Archive for 'Language'
“i bims!” The Youth Word of the Year 2017 Posted by Sten on Nov 28, 2017
About a week and a half ago, Langenscheidt, publisher of dictionaries and other language-related works, announced the Jugendwort des Jahres 2017 (Youth Word of the Year 2017). Let’s explore! I bims! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UZLS4hqhs The Jugendwort des Jahres 2017 is i bims. What does THAT mean? In the video above, you can see it. It is meant satirically, and comes from ich bin’s! (It’s me!), which can be…
German Phrases For Special Occasions Posted by Constanze on Nov 27, 2017
Guten Tag! As the festive season is upon us, we’ll all be wishing each other a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or other seasonal greetings. There are so many special events in life, and certain phrases that are fitting for them. We all know that Merry Christmas is Frohe Weihnachten in German, but what about ways…
German Quiz: Halloween, Oktoberfest and Emotions Posted by Larissa on Nov 17, 2017
Hello and welcome to another quiz! I hope you’ve been reading the last few posts as this quiz is about Halloween, Oktoberfest and an older post about expressing Emotions. If you want to refresh your memory before taking the quiz, you can read about the topics here, here and here. Good luck! Richtig oder Falsch?…
Going To The Optician: German Vocabulary Posted by Constanze on Nov 15, 2017
Guten Tag! Today I thought I’d give you the practical vocabulary and phrases that you need to visit the optician/get an eye test done in German. So without further ado, let’s get started! When you go for an eye test, the person who performs the test is called an optometrist. In German, an optometrist is…
Breakfast The Bavarian Way Posted by Constanze on Nov 8, 2017
Guten Tag! The topic of today is Frühstück (breakfast), but with a twist. I’d like to share some information about the traditional Bavarian breakfast with you. A traditional Bavarian breakfast consists of the following: Die Weißwurst Literally ‘white sausage’, this is a sausage made from minced veal and pork bacon, seasoned with parsley, ginger, onions…
Germany In Different Languages Posted by Constanze on Oct 30, 2017
Allemagne in French. Niemcy in Polish. Germany in English. Deutschland in German. Have you ever noticed how the word ‘Germany’ looks completely different in different languages? Have you ever wondered why that is? Germany has a very central position in Europe. Furthermore, before it became united it was home to many different tribes and states…
German-English Cognates Posted by Constanze on Oct 25, 2017
Guten Tag! In a recent post, Six Reasons To Learn German, I mentioned that German and English are from the same language family – the Indo-European family – which means both languages have taken words from Latin, Greek and French. Because of this, there are numerous cognates (words sharing a common source) that look and sound…