Archive for September, 2020
The German Word ‘Muttermal’ Posted by Constanze on Sep 30, 2020
Guten Tag! Wie geht’s? Today we’re going to look at an interesting German word – das Muttermal. Das Muttermal Das Muttermal is the German word for a birthmark or mole – as in, the moles on your skin, not the mole the animal (this is called der Maulwurf in German!). The literal translation of Muttermal…
An Insight to German Sekt Posted by Larissa on Sep 29, 2020
Continuing on from my wine theme, today we are going to look at Sekt (sparkling wine). You can find my other posts about wine here and here. Why is it called Sekt? The word Sekt comes from a Shakespearean actor Ludwig Devrient in 1825, who asked his barkeeper “Bring mir Sekt, Schurke!” translating to…
The German Wackeldackel Posted by Constanze on Sep 23, 2020
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at a toy called the Wackeldackel that you may have seen – you may even have one yourself! What is a Wackeldackel?! The Wackeldackel is the nodding head dog you see in cars. Their heads are on a spring so that each time the car moves quickly or…
The Curiosity of the German Word “Wehrmacht” Posted by Sten on Sep 17, 2020
You may have heard of the German word die Wehrmacht (armed forces), which was what the German armed forces were called during the Second World War. When trying to pronounce the word, you may have gotten close to something that sounds like “Warmacht”, which may have lead you to conclude that Wehr must mean “war” in German. Not true!…
German School & Childcare Names Posted by Constanze on Sep 16, 2020
Guten Tag! As schools are starting up again, I thought it’d be good to give you a run-down of words used in the German school and childcare system. I hope you find this list useful, and that it will clear up any confusion you may have around some of the names (for example: what’s the…
Find The Fehler! German Proofreading Posted by Constanze on Sep 2, 2020
Guten Tag! Today’s post is a little more interactive than recent ones. We are going to test your German proofreading skills. Are you ready? Let’s get started. In a recent post, I shared an article about illegal ‘Coronapartys’ in Germany. In this post, I will share sentences from that article, but deliberately include Fehler (mistakes)…