Why Germans Find Dropping Crumbs Annoying: Korinthenkacker! Posted by Sten on Sep 23, 2021
Have you met those people that really care about what’s technically correct, even if it isn’t all that relevant? You know, whether to use a colon or a dash. Or that it’s technically incorrect to write prepositions at the end of sentences. People you generally don’t want to mess with. Oh sorry, people with whom you generally…
German City And Countryside Signs Posted by Constanze on Sep 22, 2021
Guten Tag! In my last post, I gave you some vocabulary to describe where in the country you are, and what sort of place it is (you can read that post here!). Following on from that post, I thought it’d be useful to include a selection of signs and notices you might come across when…
How Two Families Escaped to West Germany in a Balloon Posted by Sten on Sep 17, 2021
It’s September 16, 1979. Germany is still separated in East and West. The Berlin wall has stood for almost 20 years. Germans live and grow up in two very different realities. One communist and supervised by the state, the other capitalist and free. Before the wall, things were easier. Many chose to leave their homes…
Where In The Country Are You? Posted by Constanze on Sep 15, 2021
Guten Tag! I have recently come back from a holiday (der Urlaub), and during the long drive there and back I got to thinking about all the different parts of the country we’d travelled through, and all the signs we’d seen along the way. I wondered if this might be a useful thing for German…
A German Greeting From the Heart: Moin! Posted by Sten on Sep 13, 2021
We recently covered the curious greeting from Hamburg Hummel, Hummel – mors, mors! But today, we’ll look into one that is perhaps less curious, but it is a lot more popular: Moin! or sometimes also Moin, moin! What does this word mean, where does it come from, where will you hear it? What does moin mean? German knows many greetings…
The Story Behind A Strange German Greeting: Hummel, Hummel! Posted by Sten on Sep 3, 2021
If you’ve wandered the streets of Hamburg, you may have heard a weird greeting. One shouts Hummel Hummel!, and the other will answer mors, mors! And they’ll just move on with their day as if nothing happened. What does that greeting mean, and where does it come from? It’s a cute story, and there is quite some…
A Sample Of German: Das Kostehäppchen Posted by Constanze on Sep 1, 2021
Guten Tag! Today we’re going to look at a quirky German word, das Kostehäppchen. We will look at its meaning, how to use it, the breakdown of the word itself, and some alternative/related words you may also find useful! What is das Kostehäppchen? Simply put, a Kostehäppchen is a small sample of food you get…