All tagged Language
A question on shopping opens a can of worms as we discuss our experiences of the fabled German customer service. With politeness on the mind, Nic ponders what he should do when confronted with impolite people. We turn our attention to the rapid arrival of Fasching, Germany’s fifth season, we discuss the merits of mountain climbing, and we finish with the announcement of Germany's Kulturpass.
December is upon us, and with the arrival of Advent we discuss wooden Advent calendars, homemade calendars, and why giving chocolate to children at eight in the morning seems a terrible idea. We also chat German football terminology, direct translations, and our most used German words and phrases.
Simon returns after a week of avoiding a house full of Covid, and not a minute to soon either. Nic needs an answer to a burning question: why do Germans enjoy eating piping hot meals, even when it’s hotter than the mouth of hell outside? We try and find an answer to this puzzler, among many other important questions.
We welcome Dr. Sandra Jansen to the show, just in time to talk about controversial cocktail opinions and the recent takeover of Nic’s favourite football club, Newcastle United. However, we didn’t ask the good doctor on to only talk booze and football. Sandra is a sociolinguist and she has more than a few interesting observations about how Nic and Simon speak. Simon introduces us to a language ban in a London school and we talk about why German dialects are often more appreciated. Finally we look at some Geordie and Southern English phrases that would catch out many Germans travelling in the UK.
Nic learns that like many things in Germany, there are some important rules to remember when ordering a takeaway. Simon talks about his love of currywurst and defends his favourite comfort food from his co-hosts food cynicism. The lads celebrate the upcoming release of Sam Fender’s new album and take some time out from discussing the peculiarities of German life to discuss how mental health is a central part of the Geordie musicians work and why men, especially in the UK find it difficult to talk about their feelings. Finally, Simon and Nic ask if Germany has a class system similar to the UK and whether social class is obsessed over in the same way as their former home.
By god it’s Johann Goethe’s birthday! Simon wants to celebrate the birth of one (if not the) greatest Germans of all time, but Nic can’t help insulting the birthday boy.The lad’s enjoy the annual list of Jugendwort des Jahres 2021 (Youth Word of the Year) and ponder whether their young or cool enough to use any of them.In an attempt to predict what words might feature on the list next year, Simon and Nic suggest some possible entries from a list of long forgotten English insults. Finally, Nic asks if swearing in German is really such a problem or is it just the English speaking community being oversensitive and over protective of their language in Germany.
