Archive for the year 2012
German humor: English for runaways – Englisch für Fortgeschrittene Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 20, 2012
English is a world language and it is the first foreign language Germans learn in school. Thus, most Germans can speak and understand English to a certain degree. Some Germans even make fun of the English language by spoofing it. The spoof is that they translate German compound words or phrases word by word. This…
German Poetry (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe): Der Zauberlehrling – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 19, 2012
I wonder whether foreign learners of German do ever deal with German literature in classroom, especially with poetry. Therefore, I thought it could be maybe interesting to you to get to know some poems that also native speakers of German have to memorize at any time in their school life. For starters, I chose Johann…
How to say that you are sick in German? Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 16, 2012
Having a cold is never pleasant but from time to time all of us unfortunately have to suffer from it. Since I’m currently in that health condition I decided, without further ado, to make a video on this topic and tell you how to say that you are not doing well in German…
Telling time in German: the quarters of an hour Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 15, 2012
Telling the quarters of an hour in German is basically similar to English. There are the phrases “viertel vor” (quarter to) and “viertel nach” (quarter past), which need to be inserted between “Es is …” and a number between 1 and 12. The only difference between German and English exists when it come to tell…
Telling time in German: Full hours with the phrase “Es ist … Uhr.” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 13, 2012
Telling the time in German can be a challenge when it comes to using the 24-hour-system, especially for those learners who are not familiar with that system. In the following video I explain how to use the 24-hour-system and I cite all possible full hours of the clock, so that you can also hear how…
YouTube video: How to tell full hours with the phrase “Es ist um …” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 9, 2012
I have written very often about how to tell the time in German. And while I was working on that topic and thinking about it, I recognized that there are various ways how to tell the time in German and that there are even several exception depending on the phrase you use in your statement…
How to say that in German? – Nickelback “Gotta be somebody” Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 3, 2012
I guess most of you wonder what Nickelback has to do with the German language or culture. Well to be honest, absolutely nothing! But after I have translated several German lyrics into English I want to turn the tables and translate English songs into German. The first reason why I decided to do this is…