Astro-Alex Came Home! Posted by Sten on Dec 21, 2018
Early in the morning (6 a.m. CET) yesterday, Alexander Gerst landed with two Kollegen (colleagues) with their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan. After being fished out of the capsule and a few check-ups, the Astronauten (astronauts) were received alive and well. What did we learn from Alexander Gerst, and what did his time in space mean? Landung nach 200 Tage…
Christmas & New Year In Untranslatable German Words Posted by Constanze on Dec 19, 2018
Guten Tag and, since it’s almost time, Frohe Weihnachten (Merry Christmas)! Weihnachten (Christmas) and Neujahr (New Year) is the time of the year when people experience a whole range of emotions, from excitement over receiving presents to annoyance about being in the company of certain family members, from feeling nostalgic and reflective about the year…
What is Glühwein and where did it come from? Posted by Larissa on Dec 18, 2018
Every December the Christmas markets go up in Germany and people come together to drink Glühwein. But what exactly is it and how did it come to Germany? Glühwein literally translates to “glow wine”. In English we know it as mulled wine. Although the drink is very popular in Germany, it’s origin does not come…
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…
German Companions of Saint Nicholas Posted by Constanze on Dec 5, 2018
Guten Tag! As you may know, tomorrow (December 6th) is Nikolaustag (Saint Nicholas Day) in Germany. This is a German Christmas celebration separate to that of December 24/25. If you are not yet familiar with Nikolaustag, I recommend reading this post and this post first, to get a good introduction to it. If you are…
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…
How to apply for a German Citizenship Posted by Larissa on Nov 27, 2018
I am a british citizen living in Germany and as we all know, Brexit is looming around the corner. Because of this I have been researching this topic on how to get to a German citizenship and passport. Luckily for me it isn’t too hard as my mother is German, but I thought I would…