After living in Berlin for eight years, I finally started consuming German mass media because of my work. A few months ago, I got a job as a subtitler; I essentially binge-watch German movies and write subtitles in English. While I enjoy my job because I get to sit around, watch TV and write all day, I can’t help but notice a trend in all the German content I watch; it’s seriously lacking comic relief that I can relate to as an American. However, it is also witty in its own unique way that I, as a native English speaker, can’t entirely grasp.
There’s this extremely prevalent stereotype: “German’s can’t take a joke; Germans have no humor” bla bla bla. But this doesn’t really match up with the German people I know and love, many of whom are absolutely hilarious.
I decided to unpack some of the intricacies of German humor through a few conversations and an internet deep dive. Here’s what I found:
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by Adri | Stories
It’s been a while since we last published a feature from our ongoing series “Learn Deutsch with iHeartBerlin”. In fact, you haven’t got any German tips from us since you were introduced to the “10 German terms that describe complex personalities in one word”. But now, we’re back, and taking it a step further: here’s not just a few new words, but actual sentences! And might I add: extremely practical sentences, since Berliners have always been somehow notorious for their complaining. So if you want to bridge the gap between a tourist and a rightful dweller of this city, you better learn these by heart.
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by Michalina | Stories
Previously on iHeartBerlin, you could learn some unique German words of happiness, get your casual German on fleek, delve into the charming world of German insults and even pimp up your Deutscher dirty talk. But as we’ve realized, we haven’t published any new installments of this series ever since we’ve issued these four articles in our Learn Deutsch with iHeartBerlin book! And because we’ve really missed this format, here goes the brand new edition of our German lessons: 10 German Terms that Describe Complex Personalities in One Word!
Do you know the saying that a picture can be worth a thousand words? Well, as it turns out, a specific German word can sometimes convey a thousand words of another language. Here’s a list of 10 German terms used to describe complex personalities that less efficient and imaginative languages could only dream of.
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by Michalina | Stories