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A Brief History Of The German Flag Posted by Constanze on May 8, 2017
The German flag, with its black, red and gold stripes, is one of the most easily recognisable flags in the world. In this post, I’ll give you some information about the origins of the current flag, and show you some of its variations throughout history. The Holy Roman Empire 962–1806 Known in German as…
Untranslatable German Words: das Anstandsstück Posted by Constanze on Apr 26, 2017
Hello and welcome to another edition of untranslatable German words, where I bring you the quirkiest, funniest, most unusual words the German language has to offer – and ones that are difficult to find a direct translation for! Today’s word is das Anstandsstück. What does das Anstandsstück mean? Das Anstandsstück refers to the last…
9 German Food & Drink Idioms Posted by Constanze on Apr 19, 2017
Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht euch alle gut. Recently I came across the German idiom klar wie Kloßbrühe, which is the German version of the English ‘clear as crystal’. In German, this idiom literally translates to ‘clear as dumpling broth’. In other words, it has nothing to do with crystal. It had me thinking…
Misleading German Verbs Posted by Constanze on Apr 12, 2017
Guten Tag! A while ago a blog reader called Michael sent this comment in: “an idea for a post… My knowledge of simple vocabulary sometimes lets me guess correctly at more complicated words. Halten/hold. Erhalten/receive. But sometimes knowing the basic word leads you down the wrong path. Erfahren is not about “to drive,” nor aufhören…
Germany’s Strongest Man Posted by Constanze on Apr 8, 2017
Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht euch gut. 🙂 Every so often I think it’d be nice to talk about some (less obvious) famous Germans and their achievements. Today I’d like to introduce you to someone known as Germany’s Strongest Man – der stärkste Mann Deutschlands. Meet Patrik Baboumian. Patrik Baboumian was born in der…
Devilish German Sayings Posted by Constanze on Mar 29, 2017
Guten Tag! Today I’d like to share some German Redewendungen – sayings/expressions – with you. The German language has many expressions that contain the word der Teufel – devil. Some of these are the same in English, while others are completely different. Some are very straight-forward, while others are more imaginative! The prominence of this word…
Six German Words That’ll Change Your Life Posted by Constanze on Mar 22, 2017
Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht euch gut. Today I’m bringing you six German words that are all somehow related to feelings you get before, during or after a period of change: The excitement and nervousness of new beginnings, the fear of having run out of time to change your life, the exhilarating feeling of…