CRAZY Snow Weather in Germany! Posted by Sten on Feb 8, 2021
It doesn’t happen often that the Wetter (weather) is the headlining topic in the evening news. And yet, it happened this weekend in Germany. Suddenly, Germany was hit with a big winter storm. It meant real Wintereinbruch (onset of winter) in Germany. Starting in my home state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), the Schneesturm (snow storm) swept across the country. What happened? And what’s…
Don’t Let It Confuse You! – Devise Posted by Sten on Feb 4, 2021
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 rather rare one, but you may have come across it. A word…
Zoom Meetings In German Posted by Constanze on Feb 3, 2021
Guten Tag! I hope you are all well, and have had a great start to 2021. We are nearing March, which will, unbelievably, mark one year since the start of the Coronavirus Pandemie (pandemic) lockdown here in the UK. We have discussed the more serious matters regarding the pandemic throughout the year on this blog…
German Idioms 29: You’re So Wasteful! Posted by Sten on Feb 1, 2021
Here’s a new post of Sprichwörter und Ausdrücke (Sayings and Expressions). The title of this series is different now, I changed it to “German Idioms” to give it a bit more flexibility and make it a bit more compact. Today, we’ll talk about Abfall (trash) and Müll (waste). Weird, huh? Read on. For older posts, please follow this link. Ex-und-hopp…
How Germans Helped Destroy Emotet, A Massive Computervirus Posted by Sten on Jan 28, 2021
The virus is defeated! Well, not that one. I’m talking about a rampant Computervirus (computer virus) called “Emotet” that was responsible for 30% of Schadsoftware (malware) attacks worldwide. Here’s briefly what happened, and how Germans talk about computers and computer viruses in their language! Was ist Emotet? To be fair, Emotet was not really a Computervirus…
More German ‘Non-Words’ of 2020 Posted by Constanze on Jan 27, 2021
Guten Tag! Today’s post is a follow-up to the Unwort des Jahres 2020 – the German ‘non-word’ of the year 2020. To fall into the category of an ‘Unwort’, the word must do one or more of the following: violate the principles of human dignity; violate the principles of democracy; discriminate against social groups; or…
Online Shopping in German Posted by Larissa on Jan 26, 2021
Our lockdown in Germany has been extended until the 14th of February. All shops across the country apart from necessities are closed at the moment due to COVID-19 19, which means online shopping is more popular than ever. Here are a few keywords that you need to know if you are ever shopping on a…