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An Introduction to Bavarian Posted by Constanze on Jul 27, 2014
Well, when I first started writing for this blog I promised I would bring some Bavarian into it. So here goes! Firstly, why Bavarian? The German side of my family come from Bavaria. I grew up speaking Bavarian more than Hochdeutsch (standard German), and even today, hearing it is as natural for me as hearing…
My Big, Fat, Bavarian Wedding Posted by Constanze on Jul 23, 2014
… OK, so the title of this post is a tad misleading. I didn’t have a big, fat, Bavarian wedding. But I went to one, and that was just as good! Last year, I attended my cousin’s wedding in Bavaria. It was the first Bavarian wedding I’d ever been to, and there were several things…
Translation request: Wirklichkeit, Gestalt, and Gefüge Posted by Constanze on Jul 21, 2014
This post comes from a comment Dirinella left me on one of my recent posts: vielleicht kannst Du (oder andere) helfen, und zwar bei der Übersetzung des deutschen Begriffs “Wirklichkeit”. Das englische “real” trifft es leider überhaupt nicht, denn Wirklichkeit oder “das Wirkliche” sagt nur aus, dass etwas Wirkung hat, auch ohne dabei real sein…
The German wimp: A broad definition Posted by Constanze on Jul 13, 2014
Guten Tag, and wilkommen to another post on untranslatable German words. This week I want to talk about a word that I didn’t know until last week, when a customer at work told me about “this German word that means you park in the shade”. He thought it was hilarious, but he couldn’t remember exactly…
The German culture of cleanliness: Putzfimmel and Kehrwoche Posted by Constanze on Jul 6, 2014
Everyone I know who’s been to Germany has commented on what a clean country it is. Germany is stereotyped as being clean, anyway – although how much of this is a stereotype, and how much of it is the simple truth? There are two words in the German language that suggest Germany has a culture…
How to Watch Football Like a German Posted by Constanze on Jun 30, 2014
Tonight we’ll see the tense football match between Germany and Algeria. It’ll be the first time these teams have played one another since the controversy of the 1982 World Cup, which was claimed to have been “fixed” so that Germany and Austria would go through to the next round at Algeria’s expense (Click here to…
Seven reasons to like the transport system in München Posted by Constanze on Jun 29, 2014
Public transport is generally not something to get excited about. In London, at least, travelling by train or bus can be a stressful, claustrophobic, and somewhat unhygienic experience. But each time I get a train in München, I am always pleasantly surprised by what a nice experience it is. Last time I was in München…