{"id":2985,"date":"2011-11-21T16:07:41","date_gmt":"2011-11-21T16:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=2985"},"modified":"2017-11-14T14:14:47","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T14:14:47","slug":"some-simple-facts-about-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/some-simple-facts-about-germany\/","title":{"rendered":"Some simple facts about Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

Germany is located in the heart of Europe. It has nine Nachbarstaaten<\/strong> (neighboring states) and it naturally borders the Nordsee<\/strong> (North Sea) and Ostsee<\/strong> (Baltic Sea) and the European Alps<\/strong> in the south (The borders to all neighboring states are open, by the way. The only exception is Switzerland). With its 357.111,92 km\u00b2<\/strong>, it is located in the gem\u00e4\u00dfigten Klimazone<\/strong> (temperate zone) and with a population of 81,3 millions<\/strong> it is a densely populated country.<\/p>\n

Germany consists of 16 Bundesl\u00e4nder<\/strong> (federal states):<\/p>\n

– Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg
\n– Bayern
\n– Berlin
\n– Brandenburg
\n– Bremen
\n– Hamburg
\n– Hessen
\n– Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
\n– Niedersachsen
\n– Nordrhein-Westfalen
\n– Rheinland-Pfalz
\n– Saarland
\n– Sachsen
\n– Sachsen-Anhalt
\n– Schleswig-Holstein
\n– Th\u00fcringen<\/p>\n

If you measure with the Bruttoinlandsprodukt<\/strong> (gross domestic product), it is the biggest national economy in Europe and the fourth largest in the world.<\/p>\n

The biggest Ballungsgebiete<\/strong> (city regions) are the following:<\/p>\n

Berlin \u2013 3.450.000
\nHamburg \u2013 1.780.000
\nM\u00fcnchen \u2013 1.330.000
\nK\u00f6ln \u2013 1.000.000
\nFrankfurt am Main \u2013 670.00
\nStuttgart \u2013 600.000
\nD\u00fcsseldorf \u2013 590.000
\nDortmund \u2013 580.000
\nEssen \u2013 575.000
\nBremen \u2013 550.000<\/p>\n

But you have to bear in mind, that the numbers above are just the city boarders. In most cases, the agglomeration is much bigger<\/strong>. For example has an agglomeration of 1.800.000. The metropolitan area has even 5.290.000 inhabitants. The biggest metropolitan area is the \u201eRuhrgebiet\u201c with 11.690.000<\/strong> people.<\/p>\n

Germany is a parlamentarische Demokratie<\/strong> (parliamentary democracy). The Staatsoberhaupt<\/strong> (head of state) is Federal President Christian Wulff whereas Federal Chanellor<\/strong> Angela Merkel is head of government. The biggest Parteien (parties) are CDU\/CSU, SPD, FDP, Die Linke, B\u00fcndnis 90\/Die Gr\u00fcnen.<\/p>\n

The most common language<\/strong> in Germany is German (of course:-)). But there are countless dialects<\/strong> that are really different. I mean, the base is mostly the same but the Aussprache (pronunciation) varies. I\u00b4m sure that if you speak German perfectly as a stranger, you wouldn’t understand a word if people from Bavaria, Cologne or Schwaben talk to each other. Even for native speakers it is hard to understand sometimes. One of the dialects is called \u201eNiederdeutsch\u201c or \u201ePlattdeutsch\u201c. This is kind of an exception and could even be treated as an own language.<\/p>\n

I personally don\u00b4t understand a word of it. Neither the dialect of K\u00f6ln (Cologne).<\/p>\n

Well, there would be countless more facts about Germany…For example, economics, traffic, social things etc… But I guess a blogpost wouldn’t be the right thing for it. Maybe some other details will follow in other posts. So stay tuned!<\/p>\n

Vocabulary to this post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

nichtsdestotrotz \u2013 nevertheless
\nder Nachbarstaat \u2013 neighboring state
\ndie Nordsee \u2013 Noth Sea
\ndie Ostsee \u2013 Baltic Sea
\ndie gem\u00e4\u00dfigte Klimazone \u2013 temperate zone
\ndas Bundesland \u2013 federal state
\ndas Bruttoinlandsprodukt \u2013 gross domestic product
\ndas Ballungsgebiet \u2013 city region
\ndie parlamentarische Demokratie \u2013 parliamentary democracy
\ndas Staatsoberhaupt \u2013 head of state
\ndie Partei \u2013 partie
\ndie Aussprache \u2013 pronunciation
\nK\u00f6ln \u2013 Cologne<\/p>\n

All numbers in this post were found over the internet, especially Wikipedia. Therefor I cannot guarantee if they are always right.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Germany is located in the heart of Europe. It has nine Nachbarstaaten (neighboring states) and it naturally borders the Nordsee (North Sea) and Ostsee (Baltic Sea) and the European Alps in the south (The borders to all neighboring states are open, by the way. The only exception is Switzerland). With its 357.111,92 km\u00b2, it is…<\/p>\n

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