Archive for 'Language'
Untranslatable German Words: Die Gesichtsbremse Posted by Constanze on Jan 21, 2015
I know you all love learning about German’s ‘untranslatable’ words, so here’s another – the first one of 2015, in fact! Today’s untranslatable German word is Die Gesichtsbremse. What is the literal translation of Gesichtsbremse? The word is made up of Das Gesicht (face) and Die Bremse (brake). So, it literally means ‘face…
Useful Vocabulary for Everyday Life in Germany Posted by Larissa on Jan 19, 2015
Ein gutes neues Jahr! This post is for the German students of Lindin High School from the USA and their teacher Herr Pac. When I was learning German at school we learnt a lot about German Politik (politics), Geschichte (history) and the Umwelt (environment). Although we could speak a lot about those particular subjects they…
New Year’s Resolutions: Health and Fitness Vocabulary Posted by Constanze on Jan 15, 2015
Guten Tag, ihr Lieben! This is a follow-up to my post, How To Talk About New Year’s Resolutions In German, and focuses on something I am very passionate about – health and fitness. What has health and fitness got to do with New Year’s Resolutions, and learning German? These statistics from presseportal.de will explain! According…
How To Talk About New Year’s Resolutions in German Posted by Constanze on Jan 8, 2015
Sonne, Mond und Sterne, alles liegt in weiter Ferne, doch das Gute das ist ganz nah – ein glückliches und schönes neues Jahr! Happy new year! This is one of many New Year’s greetings in German, which translated into English goes something like this (please note that this is my own translation – not an…
The Advent Calender and December 24th in Germany Posted by Constanze on Dec 21, 2014
Servus! Only 4 more days ’til Christmas, so here’s another German Christmas post! Did you know that the Advent calendar chocolate you’re happily chomping away on is a German invention? Yes, along with the Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree), the Adventskalender is something else you can thank the Germans for. As the big day draws nearer, today…
German Christmas Song: O Tannenbaum Posted by Constanze on Dec 14, 2014
Recently I wrote a post about Der Weihnachtsbaum and its origins in German history. This post was originally a part of it, but it became so large that I thought it only fitting to give it its own post. So, to continue on the Weihnachtsbaum theme, here’s a popular song you might know as ‘O…
Der Weihnachtsbaum: The Christmas Tree in German History Posted by Constanze on Dec 12, 2014
Every December we put up Christmas trees in our homes because it’s a tradition. But how many people know where this tradition comes from? There are many stories about the origin of the Christmas tree – some of them dating back as far as ancient Rome and ancient Egypt, and some associated with Paganism. But…