The German word “doch” can be used to express different meanings. Let’s use some examples:

A)

Frank hat verspochen zu kommen, doch er kann nicht. — Frank has promised to come, but he cannot.

Ich habe es mehrmals probiert, doch es geht nicht. — I have tried it several times, but it does not work.

In this case, we can use ‘but’ or ‘yet’ in English.

B)

Dann ist Frank doch nach Berlin gefahren. — So Frank did go to Berlin (after all).

Schade, dass Marie doch nicht kommen konnte. — It a pity, that Marie couldn’t come (after all).

In this case, we can transcribe the German word “doch” with ‘after all’. As you can see it is used in the sense that those people (Frank and Marie) had stated something different in the beginning than what they did.

C)

Du kannst jetzt nicht rausgehen. Es regnet doch. — You cannot go outside right now because (since) it is raining.

The second sentence just explains the “Why” in this case. In English you can transcribe it with ‘because’ or ‘since’.

D)

For this one we need a little dialog to arrive at the meaning:

Frank: Ich kann eine Stunde rennen ohne aufzuhören. — I can run for an hour without stopping.

Michael: Ich kann das auch. — I can do that too.

Frank: Kannst Du nicht! — You cannot.

Michael: Doch. (Ich kann es Dir zeigen.) — Indeed, I can. (I can prove it.)

“Doch” in this example is used to express the contrary to a statement from another person and to erase doubts expressed by another person. It always follows a scheme like this:

- Statement Person A

- Person B agrees

- Person A has doubts

- Person B wanted to erase doubts

The German word “Doch” is used in many other expressions and idioms. Just a few examples here:

Versuchs doch mal! – Just try it!

Nicht doch! – Don’t! Stop it!

Hör doch auf! – Give it a rest!

Ich hoffe doch. – I hope so.

Sicher doch. – Oh, sure!

In addition, you find some great translation example in Linguee:

http://www.linguee.de/deutsch-englisch/search?sourceoverride=none&source=auto&query=doch

German Easter Traditions

In the weeks prior to Easter, Germans get ready for the new season: You will see spring flowers on display and many traditional “Easter trees”, twigs and brushes dripping with colorfully decorated eggs.

Did you know that the tradition of boiling and painting eggs is the symbols of new life? The bright colors represent sunlight and growth. This custom began in Germany centuries ago.
Together with Easter eggs, the rabbit is certainly the most popular Easter icon- the Easter bunny. It symbolizes fertility and was first mentioned in German writings in the 16th century.
Later the bunny was imported to America by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, who called it “Oschter Haws” (”Easter Hare”).
The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany around the 1800’s.

Germans enjoy a very long Easter weekend, starting with Good Friday, the great day Easter Sunday into Easter Monday. Those are all public holidays. This means that shops, banks, and offices are closed. Public transportation operates on a limited holiday schedule.
German schools are closed for Easter holidays (usually two weeks around the Easter weekend), and many Germans travel to relatives and family members during those days.

Celebrating Easter in Germany

If you planning to spend the Easter weekend in Germany memorize those two words:
Frohe Ostern (FRO-Huh OS-tern) – Happy Easter!

Good Friday:

The Easter weekend in Germany begins with a quiet Good Friday (Karfreitag). Many families eat fish as their traditional Good Friday lunch.

Easter Saturday:

Easter Saturday is a great day to visit an open-air Easter market, where you can browse for artistically handcrafted Easter eggs, carved Easter decoration, and local arts and crafts.
Stop by a German bakery for a special Easter treat: a sweet cake in the shape of a lamb.
On Saturday night, the regions in northern Germany will light Easter bonfires, chasing away the dark spirits of winter and welcoming Spring.

Easter Sunday:

Easter Sunday is the great day of the long holiday weekend. Early in the morning, parents hide baskets filled with colorful, hard-boiled eggs, chocolate bunnies, sweets, and little gifts for the children. A lot of families attend an Easter service at church (one well-known is the Easter night worship service at the Cologne Cathedral), which is then followed by a traditional Easter lunch, lamb, potatoes, and fresh vegetables.

In English we only have ‘the’ for singular and plural. However, the German language has three singular articles ‘der, die, das’ plus ‘die’ for Plural. In most cases you don’t even know why you must use one vs. the other article for a noun.

For example: ‘der Kopf – the head’ but ‘das Bein – the leg’. Each one of them are parts of the body – so why ‘der’ in one case and ‘das’ in the other case?

To make learning German a little simpler for you, in particular the use of articles I am giving you a few rules:

1. All car brands in the German language use the article ‘der’

E.g. der BMW, der Volvo, der Mazda, der Ford, der VW, der Ferrari, der Mercedes

Of course, there is one exception: ‘die Viper’ and ‘die Corvette’

2. All motorcycle brands in the German language use the article ‘die’

E.g. die Honda, die BMW, die Kawasaki, die Harley-Davidson, die Aprillia

3. All German nouns ending in –keit, -heit, use the article ‘die’

There are of course a lot more of those little rules. If you like to get an entire list of rule, please subscribe to my newsletter on top. You will receive one for each one of the three German articles.

In order to learn German I’d suggest though that you just make it a habit to learn the correct article together with the noun.

Bis bald!
…Und viel Spaß noch beim lustigen Video mit Kaya Yanar über die Deutschen Artikel der, die ,das!

Is pricier really better, or should you start for free?

While doing my research, I noticed that there are actually not too many learn German programs.

Who are the learn German players in the market?

There is of course the market leader in marketing and assumable sales – Rosetta Stone. Starting at $249.00 for the beginner level, this one definitely runs on the high end and offers besides the beginner level also and advanced and expert level. From my personal experience as a tutor I know that the Rosetta Stone language immersion method is great for learning the German pronunciation and builds vocabulary really well. If you’d like to try out their method, Rosetta Stone offers a free demo. Be aware, however, it lacks the teaching of German grammar and sentence structure.

Then you have Tell Me More German. This learn German program also offers several learning levels and teaches vocabulary, phrases and pronunciation. TellMeMore also offers a 7 day free trial. It is very comprehensive and for some people it can be overwhelming with all its features and various routes you can take while learning. You definitely should familiarize yourself with their instructions menu before getting started. Again, grammar and sentence structure are on the back burner. Pricing ranges are starting at $199.00.

Transparent German Premium Edition is another well-known player and offers a really good beginner level with grammar resource guide, pronunciation and vocabulary training. Their vocabulary trainer is great, produces fast results and makes that part fun. Starting at $89.95, it is also reasonable. I noticed that their customers reviews overall are really positive. The Transparent customer support is fast and knowledgeable. Grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening, and conversation practice is emphasized through German texts, videos, and stories.

Rocket German is another one that’s been promoted all over the internet. It is one of those courses that puts you into a typical situation, e.g. at the airport, at the restaurant… You’re getting the story. The people speaking German in the audio, however, are not native speakers. It runs around $100 with specials at $80.00 on a promo basis. You can get a FREE trial. It is definitely not as sophisticated as the ones mentioned before and works more or less as an audio learning course with integrated games, quizzes and a vocabulary trainer. Whether it is worth it, tell me…

Pimsleur German is another German CD program. It has a great approach but slightly boring for my taste. If you go for it please be aware of where you are buying it. The Pimsleur Approach, a reseller of the Pimsleur program has received extremely negative customer reviews. This Learn German program is solely an audio course, starting at $24.95 for the basic level.

Linguashop’s TeachMe German is a German based vendor, which is a positive for me. You get the German taught right from the source. The overall customer ratings are very positive. It contains a complete multimedia course with CD and CDrom and is targeted to the absolute beginner. I personally appreciate the fact that the course also teaches basic grammar and even includes voice recognition technology for pronunciation training. Prices start at $48.00 and are very reasonable for this kind of program.

I also ran across some more programs such as Surefire German, eLanguage German Essentials, Learn to Speak German, Cosmi Learn To Speak German Deluxe, Speak & Learn Germanby SelectSoft which are all priced between $10.00 and $60.00. There might be a few more.

To get a decent idea about how a product really works for people I went to Amazon and checked reviews. Some of them were pretty surprising to the negative as well as positive side.

There is one commonality for most of these learn German programs I noticed while doing me research: Many of them focus on vocabulary learning and leave German grammar and sentence structure on the sidelines. Those programs give you the fish but don’t teach you how to fish. In other words, you’ll be able to learn vocabulary really well, memorize phrases and even sentences but you still won’t know why certain endings occur in words or why words are put in a certain place in a sentence.

How would I start learning German?

Now, if I was to start learning German correctly I’d do the following: If it is a pricier program I’d go for a free trial and a demo. The ones on the lower end, I’d take a chance after checking the reviews and get a used copy on Amazon. It doesn’t matter if you have tried with little progress before.

I haven’t mentioned the free ones this time and will include them in my next post. But try them out and see how far you can get.

What is your personal learn German experience?

It would be great to know what your experiences have been related to Learn German programs as software or online. I look at it from a tutoring perspective but not as an actual student of the German language. I’m quite interested in your experience and perspective. Please let me know which learn German software or online program helped you the most and why?

Appreciate your honest input…Bis bald!

Berlin - Brandenburg Gate

As a former East-German gal, I watched the 20 anniversary of the German re-unification with great attention and pleasure.

Many things have changed from when the wall came down to now. East Germany has become a beautiful part of Germany with new roads, reconstructed and remodeled old cities and towns. Leipzig and Dresden are great examples. The historic inner city is beautiful, not only to look at but also from a standpoint of shopping, gastronomy and entertainment. I love spending time there when I visit Germany.

The one thing that you will still hear when you talk to East Germans who are in the 30s and older, are some unfamiliar words. East Germany actually had created their own odd vocabulary for things. Some of the words had been influenced by the strong Russian influence. Russian troops had been stationed in East Germany until the wall came down in 1989. However, even more important, Russia was considered the “Big Brother” by the socialist German government.

For example, East Germans didn’t have a summer home/house – we had “eine Datsche” or a “Bungalow”. This is derived from the Russian word “datcha”.

A Hamburger was called a “Grilletta” and the grilled chicken was a “Broiler”.

You can actually look up some of those words in the Wiki http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprachgebrauch_in_der_DDR

As a child, I had some interesting subjects at school, which were unique to East Germany. For example, we had a subject called ESP (Introduction to the Socialist Production). During those lessons, we kids worked at a

Marx - Engels Monument in Berlin

paper mill or on a farm. Today I’d say they used us as cheap labor for some physical hard tasks some as collecting cabbages from the fields by hand. (Never will forget that…)

The other one was called STABÜ – long version: Staatsbürgerkunde. The English translation is civics education, but the content was pure propaganda against the Western countries.

The most amazing change is probably this one: East Germans these days can just go and buy a new car (as long as you got the money J of course). Why this is a big deal?

In the former East Germany, you had to wait about 20 year to be eligible to buy a new East German or Eastern Block car. When a child was born, East Germans put an application in at one of the car manufacturers in East Germany. So, when this child turned 20 he or she would be able to buy a car.

Therefore, East German became very innovative in re-vamping old cars and car parts. But not only cars, anything else that was needed for everyday life.

Downtown Waldeim

Another fascinating thing was lines of people. Anywhere, where we saw people in line we knew you could get something special. The rule was to just get in line and wait, even though you didn’t necessarily know what was for sale. You could figure that out while you were standing in line by talking to the folks in front of you. It could be anything from bananas, oranges to bedding, sheets, towels or even eggs. The most disappointing was that could happen to you in line was that the item ran out before it was your turn…

Until this day I get a smile on my face sometimes when I am shopping here in the US where an overflow of things is normality and people can just toss stuff they don’t need any more.

Now, would I say that everything is better? Things are different now in East Germany. Many things are great but with the good also comes the bad… as always in life.

Now I’ve learned that this has never been the case. …And there is not just one, or two but some two dozen other regional currencies in existence in Germany currently. Especially in southern Germany, Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg those regional or micro currencies are particularly popular.

Some of them have very creative names such as the “Sterntaler” (Star Money), “Kirschblüten”(Cherry Blossoms), the “Lechtaler” and the “Chiemgauer”.

The “Chiemgauer” has its name from a region in southern German and is the most popular regional currency.

This currency was established around the same time (in 2003) the Euro was adopted as national currency. Now, over 7 years later this regional money is accepted in about 600 businesses in the Chiemgau region. In 2008 alone 1,072,818 Euro were exchanged into the Chiemgauer. Regional businesses can even get interest –free loans in this currency.

http://www.chiemgauer.info/

http://www.der-lechtaler.de/lechtaler-profil.0.html

Could regional currencies replace the Euro?

Not at all. Regional or micro currencies are not in competition with the Euro. The regional currencies are only used to support regional, small business. The exchange rate is 1:1 and there is no interest-bearing value to the micro currencies. In other words you can’t buy stocks, options or shares in “Chiemgauer.” For example: They are not backed by the local or federal government. In fact, if you exchange the regional back into Euro you lose some of its value. The regional money is made to encourage people to spend it in their local businesses, e.g. at their bakery or at their butcher’s around the corner.

This money is only accepted in small regional areas, sometimes just within a town. But it helps to protect jobs and to counteract the growing debt of the local government.

So, what is the reason behind this “monopoly” money?

One major reason is certainly that the Germans had been very proud of their former currency – the Deutsche Mark. It was a strong and historic currency. In the decision to adopt the Euro in Germany, Germans themselves had no say. The German government under Kohl at that time just went ahead, in strong contrast to other nations such as the UK were a referendum turned the Euro down, or Ireland were people voted for adopting the Euro.

A recent poll by Germany’s Ipsos Institute showed that more than half of all Germans still want a return to the Deutsche Mark.

A second reason is also the very deep regional connection of many Germans. Reflected by dialect, traditional costumes and their states’ flags, many people carry a deep pride in their home region. They strongly support regional businesses and efforts to keep things local.

The German Genitive is also used to express possession and also used with the following prepositions, e.g. trotz, während, wegen, anstatt, laut, jenseits, angesichts, gemäß, entspechend, entgegen, nahe, …and many more. If you’d like to see the entire list, check out this German site. http://www.canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Praeposition/Kasus/Genitiv.html

Examples:

wegen des Wetters        due to the weather

trotz des Schnees            despite the snow

nahe des Flusses              close to the river

But, do we Germans really speak the Genitive with these prepositions?

 You might be surprised to hear that the German Genitive case is hardly being used in spoken, every day German. Instead we use the Dative.

wegen dem Wetter

trotz dem Schnee

nahe dem Fluß

Now you might argue that this is only the case with those prepositions. Then look at this:

This is my Dad’s hat.

Das ist der Hut meines Vaters. (Genitive)

I’d never say this in spoken language. Rather I’d say it like this:

Das ist der Hut von meinem Vater.          OR          Das ist meinem Vater sein Hut. (both Dative)

It amazes me that many German language courses haven’t picked this up yet because this development has been going on for many years already. I can think back to my childhood when this trend was already common even though in the written language we still had to use the Genitive.

Using the Dative instead of the Genitive in the German language has become widely accepted now, even in written German and on TV and radio. Already in 2003 an article in the Spiegel covered this topic http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/zwiebelfisch/0,1518,267725,00.html

Even a book has been written by Bastian Sick about this trend. “Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod“. Bastian Sick is a popular German translator, author and journalist who takes on the decay in German grammar and language in a educative, humorous way.

These days you will still find the German Genitive in poetry, legal and official writing and some industries. German linguists and supporters of the German language fight to keep the German Genitive alive. Using the Genitive in spoken language adds sophistication and an up-scaled touch to speech. It also is an intricate part of German language history.

So, should you still learn the German Genitive?

 My answer is: It depends on what you want to focus on. If you learn German for travel and more personal use I’d suggest focusing on the other 3 cases. You should know about the German Genitive but not focus on it. Instead focus on learning how the German genitive is being expressed in spoken language. In the end, you will have less trouble understanding and speaking conversational German.

Great question!

In fact the only difference we can see in German is in the article.

Ich fahre in der Fahrspur.

Ich fahre in die Fahrspur.

As a learner of the German language this is important to know because this tiny switch in the article changes the meaning of the entire sentence.

Ich fahre in der Fahrspur.             I am driving in this lane.

Ich fahre in die Fahrspur.              I am driving into this lane.

With the English translation you can see the difference clearly in this example.

Ich fahre in der Fahrspur. Dative –>Expresses a location I am driving in this lane.

Ich fahre in die Fahrspur. Accusative –> Expresses a Direction I am driving into this lane.

Let me give you an even more drastic example related to the change in meaning:

Ich fahre in dem Auto. Dative –> Expresses a location I am driving in the car.

Ich fahre in das Auto. Accusative –> Expresses a Direction I am driving into the car. (Ouch!)

You see in this case how important it can be to use the correct German case and article.

There are many more German verbs that can express both – location as well as direction.

gehen

fliegen

hüpfen

springen

schweben

rollen

rennen

laufen

and more…

All of these verbs express some movement. The movement can happen in a particular spot = location.

The movement can also happen into a direction.

German prepositions like: an, in, über, hinter, unter, vor, auf, neben, zwischen can be used in both cases – for location (Dative) and direction (Accusative).

As you can tell already in some cases only the case of the article determines whether one or the other is being expressed.

Recently I read a discussion about how important grammar is in language. This proves the point that grammar can be extremely important in expressing meaning in a language. The German cases and prepositions can make that much difference.

Let’s step it up a notch. Even trickier in these examples:

Er läuft hinter dem Haus. Dative –> Expresses a location He is walking behind the house.

Er läuft hinter das Haus. Accusative –> Expresses a Direction He is walking behind the house.

Der Hund rennt vor dem Auto. Dative –> Expresses a location The dog is running in front of the car.

Der Hund rennt vor das Auto. Accusative –> Expresses a Direction The dog is running in front of the car.

Dog Tired After Running...

For the Germans among us these two examples won’t pose a problem.

But how about the German learners – Can you figure out how the meaning changes in these two examples and what the two cases in each one of the above examples exactly express?

Feel  free to give me your take on it in the comment section…

What would you say is right: Reflektion oder Reflexion? Even I had to think for a moment.

You’ll find a lot more like these two in this blog.

So enjoy the Wörter Blog http://woerter.germanblogs.de/

A lot of folks from the LinkedIn discussion group gave me great feedback about my previous post about the English words in the German language. I appreciate your input and decided to write a post about it.

Actually, doing my research on this post I’ve figured out that there  is not really much difference between the challenges people have who want to become fluent in German and to maintain their fluency in German as a native speaker or language learner.

Now, how do you actually notice that your German is becoming “rusty”?

In my first year here in the US I didn’t speak much German on a daily basis. The first months that didn’t really matter. I was fine when I spoke to my parents and friends in Germany. After about 6 months I noticed that I started to scramble for certain expressions and could not come up with certain words. One I still remember was “Müsli” as my brain could come up with the English word “Cereal”. I tried to explain to my Mom in German what I actually ate that morning. At that point I knew it was time to change something.

I had the privilege over the past 8 years have a position that kept me in touch with the German speaking countries. But I also made a conscious effort to develop a network of German speaking friends and networking groups. I watch German TV on a daily basis, tutor German, read German, etc.  But my greatest supporter for speaking German daily is my son, who is now 6. Speaking German to him from the very beginning has not only made him bilingual, but has helped me to stay fluent and up-to-date in German. Talking about a great deal!

Here is something we all need to remember: In a world where English is around us every single day it becomes very handy to just stay in English. We all want to fit in.

It takes a conscious decision to change that – either when you learn German or to keep your German language up and running as a native speaker. In other words, you compete against the main language. This takes Discipline and Effort!

It is a DAILY effort to keep your German fresh and it takes DISCIPLINE to do that. One phone call a week to Germany or one German lesson a week doesn’t cut it.

When I started this conscious effort about 9 years ago I asked myself what I could gain from it.

Here is a list of what I came up with:

• Maintaining a close relationship with my parents and relatives
• Maintaining my friendships in Germany
• Improving my employment potential
• Keeping my German heritage
• Raising a bilingual child with a native German capability
• Helping other people to become fluent
• Developing multi-cultural and broader relationships

Today’s technology gives us numerous avenues and possibilities to become and stay fluent in German. We have satellite TV, Skype, Online TV, email, online chat rooms, online pen pals and more… It is really up to us to take advantage and just do it.

What do you do to stay or become fluent in German? Appreciate your feedback…

KCHB2DEZF6VS