German
-
Days of the week in European languages: where did they come from?
As a translator and linguist, languages are fascinating to me. I enjoy comparing words in languages and seeing the similarities and differences. When it comes to abstract things, I find it interesting to look at the meanings of words and their etymology (the history of where words came from) to see why we call things…
-
Austria has no more fucks to give – Fucking (Upper Austria) name change
It is not often that I write about current event, especially in a setting such as this website. While linguistics and language are often in the news, it is not often for a sad reason. As you may have seen in the news, the town of Fucking in Upper Austria decided on 27 November 2020…
-
Puns – Watt is Love? Baby don’t Hertz me, don’t Hertz me, no Morse
A pun is a joke that exploits the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings. Puns are rife in languages that have words called homophones, or multiple words that have the same or similar pronunciation but have different meanings. English is rife with…
-
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – Speaking German
Statement: German pronunciation is hard! I have been writing a lot in previous posts about my trip last summer through Spain, France and Switzerland. Now that I have posted about the last stop, I want to get back to German teaching with this post; let’s focus on pronunciation. For those who come from even somewhat…
