A Strange Tradition: Soester Wippen Posted by Sten on Dec 14, 2017
Every country has its traditions, whether that is Krampus, Oktoberfest, Richtfest, or Maibäume. Some regions also have their very own traditions. And one of these, I want to discuss today: The Soester Wippen. Rocking stairs of punishment The Soester Wippe is a rocker with stair steps in the city of Soest. It was used as a means of humiliating punishment from the 14th up…
6 German Language Christmas Songs Posted by Constanze on Dec 13, 2017
Guten Tag! It’s 13. Dezember and almost time to say Frohe Weihnachten. To get into the spirit, today I wanted to share some German Weihnachtslieder (Christmas songs) with you. Not only is it fun for language learners to learn songs in other languages, but songs are actually a brilliant way to improve language proficiency; because…
What’s up with those e’s? The Dehnungs-e Posted by Sten on Dec 12, 2017
Last Friday, we discussed the Dehnungs-h and how it was quite a curious, unnecessary concept in German. Today, we look at the Dehnungs-e, a concept that does pretty much the same thing, but is much less widespread. Other than after an i, it feels strange to many Germans as well. One famous example of such strange application of…
What’s up with those h’s? The Dehnungs-h Posted by Sten on Dec 8, 2017
If you studied German, you have probably come across irregularities that really make you wonder why they exist. As a German growing up with the language, I never really questioned it… Until I saw the dehnungs-e. For example, you write Soest, but you say Soost, so you elongate the o and mute the e. Odd! Though when looking into it, I…
German Nap Time Posted by Constanze on Dec 6, 2017
Guten Tag! Der Schlaf (sleep) is not only one of life’s greatest joys, but it is extremely important, too. So let’s have a look at all things ‘sleep’ in German! Many thanks to the French blog for providing the inspiration for this post. Firstly, the word for sleep (noun) in German is der Schlaf. The…
German Comparatives And Superlatives Posted by Constanze on Nov 29, 2017
Guten Tag! Today I’m going to show you some comparatives and superlatives in German. What are these? For example, instead of saying “He is fast” you might want to know how to say “He is faster” (the comparative) or “He is the fastest” (the superlative), and then also know how to do the same with…
“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…