I love German word formation creativity! Urlaubsreif is another example from my log list of words that are somehow German-only i.e. usually cannot be translated into other languages with just one word. Urlaubsreif means in desperate need of a holiday and because I consider myself a person in such a state all the linguistic topics that come to my mind right now are somehow holiday-related.

Take the word wellness for example. Another wonderful instance of German importing English words and adapting them for their own needs. All English dictionaries I consulted (Oxford, Longman, Cambridge and Macmillan) barely define this word as health or the state of being healthy. The Langenscheidt German dictionary on the other hand says that die Wellness is the state of being physically healthy, happy and fit and also describes massages, baths and physical exercises offered at the so-called wellness centers.

As I’m dreaming of holidays in such a Wellnessoase at the seaside I came to think about the peculiarity of the name of the Baltic Sea. The Germans pragmatically call their seas according to their geographical location: die Nordsee (the North Sea of course) and die Ostsee (the Baltic Sea, literally: the East Sea). And whereas the North Sea is called the North Sea in most languages, the Baltic Sea changes its name depending on the country. I was trying to find some kind of a pattern behind it but failed disastrously (see: Urlaubsreif). So if you happen to know more about the origins of and tidbits about the name Baltic Sea, do let me know!

I learned a new word today and I want to share it with you: TMESIS.
Tmesis (from Greek) is separation of two parts of a word that belong together. In German it’s common with prefixed verbs; the simple verb gets separated from the prefix:

Ich lade dich ein.
Er räumt den Tisch auf.
Sie wacht jeden Tag um 7 Uhr auf.

But what’s more important: tmesis also often appears in (highly) colloquial German. Thus my warning for today is that you should NEVER use sentences like in the following examples on the left in written German.

Wo gehst du hin? – Wohin gehst du?
Da hab ich nix von gehört! – Davon habe ich nichts gehört!
Da hab ich nix mit zu tun! – Damit habe ich nichts zu tun!
Da kann sie nix für! – Dafür kann sie nichts!

My flatmate has asked me recently if I knew that the Germans tend to use the verb realisieren in a wrong way as he was told (off) by a friend who’s (allegedly) into language matters. He claimed that in German it only has the meaning of verwirklichen and the Germans also use it to convey the meaning of erkennen, bemerken.

First I (admittedly negligently and a bit absent-mindedly) agreed as such cases are known to the public where similar words in two languages that used to mean something completely different (so false friends) have adopted the other meaning from the other language in one of the languages.

But today I decided to have a closer look at the matter and both Duden and Langenscheidt say that the verb realisieren has both those meanings in German. I think I’ve got to talk to my flatmate about that again, because it might be true that realisieren is now overused in situations where a simple erkennen or bemerken would do but still it’s not a mistake as such.

So, it happened, the Sommermärchen is over. It’s a pity but it’s high time I started writing about other stuff again and being among 4 best football teams in the world is (or at least should be) still a big thing for this young guys.

My today’s topic is a kind of a bridge between football and language. I’ve had a discussion with my friends recently about the term Public Viewing (which I also used in my post in English). They said they read that it’s another one of those Scheinanglizismen (fake anglicisms) in German like handy or beamer.

I decided to pursue the issue and indeed found out that especially in American English the term public viewing is most commonly used for the viewing of a body of a deceased person at a funeral or things that are shown to the public. The new football-related meaning, however, seems to set foot gradually also in the English language, British being the fore worker here probably just because of the British football craze being much bigger than the American. Alternative terms I found include: public screening, (outdoor) viewing party and watching the match in the pub/on a big screen.

The Germans themselves tried to come up with a good German-origin equivalent. The success of Rudelgucken wasn’t overwhelming, though…

I just can’t leave it. Simply can’t stray far from the football topic, I hope you can forgive that. It’s just this football fever! I’m infected, I guess.

But today I want to tell you about something that actually falls neatly into the out of home/cultural category. I went to see the game Germany vs. England on the so-called FAN FEST in Hamburg. It’s a public viewing for 70,000 people in front of a huge screen. I have to admit I’m not a big fan of human masses (apart from at a rock concert) but I was told one has to experience this at least once. And well, we really chose the best possible game to watch (so far). 5 (actually 6) goals and pure drama!

We prepared at home listening to football songs and then armed with mini German flags we entered the cheering crowd (and the sun was scorching that day!). Every time Germany scored dust rose from the earth as thousands of feet kept jumping up in endless joy. I totally embraced the experience, it was awesome to see those typically so reserved Germans scream and sing and cheer together. Remember I mentioned that watching football is all about being together? Well, public viewing is something of a peak to such collective watching. I had a sore throat and my head and feet were aching afterwards, but it was totally worth it to see dieses wahre Sommermärchen! The Germans have called the World Cup a ‘summer fairy tale’ since 2006 when they were hosts and truly rediscovered their national pride and its symbols such as the flag for the first (!) time since the war time. I hope their fairy tale goes until the final and…

Nothing is going as planned so far… in this World Cup! Well, almost nothing at least. Argentina seems to be doing fine under the loving care of the grand (but not tall) Diego Maradona but most of the other favorites disappoint bitterly.

What is going on with the French? It was probably the worst World Cup in the French history, going home after the first round without having won a single game! A shame! One scandal after another. Abuses, offenses, very poor performance, refusing to train… are they on strike? Well, they’re French, it wouldn’t be surprising…

Portugal seems to have regained strengths and beat the poor North Koreans 7:0 and that on a day when the North Korean TV broadcast a football game live for the first time in history! What a pity… Brazil won both matches but the performance was far from brilliant, similar situation with Spain, I bet they’d win 3:0 against Honduras in their second game (after losing (!) against Switzerland) but they disappointed my hopes and only won 2:0 after wasting so many good chances!

Germany started off excellently! And then there was last Friday, the game against Serbia. I was rather sure Germany was going to win and I wanted them to win but I had a dream two days before the game that they’d lose 0:2 so just out of spite I predicted this result in our little betting game. And they lost! My friends blamed for ‘cursing’ the match and I was just curious why the heck if I already dream of a (bad) result it cannot be really precise?

So tonight’s the night! The deciding game Germany vs. Ghana. Very exciting and everyone’s here really nervous. Fortunately I didn’t have any dream predictions that could curse the game so I hope they’ll just win easily!

By the way, sorry for writing so much about football recently instead of other language and culture issues but it’s just really big here (part of the culture, if you want). If you miss the language part I can recommend another Football (soccer) vocabulary quiz! Enjoy waka waka!

…these days! Yes! The big football ‘Fest’ starts tomorrow! It’s funny because it seems that even people normally not that into football or watching sports in general give in to the overwhelming fever.

No matter where you live, whether you call this sport football or soccer (or Fußball, calcio, fútbol, piłka nożna, サッカー or whatever else…), you will probably spend lots of time in front of a TV or cheering up with other crazy football fans in public viewings.

Germany is an absolutely football-crazy nation. Cars already drive around here waving national flags, all stores have some WM (Weltmeisterschaft) specials, it’s all around all media and honestly I get scared every time I open the fridge because there might be some Fußballspieler jumping out of it at me.

Personally, I don’t mind football. I like a good match and I can get excited at times. That’s so cool about World or Euro Cups when you have your favourite (usually your native country’s) team. Watching the games then really gets under your skin. Emotional moments! Like in the German film I watched yesterday ‘Das Wunder von Bern’ about Germany’s unexpected victory in 1954. In the film football even brought whole families back together and made people bond closer. Well, that’s just a film but the biggest advantage I see in watching football really is that you can (and should) do it with other people.

So friends, I’m looking forward to the sound of vuvuzelas! Are you? And if you want to test your knowledge, I recommend The World in Football Fever test!

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Allow me to be a little off topic today. This post will not be just about languages or cultural differences but more generally about the cinema experience.

I went to see ‘Robin Hood’ last Friday and based on that experience I came up with a list on how to enjoy your cinema visit in Germany:

Do not go to the cinema on Friday evening a day after the film premiere (especially when the film you’re going to see is a potential blockbuster with a huge advertising campaign)

Do not go to a huge cinema multiplex with and auditorium of 1,001 seats

Do not forget that films in Germany are normally dubbed so Russell Crowe suddenly speaks German!

I’m usually not the kind of person who has to see a particular movie right after the premiere, but this time a friend suggested going and as I wanted to see this film anyway and didn’t have any other plans yet for Friday evening, I decided to join him.

Thank God he already got the tickets by the time I arrived at the cinema because the lines were horrendous. Then we had to wait squeezed in a mass of people until we were finally allowed in. Then half an hour of commercials started, but that’s the standard nowadays. Finally, the film started, I was enjoying it when the worst part happened! The film is long, so not only did we have to pay extra €10 for the length but also they made a pee break in the middle! One of the reasons I still go to the cinema at all is the special experience of enjoying the film on a big screen in one whole piece!

And then what I get is a dull 20-minute break where I get completely distracted so that some fellow cinema-goers can go to the bathroom after already drinking 2 liters of coke and then buy another XXL cup.

I think I don’t like it when cinema turns into a mass event. Don’t get me all wrong, though, I really liked the film, although it’s not as good as my favorite ‘Gladiator’…

I mentioned a Bollerwagen last week; this funny vehicle plays a significant role on the so-called Father’s Day (sometimes also called Men Day). It’s so important because it’s used to transport beer and is therefore the best indication on how much alcohol the Germans (German men) drink this day (they need to transport the alcohol on a cart, imagine!).

But first things first: Father’s Day is celebrated on Ascension Day (a Christian holiday 40 days after Easter) which this year is the Thursday of the current week (13^th of May). Men then gather in parks, organize trips, walks, hikes and barbecues or fishing escapades all accompanied by huge amounts of alcohol. It supposedly started as a kind of ‘rite of passage’ for boys and younger men who were to learn the ‘rules of masculinity’ from the older members of community.

My friends have a tradition of going to a city park, beerbecuing and playing soccer. Despite being a girl, I’m allowed to join them as Vatertag is most of all about fun, being together and enjoying the great outdoors if only the weather allows that.

To conclude let me quote some statistics after Wikipedia: on Father Day more alcohol is consumed than on any other day of year, reaching triple the average of a ‘normal’ day. So drink responsibly and have fun on Thursday if you’re in Germany!

Also, if  you have  a minute, check your knowledge on Germans and their beer!