Archive for 'Culture'
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…
Lüften: Germany’s Airing Obsession & Covid-19 Posted by Constanze on Mar 17, 2021
Guten Tag! In a recent post on things you can expect to find in a German home, I talked about how die Heizung (the heating) and die Lüftung (the airing/ventilation) systems in German homes are different to those in US homes, meaning the Germans have to open their windows more often to prevent mould &…
International Women’s Day And Germany Posted by Constanze on Mar 3, 2021
Guten Tag! As Monday 8th March is Internationale Frauentag (International Women’s Day) – and March is Monat der Frauengeschichte (Women’s History Month) -, I thought it’d be interesting to look at how International Women’s Day came about in Germany, whilst teaching you some vocabulary related to the subject. What’s pretty cool is that it was…
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…
7 German Home Traditions Posted by Constanze on Feb 17, 2021
Guten Tag! Last time on the blog, we looked at some of the features of a German home. Today, continuing on the theme of ‘Wir bleiben zuhause’ (‘We’re staying at home’), we’ll look at some German home traditions. German Home Traditions: Housewarming A tradition surrounding die Hauseinweihung (housewarming) in Germany is to give bread and…
Explore A German Home Posted by Constanze on Feb 15, 2021
Guten Tag! Ich hoffe, es geht Dir gut. Today’s post is all about das Zuhause (the home). As we are spending a lot of time at home at the moment, I thought it would be nice to do a post on German homes, listing some of the things you might find if you were to…