Tag Archives: vocab
German Words From The News Posted by Constanze on Dec 7, 2015
Whilst browsing the other Transparent Language blogs as I do from time to time, I came across a fantastic post on the Greek blog entitled ‘Greek vocabulary from the news’. There are a few, interconnected topics that are dominating the headlines worldwide at the moment, namely der Terrorismus (terrorism), der Syrien Konflikt (the Syria conflict)…
Sport in German Posted by Larissa on Nov 23, 2015
As a fitness trainer, I teach my classes in German. I once taught a class in English as a woman requested it (she was going to England for holiday and wanted to brush up on her English). As I taught it I realised how hard it was to translate the class back into English, even…
Zeit für eine Geschichte – Teil 2: Der Anruf Posted by Sten on Oct 23, 2015
This is Teil zwei (part two) of the story of Max, a German student. To read part 1, go here. Last week, Max just could not get out of his bed, even though his alarm rang and he knew he had a very important appointment that day. Then suddenly he received a phone call, which got him out of his…
Zeit für eine Geschichte – Teil 1: Der Wecker Posted by Sten on Oct 16, 2015
To see all posts of this series, click here. To download the eBook Zeit für eine Geschichte, click here. This post is the beginning of a weekly post of a story of Max, a German student. I will write a little Kapitel every week on Fridays preferably, and you can decide how the story should continue… Let…
Untranslatable German Words: Arschgeweih Posted by Constanze on Aug 29, 2015
Guten Tag! Welcome to another edition of German untranslatable words, dedicated to teaching you quirky German words, their meanings, and how to use them! Today the word is das Arschgeweih. What does Arschgeweih literally translate to? This German compound noun is made up of the words der Arsch (butt/ass/arse) + das Geweih (antlers). Its literal…
German Phone Call Vocabulary Posted by Constanze on Apr 25, 2015
In German, speaking on the phone is called telefonieren. Some people (like me) find telephone calls a bit scary and intimidating. They’re even moreso if you’re making a phone call in a different language! So I’ve compiled this list of useful phrases and vocabulary to help make German phone calls less scary. Etiquette When answering…
German Abbreviations Posted by Larissa on Mar 27, 2015
This post is about commonly used Abkürzungen (abbreviations) to use when you write in everyday life. You might have already seen some abbreviations listed below but never known what they meant, so here are the Übersetzungen (translations): Abbreviations to use in emails: LG = Liebe Grüsse: Best regards – the literal translation would be “love…