In this post, I want to discuss some fascinating mistakes made even by very advanced speakers. They concern expressions which are borrowed from their native language (called Germanisms when borrowed from German), and are not used by native English speakers. The examples given below are typically absent in formal writing, but often show up in
As a follow-up to my previous post on subtle but important differences in writing letters in German and English, see here, I would like to discuss letter closings. Most of you are familiar with phrases such as Best regards, Sincerely yours, Yours faithfully. In German, some common letter closings are Hochachtungsvoll, Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Liebe
I have noticed that people with a German-speaking background often mix up conventions when writing letters and emails in English. For example, in German, the text directly after the greeting is considered to be a continuation of the greeting itself. Therefore, the first word starts with a capital letter if it is a noun or
The abbreviation KO (also K.O.) stands for knock out. It has its origin in the sport of boxing. Interestingly, in colloquial German, KO is often used in phrases such as Ich bin ein wenig KO (= I am a bit exhausted) or Er ist ganz schön KO (= He is quite exhausted). However, I don’t
Since we are quickly closing in on Christmas (or Xmas), let me share one of the funniest language stories I have to offer. A couple of years ago, I was waiting at the Oslo Bus Terminal for my connection to the Jotunheimen National Park. While reading, I happened to overhear a conversation between two girls
Have you also noticed that more and more German-speaking people refer to their parents as Mum and Dad when speaking German instead of, for example, Mama and Papa? This phenomenon does not seem to be restricted to those who have a strong relation to the English language, such as bilingual children or people who lived
Yo is certainly one of the most unusual words I come across as an Austrian in Germany. In fact, I am not even sure how it is spelled, because the Duden has nothing to say about either Yo or Jo, and I did not find it in any other dictionaries either. The spelling Yo chosen
The correct pronunciation of th seems to be one of the bigger challenges for people who want to learn the English language. Apart from the fact that the pronunciation of th varies from word to word, some of the sounds associated with th do not exist in other languages, and may therefore be difficult or
Following up on my previous post about Edinburgh, I want to discuss the English pronunciation of Berlin. According to the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, the pronunciation is [bɜː’lɪn], suggesting that (1) the r is not pronounced, even in American English, (2) the stress is on the second syllable (many German speakers stress the first syllable when
While my blog is usually concerned with the English language, today I want to mention a topic for advanced learners of German. In Germany (but not usually in Austria and Switzerland), it is quite common to abbreviate the word einen with ‘nen (the apostrophe is not always used, but is required since it indicates that