Archive by Author
Hirschhausen’s Column „Gehirn und Geist“: Signing Signatures Posted by Sandra Rösner on Jan 13, 2014
One of my favorite German comedians and cabaret artists is Dr. med. (MD) Eckart von Hirschhausen, a „jack of all trades“. First of all, Hirschhausen is a doctor. But he is also a writer, comedian, cabaret artist, conjurer, and host of different German shows. His secret of success is that he knows how to combine…
German music and lyrics: Adel Tawil „Lieder“ (English translation) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Oct 28, 2013
I listened to the radio the other day when I heard a German song, which made me raise my eyebrows. It took me a moment to realize that the singer joined together various titles of mainly English songs. At the first moment I thought the performer was trying to be very creative … come hell…
German music and lyrics: Revolverheld „Das kann uns keiner nehmen“ Posted by Sandra Rösner on Oct 14, 2013
One day last weeks I had to do some shopping. When I was waiting at the traffic light along with other cars I had the time to change the channels of my car radio. I often do this to find a song I like and to which I can sing along with. Eventually, I found…
23 Years after the German reunification Posted by Sandra Rösner on Oct 3, 2013
October 3rd is an important date in German history. It is a national holiday in honor of the accession of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the Federal Republic of Germany. The German reunification was given a push by a peaceful revolution in 1989 and 1990. Citizens of the former GDR got together in…
Four important facts about the federal election in Germany Posted by Sandra Rösner on Sep 22, 2013
Polling locations were open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Today the citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany elected the 18th Bundestag, Germany’s parliament. About 60 million Germans were entitled to vote. 1. Who has the right to vote? Every German citizen who has turned 18 is allowed to vote. But also Germans…
German comma rule: Linking main clauses and subordinate clauses with the conjunction “dass” (that) Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 30, 2013
There are two basic sentence types in German: main clauses, which are also know as independent clauses and subordinate clauses, which are also known as dependent clauses. Main or independent clauses can stand alone, whereas subordinate or dependent clauses require a sentence to which they are linked. Unlike in English, German main clauses and subordinate…
Comma rules: How to linking main clauses in German Posted by Sandra Rösner on Aug 28, 2013
The comma is one of several punctuation characters. It serves to separate related thoughts or ideas within complex statements. Grammarians call such related thoughts or ideas clauses. German comma rules vary from English ones. Therefore, we should have a closer look at them. There are two basic sentence types in German, which you may already…