Tag Archives: politics
The German Haushaltswoche – Part 2: Merkel’s Speech Posted by Sten on Dec 11, 2020
It’s an exciting week in the German Bundestag (the German legislative body, its lower house of Congress). Earlier this week, German Bundesfinanzminister (secretary of finance) Olaf Scholz presented the Haushaltsentwurf (budget draft) for 2021. The Bundesregierung (federal government) has agreed; now it’s time for the Bundestag to follow suit. But before that happens, they have four days to…
The German Haushaltswoche – Part 1: Record Debt! Posted by Sten on Dec 10, 2020
It’s an exciting week in the German Bundestag (the German legislative body, its lower house of Congress). Earlier this week, German Bundesfinanzminister (secretary of finance) Olaf Scholz presented the Haushaltsentwurf (budget draft) for 2021. The Bundesregierung (federal government) has agreed; now it’s time for the Bundestag to follow suit. But before that happens, they have four days to…
The US Election in Germany Posted by Sten on Nov 12, 2020
As expected, the US election was a drawn-out process this time with television networks being careful with their projections. The winner was projected only last Friday. As always with the election of a new president in the United States, the whole world was watching – Germany as well. How was the election covered, and what…
Austrian and Swiss-German Words of the Year 2019 Posted by Constanze on Jan 27, 2020
Guten Tag! We have previously looked at Germany’s Wort des Jahres (Word of the Year) and its Unwort des Jahres (Non-word of the Year) 2019 in this post, this one (runners up) and this one. But what about other, German-speaking countries? Do they also have ‘words of the year’ in Austria and German-speaking Switzerland? The…
German ‘Non-Word’ of 2019 Posted by Constanze on Jan 15, 2020
Linguists from the Technische Universität Darmstadt have decided on the German Unwort des Jahres (the ‘non-word of the year’) 2019. The Unwort des Jahres is ‘Klimahysterie’. At the end of every year, the GfdS (German Language Association) picks a word for its Wort des Jahres (Word of the Year). This is a word that’s been…
How This One Night Changed Germany Posted by Sten on Aug 29, 2019
Last week, there was finally an Urteil (verdict) from the Landgericht Chemnitz (District Court of Chemnitz). Alaa S. was convicted of Totschlag (manslaughter) and gefährliche Körperverletzung (dangerous bodily harm) on Daniel Hillig and is to go to Gefängnis (prison) for neuneinhalb Jahre (nine and a half years) Haft (detention). They are going into Revision (appeal), claiming that the Beweis (evidence) is shaky. This Rechtsfall (legal…
Why Merkel Is Sitting Down Now Posted by Sten on Jul 25, 2019
Something is going on with Germany’s Bundeskanzlerin (Federal Chancellor) Angela Merkel. The Powerfrau (power woman) experienced heavy Zittern (tremors) several times in the past few weeks, and it got the Germans worried. What’s behind the Schüttelattacken (shake attacks)? Geht es ihr gut? Die Zitteranfälle On June 18, during a state ceremony, Bundeskanzlerin Merkel shook visibly . Afterwards, she declared “Ich habe inzwischen mindestens drei…