Archive for July, 2014
Sayings + Expressions 4 – The Master and Cloud 7 Posted by Sten on Jul 31, 2014
Today it is all about the bright blue above us: the sky! Even though the saying and the expression do not have much in common in meaning. Let’s start with the saying! Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen No master has fallen from heaven yet (practice makes perfect) This saying means that…
Mülltrennung – How the Germans Separate Their Waste Posted by Sten on Jul 29, 2014
It is probably something that is not talked about much – but different in every country. In Germany, we separate our waste generally in Restmüll (residual waste), Bioabfall (biowaste), Gartenabfall (garden waste), Altpapier (paper waste), Altglas (glass waste), and Grüner Punkt (Green Dot) waste. The Grüner Punkt labels the so-called Leichtstoffverpackungen (LVP) (Lightweight Packaging). This LVP is already enough prepared by the producer for recycling that it does not have to be taken back…
An Introduction to Bavarian Posted by Constanze on Jul 27, 2014
Well, when I first started writing for this blog I promised I would bring some Bavarian into it. So here goes! Firstly, why Bavarian? The German side of my family come from Bavaria. I grew up speaking Bavarian more than Hochdeutsch (standard German), and even today, hearing it is as natural for me as hearing…
Sayings + Expressions 3 – The Winner and the Oil Posted by Sten on Jul 24, 2014
Hi there! Today, I will go over one saying and one expression again. Both are related to actions – if you dare, what can happen? That connects both the saying and the expression. As always, let’s start off with the saying! Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt Who doesn’t dare, doesn’t win (i.e. no guts, no…
My Big, Fat, Bavarian Wedding Posted by Constanze on Jul 23, 2014
… OK, so the title of this post is a tad misleading. I didn’t have a big, fat, Bavarian wedding. But I went to one, and that was just as good! Last year, I attended my cousin’s wedding in Bavaria. It was the first Bavarian wedding I’d ever been to, and there were several things…
Pf Pf Pf… What’s up with that? Posted by Sten on Jul 21, 2014
Pflanze, Pflaume, Pfau, Pferd, Pfad… All of these are words with a silent p if a word starts with this. At least in most everyday speech. Some people pronounce the p, as you can hear in the recording below, but from own experience, most do not pronounce the p very clearly. It is easier to just pronounce it as an f…
Translation request: Wirklichkeit, Gestalt, and Gefüge Posted by Constanze on Jul 21, 2014
This post comes from a comment Dirinella left me on one of my recent posts: vielleicht kannst Du (oder andere) helfen, und zwar bei der Übersetzung des deutschen Begriffs “Wirklichkeit”. Das englische “real” trifft es leider überhaupt nicht, denn Wirklichkeit oder “das Wirkliche” sagt nur aus, dass etwas Wirkung hat, auch ohne dabei real sein…