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Tag Archives: children

Fairytales in German Posted by on Apr 18, 2017

German fairytales (Märchen) fascinate me as they are so gruselig (scary)! In English to end a fairytale you would say “And they lived happily ever after…”, whereas in German you would say “und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute“, which translates to “and if they haven’t died, then they are still…

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Endangered German Dialects Posted by on Feb 28, 2017

On 21st February the world celebrated International Mother Language Day – otherwise known as Tag der Muttersprache in German. On this day the hashtag #TagderMuttersprache was popular on Twitter, and when I clicked on it there were plenty of German articles about Bairisch – Bavarian! Bavarians are famously proud of their language and culture. Even…

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The German Boogieman Posted by on Dec 7, 2016

Guten Tag! Today, inspired by a kids’ song I was reminded of recently, the theme is German mythological monsters! The kids’ song is called Es Tanzt Ein Bi-Ba Butzemann. I know this song from my childhood, as many German children probably will. The song is about a Butzemann dancing around in somebody’s house. The first…

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German Children’s Stories 2: Zappelphilipp Posted by on Sep 14, 2016

Guten Tag! Today I’m tying two topics together: An untranslatable word (we haven’t had one of those for a while!) and a classic German children’s story. One of these inspired the other. Want to learn more? The German word I am focusing on today is der Zappelphilipp.   What does der Zappelphilipp mean? A ‘Zappelphilipp’…

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German Children’s Stories 1 Posted by on Jul 22, 2016

Guten Tag! A little while ago somebody requested posts on children’s books and stories. I thought, where better to start than the German books my mum used to read to me as a child! DER STRUWWELPETER Der Struwwelpeter is a very famous German children’s book by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann. Hoffmann wrote it because he couldn’t…

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Truly Grimm: German Fairytales Posted by on Mar 11, 2016

Guten Tag! Most people will have heard of die Brüder Grimm (the Brothers Grimm) and their Märchen (fairy tales). Perhaps you’ll have read a few of them, or seen the Disney adaptations of these gruesome stories. But who exactly were these famous German brothers, and what is it like reading their fairy tales in German?…

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German Words For ‘Rascal’ – Part 2! Posted by on Feb 24, 2016

A little while ago I wrote about the untranslatable German word Dreikäsehoch, a teasing, slightly derogatory term used for little kids – especially those who need taking down a peg or two. While I was writing that post, I found plenty of other, equally endearing words that Germans use when talking to, or about, their…

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