Archive for 'Language'
The German Diminutive Posted by Constanze on Dec 12, 2018
Guten Tag! Today I’m going to tell you about diminutives in German. Diminutives are words that are altered to express a smaller, younger or ‘cuter’ version of themselves. An example of an English diminutive is the word droplet, from the word drop, and the word booklet, from the word book. In English, words often become…
Es Sei Denn: The German For ‘Unless’ Posted by Constanze on Nov 28, 2018
Guten Tag! Sometimes when learning a language you will come across little turns of phrase that you just can’t get your head around. Maybe they look like they should mean one thing, but they actually mean something totally different. We have looked at false friends on the blog before, which is a similar topic you might…
Germany’s Youth Word of 2018 Posted by Constanze on Nov 21, 2018
Guten Tag! Every year, the Langenscheidt dictionary selects a word it calls the Jugendwort des Jahres – the Youth Word of the Year. People have the opportunity to vote from a selection of shortlisted teen slang, and then the winner is picked by a jury. The Jugendwort des Jahres for 2018 was revealed recently, so…
November 9 in German History Posted by Constanze on Nov 14, 2018
Guten Tag! November is a big month in German history, as many significant historical events happened on or around November 9th. In fact, so many things have happened throughout history on November 9th in Germany that this date is now known as der Schicksaltag – the ‘fate day’. Today I’m writing about two events from…
The Origin of the Panzer Posted by Sten on Nov 11, 2018
It is Armistice, the English word for the German Waffenruhe (“weapon rest”). It marks the end of der Erste Weltkrieg (World War I), which was exactly 100 years ago today. At the time, Soldaten (soldiers) still fought on horseback, frequently used bayonets on their rifles and machinery was scarce. This changed on September 15, 1916, when the British brought a novelty to…
The Curiosity of the German Word “Spannend” Posted by Sten on Nov 2, 2018
noAn interesting lecture that you would like to attend – let’s hope it is spannend! A movie that you watched on Halloween – spannend! This German word has two different meanings: exciting, thrilling; and interesting. However, what baffles me is how it is used – for basically anything and everything! Let’s look at this word today…
The German Word ‘Sitzfleisch’ Posted by Constanze on Oct 31, 2018
Guten Tag! Today I’d like to talk about another ‘untranslatable’ German word, namely: Sitzfleisch. This is a word that has been adopted by the English language, too, and which some think explains the German people’s efficient and productive nature. But before we get into that, let’s look at the word in more detail. Das Sitzfleisch…