Archive for the year 2011
Vocabulary about music Posted by jan on Jun 22, 2011
hi everybody, today I want to indroduce some general vocabulary about music to you. So, when we talk about music, we first have to seperate the different styles of music: Klassik – Classical music Pop – Popular music Reggae – Reggae music Rock – Rock music Folk – Folk music Hip Hop – Hip Hop…
Das deutsche Gesundheitssystem – The German health system Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jun 21, 2011
Some days ago, I realized that I have Zahnschmerzen (toothache). So, I went to see a doctor. This incident made me realize how important it is to know some basic phrases with which you can express that you are filling ill. Moreover, I would like to take the opportunity to explain how the procedure of…
The words “mal”, “ja”, and “doch” in German speech Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jun 13, 2011
There are three words in German that are frequently used as filler words in speech. That is to say, they are inserted in a sentence without changing the meaning of the sentence but only the tone of voice, so to speak. These words are: “mal”, “ja”, and “doch”. 1. “ mal” You can hear…
Tense: Present – Das Präsens Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jun 8, 2011
Learning tenses of a language can be a thorn in one’s side, but learning these rules is crucial to an effective study, since tenses display essential word orders, which enable you to handle a language more freely. There is only one present tense form in German and this one corresponds to all three forms that…
Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungs-auftragübertragungsgesetz – Compounding nouns in German Posted by Sandra Rösner on May 30, 2011
One of the most striking characteristics of the German language is that you can virtually combine an unlimited number of nouns to form a new noun. Such long words can confuse learners of German to a great extend. First, German orthography uses closed compounds, whereas in English most compounded nouns are separated by spaces or…
Audiovisual comprehension – Toms Fahrrad Posted by jan on May 29, 2011
Today I got a new audiovisual comprehension for you. I hope you´ll understand it. To help you a little bit, here´s the spoken text: Das ist Tom. Er hat ein neues Fahrrad bekommen. Die Reifen sind viel größer als die von seinem letzten Fahrrad. Und der Sattel ist viel höher. Das ist die Vorderbremse. Diese…
Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s crime novel and movie “Das Versprechen” – “The Pledge” Posted by Sandra Rösner on May 24, 2011
Am Wochenende (on the weekend), I had the chance to watch one of my favorite Filme (movies) “The pledge” with Jack Nicholson on TV, a movie based on the Kriminalroman (crime novel) ‘Das Versprechen’ – ‘The pledge’ by Swiss Dramatiker (playwright) and Romanautor (novelist) Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Here is a rough plot outline for all who…