Podcast

Wishing someone "good luck" in German often goes one of two ways--either "Viel Glück!" or "Viel Erfolg!" Which one you use depends on what you want to say. It's part of the entire cultural aspect of luck, and Germans have specific ways in which they try to find luck.

Today you'll learn how to give these wishes in German and what marzipan has to do with all of it.

How to find good luck in Germany

If you need some luck and you see a Schornsteinfeger (a chimney sweep), then do what I did the o…

der Stammtisch

der Stammtisch – an inadequate translation is “group of regulars.”

der Stammtisch

Today you'll learn:

• what a Stammtisch is in Germany and how it differs in the US,
• what you need to know before you go,
• how often to expect to attend a Stammtisch,
• where they take place,
• and something called Einmal ist keinmal.

Sind Sie bereit? Los geht's!

What is a Stammtisch?

A Stammtisch is different in Germany it is in the US, so let's start with the original Stammtisch:

• a regu…

This month clients in the group classes and private lessons are learning about Austria. They have access to an online lesson with typical Austrian phrases and expressions and we also had a Konversationskurs, a Conversation Class, all about Austria.

Here you get to learn some of what my clients have learned about Austria this month, including how to pronounce Österreich.

Links:

Die Krimmler Wasserfälle (The Health Secret!) https://www.austria.info/en/wellbeing-nature/lakes-mountains/krimml-w…

Learning how to use a German-English dictionary effectively is one of the single skills which can really help support you in your German learning adventure.

German learners frequently ask: Which German-English dictionary should I buy? Is it worth buying the big one? How do I know which dictionary will be right for me? Are the online German dictionaries better?

In this blog post/podcast episode, I'll guide you step-by-step through which dictionary you can/should use as a beginner through the el…

There are three elements which make German hard (or easy...ok easier...) to learn:

1. Materials & Resources
2. Methods
3. Instructor(s) or lack there of.

Today you'll learn about these three elements and how they may make German harder to learn, or maybe easier.

Together these elements create one big constellation.

Which ones help you? Which ones are simply good enough? And which elements don't help you?

Definitely cue in to the next episode next week. ;-)

I got a little verklemmt in this one.

It's the One-Year Anniversary of this podcast! Hurra!

So first I answer a couple of questions.

Then there are three phrases in German on beginnings.

And to close it out: a boatload of thank-yous.

Danke. ♥

Authors and such mentioned in this episode:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Hermann Hesse

Friedrich Nietzsche

Sigmund Freud

Carl Jung

Ingrid Noll

Christa Wolf

Christine Brückner (new to me!)

die Schadenfreude = pleasure at someone else's misfort…

These are the three skills you need as a beginner, as a novice learner, as an intermediate German learner and beyond.

These are perhaps the most important skills I could help you acquire, no matter if you learn German for travel, as a hobby, or for work.

Without these skills, you won't make as much progress as you could make, given the time and energy you have, and you might find yourself increasingly frustrated.

Learning these skills might help you make more progress over time, and you may f…

This free PDF has been retired.

Please feel free to check out the list of small group classes here.

There are a whole host of reasons for learning German, however when I asked my readers, they responded with new and different reasons.

Here are 5 different reasons people learn German (out of the many reasons featured in this episode), in no particular order:

• Ich liebe deutsche Musik. (I love German music.)

• Die Deutschen sind praktisch und das finde ich gut. (Germans are practical and I think that's good.)

• Sprache ist für mich eine große Herausforderung. (German is a big challeng…

Nine Years of GermanWithNicole.com!

Although I've taught German since 2010, I've only taught privately and online since 2013. (Wellllll, it may have actually been 2012, but this was a chance development in my life that turned into a business, so if you won't tell anybody, I won't.)

Today you'll hear

• two short numbers exercises in German,

• a thank you in German followed by the same text in English,

• and then five fantastic German words I've come across in the past few years.