I found this and just couldn’t resist. As I was flicking through an English cuisine magazine (WHAT! It’s hard to find English-language magazines here!), just look at what I found. Which LOLCAKAOPULIA will volunteer to write a firmly worded letter defending the umlaut? addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miss-verstaendnis.com%2F2008%2F05%2F10%2Ffurther-evidence-of-umlaut-abuse%2F'; addthis_title [...]

I thought that since the readers of the blog seem to be worldy folk, that you all might like to test your knowledge of various countries’ names auf Deutsch. Achtung: it’s not as easy as it seems! addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miss-verstaendnis.com%2F2008%2F05%2F07%2Fattention-world-travellers%2F'; addthis_title = 'Attention+World+Travellers%21'; addthis_pub [...]

Well, at least once he did, in around 1978. You see, that was the year he sang I Walk the Line in German, the lyrics of which go a little something like this: “Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zurück?”. Which kind of misses the spirit of “Because you’re mine, I walk the [...]

Miss V gets textual with a look at SMS abbreviations in German and French and what this means for languages in general. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miss-verstaendnis.com%2F2008%2F05%2F01%2Fsimsen-me-miss-v-textualises-video%2F'; addthis_title = 'Simsen+Me%3A+Miss+V+textualises+%28video%29'; addthis_pub = '';

Miss V is mobile! That’s right. If you so desire, you can watch me and my antics on the train, eating lunch or going for your morning run (warning: this may be a health hazard). I finally got my 19th-Century brain around podcasting, so if you click here you can access Miss V in the iTunes [...]

I (along with some other Englischers, i.e. my good friend Herr V) have noticed that German employers, in a way none of us have ever seen before, provide snacking opportunities for their employees. I think this is a fantastic aspect of life in the land of the Deutsch, and should be compulsory, and by [...]

Today, discussion of another cool and oh-so-appropriate German word: Vorglühen. Now, you Germans will surely know what I’m getting at (and it’s not the literal translation), but Englischers might be a little confused. The literal translation of ‘vorglühen’ is ‘to preheat’. But this is not what I am talking about. Oh no. When you go [...]

I teach how to (badly?) pronounce a German sentence: Ich habe mein eigenes Rad. (I have my own bike.) The pronunciation might not be perfect, but you’ll be understood - which I think is the most important part! addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.miss-verstaendnis.com%2F2008%2F04%2F18%2Ffun-with-phonetic-pronunication-video%2F'; addthis_title = 'Fun+with+Phonetic+Pronunication+%28video%29'; addthis_pub = '';

Although my interest is usually sparked by matters of a linguistic nature, my first thought when I discovered the world’s first automated restaurant was: “That is, like, SO totally German!” No waiters, no bad service, no need to tip. You order your food from a computer and it is delivered to you via a [...]

One thing about life in Europe that I’ve really taken in my stride is the omnipresence of cheese in everyday life. Now, for born-and-bred German natives, this may sound odd. Of course cheese is a part of everyday life! It’s a foundation of all comestibles! World is a wonderland of goodness (or, for the lactose [...]