Those who are approaching now the language have certainly come to know the letter ß, a unique trademark of the german alphabet.

How many of you, seeing this letter for the first time have thought: these Germans, they have a funny way of writing the “b” !
I don’t really know exactly when, but loooong time before taking on German at DeutschAkademie (preliminary remark needed to avoid pissing off my teacher!) I kind of understand that ß was NOT a joyful variant of our “b”. Such a sudden revelation at that time crashed my (very poor) dictionary of written German.

Few words and how I was pronouncing them b.ß. (before the discovery of ß)

– Strabe
– Scheibe (bad word!)
– Liebe Grübe (which in italian sounds terribly familiar to a popular gingerhead TV host with an inflatable lifeboat in the place of her lips – see picture)
– Küben (no idea it was a kiss, sounded more like “cubes”)

filippo

Er ist weiß und eiskalt, die Kindern lieben ihn, und mit ihn kann man machen einen Krieg (niemand wird getötet!)… der Schnee!

Dieses Jahr Mit drei Wochen Verspätung hat am Wochenende endlich geschneit. Auf dem Zugspitze, Deutschlands höchstem Berg (2962 Meter),  hat die Skisaison begonnen!
Garmisch-Partenkirchen liegt am Fuße des Zugspitzes, un weniger als eine Stunde von München. Garmisch is ein behrümte und große Wintersportgebiet.

Es gibt viele Piste für skifahren, snowboardfahren und andere Aktivitäten auf dem Schnee!
Hinzu gibt es ein Spezialbahnkarte: mit dem S-bahn kann man nach Garmisch fahren in etwa eine Stunde und halb. Die Hin- und Rückfahrt Reisekarte, inklusiv Tegesskipass, kostet nur 42 euro.

Auf wiedersehe auf den Bergen!!

Filippo

Hallo Leute, hier findet ihr wenige Wörter auf Italienisch für meine Landsleute, die Deutschsprache lernen wöllen.

Ho iniziato a studiare il Tedesco circa 3 mesi fa, giusto dopo il mio arrivo a Monaco e l’inizio del mio tirocinio. Tra la marea di scuole ed istituti di lingua, che offrono i piú svariati corsi, ho scelto Deustsche Akademie. Mi sono trovato bene da subito. Mi é piaciuto soprattutto il carattere intensivo del corso: 3 ore al giorno, 4 ore alla settimana. In 3 mesi di impegno sono riuscito ad imparare le basi di una nuova lingua, ed ho scoperto che il Tedesco in fondo é molto simile all’Italiano in numerosi aspetti.

Ho deciso di continuare con il corso B1 in Gennaio, visti i bei risultati raggiunti finora. La cosa piú gratificante é sicuramente essere in grado di comunicare, di provocare una risata e di seguire un discorso anche complesso.

Hallo zusammen!

Have you ever heard of Couchsurfing? No, well the idea is very simple, yet extremely enlightening: you make your couch/bed/mattress available to host people FOR FREE and in exchange you get “ideally” a couch for free everywhere in the world.

The concept goes beyond the idea of sleeping somewhere for free. It actually implies to get to know locals, to share their lives for a couple of days and of course to leva them a good, representative, small but unforgettable “piece of you”.

The community grew bigger and bigger and it is possible to subscribe to “groups”: what is interesting from a Language-learning point of view is that in big cities, such as München, there is a lively community that organizes language exchange meetings where you can attend if you are willing to learn German and teach some of your language. And of course drink a beer!

The “Sprachslernenstreffen” occurs every time in a different location and usually once a week.

As an active Couchsurfer I host (and surf) as much as i can! Here’s a pic with our last guests Timur and Olesia, from Kiyv, Ukraine!

Weihnacht ist eine alte Tradition für die Christen.

Es gibt viele typische Sachen und Essen, dass vor Jahrhunderte bekannt sind. Am letztes Freitag sind wir nach Nürnberg fahren, die das Weihnachtsherz von Deutschland ist. Da finden sie einen wunderschönes Markt, der auf Bayerisch “Kristkindlmarkt” heißt.

Was kann man da kaufen oder sehen oder essen odeeeeeer trinken ?

1. Echten Weihnachtsbäume

2. Spielzeug, als das berühmte Winachtspyramide (das perfekt Geschenk für deine Großmutter!)

3. Lebküchen, dunkeln Kekse wurd gebakken

4. Nürnberger Rostbratwurst: eine Spezialität!!

5. Kandierte Früchte un kandierte Früchtebrote

6. Gebrante Mandeln und Nüsse

7. Glühwein!!

… Are you learning German and you are starting to connect words to each other? Are you SOMETIMES looking for a particular word and you feel you have it on the tip of your tongue? Are you SOMETIMES feeling LOST because you remember how that word roughly sounds but still you cannot properly recall it!?!?
WELKÖM TO SE CLUP!!

That’s happening to me all the time with the -SCHEID words!

So here’s a brief compendium of the different -SCHEID words you can use:

unterscheiden – unterschied – hat unterschieden
to differentiate, to distinguish
der Unterschied = difference

entscheiden – entschied – hat entschieden
to decide
die Entscheidung = decision

scheiden – schied – hat geschieden
to divorce, to separate
z.B. sich scheiden lassen, geschieden sein
die Scheidung = divorce, separation

sich verabschieden (von + DAT) – verabschiedete – verabschiedet
to say goodbye
der Abscheid = the farewell, the goodbye

z.B. “Während diese Abschiedstrinker noch relativ nüchtern aussehen, haben andere wohl…” = While these Farewell-drinkers still appear relatively sober…

(Süddeutsche Zeitung on the S-Bahn Alcohol Party of last weekend)

Bis dann!

Filippo

An unbelievable collection of technical wonders develops on the  55 000 sq.m. of the Deutsches Museums, right on the Isar River. Fans of engineering, construction, navigation, automotive, industry, aviation, astronomy, mathematics, physics and much more: ihr musst Deutsche Museum sehen!

A couple of minutes after the beginning of our visit I realised that to fully enjoy the museum one day is certainly not enough! The amount of things to see is just overwhelming and you feel captured by every display. In my opinion the most particular feature of this museum is that you can ACTUALLY TOUCH with your hands every sort of machinery, from helicopters, to steam machines, from pre-industrial era utensils to jet turbines.

SO when in Munich, most definitely save a day for this Amaaaazing piece of Engineering!

Filippo

Hi everyone! My name is Filippo, I´m from Italy (“Ich komme aus ItaAAAalien”). My hometown is Castel San Giovanni, a veryveryvery small town between Milano and Piacenza. I’m currently studying MSc Biotechnology at Wageningen University in The Netherlands and I just started my Praktikum (intern) here in München. The main reason why I started to learn German at Deutsch Akademie is that basically I would like to distinguish if somebody is shouting at me or is just asking if I had a lovely day… °_O

AT THE MOMENT I am doing my 3rd Kurs (A2.2). I started in early October and ever since I kept following the lectures. I must admit it is pretty intense, but unbelievable and rewarding when you find yourself COMMUNICATING with people around you!

Ciao!

Filippo

Well guys,

that’s it! The A1-1 course at Deutsch Akademie is over! It’s been an intense 4 weeks of full immersion in the German language and culture. I can say that I am satisfied with the course and if I think about what I knew 4 weeks ago, it seems impossible that I learnt that much in only a month.

Now I can sustain simple conversation, ask for the weather forecast, chit-chat with random people, and most importantly: make the locals smile!
I will certainly continue my way in German learning, there’s still a lot to do and only a short time (5 months).

Vielen dank und bis später!

Filippo

Have you ever felt the need for a night to avoid night clubs, to escape from the crammed the movies, to evade the mass entertainment?
So suit-up, polish your black leather shoes, iron your shirt etc. etc. and Opera time! Ok, I know, sounds like the most boooring thing on earth: a bunch of ballet-like dancers singing and performing in old dresses, everything sprayed with some classical music…

Hold your horses people, it is actually NOT BAD AT ALL! Carmen is basically the story of a beautiful gipsy woman who is contended by two lovers, a sergeant and a torero.

Well, I must say that we got the cheapest seats for just 10 euro but standing for almost 3 hours being able to see something like 35% of the stage only, it was NOT the best choice… but anyways you will discover an old fashioned form of entertainment, where everything flows together from the orchestra music, the dance, the singing. A sort of alive cinema that is able to give you shivers.

And when the curtains close, no matter if you are bored, tired, disappointed, exhausted and similar, YOU MUST CLAP as much as you can! Never let the applause fall, throw from time to time a couple of bravo and some whistles. And wave everywhere!

And…. since 3 hours most definitely make your throat more arid than the Atacama desert, what’s better than a refreshing typical Bavarian beverage?

Filippo