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…

These days, Germany and France are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their friendship. Conditioned by history, this is anything but self-evident! My grandfather used to be a prisoner of war in France after World War II. I myself used to live in France for a while and have a lot of friends over there. That´s how things changed the last decades. And meanwhile it surely is a positive example of forgiveness, rapprochement and  friendship between two countries.

Konrad Adenauer und Charles de Gaulle 1958 (Foto:Ludwig Wegmann)

On January 22nd 1963, the so called “Elysée-Vertrag” (Elysée contract) between Germany and France has been signed. The paper finally heralded the German-French friendship as a basic concept for permanent peace in Europe after two World Wars.

It was a political avalanche in a good way that President Charles de Gaulle released on September 4th 1962:

Instead of a primarily planned state visit to the hereditary enemy that should be short, cold and reserved, he changed his first attendance in Germany into a triumphal procession of friendship. Accompanied by Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, the 71-year old toured Germany six days without a rest.

Whether in Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Duisburg or Ludwigsburg… everywhere the “fathers” of German-French friendship were received by a jubilating crowd.
To demonstrate his respect for his hosts, he delivered all of his speeches in perfect German, though with a strong accent. But his message was more important: While East and West were facing hostile in the middle of the Cold War, de Gaulle assured that the “Erbfeindschaft” (hereditary enmity) between German and French people finally has been overpowered. The French Head of State praised his host country effusively for its effort, its will to develop and its commitment to democracy.The beginning of a close friendship between Germany and France, that has never been broken since then.
On September 9th, he took his famous “Rede an die Jugend” (speech to the youth) in Ludwigsburg.

Der Elyséevertrag (The Elysée contract)

The highlight of the approximation took place in Paris, when the “Elyséevertrag” has been signed a few months later on January 22nd 1963. In this German-French contract of friendship, the former opponents committed themselves among other things to work together in matters of foreign affairs, security policy, cultural and educational policy and youth policy. The arrangements came into effect on July 2nd 1963.

After all you really can say that this paper brought together the probably most important neighbouring countries in the heart of Europe.

Here´s a little article about the anniversary ceremonies:

So what about your countries? Are there similar friendships or relationships to other countries that might have been different in the past? Let us know by using the comment fields.