Spinnen Want to tell a friend they’re talking rubbish? Tell them “du spinnst”. It is related the English phrase “to spin a yarn”, but is more common and extremely colloquial – it basically means someone is “talking crazy”. I like that it sounds whimsical in English, but vulgar in German. Don’t use it with strangers! Continue reading German Verb of the Week (No.2)
The previous post in this little series was a word from German history but this week I’m picking something from Austria: Psychoanalyse (f.) This is Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis and a bloody hard word to pronounce. (Something like “puh-soo-show-anna-loser”, but quickly). In researching these German words my starting point is my own knowledge of German history, which in school was focused on 1933-1945, and then … Continue reading A German Word from History (No.3)
Verunglücken Everyone is familiar with the satisfying German loan words like “Schadenfreude” and “Doppelgänger”, but I have come to love these neat German verbs which slip into a sentence and describe actions or experiences for which English would require a whole phrase. Verunglücken means “to have an accident”, and if you break down the sections of the word, it relates to “unlucky”. Use the word, … Continue reading German Verb of the Week (No.1)
I have just returned from a weekend in Madrid, where it was crazy hot (for late September) but the atmosphere was the best and I got to throw out a bunch of “holas” and “graciases”. Here is a breakdown of how it went, language wise – and let me know about your own experience of putting your beginner or intermediate language skills to the test! … Continue reading Language Lessons Learned From a Weekend in Madrid
Hola a todos und hallo zusammen! I have a handful of tips from my learning this week which will fit neatly enough into one post: my new favourite Spanish resources, and some real bad German words (i.e. DENGLISCH). Entonces, el fin de semana que viene, voy a viajar a Madrid! Estoy muy emocionante para practicar el idioma y, ademas, para compartir mi experiencia con vosotros. Pero … Continue reading Language Tips of the Week
