Some Quick Updates

Some updates:

Comments
If you tried to comment on this site before and your comments haven't shown up yet, please check again. Commenters who included a link back to their own site had their comments automatically flagged as spam, and I just went through and un-flagged those comments that weren't spam. I also responded to a few comments.

GLO Originals Page
I noticed that the "GLO Originals" page wasn't coming up for some reason, but that should be fixed now. I'll have to create some new original content to put there!

Layout
One commenter informed me that there was some compatibility issues when viewing this site in IE. It's coming up fine on my computer now, so if anyone else is having this problem let me know (and tell me what device you're using to view the blog).

Also, thank you for reading this blog! Danke!

The Advent Season (2012)

The Advent Season

The Advent Season officially started this year on Sunday, December 2nd.

What is "Advent"?

Christmas is a major holiday in Germany. Advent is the season leading up to Christmas. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which can be as early as November 27th and as late as December 3rd (although Advent calendars usually start on December 1st - see more below). This year, the Advent season begun on Sunday, December 2nd.

While traditions can vary from area to area (and from town to town!), below are some general German Advent traditions.

German-way: Advent
Wikipedia: Advent
Wikipedia: Advent (German)

Adventskranz

In Germany, the four Sundays in Advent - the Adventssonntage - are often counted using an Adventskranz. The Adventskranz is a wreath, ususally made from evergreen, with four candles The candles each represent one of the four Sundays in Advent. Often, the candle representing the fourth Sunday will be a different color.

Each Sunday in Advent, one of the candles is lit while the family (or church congregation) sings Christmas carols.

German.about.com: Advent Wreath
Youtube: How to Make a German Advent Calendar (by GermanEmbassyPress)
Wikipedia: Advent wreath
Wikipedia: Adventkranz (German)

Adventskalendar

The Advent calendar, or Adventskalendar, is a definite favorite among children. The calendar comes in many shapes and forms, but generally there are 24 compartments or pockets. Although the date of the start of Advent changes every year, most Advent calendars just begin on December 1st, 24 days before Christmas. Each day during Advent, one may be opened, revealing a message, chocolate or other small gifts.

The German city of Hünfeld made its town hall into
a giant Advent calendar by using the windows.

Some people handmake their Advent calendars, but there are also many Advent calendars commercially available.

  

 

If you made an Advent calendar, take a picture of it and submit it for a chance to win an iPad or Kindle Paperwhite. Enter here before December 24th, 2012 (contest run by Goethe-Institut New York).

There are also many "virtual" Advent calendars that feature information about Christmas in Germany, recipes, prizes, and more:

• Germany Embassy in the USA (Germany.info): Advent Calendar
• Aboutgerman.net: Adventskalendar
• Vacation in Bavaria: Advent Calendar Competition
• SantaGames.net: Online Advent Calendar: designed for kids

You can also create your own online advent calendar using your photos, and send it to your family and friends. Check out Advientos.com.


Image Credits:
Advent Wreath: Andrea Schaufler, via Wikipedia
Hünfeld Advent Calendar: Wikipedia Contributor Hesse1309
House Advent Calendar:  Harry London Chocolates, via Google Affliliate Ads

Update on the Telenovela - "Lena - Liebe meines Lebens"

Here's an update on the telenovela "Lena - Liebe meines Lebens," which was covered in an earlier blog post:

ZDF, a major German TV channel, launched the telenovela on September 20, 2010. It was adapted from an Argentinian telenovela.  "Lena" ran for 180 episodes, and ended on June 21, 2011. Click here or here to get a list and description of each episode (in German).

I haven't been able to find any of the episodes online, besides some short clips on YouTube. If you know where to view full episodes online, you can post the link in the comments below.

If you are looking for another German soap opera on ZDF, try one of these:

• Herzflimmern - Liebe zum Leben, a soap opera taking place in a clinic in the fictitious lake-side town of Sonnenberg. This show stopped filming in February 2012, but the ZDF is still showing episodes of it online.
• Herzkino (Not really a soap opera, but this series shows a new made-for-TV romantic movie every Sunday).

If you know of any German soap operas with full episodes available online, post it in the comments below!

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag! German Birthdays

With GLO turning two, I thought I'd do a post on birthdays - I've created a list of sites so you can know what to say, learn German birthday customs, and even send free birthday e-cards in German!

Birthday Greetings / Vocabulary:

• Birthday Words in German (For Kids), LittleExplorers.com
• Congratulations in German, About.com
• Geburtstagssprüche, Geburtstagswünsche und Sprüche zum Geburtstag, Sprueche-zum-Geburtstag.de (In German)
• Happy Birthday in German, About.com
• How to Say "Happy Birthday" in German, Youtube.com
• How to Wish Happy Birthday in German, Suite101.com

Birthday Songs & Customs:

• Birthday Celebrations from Germany, BirthdayCelebrations.net
• Birthday Customs in Germany, About.com
• Happy Birthday (German Version), Youtube.com
• Happy Birthday Songs in German, About.com
• Childen's Birthday Parties in Germany, About.com
• German Birthdays, About.com
• Wie schön, dass du geboren bist, Youtube.com (Get the lyrics here.)

More:

• E-card: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!, About.com
• Alles zum Thema Geburtstag, Geburtstag-ABC.de (In German)
• Geburtstag: Gedichte, Texte, Spiele, Lieder, Spaß, Festpark.de (in German)
• Hallmark.de: Geburtstag ecards (Free e-cards, some in German)
• Kisseo.de: Grußkarten kostenlos verschicken Kisseo.de (Free e-cards, in German)

GLO Turned Two!

The GLO . German Language Online blog has just turned two years old! Thanks for following this blog! Danke! New posts are coming soon.

Olympics Vocabulary

The London 2012 Summer Olympics will start on July 27, 2012.

To  celebrate the Olympics and learn a little German, see my Olympic-themed German vocabulary list:

Click here to download the list as a Google document: Document: Vocabulary - Olympics

2012 Summer Olympics	Olympische Sommerspiele 2012
Closing ceremony	die Abschlusszeremonie
Mascot	das Maskottchen
Medal	die Medaille
Olympic Park	der Olympiapark
Opening ceremony	die Eröffnungszeremonie
Stadium	das Stadion
Summer Paralympics	die Paralympischen Sommerspiele
Torch	die Fackel
Torch relay	der Fackellauf
Types of Sports	Sportarten
Aquatics	Wassersport
Diving	Wasserspringen
Swimming	Schwimmen
Synchronized swimming	Synchronschwimmen
Water polo	Wasserball
Archery	Bogenschießen
Athletics	Leichtathletik
Decathlon	Zehnkampf
Discus throw	Diskuswurf
Hammer throw	Hammerwurf
Heptathlon	Siebenkampf
High jump	Hochsprung
Hurdles	Hürden
Javelin throw	Speerwurf
Long jump	Weitsprung
Marathon	Marathonlauf
Pole vault	Stabhochsprung
Race Walk	Gehen
Relay	Staffel
Shot put	Kugelstoßen
Sprint	Lauf
Steeplechase	Hindernis
Triple jump	Dreisprung
Badminton	Badminton
Basketball	Basketball
Boxing	Boxen
Canoeing	Kanu
Sprint	Kanurennsport
Slalom	Kanuslalom
Cycling	Radsport
BMX	BMX
Mountain biking	Mountainbike
Road	Straßenrennen
Track	Bahnradsport
Equestrian	Reiten
Dressage	Dressurreiten
Eventing	Vielseitigkeitsreiten
Jumping	Springreiten
Fencing	Fechten
Field hockey	Feldhockey
Football (Soccer)	Fußball
Gymnastics	Turnen
Artistic Gymnastics	Gerätturnen (or Kunstturnen)
Rhythmic Gymnastics	Rhythmischen Sportgymnastik
Trampoline Gymnastics	Trampolinturnen
Handball	Handball
Judo	Judo
Modern pentathlon	Moderner Fünfkampf
Rowing	Rudern
Sailing	Segeln
Shooting	Schießen
Table tennis	Tischtennis
Taekwondo	Taekwondo
Tennis	Tennis
Triathlon	Triathlon
Volleyball	Volleyball
Volleyball	Hallen-Volleyball
Beach volleyball	Beachvolleyball
Weightlifting	Gewichtheben
Wrestling	Ringen
Freestyle	Freistilringen
Greco-Roman	griechisch-römischen Stil

Website: German Language Articles on Wikihow.com

The site wikiHow.com has several articles on learning the German language. WikiHow is a site composed of "how-to" articles. The site works much like Wikipedia: anyone can add and edit pages on the site. In addition, the site is freely sharable for any non-commercial purpose.

The site's German page currently list 16 articles, as well as 5 articles that require further editing. The current articles cover basic German phrases and vocabulary, such as How to Talk About Yourself in German and How to Count to 10 in German. The articles usually describe how to pronounce the terms and gives learning tips.

The World Languages and Multiple Language Guides pages have articles for language learning in general. The site also has a Travel to Germany page.

The number of German language articles is currently pretty sparse and just covers basic vocabulary, but there is potential for users of the site to add more German language articles. (Writing a new article could be a great way to practice your German!) The standard setting is to have ads in the middle of the text of the article, but you can hide the ads by clicking on "Hide all ads" in the right column.

If you want practice reading German - or, for advanced learners of German, writing in German - check out the German version of wikiHow.com here.

Post your own review of the site below!

Website: Go.HRW.com - German

GO.HRW.COM: German is a website by the textbook publisher Holt, Rinehart and Winston to supplement their high school-level German textbook series called Komm mit! (Level 1 book on Amazon.com here - but you don't need the textbooks to use the site). The site offers interactive grammar, vocabulary and culture exercises.

German Language Interest Abroad

Recent stories about interest of the German language in other countries:

Ghana
According to the Goethe Institute in Accra, interest in the German language has increased in Ghana. Attendance at the Institute's annual German Cultural Festival has gone up, and schools in the area are interested in creating German language programs.

See the whole article on GhanaWeb here.

Seychelles
The Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture has asked the German Ambassador for assistance in creating a German language program at the Seychelles Tourism Academy.

See the whole article on eTurboNews here.

India
German is now being offered at the Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) schools (schools for children of government employees) in Bhopal, and may be expanded to KV schools in other cities. Students who want to pursue a technical career are opting for German as a foreign language.

See the whole article in the Times of India here.

Play Games in German with Free Trial

Learn some new vocabulary while playing a game! Youda Games on MSN Games have an option to let you play the game in German.

After you've downloaded the game, go to "Options" in the game's main menu or click on the flag on the start screen, and then click on the German flag icon to set the language to German.

These games have a one-hour free trial (I didn't buy any of the games - I've just been playing the free trial).

Hidden Object

• Youda Legend: The Curse of the Amsterdam Diamond: Delve into the dark mysteries of Amsterdam on this haunting hidden object adventure!
• Youda Legend: The Golden Bird of Paradise: A tropical getaway turns into an all new mysterious adventure!

Time Management

• Youda Farmer 2: Save the Village: Stop the Big Boss' evil plans and save the village!
• Youda Safari: Give all the tourists a once in a lifetime holiday experience!
• Youda Sushi Chef: Sushi, Sashimi, Sake - build a restaurant empire and become the sushi master!
• Youda Survivor: Battle pirates, protect your tribe, and escape an isolated island!

Deutsch-Online-Lernen.com

Deutsch-Online-Lernen.com is the companion website to the Youtube German course DeutschOnlineLernen, reviewed by me in my last blog post. The site is created by Thomas P. Birkhoff.

DeutschOnlineLernen Youtube Course

DeutschOnlineLernen is a 20-part video course for beginning German on Youtube. The course covers basic German grammar concepts, such as noun gender and declension, basic verb conjugation and more.

A couple of sentences introduce each lesson; translations and vocabulary lists follow, reviewing and introducing the words used in the lesson. A basic grammar explanation is also given. A few translation exercises at the end review what you've learned in that lesson.

The videos are done in a "slideshow" format, similar to watching a PowerPoint, with audio. The voices used are clear, and the video and voices go very slow so it's easy to keep up and understand what's being said.

I feel that the videos might be good review for basic German grammar, rather than trying to learn the grammar from the video itself, since it might help to have some more explanation of the grammar when first trying to understand it. Also, in the vocabulary lists, the genitive endings are included along with the plural endings, which might be confusing, since the genitive isn't used or explained until later videos.

Overall, good videos for reviewing basic grammar concepts and picking up a few new words.

See lesson 1 of the course here. Write your own review of the course below!

(I will review the companion website, Deutsch-Online-Lernen.com, in the next blog post.)