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6
Feb

2

What Happened to Us? The Justhost Webhosting Story

By German Coach | Filed in German Culture

<--- Thank You for Visiting Again! Get Your FREE Ebook Now.

 

You might have wondered the past days: “What happened to the Learn German Coach blog? …Gone…”Site Suspended” In fact, we experienced an ugly case of bad customer experience with our webhosting provider Justhost. Watch this video and see for yourself what exactly happened:

The great news is that we are back online again and will get into swing again with great stories about the German language, learning german and the German speaking countries. Infact, over this past week we prepared a e-book for all of you who are starting to learn German or thinking of getting started. So stay tuned!

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25
Jan

3

How German is America? Surprising Facts

By German Coach | Filed in German Culture

More than 42.8 million Americans (15.2% of the total population) claim to have German ancestors. California and Texas have the highest numbers of populations of German origin. Even today German is the most spoken language in North and South Dakota. In Pennsylvania, a state with a large German heritage the German language was the instruction language at schools until 1950. Many German originated town names e.g. the “Over the Rhine” district in Cincinnati, “German Village” in Columbus, OH, or Fredericksburg, TX are evidence of the cultural and social influence. Countless German-Americans shaped American history. One of the most well-known men is Albert Einstein who immigrated to America in 1933. But also Albin Weisskopf, who later on changed his name into Gustave Whitehead became one of American aviation pioneers.

maibaum-munichTwo of the American presidents were of German descent: Dwight Eisenhower (original family name Eisenhauer and his maternal side was Swiss German) and and Herbert Hoover (original family name Huber).

– Did you know that Germans brought the tradition of the Christmas tree to America?

– Did you know that Cincinnati, OH has the largest annual Oktoberfest outside Germany?

– Did you know that words like angst, kindergarten, zeitgeist und waldsterben are borrowed from the German language?

– Did you know that more than 3,500 German companies have branches and offices in the US? Among them are leading names such as Siemens, VW, T-Mobile USA, BMW and Allianz North America.

– Did you know that Americans couldn’t even measure their temperature in Fahrenheit if the German Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit hadn’t invented the alcohol thermometer in 1709?

– Did you know that 1 in 10 books in the world is published in German today?

– Did you know that with 8 million Internet domains, Germany’s top-level country domain .de is second only to the extension .com?

Today only 1.5 million Americans still speak German at home. Over the past 10 years the teaching of the German language at the elementary level decreased from 5% to 2% and at the secondary level from 24% to 14%. But right behind Spanish and French German is still the 3rd most popular language in the US being taught at colleges and universities.

If you’d like to get more information about Germans in the US please check out the following links:

List of German Americans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_Americans

The German American Heritage Center http://gahc.org/

How German is American? http://mki.wisc.edu/HGIA/Settling.htm

Foreign Linguistics Teaching in American Schools www.cal.org/flsurvey

US Diplomatic Mission to Germany http://usa.usembassy.de/garelations.htm

Comments and additional information are very welcome.

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22
Jan

0

How Religious are Germans?

By German Coach | Filed in German Culture

 

germany_churchdoor 

I got into an interesting discussion the other day. One of the colleagues asked me what “Whit Monday” actually is and why this is a holiday in the German speaking countries. I have to admit that my English ran out on me, and I had to actually look up what “Whit Monday” is in German. Okay, it is “Pfingst Montag”. ..One of the Pentecost holidays.

 

Then I answered her that this is a big national holiday in all German speaking countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She then was surprised how many religious holidays we have since Germans are …well… not that religious at all.

 

This is when I figured that she really didn’t know much about German traditions and religions. Maybe Germans do not wear religion on their sleeves.

 

Let’s only look at Germany for now. 67% of Germans are Christians, with their two largest churches –the Protestant Evangelical and Roman Catholic Church. Believe it or not the 2nd largest religion is the Islam with 4% and #3 is Judaism right behind.

 

The Protestant and Catholic churches lost quite a number of followers after World War II. Religion in the former GDR was frowned upon by the regime and religious believes were oppressed. Til’ this day East Germany still has the majority of non-religious people.

 

The increase in Islamic believers is due to the immigrants from Turkey. Western Germany started luring Turkish people into Germany in the late 60’s to have cheap labor for low paid jobs. Since then Germany has a growing Turkish population with Islamic roots.

 

Looking at the regional distribution in religion the Southern states e.g. Bavaria, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate have the highest percentage of Christians.

 

Religious National German Holidays are:

- Easter with Good Friday and also Easter Monday

- Ascension Day

- Pentecost with Whit Monday

- Christmas with Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day

Besides that Germany celebrates several statewide religious holidays:

- Epiphany

- Reformation Day

- All Saints

- Day of Repentance and Prayer

 

To get information on which date these holidays are in 2010 you can check out this website:

http://www.worldtravelguide.net/country/99/public_holidays/Europe/Germany.html

It is still tradition in Germany to go to church during almost all of those major religious holidays and use this time as a time for reflection and to spend time with family.

Christmas as probably the biggest national holiday in Germany is celebrated in a much quieter way than here in the US. It is a time of reflection, very traditional and peaceful. Even though gifts are part of the giving tradition it is not as commercialized as in the US. A lot of German businesses even close down during the Christmas holidays into the new year.

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13
Jan

5

The German Image in the World – Do Germans view themselves as that?

By German Coach | Filed in German Culture

 

What comes to your mind when you think of Germany? Sausage, German Beer, October Fest…or do you think: Reliability, Punctuality or Being folksy.

I assume the image of Germany might be different depending on whom you ask. The society for consumer research (Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung )conducted a survey within Europe a while ago and came up with some interesting results.

Our Dutch neighbors consider us nice and friendly. Where else the Italians still can’t forget the Hitler and Nazi time when thinking of Germany. A lot of Czech people think Germans are arrogant. Guess what, our Austrian neighbors don’t like us at all.

To read more about this study in German:

http://www.nbaservice.com/europa_image_deutschland.html

On the other hand most Germans will answer the questions about: “What is German?” That Germans are pessimistic and complain a lot. Seems like our self-image and the image people from other countries have about us is quite different. A BBC study in 2008 asked 22 countries around the world about who the most liked country is in the world…Guess which one was #1? Germany

http://www.welt.de/politik/article1862967/Deutschland_hat_weltweit_das_beste_Image.html

Now, I’m not sure what has changed since then or whether we Germans have an improved self-image in 2010. When I connect with people or get to know people I usually don’t look at the country’s image but more at the individual’s character to make my mind up.

Do I strive for some of those perceived typical German values like being on time, being nice and friendly, quality and reliability? Oh Yes, you bet.

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8
Jan

0

Now why still learn German?

By German Coach | Filed in Learn German Aspects

The German language is only #10 when it comes to the number of total native speakers, even being behind Persian, Bengali, Russian and Portuguese. Germany has never been a colonial power. So, why should people bother to learn German?

To learn German has its advantages when you travel through Europe though. Looking at the map it is the official language in 5 European countries – Germany, Austria, Switzerland but also Luxemburg and Lichtenstein. Besides that you’ll also find German speaking parts in Belgium, Poland, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Serbia and France.

Learning German also makes sense when it comes to doing business with the German speaking countries. Germany, Austria and Switzerland are considered economic power houses. Germany still holds the most patents in Europe. It is also the 2nd largest export nation behind China. The banking and car business are two of their main pillars. Who doesn’t know Mercedes, Audi, VW, BMW, and Porsche?

Companies who want to get a foot hold in Europe enter the UK and Germany first.

You might want to learn German even to understand cultural and historical aspects better. Some of the most influential and well-known artists came from those nations. Just think of Goethe, Schiller and Lessing in literature, Strauss and Bach in music or Karl Benz, August Horch and Wilhelm Maybach as inventors of great cars. This list could go on and on…

Besides, Germans have one thing in common with Americans: They love their language so much that they rather have you speak German than them trying to scrape together a little broken school English.

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