anonymous

Celebrations

der Christentum - Christianity

Dezember - December 

die Elfen - elves

Frohes Hanukkah - Happy Hanukkah 

Froehliches Kwanzaa - Happy Kwanzaa 

Frohes neues Jahr - Happy New Year

Frohe Weihnachten - Merry Christmas

das Geschenk - a gift

die Geschenke - gifts

die Glocken  - bells

Heiligabend - Christmas Eve 

der Kamin - chimney 

der Mistelzweig - mistletoe

der Nordpol - north pole

der Nussknacker - nutcacker 

das Ornament - ornament

das Rentier - reeindeer

Schlittenfahren - sleighing, sledging 

der Schneeball - snow ball

Schneeballschlacht - snow ball fight 

Schneemann - snow man 

die Tradition - tradition

der Weihnachtsbaum - Christmas tree 

die Weihnachtslieder - Christmas carols 

Weihnachtsmann - Santa Claus 

Weihnachtsstrumpf - Christmas stocking

Weather and Feelings

eisig - icy 

Festliche Stimmung - festive mood 

frostig - frosty

gemütlich - cosy

heilig - holy 

kalt - cold

der Schnee - snow 

schneeig - snowy 

die Schneeflocken - snowflakes 

wärmend - warming

Weihnachtsstimmung - Christmas mood 

wohltuend - soothing 

Food and Drinks

der Glühwein - mulled wine

die Haselnuss - hazelnut  

das Heißgetränk - hot drink

der Kakao - cocoa 

der Lebkuchen - gingerbread 

der Tee - tea 

der Zimt - cinnamon 

Two things I learned.

One, sometimes apartment complexes will flat out forget to tell you they’re sending someone over from the fire department to check your fire extinguishers.

Two, no matter how bad ass a person thinks they are, a naked person swinging a sword at them will knock them off balance both physically and mentally.

1. Because you can.

There are still millions of people who don’t have access to resources, such as the Internet or even schools, so they do not even have the option or choice to learn a new language. If you are fortunate enough to easily access the Internet or books or even listen to podcasts or maybe you live in a place where someone can teach you the language, then make the most of this advantage you have and learn.

2. Because you want to travel.

If you’ve ever visited another country which has a different language to your own, you have probably be drawn to areas where your main language is widely spoken. This may have been easier and more convenient for you but you’ve limited yourself to exploring areas where the original culture of the country may have been compromised by the Western world. Learning a new language not only makes it easier to travel, but it also introduces the possibility of visiting exclusive, richly cultured areas where the language barrier would have otherwise prevented this.

3. Because you want to be interesting.

There’s nothing worse than getting to the end of high school – or even just reaching a certain point in life – and feeling as though you have not done anything substantial enough to share with others. However, from personal experience, I know that people are always surprised and intrigued at the fact that I am learning other languages; if you just want to impress people, subtly dropping in your ability to speak another language is guaranteed to leave them curious.

4. Because you want to stand out from the crowd.

When applying to university or even for a job, being able to show your knowledge of other languages will set you apart from other candidates and it will showcase a talent that not everyone has. The rapid rate of globalisation, with more businesses hiring people from abroad, means that knowing at least one other foreign language will increase your likelihood of being hired over someone who can only speak English, for example.

5. Because you want to be more culturally aware.

Here a just a few conjunctions for German. The coordinating list is complete but there are so many more for subordinating conjunctions but these are the mains ones which I have encountered in my lessons.

Coordinating:

[word order is unchanged; verb remains the second idea]

und  – and aber – but oder – or denn – because sondern – but/but rather

Subordinating:

[send the verb to the end of the clause]

From my experience with revising for GCSEs, I know how difficult it is to know where to begin revising. However, here are a few pointers as to where to start.

Vocabulary:

A good place to start is by revising as much vocab as possible, especially if you are considering continuing the language further.

Take about 10-20 words each day and make it your goal to know them off by heart by the end of the day. Any words which you have difficulty remembering at the end of the day, write day on a separate piece of paper or a book and slowly begin learning these.

Go over these words whenever you have a spare minute or two: on the bus, while waiting for your train, in the adverts while watching tv…

Writing:

Begin by writing out the corrected work again, so that all the corrections you/your teacher have made do not distract you. This can either be written on separate pieces of paper or – as I prefer – in a brand new notebook, specifically for this language’s writing.

My method of learning is by writing all the questions out in one colour, followed by the writing in another colour. All of the different topics are separate so that I do not confuse them.

Every day/week aim to learn a few questions off by heart and regularly test yourself on all of the questions. So, instead of ticking them off one by one, keep going back to them, even weeks later, just to ensure that you really do remember them.

Usually, you will be given back your marked work which you are told to learn for your exams. Now, this can seem daunting at first but if you take it slowly, you will know it off by heart in no time.

Speaking:

With speaking exams, it is best to ensure that your pronunciation is spot on. Don’t be afraid to ask your teacher for help; this is the best way to guarantee that you are correct so just ask as much as you need to.

Once you’ve learnt your piece, work on improving your timings – don’t just stop after you’ve learnt it but continue to go over it again and again, each time improving a different element. This could be your fluency, intonation, timing, etc.

Another tip is to record yourself each time to check your timing and your pronunciation and even to check for mistakes you may have missed.

Reading:

The only advice I have for this is to learn as much vocab as possible and go over as many past papers as possible, highlighting which words you don’t know.

You could also try and identify trends in the papers, such as which words appear to come up regularly but don’t use this as a prediction for what will come up in your exams.

Listening:

Again, go over as many past papers as possible.

Once you have gone through the paper, listen to the recording again with the transcript next to you so that you can follow it.

Underline any vocabulary which you found difficult to identify and begin to learn this.

Continue listening to the recording until you can confidently understand the recording without looking at the transcript.

1. Quizlet

In my opinion, this is definitely my most used app/website and I would recommend this to anyone, not just those learning a language, but for general revision of any subject. It is useful because you can use other people’s flash cards which will reduce the amount of time you waste trying to make your own, thus leaving more time to actually revise! Not only that, but you can also group your sets into folders based on subjects, for example. Classes can be set up so that you can share your work with friends and vice versa, which will also help cut down time as everyone can input a section each. The free app which can be downloaded is brilliant! It’s so quick to load and easy to use and comes in handy when waiting for a bus or when you just want to spend a few minutes now and then testing yourself.

2. Duolingo

Personally, partially because I started using this app after I was quite advanced in German and Russian, I found it tedious having to go through vocab which didn’t seem useful to me. However, I did discover the ‘test out’ option which will allow you to skip to a section that best matches your current ability. Looking back on when I had this app, I do think that it was actually quite useful in recapping basic knowledge which I had forgotten and reminding me of certain rules.

3. Verbix

For any exercises or essays you have to write which require conjugating verbs into different tenses and/or for different people, this is one of the easiest sites to use! I have only recently discovered it but the layout of the verbs are not only simple to understand but they could also be printed off as they are in a revise-able format.

4. ‘Easy Languages’ on YouTube

One of the easiest and probably most efficient ways to learn new languages is to listen to people speaking it. I love watching ‘EasyGerman’ videos – you can go to different channels based on which language you are learning – as although it doesn’t feel as though I am revising due to the interesting content in the videos, I actually do pick up a lot of useful phrases and words which native speakers use. You can revise your vocab and pronunciation of words at the same time which will save time and when it comes to revising, that is always helpful!

5. Films

So I know this is a very broad, general suggestion but try and watch as many films as you can as they will benefit you in the same way as watching YouTube videos will. Now, saying this, I think that the only way for this method of learning to be effective is by watching films which genuinely interest you as you are more likely to try and decipher the vocab accurately. Watching films from a country where the language is spoken will help with improving your understanding of the culture and traditions in that country which, when talking to native speakers, will provide more talking points and you might even impress them with your cultural knowledge.

6. Books

Isiah Lopaz is a black American college-educated artist and writer living in Berlin.

Like, don’t just say “he’s a pedophile” and move on. That should be enough, but it’s not. It’s implied that he actively looked around public places like malls and schools for children to prey on (one girl he picked up this way was 16, he found her while she was working at a mall as a frickin’ Santa’s Helper), and this was when he was already in his 30s and older.

Gluttony: “I’m just saying he could stand to gain a few pounds! I made spaghetti!”

Sloth: “After we eat, it’s gonna be time for a nice nap. We’ve earned it!”

“You deserve better! That was YOUR parking space!”

“He’s like three hundred pounds of muscle, Wrath.”

“And you are 165 pounds of RAGE!”

In a bid to engage communities outside the park fence,a reserve hired 26 local jobless female high-school graduates, and put them through an intensive tracking and combat training programme. Kitted out in second-hand European military uniforms, paid for by donations, the women were deployed throughout a 40,000 hectare reserve.

The numbers suggest the approach works. In the last 10 months the reserve has not lost a rhino, while a neighbouring reserve lost 23. Snare poaching has dropped 90%. [x]

The fighting doesn’t just end after they come home.