With the UK leaving the EU, more Brits are enrolling in German classes or moving to Germany. Could German, too, become a classic working language in the EU thanks to their efforts?
With the Bavarian elections on Sunday October 14th, the national focus will shift to the southern state. The Bairisch dialect is notoriously challenging and its culture is distinctive, so we’ve taken a word which will give you a flavour of Bayern.
With the Frankfurt Book Fair kicking off today, the eyes of the literary world are all focused on Germany. We have chosen a word to join in on the literary celebrations.
Your friend has just committed a terrible social faux pas, and you can feel yourself blushing on their behalf. This describes the uniquely German word Fremdschämen.
If you describe something as ‘three cheeses high’ in English, you’re probably referring to a mouse’s dinner, or the contents of my sandwich. But this German term has little to do with the dairy product.
Comfort eating is a staple of the human experience, and the Germans (of course) have the perfect word to describe the excess fat you gain from emotional overeating: Kummerspeck.
Geborgenheit is used to describe a state of comfort and well-being. It is often translated as ‘security’, but in fact it is a feeling which is rather untranslatable.
Do you need an excuse to watch more comedy TV? We have researched and compiled a list of our favourite German TV comedies ranging from sitcoms to slapstick - all guaranteed to make you laugh.
On the 20th anniversary of the Rechtschreibreform, controversial German rapper and philologist Lady Bitch Ray has launched a passionate defence of correct German. But she is not the only hip-hop artist who can teach us a thing or two about German grammar.
Those of you who’ve lived in Germany for a few years can surely relate - once you’ve picked up the local language and it encompasses your daily life, you slowly start to notice signs that your English is deteriorating.
Long before German became “Denglished”, it was en vogue to sprinkle one’s German with un peu français. In fact we still use French while speaking German every day without realizing it.
Given the fact that modern German culture often seems like a poor shadow of Anglophone culture, finding music and theatre that grips you can be a struggle. But experience an Easter Bach concert and you’ll never regret learning the language of the Teutons.
Keen to know the most common German-English false friends native speakers in Germany tend to mix up? We spoke to a director of studies at a language school in Munich to find out.
Even the most ardent admirer of the language of Goethe would have to admit that the language is somewhat clunky at times. Luckily Germans have found a way around this, and the results have even seeped into English.
