goods. Leaflets and flyers were the only “goodies” visitors could get.

Anyway, I found it very interesting to see what foods other countries produce and I also bought some English and Turkish sweets as well as German bread and cheese. And next year, I will take some more money with me to buy more international delis. Here are some pictures from the IGW:

Deutscher Käse - German cheese

Fischbrötchen - fish roll

Türkische Süßigkeiten - Turkish sweets

Italienisches Eis - Italian ice cream

Deutsches Brot - German bread

Deutscher Kuchen - German cake

Kartoffeln - potatoes