Learn German for free with German-Podcast.de

Learn German Android App: Two Versions

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:44:37 PST

I just uploaded an update to the Android app for the podcast. It contains several bugfixes, a new layout for the main menu, a direct link to this blog and . . . ads. Additionally there is a new app in the market that is ad free, but costs 1$. So if you feel you want to support me: Buy the app .-)
Google takes 30% by the way, so it is not really going to finance my new house, but its a start.

If you are already working with the app and have a lot of learned vocabulary, you should be able to just export it from the old app and import it into the new one. You do not need to download the lessons again, both apps share the same data folder on your system.
If there are any issues, please contact me and I will try to help you. Please be fair it really takes a ton of work to ge an Android app running on most systems (and kind of impossible for ALL systems)...

Luzern, 21.01.2012
Stephan Wiesner

Interested in an iPhone App?

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:46:54 PST

Hi everybody, as you might know there is an Android app containing the new lessons, a vocabulary trainer, different interactive quizs, etc.

Over the last weeks I got quite a few mails asking me for an iPhone version. As you can see however I am one of the last (one might think) PC users out there and iPhone apps can only be developed on a Mac. And you all know what those silver beautys cost.
So, here is the deal: If enough of you want an iPhone version, buy me a mac. Seriously, there is a donate button on the blog. Donate what ever you want and if we collect enough money for a nice Mac (remember Paypal takes its toll) I will take two weeks of holiday, learn how to program on an iPhone and develop an iPhone application. It will contain all the lessons available at that moment for free (no promise for future lessons) and of course my vocabulary trainer and the verb trainer from the Android app.
Deal?
If we do not get enough money, say by mid Februar I will donate half the money connected to a charity trust (and publish the receipt here of course). Fair enough?

Lucerne, 20.01.2011
Stephan Wiesner

Lesson 11 - Die Zukunft

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:50:52 PST

Lesson 11 - Die Zukunft

The year is ending so this is a great time to learn about the future tense - about "die Zukunft". In German to say that you will do something you just need to use the correct form of the verb "werden" and ad the verb you want to use in its basic form.
So, to say that you will read a book you just say "ich werde ein Buch lesen".

ich werde
du  wirst
sie wird
wir werden
ihr werdet
sie werden

Try to say

we will read a book
we will take the bus
you (sing) will go shopping
they will be late
he will learn German

wir werden ein Buch lesen
wir werden den Bus nehmen
du wirst einkaufen gehen
sie werden spät sein
er wird Deutsch lernen

Luzern, 27.12.2011
Stephan Wiesner

Lesson 10 - Weihnachtszeit

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:51:25 PST

This weekend is Christimas, so today is a good opportunity to learn some "Weihnachts" vocabulary

night               die Nacht
christmas           Weihnachten
tree                der Baum
fir tree            der Tannenbaum
the present         das Geschenk
to give a present   etwas schenken
family              die Familie
a feast             das Festmahl
Advent              der Advent
Advent wreath       der Adventskranz

In preparation for Weihnachten (Christmas), many German families celebrate Advent. This is a time of religious preparation for the arrival of das Christkind (the Christ Child). Traditional advent activities include the Adventskranz (Advent wreath), which is set up on the 4th sunday before Christmas Day, the beginning of the season. Four candles adorn the wreath, and a new one is lit each week. Families often sing Christmas carols as they gather around the wreath to celebrate the preparation and Christmas season. Children also enjoy the Christmas calendar, which contains 24 doors (one for each day of December leading up to Christmas). Children open one door each day, and find a chocolate treat awaiting them. Many of the calendars also include pictures inside the doors, often Christmas-related.

Luzern, 22.12.2011
Stephan Wiesner

Lesson 09 - Verb Drills

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:47:39 PST

In todays German Lesson I introduce the verb drill program included in the Android app. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you . . .

Here are the verbs from todays lesson:
lese,liest,liest,lesen,lest,lesen
will,willst,will,wollen,wollt,wollen
gehe,gehst,geht,gehen,gehen,geht
habe,hast,hat,haben,habt,haben
bin,bist,ist,sind,seid,sind
nehme,nimmst,nimmt,nehmen,nehmt,nehmen
fahre,fährst,fährt,fahren,fahrt,fahren
spreche,sprichst,spricht,sprechen,sprecht,sprechen
muss,musst,muss,müssen,müsst,müssen

Luzern, 22.12.2011

Stephan Wiesner

Lesson 08 - Lebensmittel

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:34:32 PST

This is a recycled lesson from the podcast about food related words and there is a PDF file with most of the words.

007 - German-Podcast.de: Möbel im Hotel

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:28:25 PST

Lesson 07 - Möbel im Hotel

you can find a video of a hotel room (on Teneriffe) on youtube.

bed             das Bett
bedside cabinet der Nachtschrank
night           die Nacht
closet          der Schrank
safe            der Tresor
table           der Tisch
chair           der Stuhl
TV              der Fernseher
mirror          der Spiegel

bathroom  das Bad
basin     das Waschbecken
bathtub   die Badewanne
stool     der Hocker
fridge    der Kühlschrank
armchair  der Sessel

Luzern, 21.12.2011

Stephan Wiesner

006 - German-Podcast.de:

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:41:15 PST

Lesson 06 - Wochentage und Monate

Monday       Montag
Tuesday      Dienstag
Wednesday    Mittwoch
Thursday     Donnerstag
Friday       Freitag
Saturday     Samstag
Sunday       Sonntag



January      Januar
February     Februar
March        März
April        April
May          Mai
June         Juni
July         Juli
August       August
September    September
October      Oktober
November     November
December     Dezember

005 - German-Podcast.de: haben und sein

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:55:49 PST

Lesson 05 - haben und sein

to be	sein
to have	haben
happy, lucky	glücklich
sein	ich bin du bist er/sie/es ist wir sind ihr seid sie sind
haben	ich habe du hast er/sie/es hat wir haben ihr habt sie haben

004 - German-Podcast.de: Geld und Zahlen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:56:01 PST

German Lesson 04 - Geld und Zahlen

money	das Geld
EUR	der Euro
CH	der Franken
how much is the book?	Wieviel kostet das Buch?

Some number exercises

Luzern, 17.12.2011
Stephan Wiesner

003 - German-Podcast.de: Kaffee bestellen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:39:34 PST

In todays German lesson we will learn how to order einen Kaffee oder einen Tee.

By the way, the audio file from lesson 002 was missing. I updated the link. If you don't find it in your Podcast program, come over to the blog at:
http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/
Sorry for the inconvenience :-(

milk	die Milch
coffee	der Kaffee
tea	der Tee
to drink	trinken
please	bitte
in two hours	in zwei Stunden

Luzern, 11.12.2011
Stephan Wiesner

002 - German-Podcast.de: Ich, Du, Er

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:37:42 PST

German Lesson 2 from the Android app. This is actually based on an old session.

I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they	ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie
my name is	mein Name ist
what is your name (informal)?	wie heisst du?
what is your name (formal)	wie heissen sie?
thanks	danke

You can find more about this at this podcast lesson (PDF): http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/2007/12/055-learn-to-speak-german-sich.html

000 - German-Podcast.de: The new beginning

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:57:00 PST

Hello and welcome to German-Podcast.de, dem Podcast zumDeutsch lernen.

I amcurrently doing a complete overhaul of the podcast. The podcast started about 4years ago and has been going in a . . . lets say unsystematic way. Time for arework over the Christmas holidays. Here are three reasons why I decided to dothe restart:

Most importantly:The podcast never followed a systematicway of building your knowledge. It was a mixture of basic and advanced lessonsthat did not build upon each others. That’s fine if you are already an advancedstudent, but can be frustrating if you are a beginner. Therefore I willcontinue to mix in advanced lessons, but the main focus is to build asystematic set of vocabulary.

Furthermorethere are old audio lessons and/or PDF files missing because the servers Ihostet them on don’t exist anymore. Some I still have on a backup in mybasement, some are completely gone. I keep getting mails, asking me to sendsomebody those files. I will try to use more reliable sources in the future,but you know that hosting a large number of big files can become expensive.There are currently over 10000 people downloading those files and I am onlywilling to pay so much, so please donate a few dollars if you find that thepodcast helps you…

Finally thecombination of an audio file and a vocabulary trainer is in my personal pointof view the true road to success. You really need to learn those basic words –and repeat them over and over again. There are a number of good trainingprograms for all platforms out there. Personally I find that my smartphone isthe best platform, as it allows me to learn my vocis while I wait for a train, takea walk, during my lunch break or whenever I want. That’s the way I learn myFrench and Spanish vocabulary.

So, that’s whyI decided to do a complete rework of the lessons. For those of you who don’town an Android phone: I will still post the audio files and the vocabulary tothis podcast. Its just that you are on your own about how to handle your flashcards…

Click here to download the Android app for learning German with this podcast.

Lucerne,09.12.2011

StephanWiesner

001 - German-Podcast.de: Introductions

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:56:16 PST

The first German lesson starts with basic introductions.
If you have an Android phone you might want to try the Learn German Podcast App. It contains a vocabulary trainer with all the words and the audio files. . .

Luzern, 9.12.2011
Stephan Wiesner

I am	ich bin
my name is	mein Name ist
hello	hallo
good morning	Guten Morgen
good day	Guten Tag
good evening	Guten Abend
evening	der Abend
the computer scientist	der Informatiker
the baker	der Bäcker
goodbye	auf Wiedersehen

Learn German Podcast: Möbel in Hotel Zimmer

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:18:07 PST

Here are some German words for things you find in a hotel room. Video taken in my hotel room in Teneriffe last week.
The Android app will get this video soon, including the vocabulary of course
See the Youtube video.

Lucerne, 7.12.2011
Stephan Wiesner

The Android App (BETA)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:59:39 PST

I just released a beta version of the learn German Android App. Take a look at it, give me feedback and I will try to get it final in the christmas holidays at the latest.
You can find a list of my Android Apps here:

https://market.android.com/developer?pub=Stephan+Wiesner

Introduction
The GermanPodcast.de app provides a German teaching course. It is based on the popular GermanPodcast I maintained for some years (and have discontinued for the moment).
The lessons contain an audio file, some vocabulary and a review session. They build on each other, so you might want to start in the beginning. The new vocabulary can be imported into VociTeach, the vocabulary learn program included in the app.
The app is currently in BETA status, check for updates in November/Dezember 2011

The Lessons
You can obtain a list of all available lessons from the lessons menu. Just press "more lessons" and the app connects to my server and looks for new lessons. These are not downloaded automatically! Just open any lesson you want to learn and the app starts to download the lessons to your SD card.
If you go through the review of the lesson, you can add the contained vocabulary to your personal stack.

The data for the lessons is stored on your SD card. You can use the mp3 files with any mp3 player - and delete them if you need the space. If you just delete the mp3 file, the vocabulary is still displayed in the lesson screen. If you want to download the complete lesson again you need to delete the folder of the lesson (e.g. "lesson03") and reopen that lesson.

The Quiz The quiz asks you for random vocis from your personal stack. You get 1 point for every correct answer and -2 for every wrong one. Your personal highscore is recorded for each session, so make an effort...

VociTeach VociTeach is the vocabulary learning program included in the app. It is based on the Leitner System.
In this method words are sorted into levels according to how well you know each one. This is how it works: you try to recall the answer to the question asked. If you succeed, you send the card to the next level. But if you fail, you send it back to the first level. Each succeeding level has a longer period of time before you are required to revisit the word.
You can solve the question (but this results in the word moving back to level 1!) or get a hint (first letters of the answer). If you press "Next" you will be asked if you knew the correct answer. Be honest, the sytem only works if you are honest with yourself...
The beauty of the Leitner system is that you can achieva maximum recall with minimum effort! After all the hard part of learning vocis is not the learning, its the remembering over a long period of time...

Errors, Feedback, FeaturesIf you find errors in the app itself or the vocabulary, please drop me an email and I will try to fix it. Please don't write it into recessions in the Android market. I can not answer those, I might not even read them and they are sure to be outdated after I fix it. So, be fair, let me know personally, ok?
The same goes for feedback or feature wishes. I will include a FAQ section in this help file in the future - but you need to contact me to fill that first :-)
Planned Features

Add/Edit vocis
Customize the intervals of levels
Random function in VociTeach
Store name for highscore
Layout of list of all vocis could be . . . optimized
And, of course, add mor lessons .-)

Luzern, 18.11.2011
Stephan Wiesner

Android App and Complete Overhaul

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:06:47 PST

At the moment (November 2011), I am preparing a complete new series of German lessons, starting with the basics. And it will be implemented as an Android app (sorry iPhone Users), including a quiz function and a vocabulary learning program that grows with each new lesson you finish.
The app will be released on the Android market and a Beta will be available . . . hopefully this weekend. I will let you know :-)

Luzern, 17.11.2011

Stephan Wiesner

Android App Alpenkalb launched

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 21:48:01 PDT

Over the last weeks I developed an Android App for Bergportal GmbH that took all my time (and I mean all time).

We went live last night though :-)

Sorry, it is German only, but if you are coming to Switzerland for skiing or mountain climbing, this is the thing to take (free).

Analog den Seiten http://www.skitouren.ch oder http://www.gipfelbuch.ch kann man Gipfelbuch Einträge machen, sich für Touren verabreden oder tolle Kletterrouten Beschreibungen herunterladen.

Luzern, 3.4.2011

Stephan Wiesner

Deutsche Rechtschreibung: Satzanfänge und Titel

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:18:47 PST

"Vor" or "vor"? Do you know when to start a word with a capital letter? Here are some simple rules to get you startet...

The easy part is: In German all nouns start with a captial letter:
das Haus
der Bus
der Mann

The first word in a sentence starts with a captial letter as well:
Der Mann geht über die Strasse.

If a complete sentence follows after a colon the first letter is capital. Otherwise not:
Folgendes ist wichtig: Die Hausaufgaben müssen erledigt werden!
Bitte mitbringen: mehrere Bleistifte.

Here is something more difficult: Farbadjektive.
Das Blond deiner Haare ist schön.
Ich habe mein T-Shirt grün gefärbt.
If you can ask "was" (what) the letter should be capital

Zürich, 11.2.2011
Stephan Wiesner

German Finance Vocabulary: Vokablen rund um Finanzbegriffe 1

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:41:13 PST

Here are some vocabulary from the finance area:
sum of acquittance = das Abfindungsgeld
take-off fee = das Abfluggeld
wearout = die Abnutzung
capital allowance = die (steuerliche) Abschreibung
financial architecture = die Finanzarchitektur
index fund / exchange traded fund = der Indexfonds (oder ETF)
model risk = Modellrisiko
monthly loans = Monatsgeld

Bern, 26.1.2011
Stephan Wiesner

116 - Learn to speak German - Body Mass Index

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 23:56:39 PST

In todays German lesson you will learn about the BMI - Body Mass Index.
You will learn how to calculate it and the German vocabulary connected to it.

After this lesson you can go to the Android market and download an App that I wrote (search for BMI). It can calculate your BMI, your WtHR and the amount of daily calories you burn.

weight = das Gewicht

body = der Körper

mass = die Masse

calculation = die Berechnung

to calculate = berechnen

to measure = messen

size = die Grösse

scales = die Waage

age = das Alter

calorie = die Kalori

ich bin 178cm gross / ich bin 1.78m gross

ich wiege 70kg

mein bmi ist 22

Bern, 16.01.2011
Stephan Wiesner

115 - Learn to speak German - Gute Vorsätze

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 23:57:26 PST

Frohes neues Jahr! In der heutigen Lektion dreht sich alles um gute Vorsätze fürs neue Jahr.

Ein paar Vokabeln für euch:

Happy new year = frohes neues Jahr

wish = der Wunsch

diet = die Diät, eine Diät machen

lose weight = abnehmen

weight = das Gewicht

stop smoking = mit dem Rauchen aufhören

exercise more = mehr Sport machen

holiday = der Urlaub, die Ferien

work = die Arbeit, arbeiten

mobile phone = das Handy, das Nattel (Swiss slang)

This picture shows one of my new Android apps. It is called "Wie heisst der Gipfel?" and is a simple to use application, that can show you peaks and huts in the Swiss mountains.

You can find it by searching for Gipfel (peak) in the Android market.

Features

- Show World Map

- Show more than 6600 Huts and Peaks in Switzerland

- Show Distance from Current Position

- Show Current Position on Map

- Show Compass

- Send a mail with the current position

- Links all Peaks/Huts to Wikipedia (German Version)

- Search Places, Huts, Peaks (Only in Full Version)

The picture was taken on the Christkindli Markt at the Zürich mainstation. I really hate crowded places and taking that picture at about 6 in the morning was about all I could make my self do. . .

11.01.2011
Stephan Wiesner

Happy New Year - Schönes Neues Jahr!

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 09:04:24 PST

Euch allen einen schönen Start ins neue Jahr!

Stephan

114 - Learn to speak German - More Vocabulary and a promise to visit a Weihnachtsmarkt

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:06:19 PST

In todays podcast I will teach you more words from the App (which I fixed) and promise to visit a Weihnachtsmarkt and take some photos...

Don't forget to download the App and rate it - if you like it.

Luzern, 14.12.2010

Stephan Wiesner

113 - Learn to speak German - Vocabulary and the Android Quiz App

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:26:09 PST

Todays German lession contains 25 words to improve your German vocabulary.

And I present you my first app for Android. A little quiz that you can use to check the words presented today.

If you own an Android smartphone: go to market and search for Learn German quiz and you should be able to download it. Let me know if it works for you (or if it does not!) and what you think of it.

The picture shows the famous Matterhorn in Switzerland. I took the picture at dawn when we climbed Mt. Alphubel in the summer of 2010.

Happy learning,

Stephan

Lucerne, 5.12.2010

112 - Learn to speak German - Do you own a smartphone?

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:28:55 PST

Winter has come to Switzerland. Snow and ice (and closed airports) and long evenings at home. So this is a good time to start some new projects. I am currently thinking about resuming the podcast and I would like to write some small helper applications for smartphones. Word trainer, small vocabulary games and the like.

So, if you own a smartphone, let me know which one. Please fill in the poll on the podcast homepage at

http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/

Weisse Grüsse aus Luzern,

Stephan

111 - Learn to speak German - Papiliorama

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:26:18 PST

In todays German lesson I will show you a short film taken in the Papiliorama at Kerzers, near Bern in Switzerland.

You can see a kind of indoor jungle and a lot of butterflies. On a cold day like today it is a perfect way to soak in the hot air and get a feel of summer. The Papiliorama is a fantastic place for children as well.

butterfly - der Schmetterling

jungle - der Jungle

plant - die Pflanze

bird - der Vogel

fish - der Fisch

monkey - der Affe

They even have a large room with night active animals. Hard to photograph, but very interesting to see!

Bern, 05.03.2010

Stephan

Sore Throat - Halsschmerzen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:23:48 PST

Sorry I have a sore throat for some days by now and can't really speak very well :-(

sore throat - die Halsschmerzen

Luzern, 21.02.2010

Stephan

110 - Learn to speak German - Reisebericht Chile und Ojos del Salado

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:14:46 PST

Ich bin zurück aus Chile und erzähle euch in der heutigen Folge, wie es uns in Chile ergangen ist und vor allem natürlich, wie wir den Ojos del Salado, den höchsten Vulkan der Welt, erlebt haben.

Ein schriftlicher Reisebericht vom Ojos del Salado kann hier nachgelesen werden:

http://testmanager.info/writes/Ojos%20del%20Salado.pdf

Ein Lama vor dem Vulkan Parinacotta

Farbige Berge im Lauca Nationalpark (hier bei knapp 5000m)

Im Altiplano braucht es Spanischkenntnisse, um auch mal nach dem Weg zu fragen...

Die Laguna Miscanti und Laguna Minique, zwei blaue Augen mitten im Nichts. Wir sind auf den Vulkan Minique gestiegen (es braucht ein Permit).

Das Basislager am Ojos del Salado (im Hintergrund). Unser Zelt ist das rechte grüne...

Fischer am Strand des Pazifiks im Nationalpark Pan de Azucar

Hektisches Treiben in Lima

06.02.2010 Luzern,

Stephan Wiesner

Greetings from San Pedro de Atacama

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:51:17 PST

Hallo zusammen,
einen schoenen Gruss aus dem immer sonnigen San Pedro de Atacama.
I really can not recommend San Pedro (pure tourism town, very expensive, no attractions at all), though the nature around here is awesome!

We spend last week in the lauca national park and that was fantastic! Incredible nature, many animals and flores. One of the most beautiful places i have ever visited.
Will post more pictures and do a lesson, when I am back in Switzerland in February...

15.01.2010, San Pedro de Atacama.
Stephan Wiesner

109 - Learn to speak German - Farben - Colors

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 06:09:03 PST

In todays lesson of German-Podcast.de, the christmas lesson, I will teach you some colorfull words.

red

blue

green

yellow

black

white

brown

orange

grey

gold

silver

.........................

rot

blau

grün

gelb

schwarz

weiss

braun

orange

grau

gold

silber

Luzern, 25.12.2009

Stephan Wiesner

108 - Learn to Speak German - Ferien in Chile

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:58:34 PST

In todays German lesson I will tell you about my trip to Chile in January. Sorry about the sound quality. I still could not make my soundcard work properly so I used my movile phone and converted the files to mp3 files for the upload to itunes.
This might actually be a good exercise for you to get a feeling about how it would be to talk to somebody on the phone . . . .

In Chile we will start in Putre and the Lauca National Parc in the north of Chile. For more information. You can see some pictures and read about the parc at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauca_National_Park

The picture from Google Earth shows Mt. Parinacota as seen from the Lauca National Parc. And here is a map of the area. As you can see it is quite a wilderness....

And here is an overview of the region around ojos del salado. It is right next to the border to Argentinia (Argentinien) and there are some beautiful lakes and even some hot springs to soak in and get warm again :-)

Größere Kartenansicht

Bern, 20.12.2009

Stephan Wiesner

107 - Learn to Speak German - Schneeschuhlaufen (Video)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:43:21 PST

Here is a short video taken on a Schneeschuh Tour in the Berner Oberland video taken on a Schneeschuh Tour in the Berner Oberland last weekend. We climbed Mt. Wistätthorn (2360m) next to Lenk.

It was very cold but luckily we did not have any wind, so the cold was easy to stand :-)

I have a problem with my laptop soundcard and can't record any audio files. That will be fixed soon, though. Hopefully...

Bern, 14.12.2009

Stephan Wiesner

106 - Learn to Speak German - Am Lagerfeuer

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:32:05 PST

In this lesson of German-Podcast.de I present you a short video taken in the Swiss Alps last weekend. I went camping with my girlfriend as part of our training for our trip to Chile in January.

As you can imagine, the hot "Abendbrot" tasted wonderful :-)

Bern, 30.11.2009

Stephan Wiesner

105 - Learn to Speak German - Chapter 4

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:54:14 PST

Todays German podcast lesson continues with the book. I read from chapter 4.

Sorry for not posting for three weeks. I had a ton of work to do at the office, got a cold and started planing my trip to Chile/Peru in January.

Next week I will go on a business trip to Wien ( Vienna ), so here is a picture of the most famous thing Wien has to offer:

:-)

Lucerne, 12.11.2009

Stephan Wiesner

104 - Learn to Speak German - Urlaub in Südfrankreich

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:14:27 PDT

I am back from my holiday in the south of France and will tell you a little bit about what I have seen and done there in todays Podcast.

Die Madonna in Le Puy in der Auvergne
There is even a video of the town:

Ein Blick auf den einsamen Leuchtturm am Mittelmeer Strand nahe Montpellier.
Stephan Wiesner auf dem Le Pont du Gard et l'Aqueduc de Nîmes.
Eine der typischen Kühe der Auvergne

Ein Blick in den Käse-Keller in Roquefort
Unsere herrliche Unterkunft in der Morgensonne.

Das Amphitheather in Nimes.
Ein Blick nach aussen vom Papspalast in Avignon.

Luzern, 25.10.2010
Stephan Wiesner

103 - Learn to Speak German - Chapter 3

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:43:06 PDT

Todays German lesson continues with the book (second part). I read from chapter 3 and provide you some information about the Swiss railway system as well.
Here are the flashcards with the vocabulary.

Here you can see a picture of the Freiburger Alpen
And here is autumn in Switzerland. Die Laubbäume sind wunderschön eingefärbt :-)

The first video shows me at the start of the bike tour, near Thun

The second video was taken at 1600m in the Freiburger Alpen

Zürich, 09.10.2009
Stephan Wiesner

102 - Learn to Speak German - Grammar Possessivpronomen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:10:36 PDT

Todays German lesson covers some grammar: Die Possessivpronomen.

What are Possessivpronomen?
Die deutschen Possesivpronomen geben ein Besitzverhältnis oder eine Beziehung an. Es sind:

Vokabeln:
das Haus – the house
die Katze – the cat

Bonus question: Can you guess what flag is displayed on todays picture?

mein Haus
meine Katze

dein Haus
deine Katze

sein Haus
seine Katze
ihr Haus
ihre Katze

unser Haus
unsere Katze

euer Haus
eure Katze

The neutral sex uses the same Possessivpronomen as the male sex (mein Haus (das Haus), mein Mann, but meine Frau).
The 3rd person singular has different forms, depending on whether we are talking about a male or female person.
The Possessivpronomen can replace nouns as well:
Wem gehört der Stift?
Das ist mein Stift ? Das ist meiner.
Wem gehört die Katze?
Das ist meine Katze ? Das ist meine.
Wem gehört das Haus?
Das ist mein Haus ? Das ist meins.
Wem gehören die Katzen?
Das sind meine Katzen ? Das sind meine.

Download the Flashcards with the vocabulary of todays lesson.

Luzern, 04.10.2009
Stephan Wiesner

101 - Learn to Speak German- Chapter 1

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:46:17 PDT

In todays German lesson I read an excerpt from the book "Welcome to Switzerland", provide you with a number of new flashcards with German vocabulary and tell you how beautiful the autumn in Switzerland is (wie schön der Herbst in der Schweiz ist) . . .
The next lesson is already in the making and it will teach you all you need to know about Possesivpronomen (mein Haus, meine Katze, etc.) . . .

Die Bilder sind vom Flughafen Zürich . I sometimes change train there on my way to work. That always makes me want to go on a looong holiday again .-)

Lucerne, 29.09.2009
Stephan Wiesner

100 - Learn to Speak German - A new Beginning

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:56:16 PDT

Welcome to German Podcast.de dem Podcast zum Deutsch lernen.

All your mails and comments made me change my mind about the German podcast: I will continue with it!
This lesson is not a German lesson, but an introduction. I will continue the next few lessons with text excerpts and exercises from the book Learn German with a story, which you can buy at amazon or lulu.com (link on the homepage), so you might want to order it. Its only 2.5 EUR and available as a download or printed book.

Please download the Flashcards with German Vocabulary.

Note about the old lessons
Please note that there are old lessons from previous years. I restarted the Podcast in the autumn 2009 and the new lessons start with the number 100. Please note that there is a gap in the numbering.

The picture displays the famous Mt. Matterhorn, probably the most famous Mountain of Switzerland and some alpinists on their way to climp Mt. Dom, near Zermatt. The Dom is the highest Mountain in Switzerland. I took the picture on my way to Mt. Lenzspitze. The video is taken before dawn, when we left the glacier a few minutes before I took the picture.

About the Podcast
This podcast will help you learn to understand and even speak German. There are currently three types of German lessons available:

Beginners German lessons: These start with the very first words in German and will build upon each other. Please start with lesson 100 and follow them in the order of their numbering. Some of these lessons will even teach you basic German grammar.

Special Topics (advanced): Some lessons will have a special topic. These lessons are for advanced listeners and are therefore mostly in German. I do provide some vocabulary and there will be special information to download and help you further. Examples might be a lesson about Bern, the capital of Switzerland, where I currently work. Or a lesson about making hotel reservations or about fruits and vegetables.

Freerider lessons: Lessons with all kind of stuff that doesn’t fit into any other category.

How does the Podcast work?
Start by subscribing to the podcast. It is free! Go to this page: http://feeds.feedburner.com/German-podcast and click on the subscribe button on the right. Or use iTunes: Open iTunes, search for German and choose subscribe to this podcast.
Most of my listeners use iTunes (download it for free from Apple), but you can use a varity of tools. Each new episode will be downloaded automatically with this subscription.
The more active YOU work, the more YOU will profit from the podcast. I provide a lot of different exercises and it is up to you to use them. Let’s face it: You will not learn to speak German by just passively listening to a single lesson a week . . .

Specials
Please visit the homepage of the podcast: http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/. I will provide a lot of extra goodies with the German podcast. Some, but not all, are free. Examples include:
Flashcards
Personally I have an IPod nano and those can display pictures as well as text. I will provide you with flashcards for the lessons, so that you can learn some vocabulary on your IPod, while you listen to your favourite music. This should work with all devices that can display pictures.
Transcripts
Though I will not provide complete transcripts of the lessons (who wants to read those?), I do provide some text. Check out the homepage to see what you will find.
Interviews and videos
From time to time I interview friends of mine or even make a small movie. The interviews will help you prepare for different speakers and local accents.

Money
It is expensive to host so many large audio and video files and it takes an enormous amount of work to produce the lessons. So, if you like the podcast, please feel free to donate something (link on the homepage). Furthermore I will provide some extra stuff that you can download only if you pay for it. This includes the texts I use for the beginners lessons and extra information or exercises for some lessons. They are very cheap, so please grab them all :-)

Seriously, if everybody of you buys some of the stuff I can offer you more of my time, improving on the podcast and offering you better services. So everybody wins . . .

Disclaimer
I am German, from the northern part of Germany (near Hamburg). I therefore speak what we call “reines Hochdeutsch”. This means that I do not have a German accent. During some of the lessons you will hear other people speak and some of them come from different parts of Germany or Switzerland and I will point out how there accents are different.
Please note that I have never lived for a long period in an English speaking country and I am told that I do have a strong German accent when speaking English. I do make mistakes when I write or speak English. Sorry for that and please feel free to drop me an email if you have feel the need to point out some of those mistakes. My German, however, should be correct.

Lucerne, 26.09.2009

Stephan Wiesner

074 - Learn to Speak German - The End

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:47:06 PST

This is the last session of German-Podcast.de. I just don't have the time for all my interests and need to cut back on some of them and as there is already such a large amount of material available for you to pratice your German . . . well, I will not continue with the podcast.

Lucerne, 26.01.2009
Stephan Wiesner

073 - Learn to Speak German - Urlaub in Ägypten / Holidays in Egypt

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:53:02 PST

This morning I arrived in Zürich - in the cold and gray. The temperature was about 25 °C lower than in Egypt where I spend the last two weeks.
Today I will talk about my holiday in egypt, providing you with a number of useful vocabulary and sentences.

First of all: Many thanks to all of you who wrote me about the podcast. I did not access the Internet from Egypt and am very surprised (and pleased) about the number and the quality of emails you wrote me! We will come back to that later.

I spend my holidays with my girlfriend in Sharm el Sheik.
Ich war mit meiner Freundin in Sharm el Sheik im Urlaub.

As you can see, I visited the Pyramids near Kairo.
Wie ihr sehen könnt, habe ich die Pyramiden bei Kairo besichtigt.

We spend most of the time lying at the beach.
Die meiste Zeit haben wir am Strand gelegen.

The weather was perfect and very warm for the season. Though we did feel cold most of the time because of the wind and the cold water (22°C).
Das Wetter war super und für die Saison sehr warm. Wegen dem ständigen Wind und dem kalten Wasser haben wir aber dennoch die meiste Zeit gefroren.

We had a hotel with demi-pension and the food was delicious.
Wir hatten ein Hotel mit Halbpension und das Essen war köstlich.

I also went scuba diving in the red sea.
Ich war auch tauchen im Roten Meer.

We went for a few excursions for example to Mt. Sinai and the Colored Canyon.
Wir haben ein paar Ausflüge gemacht, z.B. zum Berg Sinai und dem Colored Canyon.

As always the holiday was way too short...
Wie immer waren die Ferien viel zu kurz...

Stephan
stephan@german-podcast.de
Luzern, 11.01.2009

072 - Learn to Speak German - Wo soll es hingehen? The future of German-Podcast.de?

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:44:48 PST

Heut haben wir schon die Folge 72 von German-Podcast.de. Zwei Jahre.
Today we are at lesson 72 of German-Podcast.de. Two years.
Another year is ending and that is always a good point in time to reflect on the past - and the future.
So, what do I do with the Podcast?
Let me think what YOU want it to be.
What do you expect from it, how are you learning German and why. For how long. How much time do you spend on the learning, what other material do you use, etc.

I will spend Sylvester in Egypt, with plenty of time to read your mails and to think about it, so write me either by posting on the page or by sending me an email.

Stephan
stephan@german-podcast.de
Luzern, 19.12.2008

071 - Learn to Speak German - German Survival Phrases - Wo ist der Bahnhof?

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:14:19 PST

Most cities in Germany or Switzerland have a train station and in most cases this is located at or near the center of town. So, even if you do not travel by train, it is always a good idea to know where the train station is located.
That is why we will learn to ask for directions to the train station (Bahnhof) or other points of interest today.

train station - der Bahnhof
where - wo
is - ist
city hall - das Rathaus
metro - die U-Bahn
left - links
right - rechts

The mountains on the photo are called Grosser und Kleiner Mythen and are right next to the town called Schwyz. They are quite famous and can be seen from most of central Switzerland.

Luzern, 13.12.2008
Stephan Wiesner

070 - Learn to Speak German - German Survival Phrases - Bitte und Danke

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:24:32 PST

Heute wollen wir endlich mal wieder eine Anfängerlektion durchgehen. German Survival Phrases soll eine kleine Serie mit sehr grundlegenden Dingen werden. Ein paar Worte Deutsch für den Urlaub, genug um das Eis zu brechen und zu zeigen, dass ihr einen "effort" macht.

Today we are back to some basics. German Survival Phrases is going to be a small series of very basic phrases. Just enough to show that you made an effort.

please - bitte
you are welcome - bitte, gerne geschehen
thanks - danke
thank you very much - vielen Dank, danke sehr

Todays pictures show Schloss Schönbrunn and the famous wheel at the Prater, both in Wien (Vienna).

Luzern, 06.12.2008
Stephan Wiesner

070 - Learn to Speak German - Ein Besuch in Wien / a visit to Vienna

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:57:16 PST

Vor kurzem war ich für ein Wochenende in Wien (Vienna) und morgen fliege ich noch mal für ein paar Tage hin. Grund genug, euch ein wenig über diese schöne Stadt zu erzählen.
Wien ist die Hauptstadt von Österreich und hat rund 1.7 Millionen Einwohner.
Wien ist eine sehr bekannte Stadt, die von vielen Touristen besucht wird. Wie man auf diesem Bild schön sieht, kann man das zu Fuss, im Bus oder in der Pferdekutsche machen...

Zu einem richtigen Besuch gehört natürlich die berühmte Sacher-Torte. Sehr teuer, man muss anstehen, um überhaupt einen Platz zu bekommen und wird dafür mit einem echten Geschmacks-Highlight verwöhnt. Ich habe mir erlaubt, dieverse Torten in verschiedenen Cafes zu geniessen und sie waren alle sehr gut. Die Sacher war nicht besser, aber auch nicht schlechter als die Anderen...

Und was wäre ein Besuch in Wien ohne die schönen Schlösser (hier Belvedere)? Bei dem herrlichen Wetter mochten wir nicht reingehen, aber auch der Besuch der Parks lohnt sich schon...

Nun, und hier ist schliesslich ein Bild von Bern. Womit wohl klar ist, warum ich gerne in Bern arbeite und, so schön Wien auch ist, immer wieder gerne dorthin zurückkehre .-)

Die Berner Altstadt, im Hintergrund die Alplen mit Schreckhorn, Finsteraarhorn, Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau.

Luzern, 30.11.2008
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 069 - Marathon in Luzern und Galgenraten

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:54:49 PST

Zwei Themen habe ich heute. Den Marathon in Luzern 26.10.2008 und das Spiel Galgenraten.

Das Spiel ist ein kleines Programm in C#, dass ich geschrieben habe. Es ist zwar nur sehr klein, setzt aber evtl. updates von Microsoft voraus, so dass es nur auf aktuellen Systemen laufen wird.
Im Verzeichnis gibt es eine Textdatei (vocis.txt), in der die Worte enthalten sind. Ihr könnt sie also einfach austauschen. Probiert es einfach mal aus .-)

Am 26.10.2008 ist der diesjährige Marathon in Luzern. Das ist doch ein guter Grund, Luzern einen Besuch abzustatten? Es ist ein sehr schöner Marathon und mit aktuell 6000 angemeldeten Teilnehmern auch nicht so überfüllt. Die Homepage mit mehr Informationen ist hier:
http://www.lucernemarathon.ch/Stephan Wiesner beim Marathon in Luzern 2007

Stephan Wiesner nach dem Marathon in Basel 2006 - leicht dehydriert .-)

Galgenmännchen, Galgenraten oder auch Galgenmann oder einfach auch Galgen und englisch hangman ist ein einfaches Buchstabenspiel.
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galgenraten]

Erst mit den Ausgrabungen an historischer Stelle in Marathon, bei denen 1890 ein Hügel mit den Gräbern der gefallenen Athener von der Schlacht von Marathon freigelegt wurde, kam die Legende über Pheidippides wieder in Erinnerung. Der Sprachwissenschaftler Michel Bréal besuchte bei einer Griechenlandreise diesen Ort. Als er dann 1894 dem Olympischen Kongress in Paris beiwohnte, wuchs in ihm die Idee, den legendären Lauf des Pheidippides im Rahmen der für 1896 geplanten Olympischen Spiele von Athen als Wettkampf aufleben zu lassen. Mit einem Brief teilte er seinem Freund, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, dem Begründer des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees (IOC), seine Idee mit. Der Sieger sollte einen von ihm gestifteten Pokal erhalten. Nach einigem Zögern stimmte man der Idee zu, und so wurde der Olympische Marathon 1896 von Athen der erste organisierte Marathonlauf.
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathonlauf]

Luzern, 19.09.2008
Stephan Wiesner

068 - Learn to Speak German - Zungenbrecher (tongue twister)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:51:37 PDT

Ein Zungenbrecher ist ein tongue twister.

Hier sind zwei Zungenbrecher:
Fischers Fritze fischt frische Fische.
Fischt Fischers Fritze frische Fische?

Bierbrauer Bauer braut braunes Bier, braunes Bier braut Bierbrauer Bauer.

Nebenbei stelle ich weitere Wörter aus dem täglichen Deutsch Newsletter von http://www.bitesizedlanguages.com vor und sage was zum Wetter.

The picture shows me right before we start to climb the Witenwasserenstock (3082m), which you see right behind me. Excellente Gratkletterei .-)

Luzern, 15.08.2008
Stephan Wiesner

067 - Learn to Speak German - 1. August Nationalfeiertag

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:28:19 PDT

Today is the first of August (again) and the legend says that Switzerland was founded on the first of August 1291. This story is depicted in Friedrich Schillers famous story about Wilhem Tell.
You can find the whole text of Wilhelm Tell online at Project Gutenberg.
Google has it as well, in Altdeutsch. Finally here is a link to Wikipedia with details about Wilhelm Tell.

Gessler:
Nun Tell! Weil du den Apfel triffst vom Baume
Auf hundert Schritte, so wirst du deine Kunst
Vor mir bewähren müssen - Nimm die Armbrust -
Du hast sie gleich zur Hand - und mach dich fertig,
Einen Apfel von des Knaben Kopf zu schiessen -
Doch will ich raten, ziele gut, dass du
Den Apfel treffest auf den ersten Schuss,
Denn fehlst du ihn, so ist dein Kopf verloren.

Alle geben Zeichen des Schreckens.

Tell:
Herr - Welches Ungeheure sinnet Ihr
Mir an - Ich soll vom Haupte meines Kindes -
- Nein, nein doch, lieber Herr, das kömmt Euch nicht
Zu Sinn - Verhüt's der gnäd'ge Gott - das könnt ihr
Im Ernst von einem Vater nicht begehren!

Don't forget to subscribe to the daily newsletter in German at http://www.bitesizedlanguages.com

Luzern, 01.08.2008
Stephan Wiesner

Munich - München

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:48:49 PDT

Hi friends, sorry, again no podcast this week. I have been in Munich for a few days, visiting the headquarters of my company. Very nice, I really love Munich, but that somehow left me without a weekend...
Do not forget to subscribe to the German language leraning letter at http://www.bitesizedlanguages.com/

Stephan

066 - Learn to Speak German - Learn German with Bitesizedlanguages

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:31:43 PDT

In today's lesson we will learn some German vocabulary.

First I need to apologize, though, for not posting regularly anymore. I started a new job on the first of July and had to get into the new company. It is a IT consulting company in Zürich and I joined my first project for them in Bern last Monday, so again everything new and a lot to learn.
Furthermore I met a wonderful woman, or met again, I should say, which did not quite turn out the way it should have, though.

Finally: I joined http://www.bitesizedlanguages.com/, a daily mail sender with sentences for different languages. I use them for my learning of French and Spanish and starting soon you can receive a daily phrase in Germen as well. We are discussing some exciting new features, but currently you can only register (for free) and receive a daily sentence of German (translated by me).

We will therefore learn some new vocabulary today. And if you register with http://www.bitesizedlanguages.com/ you will see those words again – in a different context to help you remember them.

piece of jewellery	das Schmuckstück
umbrella	der Regenschirm
map	die Karte
slowly	langsam
office	das Büro
diet	die Diät
degree	das Grad
subject	das Thema
to rip / to tear	zerreissen
to bring	bringen
unforgettable	unvergesslich
all the best	alles Gute
This month's star sign: Leo	Das Sternzeichen des Monats: der Löwe
while	während
Bless you!	Gesundheit!
nonsense	der Quatsch

The picture was taken at about 10000 feet in mid June. So if you are planning to come to Switzerland, better pack your warm clothes .-)

Luzern, 17.07.2008

Stephan Wiesner

065 - Learn to Speak German - Die Zugspitze

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:49:20 PDT

Diese Woche war ich das erste Mal in den Deutschen Alpen. Den höchsten Berg Deutschlands, die Zugspitze, haben wir auf der Route durch das Höllental erstiegen. Ausserdem waren wir noch in der Meiler Hütte (2374m) und haben ein herrliches Mittagessen gehabt. Zunächst wollen wir von der Zugspitze aus den Jubiläumsgrad machen, aber die Besatzung des Münchner Haus oben auf der Zugspitze war so unfreundlich, dass wir es nicht über uns gebracht haben, dort zu schlafen.
Der Aufstieg durch das Höllental ist spektakulär und nicht ganz ohne. Es geht durch eine wilde Klamm, Wälder, über zwei lange Klettersteige und einen kleinen Gletscher. Dazu ist es mit 2200 Höhenmetern auch für geübte Wanderer anstrengend genug. Was will man also mehr? Absolute Trittsicherheit und Schwindelfreiheit sind aber Voraussetzung! Gerade der Übergang vom Eis in den Klettersteig ist bei den aktuellen Wetterverhältnissen sehr heikel gewesen.

Wikipedia hat folgendes zur Zugspitze zu sagen:

Die Zugspitze wurde erstmals 1590 namentlich erwähnt. Im 19. Jahrhundert erwachte schließlich das Interesse an einer Erschließung des Massivs. Am 7. August 1807 startete die erste dokumentierte Expedition von Partenkirchen aus in Richtung Zugspitze: François Gabriel Graf von Bray, der Botaniker Kaspar Graf von Sternberg, Professor Charles François Duval, Generalmajor Reinhard Friedrich Freiherr von Werneck und zwölf Einheimische als Führer und Träger. Ziel der Expedition war es, den Verlauf sowie die Temperatur-Entwicklung der Partnach bis zu ihrer Quelle am westlichen Ende des Reintals zu erforschen, sowie die Botanik der Region zu erkunden. In Graf Brays Bericht der Expedition wird jedoch die Zugspitze, welche die Mannschaft in knapp vier Kilometern Entfernung gesehen haben muss, mit keinem Wort erwähnt.

Kaiser Franz-Joseph von Österreich schenkte die Zugspitze 1854 anlässlich seiner Hochzeit mit Elisabeth in Bayern, auch Sisi genannt, an Bayern.^[1]

Durch die starke Überbauung des Gipfels ist die ursprüngliche Struktur kaum mehr erkennbar. Der gegenüber dem Ostgipfel um einen Meter höhere Westgipfel wurde im Zweiten Weltkrieg weggesprengt. Der Mittelgipfel fiel 1931 dem Bau der Seilbahn vom Schneefernerhaus zum Gipfel zum Opfer. Identifizierbar ist noch der Ostgipfel mit dem goldenen Gipfelkreuz. Auf dem Bild „Zugspitzgipfel um 1900“ ist der Westgipfel, hinter dem Münchner Haus durch eine Signalstange gekennzeichnet, noch vorhanden.

Der Leutnant Josef Naus bestieg im Auftrag des Königlich Bairischen Topographischen Bureaus zusammen mit dem Messgehilfen Maier und dem Bergführer Johann Georg Deutschl am 27. August 1820 die Zugspitze. Damit gilt er als erster namentlich bekannter Besteiger des Westgipfels. Eine frühere Besteigung durch Einheimische ist aufgrund von Hinweisen auf historischem Kartenmaterial aus der Zeit um 1770 anzunehmen.

Luzern, 28.06.2008

Stephan Wiesner

064 - Learn to Speak German - Back in Switzerland

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:57:58 PDT

Hallo zusammen,

ich bin zurück in der Schweiz und in der neuen Wohnung eingezogen.

Heute erzähle ich daher erstmal ein wenig von meinem Sprachurlaub in Antigua, Guatemala, natürlich auf Deutsch.

Die Kurzfassung: Ich war vier Wochen in Antigua, zwei in Honduras zum Tauchen und dann noch mal zwei in Antigua, weiter Spanisch lernen.

Das obere Bild zeigt mein erstes Zimmer bei einer Gastfamilie in Antigua. Charm hat es gehabt, wenn es auch etwas eng war. Das untere Bild ist mein neues Daheim. Auch nicht viel grösser, nur habe ich jetzt etwas mehr Gepäck als nur einen Rucksack. . . Kleines Zimmer, Dusche auf dem Flur, da fühlt man sich wieder wie beim Militär - oder wie in einer Jugi (Jugendherberge).

Luzern, 13.06.2008

Stephan Wiesner

Problems with PayPal - Probleme mit Paypal

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:15:03 PDT

Hallo Freunde, hier eine kleine Geschichte zu PayPal. In Honduras auf Utila habe ich meine Tauchkurse im Utila Dive Center mit PayPal bezahlt. Sehr komfortabel. Dachte ich jedenfalls. Brauchte kein Bargeld mit mir rumschleppen, hatte einen guten Wechselkurs (und leider die ueblichen hohen PayPal Gebuehren).
Leider ist jetzt mein Konto gesperrt, weil PayPal denkt, es haette einen Missbrauch gegeben. Zu meinem Schutz, versteht sich. Leider habe ich aber von hier aus nicht die Moeglichkeit mich wieder freischalten zu lassen, da sie alle moeglichen Informationen, wie z.B. eine Bestaetigung vom Einwohnermeldeamt wollen.
Schlimm ist aber vor allem, dass sie nicht reagieren. Seit einer Woche versuche ich sie zu erreichen, aber sie reagieren nicht auf meine Mails. Ganz schlechter Kundendienst von PayPal! Die Tauchschule moechte natuerlich ihr Geld haben, aber ich habe es ja jetzt auch nicht mehr. Damn!

Ansonsten habe ich hier aber eine tolle Zeit und geniesse meine letzten beiden Wochen in Antigua. Morgen geht es fuer zwei Tage an den Pazifik, nach Monterrico...

I paid my scuba diving on Utila with PayPal. Seemed quite comfortable to me. Now they blocked my account, though, thinking that somebody hacked it. For my security. The bad thing is, though, that I can not reopen the account and they do not react to my mails. For a week now. The diving school of course wants it's money, which I do not have anymore. Very bad customer service from PayPal :-(

Otherwise I do have a great time, though and will travel for two days to the pacific tomorrow...
Stephan Wiesner
20.05.2008

Back in Antigua

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:15:30 PDT

I am back in Antigua for some more Spanish lessons. Though Utila is a beautiful island, it was too small for me and too much traffic, too much trash and I really could not relax there. On my way back I discovered Copan in Honduras. The ruins are quite impressive and the city is peaceful, cheap and quite. too bad I could not stay as I had already made arrangements in Antigua.
It is soo nice to be in mild temperatures again! And no mosquitos.
Nearly three weeks more to go...
16.05.2008
Stephan Wiesner

Scuba Diving on Utila

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 11 May 2008 13:25:32 PDT

I am currently on Utila (Honduras) with Utila Dive Center. Finished my Open Water certification yesterday and started my advanced today. Utila is a small island off the coast of Honduras. Wassertemperatur so um 28Grad, jeden Tag Sonne, Palmen, ich wollte schon immer mal in der Karibik Urlaub machen and here i am. . .

11.05.2008
Stephan

Save the Tortugas or go Scuba Diving on Atila?

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:18:31 PDT

This ist my last week in Antigua - meine letzte Woche in Antigua.
Donnerstag bis Sonntag bin ich im Land unterwegs: Tikal, Livingston, Rio Dulce, etc. und ab Montag geht es dann entweder nach Monterrico um die Schildkroeten dort zu retten oder weiter ins Karibik-Paradies in Honduras, um dort Scuba Diving, tauchen, zu lernen.Um Goethe zu zitieren "zwei Herzen schlagen, ach in meiner Brust" -)

Euch eine ganz tolle Zeit und einen lieben Gruss aus Antigua, Guatemala,
Stephan
29.04.2008

Hiking Acatenango

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:59:36 PDT

Last weekend I hiked the volcano (der Vulkan) Acatenango in Guatemala with O.X. Outdoor Excursions (http://www.guatemalavolcano.com/). The Acatenango is supposed to be the most difficult volcano in central america. However, I found it very easy. Technically that is. The hike (die Wanderung) in thin air with a big bagback (der Rucksack) is a different story, though . . .
There is a good trail (der Pfad) leading up to the top and you could hike it in sneakers (though I recommend hiking boots).

We slept at 13000 feets and had a perfect sunrise (der Sonnenaufgang). The view is fantastic and the guide from O. X., an adventure outfit from Antigua, really did a good job. He made quite an effort to get us comfortable and the trip was not expensive at all (79$ including food and equipment).

However: Most of us really suffered from the altitude (die Hoehenkrankheit). Going from 1500m to 4000m and sleeping there in only one day really does not make sense. So, if you are not used to the height, you might prefer the daytrip or do another volcano a few days before to get used to it...

One final tip: Bring plenty of water. O.X. provides excellent food, but the recomended 4.5 litres might not last on hot days...

A sad side note: While we watched the sunrise some teenagers stole three of our bagpacks. Imaging that: At 13000 feet some youngsters steal your empty bagback! As beautiful as Guatemala is, sometimes it can be, well, you know what I mean. The good thing is, that the police really made an effort to find the kids.

My new plan is that I will most likely spend two more weeks here working on my spanish. Afterwards I will travel on to Honduras to do a diving course (der Tauchkurs). Something I have never done before but really would like to try...

Greetings from Antigua,

Stephan

21.04.2008

Greetings from Antigua

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:05:47 PDT

Hi everybody. currently i am sitting in Antigua, Guatemala, trying to learn Spanish.
Though I will not post any audio lessons from here, I will try to tell you at least a little about what i do here. Just arrived yesterday, so currently I am still in jetlag-mode...
Trying to hike a volcano on the next weekend with one of the local guides, so if anybody has experience with that, please let me know!
Hasta pronto,
Stephan

063 - Learn to Speak German - Guatemala

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:15:08 PST

Sorry for the long time without a post, tons of things to do. I am currently planning a trip to Guatemala for 8 to 10 weeks, so this is a good opportunity to talk about the country. Furthermore I have canceled the contract for my apartement and still need a place to store my stuff and somewhere to sleep when I am back...

You can find out more about Guatemala at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala

Guatemala ist ein Staat in Zentralamerika, im Süden der Halbinsel Yucatán. Der Name Guatemala leitet sich vom toltekischen (Nahuatl-) Wort Cuauhtemallan ab, was soviel wie 'Erde der Bäume verrottet' bedeutet. Guatemala grenzt im Südosten an Honduras, im Süden an El Salvador, im Norden an Mexiko und im Osten an Belize. Guatemala hat zwei Küsten, im Osten einen schmalen Zugang zum Karibischen Meer und im Südwesten die Pazifikküste.

Der nordöstliche Teil, El Petén, ist Tiefland mit fast durchgehendem tropischen Regenwald. Im Zentrum Guatemalas liegt das Hochland mit Vulkanen bis zu 4.220 m Höhe. Hier ist auch einer der höchsten Vulkane Mittelamerikas zu finden, der Tajumulco. Mit seinen 4220 m, überragt er das Hochland von Guatemala.

Klima

Der schmale, flache und fruchtbare Küstenstreifen am Pazifik hat durchgehend feuchttropisches Klima.

Das Hochland ist von sehr unterschiedlichen Klimazonen geprägt. Wegen der Lage zwischen 1.300 und 1.800 Metern über dem Meer, herrscht fast das ganze Jahr über ein mildes Klima mit Tagestemperaturen zwischen 18 und 28 Grad Celsius. In höheren Lagen kann die Lufttemperatur vor allem im Januar und Februar stark sinken.

Das Hochland ist das kulturelle und bevölkerungsreichste Zentrum Guatemalas. In einem tiefergelegenen Teil dieser Hochlandregion liegt die heutige Hauptstadt Guatemala-Stadt.

Ballungsgebiete

Die wichtigsten Städte sind (Stand 1. Januar 2005): Guatemala-Stadt ca. 2,5 Mio. (inoffizielle Schätzungen gehen bereits von 5 Millionen Einwohnern aus), Mixco 297.039 Einwohner, Villa Nueva 218.294 Einwohner, Amatitlán 61.562 Einwohner und Chinautla 61.520 Einwohner. Im Weiteren Quetzaltenango 112.121 Einwohner, Escuintla 69.311 Einwohner, Cobán 59.428 Einwohner, Huehuetenango 28.500 Einwohner, sowie Antigua mit 20.600 Einwohnern.

Bevölkerung

59,4 % der Guatemalteken sind europäischer oder gemischt europäisch-indigener Abstammung. Diese Bevölkerungsgruppe wird lokal anders als in anderen Ländern Mittelamerikas als Ladinos bezeichnet. Der europäische Anteil ist überwiegend spanischer Herkunft. Weitere 40 % der Gesamtbevölkerung sind Indigene, meist aus den Völkergruppe der Maya. Der Rest der Bevölkerung ist asiatischer Abstammung oder zählt zu den Garifuna, an der Karibikküste lebenden Nachkommen der Kariben, von diesen unterworfener Arawak und entflohener und ursprünglich aus Afrika stammender Sklaven der Insel St. Vincent.

The picture is a prove that we do have bad weather from time to time as well -) Hope it will be better next weekend as I am planning to climb mount Wildhorn (10656 feet).

Stürmischen Gruss aus Luzern,
Stephan Wiesner

062 - Learn to Speak German - Hotel Reservationen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:24:39 PST

Making a reservation in a hotel in a foreign country can often be a little difficult, especially when making the reservation by telephone. This lesson will give you the necessary tools to achieve this daunting task. We already had this topic in lessons 024 and 025, so you might want to take a look at the archive as well.

The PDF (we have 8 pages today!) with the transcript, exercises, fotos, additional information, etc. Can be bought for only 49 Cents. It is in the same format as the PDF files from the last few sessions.

The picture shows the Graustock (8730 feet), which is a great mountain for a "Schneeschuhwanderung".

Lucerne, 04.02.2008
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

New Server - Might take a few days

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:44:09 PST

As www.archive.org is down again and was so repeatedly, I finally decided to go commercial. I have upgraded my private web server (already spending the money you donated me this month) and will offer new lessons from there. It might take a few days for everything to be set up, though, as we have Friday evening and I do not think that anything will happen on the weekend.
So please try again next week for the next lesson and (hopefully) faster downloads .-)

25.01.2008
Stephan

061 - Learn to Speak German - Beginner: Welcome to Switzerland

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:08:09 PST

Todays lesson is a beginners lesson, as the last poll indicated that about 70% of you are studying German for less than 3 years.
There is no PDF for todays lesson, but you can find a transcript of the text I read (and much more) at www.LuLu.com, you can also order it from Amazon, it might take a day or two longer to deliver, though.
If you like it, please buy the book or pay for the download of the Ebook-version and write a nice comment at LuLu or at Amazon.com and if enough of you buy it, I will continue the series and start on writing book number two .-)

Remember that there is a blog-page where I try to post something German every day:
http://learn-german-blog.blogspot.com/

Finally todays picture shows one of the many shop windows we see around the city at the moment, claiming that everything is very cheap at the moment (Ausverkauf).

Lucerne, 25.01.2008
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

060 - Learn to Speak German - Arzt und Fragen (in Vergangenheit)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:00:16 PST

Today we talk about a very important topic: How to talk to a doctor. You will learn how to make an appointment and how to describe different symptoms.

Lesson 050 was about this topic as well, so you might want to check there for further exercise.

There are two Podcasts concerning the PDF transcript for today: Lessons 059 and 060.

Todays picture shows the river Reuss with the Nölliturm in Lucerne

Lucerne, 18.01.2008
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

059 - Learn to Speak German - Beim Zahnarzt

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:20:44 PST

Todays German lesson is about how to make an appointment with a dentist. We will hear a telephone interview, then I will go to the dentist and she is going to examine me and give me a root canal treatment. Ouch!

Lucerne, 13.01.2008
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

058 - Learn to Speak German - Mehr Lebensmittel und das Perfekt

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 11:50:12 PST

Last Session was about food related topics and I want to continue with this in order to deepen your knowledge of food related vocabulary. And it is time to take a look at some grammar. The “Perfekt”, the “vollendete Gegenwart” is a good starting point.

We are currently on place 18 of the American Top 25 (Education) on iTunes.

If you like the podcast, why don't you vote for it on iTunes by following this link.
The picture was taken on the 01.01.2008 on "Der Hengst" in the area called Entlebuch, central Switzerland.

Lucerne, 08.01.2008
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

058 - German-Podcast.de - Mehr Lebensmittel und das Perfekt (PDF)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:52:49 PST

Weiter geht es mit dem Lernen von Vokabeln rund um Lebensmittel. Dazu ein klein wenig Grammatik: Das Perfekt wird vorgestellt.

Ausserdem gibt es einen Blog mit täglichen Übungen, Vokabeln oder sonstigen Überraschungen:
http://learn-german-blog.blogspot.com/

Lucerne, 06.01.2008
Stephan Wiesner
http://german-podcast.blogspot.com

057 - Learn to Speak German - Stephan macht einen Salat (Video)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 04:25:31 PST

Hallo liebe Freunde, im Rahmen unserer Lebensmittel-Serie zeige ich euch heute mal in einem kleinen Video, wie ich einen Salat mache. Dabei tauchen viele der Vokabeln der letzten Episode wieder auf.
Vorsicht, die Datei ist 38MB gross.

Viel Spass und ...
... Film ab,
Stephan

056 - Learn to Speak German - Lebensmittel

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:39:04 PST

In today's lesson we will learn the names of some “Lebensmittel” taken from my kitchen.
We start of course with Käse (cheese). Emmentaler is probably the most famous Swiss cheese.
There is actually an area called “Emmental” which is very lovely. Looks kind of like the green hills I always imagined the hobbits from Lord of the Rings live in .-)

Remember that there is a PDF containing the transcript and pictures of this lessen.
Euch ein schönes neues Jahr, viel Erfolg und natürlich viel Spass beim Deutsch lernen :-)
Lucerne, 02.01.2008
Stephan Wiesner

055 - Learn to Speak German - Sich Vorstellen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:23:38 PST

In today's lesson we will talk about different ways to introduce oneself. Different names, jobs and hometowns provide a good opportunity to learn some new words.Furthermore a big Dankeschön an D'Arcy for the large donation via PayPal.
If you want to support me, just follow this link, enter the amount of money you want to donate and send it off .-)
Luzern, 29.12.2007
Stephan Wiesner

056 - Learn to Speak German - Lebensmittel (PDF)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:49:26 PST

Currently www.archive.org where I host my audio files does not allow to upload (and not all downloads work) any files. Hope they will fix it despite the new year weekend. Please come back and try again later .-(

Anyway, here is the PDF for the current German lesson, containing vocabulary and additional information about food.

And here is an interesting page: You can download sample tests for German language certification. Why not try one of those and see how fit you already are?
http://www.telc.net

Lucerne, 30.12.2007
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

055 - Learn to Speak German - Sich Vorstellen (PDF)

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 02:41:20 PST

Here is the PDF file for the current learn German lesson, containing the transcript, vocabulary and extras.

054 - Learn to Speak German - Vocabulary Drill

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 07:09:26 PST

This is a German vocabulary drill unit. We will repeat the vocabulary of the last few sessions. For this, I will say the English word, give you time to speak the German translation and then I will give the correct answer, giving you time to repeat it once more. Feel free to listen repeatedly to this lesson to "drill" the words.
Todays pictures shows my brother Michael in the garden of my parents. He is playing with a remote controled airplane, one of his Christmas presents. Give us men a toy that moves and makes noise and we turn back into children at once .-)

gesund = healthy
der Zauberer = wizard
der Furz = fart
der Arzt/die Ärztin = doctor
die Krankenschwester = nurse
die Sprechstundenhilfe = receptionist
das Wartezimmer = waiting room
die Zeitschrift = magazine
die Krankheit = illness
die Grippe = flu
die Erkältung = common cold
der Schnupfen = common cold
der Husten = cough
das Halsweh = sore throat
die Halsschmerzen = sore throat
untersuchen = to examine
ausziehen = to undress
der Kürbis = pumpkin
das Grossraumbüro = open-plan office, cube farm
das Papier = paper
der Schreibtisch = desk
der Computer = computer
die Tastatur = keyboard
der Monitor = screen
die Maus = mouse
der Bleistift = pencil
die Sitzung = meeting
das Telefon = telephone
der Schrank = locker
der Stuhl = chair
fluchen = to swear
die Rolltreppe = moving stairs
der Fahrstuhl = elevator

Luzern, 26.12.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 053 - Martin Luther

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:54:46 PST

Allen from Wisconsin asked me about a catholic version of the bible. Though I do not know about that his mail got me thinking about Luther. Luthers translation of the bible into German lead to one German "Hochdeutsch" from the many dialects. Maybe I should tell that to some of my Swiss friends, who still talk in dialect .-)

Here is one famous quote from that time:
"Wenn das Geld im Kasten klingt, die Seele aus dem Fegefeuer springt. "
It means that on could by letters of absolution. Those made the church rich and Luther mad, so he started his famous "95 Thesen". I am not going into religious details about Luthers work, but will concentrate on his translation work here.

Luther translated the new testament during his time on the Wartburg 1521-22 and later the old testament. By 1525 a third of those Germans that could read owned a copy of his bible. He used the "Ostmitteldeutsch" of his hometown. This became what is now known as "Hochdeutsch".
Luther is famous for his "volksnahe Sprache" and "vulgäre Ausdrücke" like:
"Aus einem glücklichen Arsch kommt ein fröhlicher Furz."
"Ein Rausch ist zu ertragen, die Trunkenheit aber nicht."
"Anstrengungen machen gesund und stark."

Learn to Speak German - 052 - Der Zauberlehrling by Goethe

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:04:01 PST

You really need to know about Goethe if you plan to come to Germany and not appear to be an uneducated person. So I will read on of his most famous poems "Der Zauberlehrling" for you.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, geadelt 1782 (* 28. August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main; † 22. März 1832 in Weimar; auch Göthe), ist als Dichter, Dramatiker, Theaterleiter, Naturwissenschaftler, Kunsttheoretiker und Staatsmann der bekannteste Vertreter der Weimarer Klassik. Sein Werk umfasst Gedichte, Dramen und Prosa-Literatur, aber auch naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Er gilt als bedeutendster deutscher Dichter und ist eine herausragende Persönlichkeit der Weltliteratur.
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe]

As a kid we had to learn some of his poems (Der Zauberlehrling und der Erlkönig) by heart and read "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers". As a kid we hated him for that. As a grown up I came to really like some of his poems, especially "Der Schatzgräber".

The Zauberlehrling is about the apprentice of a wizard. His master went away and now he wants to do some magic (seine Worte merkt ich und den Brauch...). It works (seht er läuft zum Wasser...) at the beginning. Then he realizes that he forgot how to end the spell (ach ich merk es, wehe wehe, hab ich doch das Wort vergessen...). Finally he begs his master to return and end the spell, which he does (in die Ecke Besen...)

Luzern, 16.12.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 051 - der Advent

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:49:50 PST

Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt.
Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier -
dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür.
[Kinder Reim]

Es ist Adventszeit, Advent season, a good time to spend with your family, to look back to the things that happened during the year and ahead into the next one.
This is especially true for me, as I am looking for a new job again. Things really did not work out with the team and the job was not what I expected and, ja, a lot of reasons. Anyway, Test Managers are asked at the moment, so it should be possible to find something.

Ursprünglich entsprach der Begriff Advent dem griechischen Begriff epiphaneia (Erscheinung, siehe Epiphanias) und bedeutet die Ankunft, Anwesenheit, Besuch eines Amtsträgers, insbesondere die Ankunft von Königen oder Kaisern. Es konnte aber auch die Ankunft der Gottheit im Tempel ausdrücken. Dieses Wort übernahmen nun die Christen, um ihre Beziehung zu Jesus Christus, dem Sohn Gottes auszusagen.

Die Adventszeit war ursprünglich eine Fastenzeit, die die Alte Kirche auf die Tage zwischen dem 11. November und dem ursprünglichen Weihnachtstermin, dem Erscheinungsfest am 6. Januar festlegte. Diese acht Wochen ergeben abzüglich der fastenfreien Sonn- und Samstage insgesamt vierzig Tage.

Die Adventszeit geht zurück auf das 7. Jahrhundert. In der römischen Kirche des Westens gab es zunächst zwischen 4 und 6 Adventssonntage, bis Papst Gregor der Große vier Adventssonntage festlegte; die rechtsverbindliche Regelung erfolgte erst 1570 durch Papst Pius V. Im ambrosianischen Ritus hat sich die sechswöchige Adventszeit bis heute gehalten. [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent]

der Adventskranz = Advent wreath

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 050 - Beim Arzt

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:22:16 PST

Last weekend I lay in bed with a cold. So this weekend is a good time to talk about illnesses and how to get an appointment at the doctor in Germany and Switzerland.

der Arzt/die Ärztin = doctor
die Krankenschwester = nurse
die Sprechstundenhilfe = receptionist
das Wartezimmer = waiting room
die Zeitschrift = magazine
die Krankheit = illness
die Grippe = flu
die Erkältung = common cold
der Schnupfen = common cold
der Husten = cough
das Halsweh = sore throat
die Halsschmerzen = sore throat
untersuchen = to examine
ausziehen = to undress

Lucerne, 25.11.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 049 - In the Office

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:07:03 PST

Geschichten und Vokabeln rund aus dem Leben im Grossraumbüro sind heute an der Reihe...
der Kürbis = pumpkin
das Grossraumbüro = open-plan office, cube farm
das Papier = paper
der Schreibtisch = desk
der Computer = computer
die Tastatur = keyboard
der Monitor = screen
die Maus = mouse
der Bleistift = pencil
die Sitzung = meeting
das Telefon = telephone
der Schrank = locker
der Stuhl = chair
fluchen = to swear
die Rolltreppe = moving stairs
der Fahrstuhl = elevator

Lucerne, 11.11.2007
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Working the weekend

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:34:45 PST

I have been working the last weekend. End of year is getting closer and a lot of projects need to be finished before Christmas, so the stress is building. I actually love that .-)
Sorry that I did not have time to make a lesson.
The good news is that I found a room where I can sleep for a few weeks. In a WG (Wohngemeinschaft) with a Swiss nurse. That takes a lot of pressure from me...

05.11.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 048 -Jahreszeiten

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 00:07:08 PDT

Autumn is about to end. The trees start to seriously drop their leaves and sad and gray November is approaching. Today we will therefore sit down with a cup of tea and some Spekulatius cakes (my favorite) and talk about seasons.
Here you see Luzern as we see it at the moment...

die Jahreszeit - season
der Frühling - spring
der Sommer - summer
der Herbst - autumn
der Winter - winter
der Schnee - snow
die Blätter - leaves
die Sonne - sun
der Regen - rain
der Sturm - storm
die Schneekanone - snowgun

This picture is taken from half way up mount Pilatus, looking towards the mountain called die Rigi.

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 047 - Sardinien und neu in Zürich

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 08:49:37 PDT

Hallo Freunde, da bin ich jetzt also vom Strand in Sardinien direkt ins Büro der Credit Suisse. Kravatte statt Badelatschen. What a difference!
Heute erzähle ich also ein wenig, wie es mir die letzten Wochen ergangen ist, von Klettern in Finale Ligure, Highlights des Kletterns auf Sardinien, was für eine komische Team Zusammensetzung ich habe und warum ich mal wieder im Hotel "wohne". Gespickt mit ein paar Vokabeln, versteht sich...
der Strand - beach
die Fähre - ferry
das Klettern - climbing
das Eis - ice cream
die Nuss - nut
die Ferienwohnung - holiday flat
kochen - to cook
der Stein - stone
trocken - dry
die Strassenbahn (die Tram) - tram
die kündigungsfrist - notice period
rennen - to run
das Training - training
Müsliriegel -? (e.g. power bar)
I let my other canon camera drop from about 10m, by the way, so it really was a very expensive holiday. On the first day, no less...

Unsere Unterkunft in Finale. Hey, es sieht schlimmer aus als es ist, äh, well, at least it was quiet out there...

Ich liebe solche Kletterrouten: 6a+, überhängend, grosse Griffe, 25m lang. Was will ich mehr? .-)4 people and 8 back packs really make this room crowded...
Der Strand von Cala Luna ist angeblich einer der schönsten in Europa...
Lucerne, 14.10.2007
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Starting in Zürich

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:56:27 PDT

Back from two weeks of climbing in Italy, I will start my new job with Credit Suisse in Zürich tomorrow. And there are only two and a half weeks left till the marathon in Lucerne, so I will have to do a lot of running in the next weeks.
So, sorry, still no new lesson from here . . .

Stephan

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 046 - France: Gorge de la Jonte

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:39:46 PDT

The Gorge de la Jonte is a canyon in the south of France (Le Midi). The Jonte itself is a 38km long river. I have been on holiday there last week, climbing of course, and it really is a fantastic landscape. You can find out more here: http://www.pecheaveyron.com/aveyron_sud/jonte.php (en francais).
There are several small and very beautiful villages close to the river, adding to the atmosphere. Everything looks surprisingly clean and freshly renovated. You can go hiking, biking, climbing, rafting there, enjoy the local wine and the baguettes. The picture shows me still laughing. That was before we climbed the pillar behind me. During that climb I did not laugh at all, as we say "mir ist das Lachen vergangen" .-)
I booked the trip with Höhenfieber and the chose fantastic accommodations. We slept in a renovated house in the ruins of an castle from around the year 1000. Up on a hill the next house was more than a km away. Perfect to relax and enjoy the sunsets.

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 045 - Transalp

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:29:36 PDT

Last week I rode my MTB across the Alps: Transalp. With 10 other "Biker" on a trip organized by http://www.dav-summit-club.de/. We started at the Bodensee in the north of Switzerland and rode across the San Bernardino pass to Locarno.
6 days of "biken" with a typical "Höhenprofil" looking like this:

Each night we slept in a different hotel in a different town (Appenzell, Chur, San Bernardino, etc.).

The picture shows us standing above the Rhein, looking down at Lichtenstein and Vaduz.
For me this was the first time that I did such an activity with Germans, so I will tell you a little about cultural differences that became obvious...
The bad news is that I dropped my new Canon 400D into a canyon, destroying it and my most expensive lens .-( Good that I still have my Sony R1, a great camera with which I took many of my best fotos. Still, the Canon will have to be replaced when I find my new job and get my first salary...

Lucerne, 26.08.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 044 - The Book and about finding a Job

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:40:48 PDT

We have two topics today:
1) I finished the book. That is, the PDF version. It takes several weeks to get an ISBN and to publish the printed version.
2) You will learn something about finding a job in Switzerland.

The book can be bought and read/printed at LuLu. Later it will be available at Amazon as well. A preview is available and there is a homepage for the series. You know that I am not a native English speaker, but I hope that there are not too many mistakes in it. The German parts should be correct; I have made a teacher proof read it :-)

If you are looking for a job in Switzerland, you might want to take a look at Monster. I usually find my jobs with head hunters, though. I am lucky because I work in software development and there are so many jobs available in this area at the moment. We have full employment here in Switzerland, so there are many opportunities, especially in IT and health care.

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 043 - Tiere der Schweiz

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:53:48 PDT

Many animals live in the beautiful nature of Switzerland. Here are some of them:
Der Alpensalamander

Der Steinbock

Der Schwan
Die Ente
Die Eidechse
Die Dohle
Can anybody recommend a good trekking trip into a dessert (Wüste) that I could do in September? I am thinking about 2 to 3 weeks and it needs to be a little bit tough or really special. Not the usual tour in a jeep...

I am going to make a Transalp tour (cross the Alps on my bike). Therefore I am training very hard at the moment. Went biking for 85km (nearly 1000m uphill) today. And that was reason enough to eat a full pound of roast potatoes (Bratkartoffeln, Rösties) with eggs and cheese. Hmh, that will refill my energy cells over night like nothing else .-)

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 042 - Learn German with a story Part Two

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:55:40 PDT

I have a dream about writing books - and live of it.
Today I present some vocabulary from the book to learn German I am working on and you get the first two chapters for free.

The summer finally returned to Switzerland, so I will spend the afternoon lying at Lake Lucerne reading Harry Potter...

Here is a picture of some Swiss money.
http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/
Lucerne, 04.08.2007
by Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 041 - Learn German with a story

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:06:30 PDT

I prepared a little story to help you build your vocabulary. You can download it here:
http://www.testmanager.info/Preview_Learn_German_with_a_Story.pdf
Please let me know what you think about that and if you think that kind of story helpful to you. You might want to take a look back at episode 2, which was similar.

Today is the first of August. That is the national holiday of Switzerland.

Am 1. August wird in der ganzen Schweiz der Entstehnung der Eidgenossenschaft gedacht. Die Eidgenossenschaft geht, wie es der Name schon vermuten lässt, auf einen Schwur zurück. Jedenfalls will es die Legende so. Im Jahre 1291 nach Christus trafen sich 3 Vertreter der 3 Waldstätten Uri, Schwyz und Unterwalden auf der Rütliwiese um ein Verteidigungsbündnis gegen die Österreicher und andere Feinde zu treffen. Um das Bündnis zu besiegeln, schworen sie den "Rütlischwur", den heute jedes Kind in der Schweiz kennt.
[http://www.tell.ch/schweiz/1august.htm]
The picture above is taken above the town Kandersteg, with a view on lake Oeschinensee.

http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/
Lucerne, 01.08.2007
by Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 040 - Freiburg

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:32:04 PDT

We have Franziska from Freiburg here and she tells you what she loves about the town.

Freiburg (frz. Fribourg [fʀiˈbuʀ]) ist der Hauptort des Schweizer Kantons Freiburg und des District de la Sarine (deutsch Saanebezirk). Im internationalen deutschen Sprachgebrauch wird meist der Zusatz Freiburg im Üechtland verwendet, um Verwechslung mit Freiburg im Breisgau vorzubeugen.

Weil das Üechtland jedoch eine veraltete Landschaftsbezeichnung darstellt, schreibt und spricht man in der Deutschschweiz in den meisten Fällen lediglich von Freiburg ohne Namenszusatz (schweizerdeutsch ausgesprochen als [fribʊrg]).

We went hiking on mount Pilatus yesterday and met some Steinböcke. You can see on the foto that we got as close as maybe 5m to them.

Lucerne, 22.07.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 039 - Bärentrek und Smalltalk

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:25:21 PDT

Wandern auf dem Bärentrek
I went hiking on the famous Bärentrek last weekend. The full tour lasts 7 days, but we did only two of those from Gimmelwals (Lauterbrunnen) to Rosenlaui (Meiringen). You can see a map and some pictures on the homepage.
Edith and I used the evening to record some smalltalk, like you might encounter in a bed and breakfast or a mountain hotel like the one we stayed in.
The tour passed some of the most famous Mountains of Switzerland like the famous trio Eiger, Mönch und Jungfrau. The Schreckhorn, Wetterhorn, Engelhörner and many more. The landscape was indescribable (unbeschreiblich).

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 038 - Weather

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 11:30:36 PDT

We have had a terrible thunderstorm in the last week here in Switzerland so today I will talk about the weather. The first picture shows a climber with perfect weather last sunday in the morning. The sky is blue: Perfektes Wetter mit blauem Himmel.
Later we got some dark clouds, though. Es zogen dunkle Wolken auf. And in the late afternoon it started to rain and we got a thunderstorm. Am späten Nachmittag fing es an zu regnen und wir bekamen ein Gewitter. Auf dem Bild sieht man meinen Balkon und wie man sieht regnet und hagelt es fürchterlich...

You can find a good weather report on the Meteo homepage.

And the last picture shows the Google Earth view from the area where I went climbing with the Bergführer Markus Burch.

Lucerne, 23.06.2007
Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 037 - Familie, mein Bruder Micha und der Pilatus

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:51:11 PDT

My brother Michael visited me last weekend. He works as a cook on a passenger ship and has never really been in the mountains before. He told me that he wanted to know what I found here in Switzerland that made me stay for so long (besides my ex girlfriend of course).
So, I showed it to him...
This is a good opportunity to talk about "family words", so I will teach you words like Vater and Mutter.

On the pictures on the homepage you can see us starting by having fun on the long sledge trail on the way up mount Pilatus next to Lucerne.
The second pictures shows Michael at our first rest. We were there together with Edith and Michael told us "das habe ich mir irgendwie anders vorgestellt". Less exhausting, I suppose.
It had rained for several days and we had Hochnebel (high fog) and climbed for three hours with a visibility of no more than 20 to 30 meters. Then we broke through the fog and the view was magnificent. I simply can't describe how magic that moment is. How special the atmosphere is in the zone where the fog stops, when you can see for a moment and then everything disappears again.

Finally we reached the top of mount Pilatus (7000 feet) and made a lunch break. We even got a sunburn there.
The last picture shows the view from top, looking at the Swiss Alps.

Interested in the marathon in Lucerne (28.10.2007)? Here is the homepage.

http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/
Lucerne, 08.06.2007
by Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 036 - Interlaken und "werden"

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Wed, 30 May 2007 10:38:59 PDT

Missy from Washington asked me about "werden" and I will say a few words about the town Interlaken.
You can find some very nice pictures from Interlaken here.
I spend some time there with Berg und Tal to go climbing and to learn some Yoga from a nice Yoga teacher from www.prana-yoga.ch.
We slept in the hotel Carlton Europe. It was nice and very clean, the food was fantastic and the personal extremely friendly. And all for a fair price. It is right next to the train station, by the way.
http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/
Lucerne, 30.05.2007
by Stephan Wiesner

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 035 - Pfingsten und Sauerkraut

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 27 May 2007 05:01:23 PDT

Welcome to German-Podcast.de. This Podcast will teach you German.
I am told that may Americans see us German as always eating Sauerkraut. I will have to say something about this rumour. And as we have Pfingsten today I will explain something about that custom.
This is an advanced lesson.

See http://german-podcast.blogspot.com for the corresponding Webpage. There is an archive on the right side where you can find all old lessons.

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 034 - Learn German

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 27 May 2007 02:43:03 PDT

The most basic lesson I can think of and some information about the free vocabulary learn program VociTeach (http://vociteach.sourceforge.net/).

I created a password protected directory where I store PDF transcripts and a start vocabulary for VociTeach. If you pay me just 2$ using PayPal you will get access to it until the 25.06.2007. The audio podcast will stay free, of course and this is just intended as an experiment. Let's see what happens...
Those of you who have already payed me some money, please contact me per mail and I will send you the password.

Lucerne, 5.05.2007
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 033 - Brötchen und andere Fragen

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Sun, 27 May 2007 02:44:22 PDT

Today I will answer some of your questions, like how to pronounce Brötchen and that all Swiss eat Müsli for breakfast. On the picture you can see what I normally eat for breakfast.
You can find all you want to know about Brötchen at Wikipedia.de.
When asked about his breakfast Toby, a good friend from me, said "brötchen, müsli, böse kellogs oder böse brötchen", he does a lot of sports, too, though.

My podcast helps you? Why not support me and donate some dollars, euros, or whatever with PayPal? Its simple, safe and helps me to pay for my equipment.

Lucerne, 15.05.2007
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Learn to Speak German - Lesson 032 - Climbing in Ardeche

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Tue, 15 May 2007 21:59:24 PDT

Hallo liebe Freunde,
Eins lasst euch gesagt sein: Esst kein Fleisch in Frankreich!
Das spart euch Kummer und Euros. Auch wenn der Garcon fragt, ob ihr das Fleisch gut durch haben wollt, das meint er nicht so. Ein Steak muss noch tropfen (to drip, in this case means that the meat was very bloddy), dafür darf es dann aber beliebig zäh (tough meat) sein...

Wer beim Italiener Pasta mit Lachs (salmon) bestellt, der darf sich nicht wundern, wenn er das auch bekommt: Einen Topf weicher Nudeln, darauf ein Stück Butter und eine Scheibe Lachs. Hmh.
Und nicht wundern, wenn beim Italiener in Frankreich Salat und Schinken ausgehen oder die Pizza schwarz wird, das sind schliesslich die schönsten Urlaubserinnerungen (holiday memories). Ich hoffe nur, die haben uns für Holländer gehalten und nicht für Deutsche, so laut wie wir waren und so doll wie wir am Essen rumgemeckert haben. Hey, so eine kalte Pizza, das ist doch kein Beinbruch! Man, waren wir froh, als wir im Adler in Meiringen endlich wieder gute Schweizer Küche geniessen konnten!

Aber ich beginne am Ende. Zurück also zum Anfang: Eine Woche Klettern in Südfrankreich war angesagt und die Herberge war zwar nicht sehr sauber, aber so richtig im Grünen gelegen und urgemütlich (very homey). Leider gab es allerdings nur vegetarisches (vegetarian) aus dem eigenen Garten. Wir lernten die nächsten Tage allerdings, das dies wahrscheinlich ein Glücksfall war, denn gutes Fleisch fanden wir wie oben bereits erwähnt nirgends.

Das Klettern war super, so ein 35m Riss (fissure? crack?) 6b, ist zwar nicht das, was ich unter "Warmklettertag" verstanden hätte, aber dran vorbeigehen konnten wir ja auch schlecht... Leider hatten wir ab Mittwoch Regen und so sind wir zurück in die Heimat geflüchtet und in Meiringen noch an die Wände und die Halle gegangen. Zu Hause ist es halt doch am schönsten .-) Die Gruppe war super und so haben wir viel gelacht, Black Stories gespielt und überhaupt eine schöne Zeit gehabt. Im Anhang sieht man einen kleinen Eindruck von der wirklich grünen Gegend. Mit dem Kanu (canoe) muss das der absolute Hammer sein, zum Klettern lohnt es sich aber nicht hin zu fahren... Wie üblich hätten es ruhig ein paar Tage mehr "einfach im jetzt leben" sein können, aber bei euch ist es ja auch schön und bei dem Wetter keine Schande ins Büro zu gehen...

Remember that you can find all old lessons on the homepage (links are on the right side):
http://german-podcast.blogspot.com/

Lucerne, 07.05.2007
Stephan Wiesner
stephan@german-podcast.de

Climbing in Ardeche / Klettern in Ardeche

stephan@german-podcast.de (Stephan Wiesner) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:54:29 PDT

I will drive to Ardeche for a week with Berg und Tal and go climbing, so sorry no podcast this weekend.
The area is famous for its outdoor sport offerings. You can see it on Google maps. Wikipedia has articles about it and here is the tourism guide. This is the "Herberge" where we are going to sleep (french only).

I am really looking forward to it and if I come back "in einem Stück" (in one piece), as we say, you will hopefully get to see some very nice pictures next week.
Also wünscht mir Hals- und Beinbruch (Break a leg)!
Stephan