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The German Lebkuchenhaus (Gingerbread House) Posted by Constanze on Dec 22, 2021
Guten Tag und Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)! Over the years we’ve made several posts on German Christmas traditions, of which there are many. Today we’re adding one more into the mix and talking about the Lebkuchenhaus – gingerbread house! Made from gingerbread and lavishly decorated with coloured icing and a variety of other Süßigkeiten (sweets)…
Austrian Word Of The Year 2021 Posted by Constanze on Dec 15, 2021
Guten Tag! It’s coming to that time of year when each country reveals its Wort des Jahres – its ‘Word of the Year’! What is the Word of the Year? The Wort des Jahres is voted in each year by a jury (die Jury), usually made up of linguists (der Sprachwissenschaftler: linguist) and people from…
Waltersobchakeit: A German Word That Isn’t German Posted by Constanze on Dec 9, 2021
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at a German word that isn’t actually a German word at all: Waltersobchakeit. Confused? Read on to find out more! Firstly, you may have heard of loanwords in the German language, where the word is borrowed from another language. A few examples of loanwords from the French language…
Weihnachtsgurke: A German Christmas Tradition, Or Not? Posted by Constanze on Nov 30, 2021
Guten Tag! Can I say the W word yet? What’s the W word? Weihnachten (Christmas), of course! I love writing blog posts even more at this time of year, because so many aspects of Christmas have a connection with Germany and/or Austria, and reading about them really gets me in the mood for Christmas time!…
11 Animal-Related Sayings In German Posted by Constanze on Nov 17, 2021
Guten Tag! Today I have a light-hearted little post for you where you will get to learn some Sprichwörter (das Sprichwort: The saying/proverb). In particular, this post will focus on Sprichwörter relating to die Tiere (das Tier: animal)! 11 animal-related sayings in German Da steppt der Bär Literally: ‘There dances the bear’ Meaning: “That’s where…
German Week On The Great British Bake Off! Posted by Constanze on Nov 10, 2021
You might be familiar with the TV show The Great British Bake Off (The Great British Baking Show in the US, I believe!), where a group of people compete to be crowned the nation’s best amateur baker (Baker: der Bäcker/die Bäckerin). Each week they have three baking challenges, with one person being crowned Star Baker…
Did You Know This About Mozart? Posted by Constanze on Nov 3, 2021
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous classical composers of all time. Mozart lived a short life (1756 – 1791), dying at the age of 35. However, he composed more than 600 musical works during his lifetime, with Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Serenade- often called A…