Polonäse Blankenese
An interesting phenomenon I discovered in Germany is a particular compulsion and connection to a processional circle...
Treppenwitz
Treppenwitz is a German word (derived from the French l’esprit de l’escalier) which literally means ‘staircase joke’....
German in Germany: de-active listening
It’s Christmas, my first Deutsche ‘Weihnacht’, and the Germans are all talking … German. This is it....
Teaching English in Germany
I was teaching a group of engineers in Düsseldorf—my first group class—and there is nothing more German...
For the Love of Amber (Bernstein)
In the north of Germany, along the shores of the Baltic and North seas, it is still...
Lustige Wörter
For me, one of the highlights of learning German with SmarterGerman is getting to know some of...
The Villa Hügel & Krupp Stahl
Meta Description: Just outside Essen, and right alongside the railway tracks (appropriately) lies a stately manor house...
Big Trouble in Lower Saxony
In genereal the train network in Germany is very good. It will get you to most places...
Die Langen Kerls
As far as Prussian King Frederick Wilhelm the First was concerned, size mattered. For his army, that...
Is Learning German in Germany the Smartest Approach?
Fleeing the ‘tyranny’ of a heavily monolingual culture in pursuit of an additional language is not a...