Posts under "Culture"

Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei! Everything has an end, only the sausage has two!

Posted by sandra No Comments
Dec 23 2011

The year has probably been a great learning experience for many of you, at least, it was one for me. Every day we learn something new, may it be a word or another cultural aspect of a people whose country is still foreign to us.

One of the most important aspects in any country is to understand its customs and traditions, and over the year I attempted to get some insight into this. Germany is a great nation with a greater variety of culture than anyone of us can ever imagine. A deep and profound history shaped by its people.

Many of you wondered and asked whether I still speak the German language. Yes, I still do, and I do it on a daily basis with my family. My mother thought that is was important to speak German to remember our root, no matter where we find ourselves resident.

Although I’m a native speaker of German it, hence, takes me a great deal to write in German because I speak English most of the time, since it is the only language everyone outside my house understands and speaks, but with some training and persistence I am fluent in both languages.

Before moving to the USA I lived several years in the Netherlands, being enforced to learn this language at a young age and by the time I was in my teens I was already learning English. As you might have noticed, learning a language is basically dependent on both ones own will and the giving surroundings. Actually, learning German is not more difficult than learning other languages. The best way to start off and improve your knowledge and skills is to simply start using the language whenever you have the chance, for example, start a conversation with native speakers of German you’ll meet by chance or look for new friends on the Internet and meet the Germans online.

I still truly believe that it is necessary to keep an open mind for a nation’s history, culture, and its people because this has shaped the language. So, don’t cut yourself off so soon when you find yourself faced with a more or less outlandish German culture. Take your time to get to know German customs and quirks, and I’ll promise that you will find out that Germans are very caring and reliable people.

With my departure, I’d like to wish you all the best in learning the German language and everything that comes with it.

 

(Mit meiner Abreise, möchte ich Euch/Ihnen gerne alles Gute für das Lernen der deutschen Sprache wünschen und alles, was dazu gehört.)

 

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

( Ein Fröhliches Weihnachten und ein schönes Neues Jahr! )

 

Servus!

 

Sandra van Hoek.

Made in Germany!

Posted by sandra 5 Comments
Dec 21 2011

How many of you can guess what products are manufactured in Germany?

Of course if you’re a car lover, we all know Germany is famous for its high performance cars. But did you know it also has an extensive clothing line with brands such as Adidas, Hugo Boss, Puma and Escada, Levi Strauss and not to forget medical brands such as Bayer, Nivea crème and toothpaste!!!

You’ll be surprised how many of your favorite brands are German-made. Heinz ketchup. Mercedes Benz. Siemens and Hellmann’s mayonnaise. The Haribo and electronic small format cameras as well as jet planes, helicopters to chip cards and the famous Meissen Porcelain.

 

“Made in Germany” is recognized around the world as a label for products of high quality, standards and value. Germany’s global repute moreover extends to great inventions, ranging from aspirin to the theory of relativity – all created by famous Germans. This is turn creates their products and service to be one of a kind and frequently sought after.  In fact, it’s one thing we pride ourselves on and also expect when you do business with us. Therefore to a great extend also important to act by certain norms when you’re dealing with such. From being on time and dressed according to the event and behaving to certain standards, like your own behavior. We also tend to pay attention to detail which rather makes the product unique and one of a kind.  A reason why many international countries and firms seek out Germans and their technology of service.

 

So can you name a few things on what else is made in Germany? And if so, what makes this rather special to you compared to anything else on the market?

German movies: Good-Bye Lenin!

Posted by jan 1 Comment
Dec 20 2011

Today I want to introduce a German movie to you that satirizes some aspects of the German Wiedervereinigung (reunion). The film is called Good-Bye Lenin and the story goes something like this:

In 1989, Alex Kerner and his mother Christiane are living in East Berlin. Shortly before the Mauer (wall) falls, Alex`s Mother, who is a dedicated supporter of the German Democratic Republic, has a Herzinfarkt (heart attack) and falls into a coma. During this coma, the Berlin Wall falls and the GDR becomes history. Most people celebrate the triumph of Kapitalismus (capitalism).

Eight months later, Christine awakes and seems to recover well. But now Alex has a big problem: How should he protect her mother´s geschwächtes (weakend) heart from a shock that would be unevitable? For she is not used to Coca-Cola, MacDonalds, Porsche and Mercedes.

So Alex is a smart guy and he decides to reconstruct the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic). At least in their small apartment. But this is sometimes harder than he ever imagined. A big Coca Cola Banner in front of a window of the apartment and former products that doesn´t exist anymore are just two problems that he faces while pretending that everything is still the same. His efforts to keep all the historical changes from his mother are both funny and rührend (poignant). But as time goes by, Alex reinvents history and creates a new version of what happened during his mothers` Koma (coma).

A friend of Alex even helps him to record their own version of the Nachrichtensendung (TV newscast) to show Christiane on video. As you can imagine, this is one of the funniest scenes in the whole film.

The movie was made in 2003 by Wolfgang Becker and was very succesfull in Germany as well as in other countries. I don´t exactly know if there is an English version, but I guess so. So if you go to a well equiped video store, you might find it.

The cast:

Daniel Brühl: Alexander Kerner
Katrin Sass: Christiane Kerner
Maria Simon: Ariane Kerner
Tschulpan Chamatowa: Lara
Florian Lukas: Denis

Here´s a trailer with English subtitles:

YouTube Preview Image

Some vocabulary to this post:

die Wiedervereinigung – reunion
die Mauer – wall
der Herzinfarkt – heart attack
der Kapitalismus – capitalism
geschwächt – weakend
Deutsche Demokratische Republik – German Democratic Republic
rührend – poignant
das Koma – coma
die Nachrichtensendung – TV newscast

Der Weihnachtsstollen – German Christmas cake

Posted by Sandra Rösner 2 Comments
Dec 18 2011

This post is part of my Advent calendar on Facebook where I upload a photo every day that shows a particular German Christmas candy or decoration. I realized that I have much more to say about the “Stollen” than just a few words, thus, I decided to dedicate myself to this topic.

The “Stollen” is a German Christmas cake. Hence, it is also called “Weihnachtsstollen” (Christmas stolen/cake) or simply “Christstollen”. Some describe the “Stollen” as a kind of sweet German bread. But I don’t agree with this definition because for me a bread is something that I can slice and on which I can spread butter, soft cheese or put a slice of cheese or cold meat on it and the like. I would neither do this with a slice of “Stollen” because it is first of all, a very sweet pastry and secondly it is of a fairly crumbly consistency, hence, it is virtually impossible to spread anything on it. Moreover, I find the definition of ‘sweet German bread’ misleading since you could mistake a “Stollen” for Rosinenbrot (raisin bread), which are indeed two different baked goods.

All “Stollen” are not created equal, that is, there are different sorts of “Stollen”. The one you see in the picture above is a so-called Marzipanstollen (marzipan stollen cake), which means that it additionally contains a marzipan filling. You can see this filling in the two slices. That are the two spots that look so unbaked and/or raw. Germans use the term Marzipanstollen when they would like to make clear that they do not refer to a Christstollen that does not contain this marzipan filling.

Another sort of “Stollen” is the Mohnstollen (poppy seed stollen). In comparison to the pure “Stollen” and the “Marzipanstollen” it does not contain any raisins but only loads of poppy seeds.

Last but not least, I think it is a matter of taste whether you would like “Stollen”. For example, when I was a child I could not understand why all adults around me got so crazy when they were looking forward to have a slice of “Stollen” because I found it rather disgusting, probably primarily because of the raisins. But meanwhile I really like this cake and I already have had some sliced this year.

 

Have you ever tried “Stollen” and did you like it or would you go for it?

Rote Grütze – Red Berry Compote

Posted by sandra 1 Comment
Dec 18 2011

The holidays are closing in. We prepare and cook, clean and bake. The typical German tradition is with families, children and older generations enjoying the young one’s laughter and smiles and of course we exhaust ourselves if not over-eat on the baking as well as the Goose. Many of you are already familiar with our German Advent Calendar with all the sweets inside. But I’d like to introduce you to something very different that really has little to do with the Holidays. You can eat it as a dessert and mostly it’s served during summer seasons when picking the ripe berries that really make the whole content so delicious.

Rote Grütze is simply put is translated as “red grits” although it could also be translated as red groats, porridge or even gruel. However, a more appetizing way to describe this dish, which is particularly popular in northern Germany and Denmark, is simply as Red Berry Dessert, a selection of red berries such as red currants, raspberries and strawberries, sweetened with a little sugar and lightly thickened with a little cornstarch.

 

So, you might wonder why “Rote Grütze” is called “red grits” when there are no grits, grains or oats to be found. Interestingly, the original recipe did actually use crushed oats or other grains, which were mixed in with wild red berries. In today’s Germany, Rote Grütze is prepared without grains using a variety of different recipes; you’ll also find recipes that add grape juice, cranberry juice and even red wine or brandy. Other variations of Rote Grütze are Rhabarbergrütze that is made with Rhubarb and Grüne Grütze, which is made with gooseberries.

 

In olden days, Rote Grütze constituted a light summer supper that was served with cold milk or cream. Today, it is usually served as a dessert with vanilla sauce, although it’s not unheard of to eat it as lunchtime summer “soup”.

 

The Rote Grütze can easily be mistaken for the eastern European Kissel, better known throughout Poland and parts of Russia or the Baltic states, which carries a similar recipe.

 

Though the German Grütze is basically that of a pudding: The fruits are cooked briefly with sugar. The mass should cool down for a moment so that the starch—dissolved in fruit juice or water—can be stirred into it without clumping. A second cooking process of one to two minutes is needed to start the gelatinization; remaining streaks of white starch have to clear up in this process.

 

 

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