Archive for 'Language'
Looking Back: The Best German Posts of 2020 Posted by Sten on Dec 21, 2020
2020 has been a weird year. Jahresrückblicke (end-of-year reviews) don’t feel satisfying with the continuing pandemic and just before Christmas many European countries are back in a hard lockdown. What to do with the extra time sitting at home? Perhaps this post will give you plenty to entertain yourself for a while – let’s have our…
The German Haushaltswoche – Part 2: Merkel’s Speech Posted by Sten on Dec 11, 2020
It’s an exciting week in the German Bundestag (the German legislative body, its lower house of Congress). Earlier this week, German Bundesfinanzminister (secretary of finance) Olaf Scholz presented the Haushaltsentwurf (budget draft) for 2021. The Bundesregierung (federal government) has agreed; now it’s time for the Bundestag to follow suit. But before that happens, they have four days to…
The German Haushaltswoche – Part 1: Record Debt! Posted by Sten on Dec 10, 2020
It’s an exciting week in the German Bundestag (the German legislative body, its lower house of Congress). Earlier this week, German Bundesfinanzminister (secretary of finance) Olaf Scholz presented the Haushaltsentwurf (budget draft) for 2021. The Bundesregierung (federal government) has agreed; now it’s time for the Bundestag to follow suit. But before that happens, they have four days to…
German Word of the Year 2020 Posted by Constanze on Dec 9, 2020
Guten Tag! Today we will look at the Wort des Jahres in Germany. Each year, the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS) – The German Language Association – picks a word as their Wort des Jahres – ‘Word of the Year’. This is often a word related to a prominent topic in the country during the year, and is usually interesting from…
Don’t Let It Confuse You! – Mode Posted by Sten on Dec 3, 2020
In this series, we look at words that exist in both English and German, but really don’t mean what you might expect them to, so-called false friends. We also look at words that sound or look deceivingly similar. Today, we look at a classic false friend, though. It’s quite fashionable – Mode! For previous posts…
Black Friday in Germany Posted by Sten on Nov 27, 2020
Some years ago, we discussed the Schwarzer Freitag (Black Friday) in Germany. It is not remembered as a good day, as it refers to one of the worst days of the 1929 financial crisis. The shopping spree Friday exists in Germany, too, though. In that last post, I provided some vocabulary to make shopping in Germany a…
What Will Christmas Look Like In Germany This Year? Posted by Constanze on Nov 25, 2020
Guten Tag! In exactly one month, it will be Weihnachten (Christmas)! And, for obvious reasons, Weihnachten is going to look quite different this year. In Germany, this is no exception. Due to the ongoing Coronavirus restrictions, new rules have been put together for the Christmas period in celebrating countries. The aim is to allow people…