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When life gives you lemons, it helps to recognize them
I thought my French was good enough to get me around southern France. But language skills were not enough.
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How chicken legs, triangles and sphincters will make you laugh
The German language is very precise and detailed, sometimes to the extent that it goes well beyond being descriptive and descends into hilarity.
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Linguistic sleight of hand – bilingualism at any cost
Dear subscribers, Due to maintenance to my website, last week’s e-mail did not go out. You can read via the link at the bottom of this post. Thank you for reading and I’d love to get your feedback! Now on to this week’s post: Raising a family in Germany was a golden opportunity to raise my kids bilingually. I initially thought this meant just speaking to them in English, but reality proved to be a lot trickier. I discovered I had quite a few tricks up my sleeve. Kind regards, Brenda
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Trainin’ the Ukrainians – Refugees in the classroom
There are millions of Ukrainian refugees in Germany, and I decide to help out by teaching a German class. It was nothing like teaching English and demanded more of my creativity than I had imagined.
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What’s that schmuck doing in the jewelry store?
8 May 2022 The war in Ukraine has catapulted yet another German word into English vocabulary in just two months. The word is Zeitenwende, turning point. It takes its place next to venerable old-timers such as zeitgeist, angst and doppelgänger. I’m going to indulge in the luxury of ignoring the war itself. Instead, let’s take […]
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The two dots that will make or break you
Speaking a foreign language can be tricky. Sometimes it can also get you into trouble – serious trouble. German umlauts – those two dots on some vowels. are often the culprit
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AI is cutting edge but it still ain’t perfect
Technology has exploded over the past decades. Artificial Intelligence is leading the pack, but even AI has its often humorous downfalls.