Archive for 'Language'
Urban German Graffiti: Berlin Posted by Constanze on Jun 21, 2015
Berlin has been called the most bombed city in Europe. It has also been called the “graffiti capital of Europe” . Coincidentally (or perhaps not so coincidentally), Berliners have a slang term known as Das Bombing, referring to the act of ‘bombing’ the streets with graffiti. This should be enough to tell you that Berlin…
What To Say In German When Words Fail You Posted by Constanze on Jun 13, 2015
A little while ago I wrote a post about words and phrases that’ll make your German sound more natural and ‘real’ (you can read that post here). One thing that many language learners get frustrated with is not sounding natural enough, and often that is because of the rather scripted nature of the things…
Urban German Graffiti Posted by Constanze on Jun 10, 2015
I’ve been quite interested in graffiti as of late. I like the way words are used in it, and I like the political, cultural meanings these words take on in their public settings. But I also just like the power of language that is contained in these scribbles. I thought that showing you some German…
The German Nightmare Posted by Constanze on Jun 6, 2015
Guten Tag! Today I’m going to talk a little about der Schlaf (sleep) or, more specifically, nightmares. The reason I wanted to write this post is because someone sent me music by the German band Nachtmahr (‘Nightmare’) the other day. I have always known the German word for nightmare to be der Alptraum, so I…
Kaffeepause At A German Cafe Posted by Constanze on May 27, 2015
Anyone who visits Germany will inevitably end up in a coffee shop at some point during their travels, so I thought I’d put together a list of phrases you can use to navigate your way through a German café. For convenience’s sake the café in this scenario is one where you order and pay at…
Movies in German! Posted by Sten on May 26, 2015
When I grew up, I got used to movies in cinemas and TV dubbed in German. Every character in a show or movie has their own voice. I never disliked it, as I grew up not knowing English, and having movies in German is then quite convenient. The other option, as in for example the…
Natural German Conversation Posted by Constanze on May 22, 2015
Every conversation has natural interjections, reactions and filler words. This is what makes language feel natural. Here is a list of German words and phrases that you can slot into conversations to make your German flow more naturally. Please note that some of these aren’t meant to be full, grammatically correct sentences, but fragments. Just…