Archive for 'Language'
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 &…
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…
Zuhause, zu Hause, Haus… What’s The Difference? Posted by Constanze on Feb 24, 2021
Guten Tag! Recently we have been talking on here about the home: das Zuhause. Or is it zuhause? Or zu Hause? Or even… das Haus? Heimat? Daheim?? What’s the difference?? If this topic confuses you, you’re not alone! In this post I will try to clear up the confusion surrounding all these different ways of…
Spring Gardening in German Posted by Larissa on Feb 23, 2021
Spring has sprung and with Germany announcing the re-opening of garden centers soon (we are still in lockdown due to Covid19), I thought it would be the perfect time to write a post on gardening! I personally don’t have a garden but enjoy planting herbs, vegetables and flowers indoors. Here is a post for all…
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…