Archive for March, 2015
16 English Words That Are Actually German (Part 2) Posted by Constanze on Mar 30, 2015
Here’s the second part of ’16 English words that are actually German’! Click here for the first 8 words. Doppelgänger Literal translation & German meaning: Double walker, or someone who looks identical to you Meaning in English: Someone who looks exactly the same as you but is not related to you Use in a sentence…
The Freud’scher Versprecher Posted by Sten on Mar 30, 2015
Do you know situations in which you say something else than you meant to say? But what you said is actually what you think about it? This phenomenon is called the Freud’scher Versprecher, named after the father of the Psychoanalyse Sigmund Freud. He himself called the Versprecher a kind of Fehlleistung (parapraxis – “wrong performance”). Upps! Freud’scher Versprecher of the speaker of ex-Minister…
16 English Words That Are Actually German (Part 1) Posted by Constanze on Mar 29, 2015
Guten Tag! Yes, it’s another Denglish post – but this time with a twist! We might get slightly irritated with the way the English language is manipulating modern German (and the various ways in which it’s doing it), but before we get too irritated, let’s take a look at how many German words the English…
German Abbreviations Posted by Larissa on Mar 27, 2015
This post is about commonly used Abkürzungen (abbreviations) to use when you write in everyday life. You might have already seen some abbreviations listed below but never known what they meant, so here are the Übersetzungen (translations): Abbreviations to use in emails: LG = Liebe Grüsse: Best regards – the literal translation would be “love…
Communication difficulties: Der Tatortreiniger Posted by Sandra Rösner on Mar 25, 2015
Communication difficulties can arise whenever two people are engaged in a conversation. This also applies to the episode “Nicht über mein Sofa” (Not over my sofa) of the German comedy TV series Der Tatortreiniger (The Crime Scene Cleaner). Fortunately, the two interlocutors overcome their communication problems and Frau Hellenkamp finally opens the door for Schotty to let…
Der Duden – the cornerstone of German spelling Posted by Sten on Mar 25, 2015
Was ist richtig, was ist falsch? Schlag im Duden nach! Like the Oxford Dictionary, the Dikke van Dale, or Mirriam-Webster, Germany has the Duden. Just like all the above-mentioned famous dictionaries, the Duden has its own history. In the 19th century, Konrad Duden, a High School teacher at the Gymnasium created his own dictionary, which was named after him. It influenced the creation…
Denglish Pseudo-Anglicisms Posted by Constanze on Mar 23, 2015
Last time I posted about the ever-growing use of Denglish (or Denglisch, depending on whether you’re speaking German or English) on social media & websites. Since that post, by the way, I’ve been keeping an eye out for more Denglish on social media. Here’s an interesting one I saw recently: Danke für’s featuren! – Thanks…