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The German Schrebergarten Posted by Constanze on Aug 23, 2017
Guten Tag! Today I’d like to talk about a little piece of German culture that you may not know about yet. This post is all about die Schrebergärten. You may recognise the word Gärten as the plural of der Garten (garden), and you’d be right in thinking we’re talking about a kind of garden. So…
5000 New German Words Added To Dictionary Posted by Constanze on Aug 9, 2017
You may have seen articles floating around the past couple of days about how 5,000 new German words have been added to Duden. But what is Duden? And what are the words? Duden is a dictionary of the German language. It was first published by Konrad Duden (hence the name) in 1880, and has just released its…
20 Motivational Sayings In German Posted by Constanze on Jul 31, 2017
Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht euch gut! 🙂 Sometimes we lack in motivation, be it for our work, chores – and even our language learning. At times it can feel like we’ve hit a wall, like we aren’t good enough, or like our efforts over the months aren’t paying off. But that’s not true…
Untranslatable German: Das Backpfeifengesicht Posted by Constanze on Jul 26, 2017
Guten Tag and welcome to another ‘untranslatable words’ post, where I bring you the quirkiest words the German language has to offer. Today’s word is a popular one that was requested by a reader: das Backpfeifengesicht. What is the meaning of das Backpfeifengesicht? A Backpfeifengesicht is the word for a face you don’t like…
Smoking In Germany Posted by Constanze on Jul 19, 2017
Today’s post is about das Rauchen – smoking – in Germany. I was recently in Munich and one of the things that fascinates me every time I go there is the presence of smoking ads and cigarette vending machines in the streets. In the UK, you will not see one single smoking advert, and you…
9 Uses For The German Word Scharf Posted by Constanze on Jul 12, 2017
Sometimes the smallest, simplest of German words can surprise with a multitude of meanings. It’s useful to look at these kinds of words in more detail, so that they don’t confuse so much when read or heard in real life. Today the German word we’re going to look at in more detail is the adjective…
Richtfest: A German Tradition Posted by Constanze on Jun 28, 2017
Hallo! Wie geht’s? Today I’d like to introduce you to a German tradition called Richtfest. I only learnt about this recently, as my parents are having their roof re-done and my mum said she wanted to get some beers for the builders once the roof is finished, “like they do at a Richtfest”. Naturally, I…