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How was a German lockdown announced AND revoked within one day? Posted by Sten on Mar 25, 2021
It was a tough week for Bundeskanzlerin (f, Federal Chancellor) Angela Merkel. Due to the announced lockdown for Ostern (Easter), everyone went hart ins Gericht (“hard into court”) with her. With rising coronavirus cases, the planned Lockerungen (f, relaxations) of the COVID rules fielen ins Wasser (“fell in the water”). But what actually happened? A “knallharter Lockdown“ On Monday…
Why 2021 Is a “Super Year” for Germany (a Superwahljahr) Posted by Sten on Mar 18, 2021
Germany is in a Superwahljahr (n, super election year). There is a Bundestagswahl (f, Federal Parliament election), sure. But wouldn’t that just make it an election year? What’s super about it? Elections, elections, elections! Germany is a federation, like the United States. This means that each of the 16 German states, called Bundesländer (n, “federal countries”), has its…
4 Tips to Improve Your German Accent as an American Posted by Sten on Mar 11, 2021
Learning German can be hard enough. But then there’s also the German pronunciation. As an American, it can be daunting to get this right, especially because German sounds so different from American. But it can be done! I remember meeting an American some years ago, and before he told me that he was from the…
Germany’s 5 Steps To Get Rid of COVID Posted by Sten on Mar 5, 2021
Since March 1, die Friseure (hair salons) opened again in Germany. Finally! After months of lockdown, non-essential businesses can open again, at least that was the plan. However, there are now new rules in place that extend the current lockdown until the end of March, with a new strategy with five opening steps. Die Bundesregierung (federal government) presented five Öffnungsstrategien (f…
Untranslatable German Words: Mahlzeit Posted by Sten on Feb 25, 2021
Welcome to another dip in the toe of the deep pond of untranslatable German words. We’ve discussed plenty already, and you probably won’t hear many of them on a daily basis, unfortunately. The word that we look at today, however, is different. Here’s the story of how an innocent word became a word that many…
How the German Word “Fräulein” Disappeared Posted by Sten on Feb 18, 2021
Language moves and evolves, often along the lines of what a culture still deems acceptable or not. German is not immune to this, of course, and this week marked the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of a belittling word: Fräulein. A “little woman”. It disappeared in legal ways, at least. That doesn’t mean you won’t…
How To Dispose Of Your Waste in Germany Posted by Sten on Feb 11, 2021
In 2014, I wrote about Mülltrennung (trash separation) in Germany, but here’s an update on that post with some more information. Mülltrennung can be pretty confusing in Germany, as each Kommune (municipality) manages their own Mülltrennung for Hausmüll (domestic waste). This means that in one place, you may have a Tonne (bin) for everything, and in other towns you may only have…