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- Category: German culture and food
This year is the Reformationsjubiläum, the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, which was a key event for the Reformation. This day now symbolizes the beginning of the Reformation and the far-reaching effects that have reached around the globe. All year long there are activities all over the world to celebrate this anniversary, most especially in Germany.
They're celebrating the life and work of Martin Luther: the man who lived secretly under the name "Junker Jörg," gave us the word Rotzlöffel, and translated the New Testament into German.
Rotzlöffel
This descriptive insult translates literally to "snot spoon," and correctly translated, it gives us "snotty-nosed brat." How Luther helped this word get into better circulation, I have no idea, but you can find out more in Mit Feuereifer und Herzenslust from DUDEN.
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- Category: German culture and food
A lot of folks in the US ask me what German health insurance is like. As a former resident of Germany (2003 to 2008) and a participant in their public health insurance program (there is also a separate, private system, which I know nothing about) here are 7 differences I noticed:
1. It has a different name.
It’s not “health insurance.” It’s Krankenversicherung, or illness insurance. Krankenversicherung is a protection against financial devastation, it’s no guarantee you’re going to be healthy.
Personally, I refer to my policy payments every month as Illsurance. We have car insurance for our cars, and home insurance for our homes, why not Illsurance for illnesses?
2. Your payments are percentages, not flat fees.
Depending on your Krankenversicherung, you pay roughly 14% of your income towards your policy. Your employer pays a bit less. Thus the monthly payments change depending on and related to your income changes, but there is a cap on how much you pay when you’ve reached EUR 4,350/month gross.
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- Category: German culture and food
and make German a part of your everyday life.
Sometimes it amazes me how quickly people can pick up German words and sentence structure, even though they've never been to Germany and haven't learned German before. Clients come to a lesson and they have no idea what German bread tastes like, but they can talk about German breakfast: das Brot, die Marmelade, der Kaffee.
It can be a source of frustration, however, to learn German, but only to have all these North American elements around us: speed limits, white bread (igit!), and 2 weeks of vacation a year. (Germans have a minimum of 4, on average 5, and many have 6 weeks). German culture sometimes feels so far away.
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- Category: Speaking German
The long-awaited Ach-Laut video is here! Hurra!
The "Ach-Laut" means the "ach sound" and it is the airy, throaty sound you hear in the words "ach" and "machen."
Phonetically, this sound is written as /X/ and to that we say "ach." In this video I've broken down for you:
1. What the sound /X/ is and what it isn't.
2. How to feel where it takes place and
3. How to practice the sound, first slowly and then speeding it up step-by-step.
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- Category: German learning methods
“How do I make time to learn German?” you ask? The answer is to choose to work at learning German instead of other things. You can only spend your time once, so adjust a few things in your life to make serious progress for German.
Some of these tips listed here are things I’ve seen clients do to make themselves some more time for German, some are decisions my friends have made to help them manage their other commitments well, and some of them are recommendations I have collected from many, many hours reading about productivity and creating efficient working systems.
These are all methods and strategies I stand behind both as an instructor and a fan of efficiency. I very much hope you can take away at least one of them as a strategy to help you make more time for German and less time for something else.
Los geht's!
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