English has been steadily adopting words from German for several centuries. I will describe a few here; the tip of the iceberg so to speak. And there we have the first word that has been loaned from German: the iceberg.

We have all heard of the über-cool word doppelganger which is also a German term. Doppel meaning double, der Gänger derives from the word gehen (to go) – hence der Doppelgänger.

Most of us have been to the kinder garden, mused over the meaning of zeitgeist, seen the movie Poltergeist and heard of leitmotiv and angst – all loaned from the German language.

Anyone living in Middlesex, Essex or Sussex may wonder were these place names originate. Middlesex derives from Middle Saxony, Essex from East Saxony, Sussex from South Saxony. Saxons settled in England during the fifth and sixth century and liked to give places familiar names.

Arriving late for work because the railways are kaput? Today, broken railways are of course not the fault of Germany’s Blitzkrieg. The word kaput is German though, as is der Blitz (lightning) + der Krieg (war) = der Blitzkrieg.

Are you wallowing in Schadenfreude when your colleague draws flak from the boss because he is late for work again? There we have two more words loaned from German: flak and Schadenfreude. Flak is an abbreviation of the word Flugwabwehrkanone (air defence canon). Schadenfreude is made up of Schaden (the harm or damage) and Freude (joy). Therefore, Schadenfreude is the pleasure one takes in the misfortune of others.

We’ve all eaten Apfelstrudel (apple strudel), we measure the temperature in Fahrenheit, drive around in cars with Diesel engines, eat Frankfurters and Hamburgers – all German.

Tokio Hotel, Kraftwerk, Einstürzende Neubauten are German bands. However, Motörhead is not German – it is an English band that has loaned, or shall I say stolen, the Umlaut from German. Confused and want to start taking German lessons? You better get in touch with us!

German is widely spoken in Europe: Count the 80 Million inhabitants of Germany, add Austria, the German speaking part of Switzerland plus Luxemburg, and German speaking minorities in Northern Italy, Southern Denmark and the Alsace in France and you get the picture. Of course, there is more than just the holiday aspect, since Germany is not exactly renowned for its glorious holiday resorts by the sea. It is more the practical aspect of course: think of all the business opportunities. You needn't be fluent but a few basics could open doors and make business in Germany a little easier.

Thinking of studying in Germany? This may sound like a distant dream to any UK student but there are still universities in Germany that charge no or very low tuition fees (Berlin is only one of them). Typically the cost of living is comparatively low in Germany, unless you live in Munich, Hamburg or Baden Baden. Therefore you may find yourself NOT being burdened with huge debts to pay off after graduation.

German and English go back to the same West Germanic dialect. Can you believe that at some point in history a person from let’s say Hamburg probably would have had only minor trouble understanding a person from let’s say Winchester? “Funny accent”, they would have thought about each other…Unfortunately this is a very long time ago and not the case anymore. But a few centuries, a great vowel shift plus a few French and Scandinavian invaders later we can still find prove in the vocabulary: House – Haus, beer – Bier, wine – Wein being the most obvious ones. The list could be extended with verbs like make – machen, say – sagen or adjectives like small – schmal, round – rund.

Does learning German sound like a good idea? Check out our services for private German lessons and courses in London.

Is our list missing a reason? We look forward to hearing your comments!