Attention World Travellers!

I thought that since the readers of the blog seem to be worldy folk, that you all might like to test your knowledge of various countries’ names auf Deutsch. Achtung: it’s not as easy as it seems!

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Casting from pods!

Miss V is mobile! That’s right. If you so desire, you can watch me and my antics on the train, eating lunch or going for your morning run (warning: this may be a health hazard).
I finally got my 19th-Century brain around podcasting, so if you click here you can access Miss V in the iTunes [...]

Snackalicious tendencies

I (along with some other Englischers, i.e. my good friend Herr V) have noticed that German employers, in a way none of us have ever seen before, provide snacking opportunities for their employees. I think this is a fantastic aspect of life in the land of the Deutsch, and should be compulsory, and by [...]

Schon vorgeglüht?

Today, discussion of another cool and oh-so-appropriate German word: Vorglühen. Now, you Germans will surely know what I’m getting at (and it’s not the literal translation), but Englischers might be a little confused. The literal translation of ‘vorglühen’ is ‘to preheat’. But this is not what I am talking about. Oh no.
When you go [...]

Only in Deutschland!

Although my interest is usually sparked by matters of a linguistic nature, my first thought when I discovered the world’s first automated restaurant was: “That is, like, SO totally German!” No waiters, no bad service, no need to tip. You order your food from a computer and it is delivered to you via a [...]

Käse, the Kaiser *

One thing about life in Europe that I’ve really taken in my stride is the omnipresence of cheese in everyday life. Now, for born-and-bred German natives, this may sound odd. Of course cheese is a part of everyday life! It’s a foundation of all comestibles! World is a wonderland of goodness (or, for the lactose [...]

Bin sitt

Those of you who speak or are learning German may be familiar with the word satt as in ‘Ich bin satt’, meaning “I’m full as a bull/stuffed/about to pop”.
A word you may not be familiar with is sitt, which is satt’s liquid equivalent, meaning one’s thirst has been quenched. Makes sense to me! Hungrig - [...]

Wir bitten um Ihr (Miss)Verständnis

The avid readers of this blog (or should I say, ‘reader’ singular - Hi Mum!) might notice the entries a little sparse at the moment. This is because Miss V is in the land of Urlaub (where all Germans go on holiday), living it up and talking about herself in the third person in France. [...]

Hamburgs of the world, unite!

A little interwebbal research has shown me that Hamburg, Hansestadt, HH, meine Perle, is not the only Hamburg on this green Earth. In fact, I was able to find evidence of 13 (thirteen! Oooh, I hope you’re not superstitious) different Hamburgs around the world.
Okay, they’re not so much around the world as in the [...]

Public transport - translated!

You remember me Schlumping around on Hamburg’s public transport? Well check out this take on Hamburg’s HVV network: in English! It’s pretty hilarious - my favourite is “Adjustingen”.
(Click for the full-size map. Thanks to Klaussi for the link. Edit: Thanks to Scott for the heads-up about the broken link, now fixed.)

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