I Accidentally Ordered Beer, Confused my German Coworker, And Made Germans laugh at a Bday Party 🎂
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
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In this video I will tell about 5 recent stories of how I used the wrong German words which led to some funny moments. #americaningermany
Best example: umfahren. It can mean to drive around or to drive over. It’s its own opposite. :p
Well both have a different pronunciation
Best example
Ehm das heißt nicht umfahren das heißt herumfahren :D
@@moingenaumoin3468 herumfahren ist sinngemäß wie (gesprochen) umfaahren; drüberfahren ist dasselbe wie (gesprochen) ummfahren. Von daher stimmt es schon. Beides wird identisch geschrieben.
@@moingenaumoin3468 "herumfahren" steht für sich gewöhnlicherweise sogar eher für "in der Gegend herumfahren". Das was du meinst ist "drumherum fahren".
The name "Maulwurf" comes from the old high german word "Moltewurf". "Molte" means Erde (soil) and "wurf" is a form of werfen so to throw something. A Maulwurf is a soil thrower if you translate it word to word and the hill is called Maulwurfshügel in german.
same for old english, molde-weorpe .. and even if this eroded to mole, the "molde"-part exists more recognizable still today: mold.
not in the sense -of a hollow form for filling a material in- -- and not in the sense -of the stuff on rotten fruit- -- but in the sense of _loose soil, rich in humus and fit for planting._
@@eyeofthasky Old english and old german dialects are very close. I once saw a video where I as a native German speaker could guess the meaning of old english words and sentences better than native English speakers. It makes sense when I think about where then Saxon part in Anglo-Saxon comes from. 😉 Today we have three states that we call Saxony. But the Saxon dialect is even difficult for Germans to understand. That‘s why there are often subtitles in TV when they are speaking. Same with Frisian, Bavarian and some other unintelligible dialects. 😉
Interesting: "mold" is also the Old Norse (Viking) word for soil.
Du stinkst gut!😆 You made me laugh out loud at 3 am. I'm afraid I woke up my neighbors 😅
It's like saying: you stink well in English. Very funny.
I love your videos. You're my favorite American living in Germany, very cute.
You can say that ironically then if someone has put on an after shave lotion or parfume. But make sure that this person can take that joke.
I just googled the origin of Roter Faden, and was astonished. I had always associated it with Ariadne's Thread from Greek mythology.
But lo and behold, I learned something new today. The red thread was a thread woven into ropes and lanyard twine on English navy ships. These ropes and threads had been stolen too often. So any rope with this red thread woven into it was officially property of the English navy, with severe fines for the theft. The construction was such that this red thread could not be removed completely without unwinding the whole rope, which would obviously destroy the stolen property.
How this got incorporated into the German language is beyond me.
But yes, this is similar to a guiding line, a core principle, or like you said, the central theme of something. It is an inherent part of the whole that can't be separated from the whole.
I assume it was 'fuffzig' what your boyfriend's brother said. That is derived from old military speech where it was imperative that 'fünf' (5) and 'fünfzig' (50) are not confused in orders. So they were pronounced a bit differently. The same goes for the official 'zwei' (2) and 'drei' (3) difference. In harsh weather on board a ship some parts of a word may be covered by noise, and then the similar sounding part could give confused measurements in orders. So in military speech it is often spoken as 'zwo' instead of 'zwei', to clearly differentiate it in verbal form from 'drei'.
I wouldn't be surprised if the expression Roter Faden was an import from Dutch. In Dutch we have the expression "Rode Draad" that also literally translates to "Red Thread" in English and means exactly what it does in German (English meaning equivalents: The "Main Plot" or "The Gist" of something). Why do I think it originates with Dutch rather than German? ... Well... Let's face it, neighbor: We Dutch are and always have been, a maritime nation... And an _unscrupulous_ one too up until recently; If either of us was swiping the ropes off of docked English ships it was probably us rather than you guys haha.
"Fuffzig" is no military term for "fünftig". It's related to the low German word fir 50: Föfftig.
for explanation: you'll often will hear the term in the frase: "den (roten) Faden verlieren", to loose the red thread, which means to miss or to loose the main theme or topic in the flow of words.
Seems like the answer to that is Göthe. He explains it in "Wahlverwandtschaften" and uses the Motiv of the Red thread as a way to make his book readable.
Etikett ist nicht das selbe wie Etikette.
dt. das Etikett = engl. tag, label
dt. die Etikette = engl. etikette / etiquette (behavior, manner)
So ist es. im englischen wird aber ein "e" stimmlos, deswegen ist es wohl für englischsprachige wohl schwierig, diesen Unterschied zu sehen.
...und Niveau ist keine Creme 😉
Wenn du mir als Schweizer "die Etikette" sagst ist das für mich immer noch eine Beschriftung z.B. eines Produkts. Wahrscheinlich weil wir viel französischen Einfluss haben und daher das französische direkt übersetzt benutzen...
Aber wenn du uns etwas von Etikette sagst denken wir nicht an Benimmregeln.
Jetzt weiss ich warum in manchen deutschen Foren das Wort Nettikette zustande kam.
Die Etikette würde man hier in der Schweiz einfach als "die Umgangsform" bezeichnen.
@@Slithermotion i mean. Macht Sinn. In der Schweiz wird(zumindenst ausserhalb der Schule.) ja kein Deutsch gesprochen also eh. (ISTG It makes me so mad for no reason st all when people call it swiss german cause- like- yeah both languages root off of Old German but istg it's so different. It's just not Officially seen as own language cause it "hAs nO oFfIcAl wAy tO wRiTe iT". Like bro-- oops gonna shut up now cya
Ist Etikette nicht der Plural von Etikett? *rollt schnell wieder weg *
The beer mistake has nothing to do with your german skills, thats just a regional name. Even i as a native (austrian-)german speaker would have made the same mistake, because in my region this "alsterwasser" would have been called "Radler". I might have been a bit skeptical though, because i don't think the water from the alster would be clean enough to drink...
That is why "Radler" got that name in the north. People joked about the unclean water supplies of Germany's second largest city in the early 1900s. An outbreak of cholera had killed thousands in Hamburg in the late 1890s. Hamburg's waterworks had taken their water straight from the river and due to a hot, dry summer the water level of the Elbe had been lower than usual. As a result the tide had washed the outlet of the sewers further down the river into the intakes of the waterworks upstream. As a result people drank their own piss and shit.
@@christiankastorf1427 And hence you have the Hamburger WasserTraeger who during the Cholera outbreak,when told to Hurry Hurry with the water (Hummel, Hummel) would lift the coat tails of his coat, show his NachtArsch and yell "Mors Mors! (mY A--.My A--) im Platt.....and that became a way to greet HamburgerVolk.....
I worked in the gastronomy in the past and every time someone ordered a Radler we actually had to correct them that we only sell Alster. In the Ruhrgebiet (I know its not considered that everywhere in Germany) Alster(wasser) is considered to be beer with orange soda and Radler is beer with lemon soda. But in the North Alster is just a synonym for Radler :)
The story goes back to the fact that a large group of cyclists wanted to reward themselves with a beer at their destination (a café in the forest or something). And because there wasn't enough, the waiter put down the beer with lemonade. And since the north does not want such a southern need on the menu, it is called there "Alsterwasser".
Here in Austria we call it Radler.
My share to complete confusion with "Zahlwörtern": When you live somewhere in northern germany and come to a construction site, you sometimes hear someone shouting "Fofftein!". Another word with two meanings: The word is Plattdeutsch and means "fünfzehn" or "15". But for workers in the north it means "Pause" which is a break. So, if you hear this, drop your hammer and get a sandwich.
Ah, the 15 minutes break.
In English you can say "take five" which is similar, it also means to take a short break.
2 Germans in a Bar in London:
- 2 Martinis, please.
- Dry?
- NEIN! ZWEI!
Ich nehme sechs!...😜
Prima!
Helmut Kohl im englisch-sprachigen Ausland: Hat sich die Antwort auf "Guten Tag" auf die Rückseite seiner Krawatte geschrieben. Verwechselt aber morgens die Krawatten.
Wird begrüßt. Schaut nach auf der Krawatte und antwortet: "Trevira !"
Price = Preis (€, $)
Prize = Preis (für das Erreichen des 1., 2. 3. Platzes bei einem Wettbewerb (competition))
Prize /reward xD
Ein Synonym ist Gewinn= Preis
And don't forget about the Bavarian "Du sau preis!", referring to any non-Bavarian as a Prussian... Weird how that ancient conflict stuck around...
In german you say "In deiner Präsentation hattest du einen guten roten Faden." if someone did a presentation and he/she structured it very well so it was very easy for you to understand it. It refers to having a red thread that shows you the way through a maze.
Some of these expressions are used a lot using a particular phrasing. The term ‘roter Faden’ is often used in ‘zieht sich wie ein roter Faden durch xyz’. Related to this is ‘den Faden verloren haben’, which can in some contexts be translated as ‘having lost your train of thought’, though its meaning is a bit wider.
7:26 "Duften" would be a good passive verb, since "riechen" smelling is an active verb conducted by the noticing person.
"Duften" already means "to smell good", though. It's a very lyrical word, so it may not fit every situation. At least where I live (in the Northwest of Germany), "duften" is mainly used for flowers, perfumes, or food. When talking to a person, it's quite a strong word and may seem a bit over the top. "Du riechst gut" is a lot more common than "Du duftest". And there isn't a lot of confusion either, because when you want to compliment someone on their sense of smell, you wouldn't say "Du riechst gut", sondern "Du kannst gut riechen".
You experienced a traditional German day of eating it seems :D Bread, meat and cheese for breakfast and dinner and a warm lunch followed by coffee and cake in between have been pretty much the norm for a very long time. Nowadays, as work schedules become more flexible, some families prefer to have a warm dinner instead, but the older generation will mostly still do it this way.
Well yeah, that's the difference between supper and dinner in English. Supper basically means cold "Abendessen" and dinner is warm in contrast.
Instead of riechen you can also use duften. (from Duft = fragrance)
Duften also implies a "good" thing where stinken has a negative connotation. So these two are each other's opposite
gut riechen = duften, schlecht riechen = stinken
@@wora1111 a skunk in german is a _Stinktier_ :-)
@@Sunny-ik2jj In der Schweiz riechen = schmecken :-D
@@Anson_AKB Many animal names in German are of such a descriptive nature.
Nilpferd sounds funny to you because you seem to be hearing (saying) "nilp ferd'. But, actually, it's a compound of Nil (Nile) and Pferd (horse), which is almost the exact equivalent of the Greek origin of hippopotamus (river horse).
Oder man sagt auch: Flusspferd
Und auch wenn der Nil nur mit einem kurzen "i" geschrieben wird, wird es fast wie mit "ie" gesprochen.
Alsterwasser is a northern german thing. The naming for this stuff in southern Germany will confuse you even more. The beer-lemonadd mix is called Radler in southern Germany and Austria.
Because english language is so odd that you can barely determine what someone means and you will end up in total chaos if you try to play around with meanings.
But German language is so precise that you can indeed play around with the meaning of words just for fun and that's what germans like to do often, especially the more smart germans.
"Alsterwasser" in Hamburg (and around it) is what the rest of Germany calls "Radler". It's basically beer mixed with lemonsoda at a 1:1 ratio.
Except for the Ruhrgebiet - we call Radler beer mixed with seven up/sprite like lemonades and call Alster beer mixed with "orange" based lemonades, e.g. Fanta or similar
The British know this as a "shanty"
What's a Kreefelder then?
@@omma911 Cola with beer. But that is also sometimes called "Elbwasser" in Hamburg.
So that's why I don't know Alsterwasser even though I'm german.
Typically, in Germany, you get your favorite cake on your birthday, usually with candles and/or text on top. However, many types of cakes are not flat or solid enough for this. Or perhaps the candle-to-cake ratio would be too candle-heavy.
Idk if it's the same in all of Germany, but here in Austria, the whole candle thing is more for the kids. You don't usually have candles on a birthday cake as an adult. Maybe if it's a significant birthday, like, say, 30 or something, but not on a normal birthday.
@@TheFeldhamster Where I live in northern Germany it's uncommon for adults as well.
Just imagine you speak fering (Frisk, Friesisch)
Platt, German and English... I'm the laughingstock on every party :D :D
Actually there are 'das Etikett' and 'die Etikette' in German and they mean different things: das Etikett means label, tag; die Etikette means etiquette. Obviously, all of these words are borrowings from the French 'étiquette' which does have both meanings.
Der rote Faden (the red thread) is an idiom coined by the famous poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (he's basically our version of Shakespeare and influenced the German language quite a bit). He explained in one of his novels that the English navy used to work a red thread into all of their ropes to identify them and prevent theft. Goethe used this picture to describe a central theme of a character's diary and thus the idiom was born. He was probably inspired by Greek mythology. There, Theseus is brought to the island of Minos to be sacrificed in the labyrinth of the Minotaur, a very dangerous beast, half man, half bull. Ariadne, the princess that guards the labyrinth (and also the Minotaur's half sister on the human side), falls in love with Theseus and gives him a thread to find his way back to her through the labyrinth. A thread also symbolizes fate in Greek mythology as the the three Moirai who determine the fate of every human each handle the thread of life: Clotho spins it, Lachesis measures it and Atropos cuts it off at the end of life.
price = cost, prize = reward. In German, you have the old word "Prise" which was the reward for capturing an enemy ship.
Prise also mean a small amount of a powdery or fine-grained substance [that someone can grasp between two or three fingers]
Eine Prise Salz = a pinch salt
"My dog has no nose." "Oh, and how does it smell?" "Terribly" ( groan, groan, groan). That cracker joke works in German as well with "riechen", which has the two meanings of noticing a smell with your nose and emitting smells yourself. You may say that you notice the smell of an overheated electric installation because the hot rubber or plastic insulation has a distinctive smell that alarms you. "Das überhitzte Kabel riecht." "Ich rieche das überhitzte Kabel."Its English Germanic relative is "to reek".
Wait until you find the dish "Falscher Hase" (wrong Bunny) on the menu of a restaurant ;)
When I lived in Greece, I was having coffee with two friends who had been living in Greece a couple of years before me so their Greek was far better & one orders coffee black with milk, so I ordered ena Ness skatta meh gala, sketto is plain & skatta is shit. I should have said ena Ness sketto meh gala. They looked astonished & in an instant I realized my mistake & the gracious waitress said no problem & smiled reassuringly.
The wurf in Maulwurf comes from the verb werfen (to throw). Basically it describes an animal that throws (shoves) earth with its mouth (face). :)
The cake looks like a molehill.
I am not certain, but "Wurf" could be an older German term for the results of something being "geworfen" which a mole hill is.And there still is the substantive of "Wurf" which is the the process of throwing/Werfen.
The „Maul“-part of Maulwurf don‘t have any connection with Maul (face). Maul has developed from old high german „mu“ and later middle high german „Mul“, which means „Haufen, lockere Erde“. If you think about it, it make sense because a „Maulwurf“ throws soil.
Du hast leider noch nie einen Maulwurf bei der Arbeit gesehen. ;-)
@@-heilaender921 Ich wollte lediglich drauf hinweisen, dass die Namensgebung Maulwurf nichts mit seinem Maul zu tun hat. Ich behaupte nicht, dass jetzt alles stimmt, was ich sage. ;-)
Hahahaha, ein Maulwurf der die Erde mit dem Maul rauswirft, das ist cool....🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The tern "roter Faden" (red thread) goes back the greek myth of the Minotaurus. In the myth the hero, who beats the Minotauros normally can not get out of the labyrinth, whrer this being lives.
He only can do this, because he binds a red thread around his wrist, he is given by princess Ariadne of Creek. Therefore this thing is also calls Ariadne thread (Ariadne-Faden).
I have read, that the read thread was woven into any rope of the British navy. So the British navy could prove, that such a rope was their property.
@@michelaushamburg6766 That might be true, but it is not the reason for the germen frase "roter Faden".
I've done the same thing with riechen and stinken. My dad and I actually have an English joke (before any of the misunderstanding in German) where we say something is a "good stink" or "you stink good" when we have a new cologne/shampoo/bodywash.
From this video I've learned that we germans often measure our time until something has to be finished or something ends. "Wir haben fünf Minuten mehr" means, that the time slot has ended and surprisingly the event/the thing can last longer than scheduled.
As for how the brother talk: When at University I used to help transcribe interviews, and even is someone spoke perfect Swedish, it was easy to see if they were non-native speakers. This due to how much closer to the written language they spoke, native speakers had a lot more noses (like um and ahs), as well as shortening and combining of words. I would assume it is the same in german.
Du stinkst gut 🤣
That's brilliant, I love it.
"Alsterwasser" is a term which is used more in Northern Germany while the south uses "Radler". At some places the mean a mixture of beer an lemon lemonade ("Sprite"), and at other places they use orange lemonade ("Fanta") for mixing. I live in western germany and here we use both. In our region there is also a drink named "Krefelder" which is a mixture of beer (Pils or Alt) and coke (or malt beer).
Ich komme zwar aus Süddeutschland, wohne aber seit ca. 10 Jahren im Norden. Ich habe auch hier sehr oft Maulwurfkuchen gefunden 😊... Ich denke, es ist eine ziemlich gängige Küchensorte...
Spannend war die Geschichte mit dem Alster Wasser - hier, ein Stück westlicher als Hamburg, sagt man nur Alster. Und im Süden Deutschlands wissen die meisten nur, was du meinst, wenn du Radler sagst 😊...
Viel Erfolg beim Lernen und beim Erreichen deines angestrebten Sprach- Niveaus 🍀!
The difference between "Ich bin heiß." and "Mir ist heiß." 🤣
Alsterwasser is called "das Radler" in Southern Germany.
der Maulwurf = the Mole
consisting of the 2 seperate Words:
das Maul = the Mouth (usually of Animals) & der Wurf = either "the Litter" or also "the Throwing"
Rumours have it, that this Word does NOT derive from these 2 modern German Words, but from a Misunderstanding/Misspelling of the ancient Old High German Word for this Animal. ( "Moltwerf" = "Erdwerf(er)" = "Soil-Throw(er)" )
der Maulwurfshügel = the Mole Hill
(No, "Wurf" does not mean "Hill". ) I guess the real Name of that specific Cake is "Maulwurfshügel(-Kuchen)".
Actually, there are also 2 different Words in German: "die Ettikette" = "the Etiquette" , but "das Etikett" = "the Label / Tag".
In Österreich sagen wir DER Radler. In Süddeutschland sagt man oft DAS Radler
@@jeff-8511 Ah so ? =) Ja, solche Verwirritierungen um das gramatikalische Geschlecht bestehen auch zwischen Nord-/Mittel- und Süd-Deutschland: Wir im hohen Süden sagen: DER Butter, DER Zwiebel, DER Semmel und DER Kartoffel ! =)
@@Gerhard-Martin der Butter klingt fürchterlich falsch in meinen Ohren 😂
@@jeff-8511 Ja mei: ;-) Im Rest von Deutschland klingt das ebenso falsch. 8-P Aber ist es nicht interessant, daß ALLE 4 Beispiele sich um ESSEN drehen ? Daß die "Südstaatler" ausgerechnet bei der Nahrung solche Sonderwege beschreiten ?! 8-P
@@Gerhard-Martin Was das Essen betrifft gibt es sehr viele Unterschiede zwischen Österreich und Deutschland. Kartoffeln= Erdäpfel; Pfannkuchen= Palatschinken;
Quark = Topfen; Tomaten = Paradeiser
I find it really strange how our whole minds can change languages. For me it started with formulating thoughts in English and one time I accidentally answered in English when this guy in the train wanted to check my ticket. Caught both of us by surprise but at the time I was immersed in an English documentation and I guess my mind forgot to switch back
to smell - riechen (kinda neutral), to stink - stinken (always bad smell), duften (also to smell) - always nice smell
You said you heared something about Wasser and got beer, I instantly laughed and knew it was Alsterwasser. :)
I'm not from Hamburg, but I've been there.
haha same here.
Alsterwasser is a mixture of beer and lemonade. It is called that name only in the north of Germany, especially in Hamburg. In the rest of Germany we call it a "Radler" (biker), what means exactly a beer mixed up with either lemon- or orange lemonade.
Yes Alsterwasser is a limited to Hamburg it is Hamburg's Beer "Astra" mixed with lemonade in the rest of Germany we call it Radler. It goes Back to a story where a Biergarten (Outside Restaurant for drinking and enjoying the view/sun) had not enough Beer when a huge group of Radler/Radfahrer (Bicycle-Riders) arrived, so the asked them if its ok if they mix it with lemonade and they all agreed an enjoyed it so much, they came back and it became a thing.
Bavarians have the expression "falscher Fuffziger", which leaves out that N and means a "dishonest person", literally a "counterfeit 50-Pfennig coin". On another topic: one day, my German co-workers and I were playing around and tried to find the most ridiculous-sounding German word - at least to English ears. The winner was "Reizwäsche", meaning "lingerie" but literally "stimulus-laundry", but my own candidate was "Warzenhof", meaning "areola" but literally "wart court"! How romantic!
you should try the pie that named "Bienenstich"
That "red thread" is of British origin. The amount of rope that got stolen at royal dockyards by sailors who sold it to fishermen or "organized" it for relatives of theirs who were seafaring people alarmed the admirality. They gave out the order that a red thread was to be spun into any length of rope or cable that was issued for the navy. So you could follow that "red thread" easily.
thank you for the explanation and history lesson. makes sense now ^.^
I have no idea about this british idiom, but in this case, the "red thread" is derived from the old greek legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, gave Theseus a ball of red thread, to mark his way through the labyrinth. After killing the beast, he could follow the thread back to the entrance.
Thus "red thread" (or thread of Ariadne - Ariadnefaden) is some guide you follow.
Nilpferd is just the name for hippos from the river Nil.
Hippos are Flusspferde, so it would literally be river-horses ;)
Cool video, keep up the good work and
greetings from Aachen Germany
Red thread means finding your way back from a side story to the actual main concern.
7:10 - A better way for saying "du riekst gut" is: "Du riechst gut." ^^
You could also say: "Du duftest gut", "Ich mag deinen Geruch.", "Hast du einen neuen Duft? - Gefällt mir." oder "Du stinkst heute weniger schlimm als sonst."
Alsterwasser is only used in Hamburg and surroundings but even in Bavaria we know this term. As for smell, here it's the other way around: to smell can be both in German, riechen and stinken, so one word in English, two in German, but riechen is neutral while stinken is always implying a bad smell.
So ..."du riechst gut" works really good and is probably the most used phrase in that context, But you could also use "Duften" ("du duftest gut")😊
And i live in Cologne in Germany and "Alster Wasser" is not a thing here and therefore i would have had no Idea what it meant either If i was in ur situation lol.
Also, we have big Bday cakes too, with candles and frosting/icing and "Happy Birthday" on it, But i don't think people over the age of 40 do that a lot anymore lol.. 😂 But that typical "Bday cake"-flavor that exists in the USA is not a thing in Germany at all, like Bday cake -flavored oreos are probably not even available in most German regions 😅
And Maulwurf Just means Mole. Not Mole Hill or smth, just mole idk y either lol
I think "Alsterwasser" is called "Radler" in southern counties.
On the Radler part of your reply,
Hmm not sure if "not having heard about it" in Cologne works for me (for you individually it of course it does), but on a wider scale I would like to believe it just means your exposure to beverage names has been limited. Compare it to "Brötchen" vs. "Wecken" vs. "Semmel". Depending on your exposure to the language and country you may be familiar with either or just one of them.
Similarly, Alsterwasser is a very ordinary drink that you certainly would encounter when browsing the menu in a Restaurant in northern Germany. Less so in Bavaria where instead perhaps the "Russ" (uses Wheat beer instead of Pilsener, as in the Alster) or Radler is more common. Then of course there is also the issue that what in some regions is called Alster (beer with lemon lemonade) may not be the same in other regions (beer with orange lemonade).
Thanks for sharing the story :) It reminded me of a friend of mine, who does not like the taste of beer, however enjoys drinking Pilsener with Sprite.
Hahaha "du stinkst gut" also makes me chuckle. "du riechst" ("you smell" or "reek of something") is not necessarily positive-laden either :P
"Du duftest" definitely is positive.
I was born and raised in Trier, so - not THAT far from Cologne. And Alsterwasser was known there in my youth. (I am 60 now). So maybe it is a thing which was common days ago, but nowadays seems to vanish everywhere but in Hamburg? I swear, when she started telling the story I said "Alsterwasser" before she even mentioned the clue.
@@Herzschreiber oh wow das kann tatsächlich gut sein... :)
Stinken impliziert, dass der Geruch extrem schlecht ist... xD
I find the pitfalls you have described, which the German language offers, very entertaining. Please keep it up.
Ich habe auch nicht gewusst, was Alsterwasser ist. Hier in Österreich sagen wir Radler. Hier sagen wir DER Radler, aber anscheinend sagt man in Süddeutschland auch DAS Radler, stimmt’s ?
„Du riechst gut“ ist perfekt👍🏼😁
„Alsterwasser“ or just „Alster“ is not only used in Hamburg, but in the whole North of Germany. In the South its called „Radler“. By the way, do you know the „Weisswurstkanal“ (white sausage channel)? That’s the river Main (some also say it’s the Fulda), that’s supposed to divide the northern from the southern part of Germany. Because white boiled Bavarian sausages are not popular in the North. Or rather the northern side of the Main 😅
I guess Alster starts way further north than the Main, they don't say it in Kassel ... although some might know it
Alsterwasser is indeed only used in northern Germany. In the South we call the same drink Radler.
To complete your confusion in words with different meanings: "umfahren" is the opposit from "umfahren". One means hit someone with your car. The other turning the stearing wheel for not hitting the person. And it is the same in English. There are words with different meanings. You are used to the English and struggle with German words.
There is even a third meaning of this word, at least in the rhine area where I'm from. The word "um" means the same as "zurück" here, so "um fahren" simply translates to "drive back". In a written sentence you can see the difference as the "um" is a separate word but this is very colloquial and therefore mostly something you will hear, not read.
Even worse you may also use this word in "um kommen" (return) versus "umkommen" (perish) or "um bringen" (bring back) versus "umbringen" (kill). Misunderstandings guaranteed!
Umfahren pronounced on the first syllable is hitting someone with the car, the other one on the second syllable, small differences
Für Bier/Limonaden-Mischgetränk gibt es regional verschiedene Bezeichnungen. Es gibt auch zwei verschiedene Rezepturen: Bier mit Zitronenlimonade oder Bier mit Orangenlimonade. Der bekannteste Ausdruck ist Radler. Aber Alsterwasser(Norddeutschland), Potsdamer, Stange(Berlin/Brandenburg), Pansché(Grenzgebiet zu Frankreich)
Stinken benutzt man eigentlich, wenn etwas oder jemand einen sehr starken meist unangenehmen Geruch hat. Deshalb: „Du stinkst gut“ ist nicht die richtige Wortwahl…aber ich sagte es auch mal zu meiner Partnerin, was nicht gut ankam.
Stachelschweine sind Nagetiere, also reine Vegetarier. Igel ernähren sich hauptsächlich von Insekten und Würmern
Es gibt auch noch Krefelder bzw. Schmutziges, mit Cola gemischt. Das war bei uns früher populär aber hab’s selber 10 Jahre nicht mehr getrunken.
Die Deutschschweiz benutzt auch Panaché oder ‘eingedeutscht’ Panasch.
Regarding "Du stinkst gut": When I was new in Germany I asked somebody speaking at university to keep the microphone "Näher ans Maul". Ooopsie! (Maul means mouth, but only for animals - or when you wanna tell somebody to shut up: "Halt's Maul!")
Alsterwasser is very common in Germany. It's half beer, half sprite. It's named different where ever you go, Radler, Gespritztes, Alster, Panaché
My wife and I, Americans, were with a group of bicyclist in Germany. We rode from the hotel to the riverside to ride out of town on the trail.
An older German woman yelled at us about something. We had 2 German guides who did not know why she was yelling at us. We were on the public trail.
die Etikette = the etiquette; das Etikett = the price tag - two different words in German as well; auch im Deutschen zwei verschiedene Wörter
Alsterwasser is Rader in most of Germany. Suß is with soda, Sauer is with mineral water.
And I was laughing soooo hard when you said Du stinkst gut! 😂😂😂😂
If you are searching for German words with different meanings, my favorite is"groß": in English it may be translate to big, great, large, tall, huge or wide.
"gross" (as an english word) has several meanings as well, one of the meanings is "indecent" / "vulgar" (i think the origin there is a french word) 😂
When i was a child, my family made a trip to Hannover. There the sightseeing route was called. "Der rote Faden"
Sag einfach "Gewinn" oder Gewinnpreis statt Preis 🏆. Du kannst auch fragen: Welchen Preis 🏆 kann man gewinnen?
Und wenn du den Preis 💲 von etwas wissen willst, frag einfach: Was kostest das? ☺
Wie wär‘s mit Trophäe?
When I was 16 my family went to visit friends in the Netherlands. They had 3 kids, the oldest was about my age and just before we got there he had broken his arm playing "football".
He had to go to the medical clinic for something related to his arm and while we were there a nurse asked me a question. I assumed she asked me if I needed help, so I replied "Na" (no) but when she walked up to me I started to panic. My friend said she had actually asked "have you been helped" (I had only picked up the "helped" word)
Later I accidently ordered ice cream in water. It is hard to be in a country when you don't speak the language.
As a child I got Maulwurf Kuchen or Erdbeertorte as a birthday cake but other friends mostly had some chocolate cake for their birthday and my mom got Sachertorte when she was young 🤔
Roter Faden= something is well structured and harmonious and its a widely used term which you can say in many situations. for example you use it when it comes to a presentation and you think its well structured and good to understand as a Listener.
Well acutally, Alsterwasser is another word in Nothern Germany for "Radler", beer with lemonade.
So - Alsterwasser in the northern parts of Germany (called Radler in the southern parts) is originally half beer and half a specific lemonade. Now there are many variations out there but that was the original one. If I remember correctly it was made for the people peddle biking on a Saturday or Sunday, having craving for beer but also had to peddle home again.
Alsterwasser is typical for Hamburg or northern Germany. In other parts of Germany the same thing is called 'Radler'.
native german speaker here. I have to wade in on "etikett". "die Etikette (female)" with a spoken e in the end is the good manners. "das Etikett (neutral)" is the tag.
and a beer lemonade mix has different names depending on the region. generally that's "radler". in hessia (where I grew up) when you mix beer with cola that is a "dreggische" wich means "a drity one" (in the hessian dialect spoken specificly around frankfurt) because it just looks a bit like muddy water. and in berlin it is traditional to mix beer with sirup (berliner weiße). I don't even drink a lot of beer.. but growing up in germany you can propably not not know that.
As you figured out.... your boyfriend's brother was just speaking in a normal relaxed abridged way.
I also found it funny that you spent time in little old Oldenburg... I spent nearly 3 years there as a teenager before returning home to Sydney in the 60s. 😄
When winter came, you aren't motivated any more! ;-)
Birthdaycakes for kids often have candles on it, with the number of candles corresponding to the age of the child. But at age 40+ it is hard to squeeze that number of candles on a single cake. So sometimes it is reduced to one candle in the centre of the cake and a number-tag.
Best cake we have in Germany is the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte
I would say that riechen is neutral. Riechen can be good or bad. Stinken, on the other hand, is always bad. And duften would be the opposite of stinken.
Mole Hill = Maulwurfshügel - Hill = Hügel
"Heute riechst Du aber gut!" is a kind compliment.
"Du duftest gut!" is similar.
If you are still at "Sie"-level, a more cautious approach is recommended: "Sie verbreiten heute ja einen angenehmen Duft! Ist das ein neues Parfüm?"
Or don't mention it, because getting that close to a person, that you can smell her/him, is crossing the line of the personal bubble.
'Heute riechst du aber gut!'
It all depends on the person who says it and the intonation, it can be meant in a good sense, ironically or as a hidden insult.
I won't use the words 'heute' (today) in this context, it can imply that the person doesn't smell good most of the time and that the actual day is an exception.
The word 'aber' is often used as a marker for ironical phrases, changing the meaning of the sentence into the complete opposite.
The possibility of misinterpretation is too high even between two german native speakers.
I consider it more insulting instead of a kind compliment.
My suggestion:
Du stinkst - you smell bad
Du riechst gut - you smell good (in person)
Du duftest - you smell good (because of an artificial fragrance)
But in general i guess the majority of the germans doesn't talk about smells in most cases, don't matter if it's good or bad. It touches the personal space and is for most more or less taboo.
Mole. the word mouth (Maul) refers to the pointed snout and the word throw (wurf, werfen) is derived from the verb throwing. throw something on a heap (very small hill).
MAUL-WURF
Lol sounds like you reek good lol
Fuffzig is a very common way to say Fünfzig and you will hear it all over Germany. Same goes for 2: In standard German it's zwei, but you will often hear it pronounced zwo to prevent confusion with drei in spoken German.
lool I really enjoyed watching this Video so much I laughed and learnt. Vielen danke
Maulwurf-Kuchen is a product by Dr. Oetker, not really a traditional german cake. But truely it's tasting very good. :-)
Alsterwater is just beer and sprite. 50% 50%. That is how we do it on a party. But maybe some factories have other ways, because sometimes the taste of sprite is dominant and also the alcohol is high, if you buy it in a bottle.
When you stated that alsterwasser is beer and lemonade, that's also called a shandy here in the US. But, you can get a shandy with any soft fruit drink in it. Things like a rasberry shandy or an orange shandy.
Be aware though, that Ger. "Limonade" = soda pop and is thus a false friend to "lemonade". "Alsterwasser/Radler" is made from 1/2 beer, 1/2 lemon soda so apart from the extra carbonation the result is probably very similar to the shandy.
it's similar, yet different words:
das Etikett, die Etiketten (like price tag) != die Etikette (no plural. good manners)
The thing with the Alsterwasser: In the south it's called Radler.
Alsterwasser = Radler
About the Molehill (Maulwurfhügel): such a little hill is being curled up or thrown up if you want to call it that way, in German Hügel aufwerfen. That is where the "wurf" in Maulwurf comes from.
And about etiquette: Beware! You just mix up 2 totally different words! Die Etikette = good manners, Das Etikett = label, tag. Totally different!
"Preis" ist das, was wir ein Teekesselchen nennen. Ein Wort mit zwei Bedeutungen wie "Blüte". On one hand it is the pretty part of a flower on the other hand it is the not so pretty private reproduction of a bank note. There are dozens if not hundreds of word like these: Mutter, Flügel, Laster, Zylinder, Rock, Linse ...
In Bavaria, everyone that is from outside of Bavaria is reffered to as a preiß (Preuße=prussian). It's like a mild insult^^Alsterwasser = Radler. Its both beer and lemonade. Called different in different parts of germany.
14:00 Die Etikette/Etiquette = etiquette; Das Etikett (no "e") = label
The most important thing to learn a language is: To listen to the language (native speakers, news in the radio, ... ).
Often "Wasser" is used for spirits - like Kirschwasser, Mirabellenwasser and so on. Might coming form aqua vitae. To make it total confusing for an english speaker: Gänswein (literally Geesewine) is water ;o)
I don't now any special birthday cake - it was only a regular cake the person really love. But you can have nowadays an american inspired birthday cake.
Smell good (instead): Dein Parfum gefällt mir, Dein Parfum ist toll, - Du riechst gut is proper and nice. AND talk like you want a native German will correct you - for sure!
I can hardly wait to be there again and order a beer, though I have before. The Preis story was funny, because I actually didn’t know it had a double meaning there, and I would basically consider myself, in all honesty, conversationally fluent at this point in German. There’s always something new to learn, so thanks for that one. It really often does just come down to vocab, when needing to say something, though grammar is quite important, no doubt.
Ich mag es auch wirklich, gut zu riechen. „Du riechst einfach super“ könnte vielleicht passen. Frisch oder ein bisschen süß zu riechen ist ganz nett. Der Geruch ist der stärkste Sinn, der tief in dem Gehirn verbunden ist. Kann tolle Erinnerungen schaffen. Also, a porcupine is very funny in German: Stachelschwein, meaning something like “a stinging pig.” Yes, German breakfasts are also cool.
No, Stachel is a quill (?), the prickly things on top. So a prickly pig. Stachel is also used for the thing bees sting with and prickly plants. Nothing to do with stinking.
Oh sorry!!! Misread that one. You are right! You wrote stinging, not stinking. Sorry again.
Hi Lila! I just discovered your channel 🤩
I’m from Indonesia and live in Hamburg too 😊
I'm German and I also never liked beer, you're not alone
The official name of Alsterwasser is now Kiezmische in HH
Homonyms can be hard :D I regularly have trouble with the English ones as well
Alsterwasser: Beer + Fanta.
Radler: Beer + Sprite (Seven Up).
Never ran into the funniest German word for English native speakers? Fahrtwind. Not to mix up with fartwind ... lol . Fahrtwind is the breeze you feel while driving a car with your windows down.
I'm from Düsseldorf, and I didnt know what Alsterwasser was, so yeah.
Hippo literally in German then means (the river) “Nile horse”