Deutsch am Donnerstag – Kirmes

Today I’m taking you to the fair, die Kirmes, also known as ‘der Jahrmarkt’, but you don’t have to go on any of the rides  Can you guess what some of the rides are called in German? Yes, rides like the ‘Vortex’ are called Vortex in German! The same goes for many of the named rides, but … Read more

Frohe Ostern – Happy Easter

Are you looking forward to searching for your Easter eggs? You’ve already eaten them all? Or maybe you don’t like chocolate! (Really???) Then how about a different search for Easter eggs? The word search below contains 15 Easter words, all beginning with ‘Oster…’. Can you find them all? And more importantly, do you know what they … Read more

German videos for Easter

I was looking for something on YouTube today and a few hours later I’ve got nice German videos for Easter, but not what I was looking for in the first place  😀 Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Anyway, if you’d like to waste spend some time  watching, listening, singing, here they are: Please don’t blame me … Read more

April, April – April Fool!

April Fool’s Day is celebrated (if that’s what we can call it) every year on the 1st April, not just here but in many countries, including Germany. April fool jokes are called Aprilscherze (der Aprilscherz, if it’s just one) Jemanden in den April schicken means to play an April Fool’s trick on somebody (literally to send somebody into … Read more

Merry Christmas – frohe Weihachten

As this is my last post of 2013  I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for a fantastic year – Thank you to all my students who continue to have German lessons with me. Thank you to all my business clients who have trusted their translations with me. Thank you to … Read more

German Christmas Markets

Have you ever been to a German Christmas Market? Wooden stalls, marzipan, lovely Christmas decorations, mulled wine ……   Wonderful, if you get the chance to go…. And if you don’t, there are now  lots of Christmas markets around the world. Wikipedia even has a list. The most famous one in England is possibly the German … Read more

Have you been good for St Nicholas?

The 6th December is St Nicholas Day. There is an interesting article on Wikipeda about the history and legends but for German children there are far more interesting things to decide, like which plate to put outside their door! According to legend, during the night from the 5th to the 6th December, Nikolaus brings sweets, fruit, nuts … Read more

Carnival – the Fifth Season in Germany

The Germans call ‘carnival’ Karneval, Fastnacht, Fasching or even ‘die fünfte Jahreszeit’ (the 5th season). It ends the day before Ash Wednesday with many processions and parties going on during the week up to that Tuesday. But why am I writing about this today? As you can imagine, those processions take a long time to … Read more

Tag der deutschen Einheit – German Unity Day

Today is a public holiday in Germany (I do think it should also be a public holiday for Germans abroad, but somehow I doubt it will happen ☺), because it’s the German Unity Day, or Tag der deutschen Einheit. When I grew up in Germany, that day was celebrated on the 17th June because of the … Read more

Same procedure as last year? You bet!

My students all know by now that in the last lessons before Christmas I go on and on about ‘Dinner for One’! Why?Because it’s a German New Year’s tradition. It started in 1963 when a German TV station recorded a short English theatre  performance in Hamburg. They only gave a short German introduction and then … Read more

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