mardi 9 juin 2020
mardi 5 juillet 2016
10 German Proverbs Translated Literally Into English
1.
In German: Du gehst mir tierisch auf den Keks.
What it means: You´re driving me crazy.
What it means: You´re driving me crazy.
2.
In German: “Nur die Harten kommen in den Garten.”
What it means: Only the strongest survive.
3.
In German: Auf einem Bein steht man nicht gut.
What it means: You need at least two drinks to have a good time.
What it means: You need at least two drinks to have a good time.
4.
In German: Kinder und Betrunkene sagen immer die Wahrheit.
What it means: It´s hard to find people who tell you the truth.
What it means: It´s hard to find people who tell you the truth.
5.
In German: Zu viele Köche verderben den Brei.
In German: Zu viele Köche verderben den Brei.What it means: Too many cooks spoil the broth.
6.
In German: Die Kuh vom Eis holen.What it means: Escape a risky situation.
7.
In German: Da liegt der Hase im Pfeffer!What it means: This is the cause of that.
8.
In German: Klappe zu, Affe tot.
What it means: Let’s put an end to this.
What it means: Let’s put an end to this.
9.
In German: Ich glaub, mein Schwein pfeift.
What it means: I don’t believe it.
What it means: I don’t believe it.
10.
In German: Die dümmsten Bauern ernten die dicksten Kartoffeln.
What it means: Stupid people always win.
What it means: Stupid people always win.
dimanche 3 juillet 2016
Top 10 Signs That Show You've Been Living In Germany Too Long
1) You measure everything: You weigh your pasta before putting it in the saucepan, and then you time it whilst it’s cooking. Germans measure EVERYTHING and pasta is no exception. “My American boyfriend was horrified when he saw me meticulously weighing out the dry pasta before adding it to the saucepan,” says Kate, a Brit who’s lived in Germany for seven years. “He wanted me to put the whole lot in.”
2) You think it’s acceptable to eat a doner kebab before 3am: Doner kebab shops are everywhere in Germany. Back home you wouldn’t even entertain the thought unless it was 3am and you’d spent a heavy night on the beer. Here it is acceptable at any time of the day.
3) You wait for the green man: Like all law-abiding Germans, you stand at the pedestrian crossing for the light to change to green. It is actually illegal to cross on a red light and a heinous crime if a child is standing next to you. Take an erroneous step onto the street and you will be berated by a furious parent.
4) You take your German home: When visiting home your conversation is peppered with “danke”, “doch”, “ach so” and “genau” and you don’t even notice you’re doing it. These words are essential to any German conversation and have become ingrained in your daily speak.
5) Normal beers don’t cut it anymore: Drinkers in Germany are spoilt in terms of quality and quantity of beer and this rubs off on you. You become a beer snob and don’t like the mainstream lagers offered on tap back home. You hunt out the craft ales instead.
6) Squares not rooms: When people ask how big your flat is, you tell them the exact size in square metres and wonder why they look confused. Germans don’t measure the size of their apartments by the number of bedrooms, they like to know the precise measurements of their homes.
7) You acquire a taste for remoulade: Bakeries put remoulade - similar to tartar sauce - on rolls (and everything else) in place of margarine. “I thought it was disgusting at first”, says Sophie from London, “but then I got a real taste for it and started adding it to my own sandwiches at home.”
8) Bottles = charity: You see leaving your empty glass bottle on the street as an act of kindness. “When I have finished drinking my beer, I always leave the empty glass bottle next to a bin. Some poor guy will pick it up and return it to the shop and get nine cents for it. It’s an act of charity”, one reader told The Local.
9) Your pronunciation goes awry: You start pronouncing “Wikipedia” as “Vikipedia” and you think “infos” sounds perfectly normal.
10) You always carry a cloth bag: Germans don’t like to be wasteful and requesting a plastic carrier bag at the checkout could cost you up to 25 cents. Hence carrying a cloth bag everywhere makes sense.
vendredi 24 juin 2016
10 Inspiring German Proverbs
1. Du siehst den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht.
Literal translation: “You don’t see the forest for all the trees.”
In life it is important to see the big picture. If we only concentrate on the latest wins or failures instead of seeing our lives as a whole, we are vulnerable to fate’s whims and get frustrated easily. So don’t give up on German just because you had a bad vocabulary day. You can pick it up again tomorrow.
2. Man muss die Dinge nehmen, wie sie kommen.
Literal translation: “You have to take things the way they come.”
In the same line of thought, life will seldom play out exactly the way we planned. It is therefore important to cultivate an adaptive mindset and deal with current surroundings and conditions instead of wishing for things to be different. So take life as it is, not as it should be.
3. Selbst ist der Mann./Selbst ist die Frau.
Literal translation: “Yourself is the man./Yourself is the woman.”
This saying is hard to translate literally. It’s English equivalent is “Self do, self have”. Oftentimes we will use waiting for others as an excuse in order to not take action. The proverb says that if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. While the original is the male version, Selbst ist die Frau is also widely used today.
4. Des Teufels liebstes Möbelstück ist die lange Bank.
Literal translation: “The devil’s favorite piece of furniture is the long bench.”
In German, putting something on the “long bench” means putting it off (etwas auf die lange Bank schieben – another very good addition to your German slang phrases). Seems like Germans knew about procrastination long before the word was on everyone’s lips. What are you putting on the “long bench” that you could take care of right now? Don’t let the devil win.
5.Erst denken, dann handeln.
Literal translation: “First think, then act.”
Although taking action is important, it is of equal importance to take the right action. Determining which one that is requires some deliberate thinking. This proverb reminds us to to set the right priorities and make decisions about what we want instead of blindly rushing into battle.
6. Kümmere Dich nicht um ungelegte Eier.
Literal translation: “Don’t worry about eggs that haven’t been laid yet.”
This one is a little bit like “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”. However, while the English version asks us not to rely on means which we do not possess at this time, the German equivalent expresses the futility of worrying about things that haven’t come to pass yet and never might. It is energy that is much better spent productively.
7. Aller Anfang ist schwer.
Literal translation: “All beginnings are hard.”
No matter what you are undertaking in life, whether it’s learning a new language, embarking on a career or working on a project, if you start something from scratch, you will suck at it at first. That’s part of the natural order and the way it should be. Don’t worry too much about it and just keep at it until you get it right.
8. Wer zwei Hasen auf einmal jagt bekommt keinen.
Literal translation: “He who chases two rabbits at once will catch none.”
This is the German way of telling you to stop multitasking. Be focused. Concentrate on one thing at a time and then move on to the next. Well done, grasshopper. By the way does anybody else think words like these should really be spoken by a some wise kung fu master?
9. Übung macht den Meister.
Literal translation: “Practice is what makes a master.”
Mastery is hard to attain. It takes continuous honing of your skills to get really good at something. If you want to reach a high level of proficiency in anything, you will have to put in the time and practice. Whether that’s business savvy, physical skills or language proficiency, there are no shortcuts.
10. Der Hunger kommt beim Essen.
Literal translation: “Appetite emerges while eating.”
If motivation runs low, one of the hardest things to do is to get started. Yes, we want to learn German. Yes, we committed to this time for our studying session. But we just don’t feel like it. Do a little bit, study for just a minute. More often than not your will find that after working for a while and easing into the process, it actually becomes fun and you will want to continue.
mercredi 22 juin 2016
11 Words That Are Funny And Better In German
1. Gums translates to “Zahnfleisch,” which means “Tooth Meat.”
2. A gift a husband buys his wife to apologize for doing something inconsiderate is called “Drachenfutter,” which translates to “dragon fodder.”
3. Nipples are called “Brustwarzen” which literally translated to “breast wart.”
4. The sloth is called a “Faultier” in German, which translates as “lazy animal.”
5. Slug is “Nacktschnecke” in German. Literally a “naked snail.”
6. Gloves are “Handschuh” in German, which literally means “hand shoes.”
7. Diarrhea is “Durchfall” in German. Literally translates as “through fall.”
8. Lightbulb in German is “Glühbirne,” which translates to “glow pear.”
9. In German, a turtle is “Schildkröte,” which translates as “shield toad”.
10. In German, a mullet is a “Vokuhila”, which is a portmanteau of “vorne kurz, hinten lang” which translates to “short in the front, long in the back.”
11. Sometimes a bicycle is called a “Drahtesel” in Germany, which means “wire donkey.”
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