branches in the background left branches in the background right
Language and cultural guide: German

Language and cultural guide: German

Language experts agree that language learning is most effective when language and culture are linked. The Polyglots apps aim to spark children’s interest in language and culture through play. This guide provides some general information about German language and culture that may be of interest to you and may extend children’s learning.

About German

German is an official language of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Luxembourg and South Tyrol in Italy. It is also used as an official regional or auxiliary language in a number of other countries in Europe, and in Namibia in Africa. German is one of the official languages of the European Union. German, or one of its dialects, is spoken by communities in many countries around the world, including Australia.

Language

German and English both come from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family so they have some similarities. German is a largely phonetic language with many of the same sounds as English, and the same Roman alphabet. Like English, it has 26 letters, but there are four extra ones: three vowels with dots called ‘umlauts’ above them (ä, ö, ü) and the letter ß, called ‘Eszett’ or ‘scharfes S’, which also carries the ‘s’ sound.

In German, all nouns are capitalised.

German is a gendered language. Nouns have a gender – masculine, feminine or neuter, for example, ‘die Banane’ (feminine), ‘der Apfel’ (masculine) or ‘das Gras’ (neuter).

In German, many words change their form or add different endings depending on whether the word is the subject or an object of the sentence. This is known as the case system and each noun, pronoun, and article has four cases.

Culture

Germany has a rich culture with a strong tradition in the arts, architecture, design, literature, philosophy and music.

A significant percentage of Germans are Christians with about half of these followers of Roman Catholicism and the other half of Protestantism.

A number of other religions are practised. In Austria, the majority of the population identify as Roman Catholic.

Politeness and customs

In German-speaking countries, depending on the time of day, you may say hello/good day (‘Guten Tag’), good morning (‘Guten Morgen’), good afternoon/ good evening (‘Guten Abend’), and shake hands when you meet or leave someone. Close friends and family may give a kiss on the cheek or embrace.

Young people may say ‘Hallo!’ to their peers for ‘Hi!’ and ‘Tschüss!’ for ‘Bye!’ However, with their elders they mostly use greetings such as ‘Guten Tag!’ and the more formal goodbye ‘Auf Wiedersehen!’

When you first meet someone, it’s polite to use the formal address (‘Sie’) until asked to use the familiar form (‘du’), unless they are a child, friends or family.

Similarly, Germans tend to address those they don’t know well by their last name unless they are invited to do otherwise. This practice is evolving, however, as social-media-savvy young people align more with the informal greetings and forms of address of young people globally.

Culture in the Polyglots apps

As children play with the apps, they can discover fun and intriguing German cultural references, such as a dachshund, a ladybird, red currants, or a tuba. You can learn more about the cultural references in the App toolkit on the ELLA website.

Interesting topics

Animals

Some animals of Germany include:

·        chamois, ibex, deer, wildcats, lynx, foxes, wild boar, hedgehogs, weasels, polecats, martens, beavers, badgers and otters

·        birds such as owls, eagles, pelicans, storks and herons, and many species of migratory birds

·        sea animals such as porpoises, seals and turtles.

Some of these animals are also found in other German-speaking countries in Europe.

Arts

Germany is rich in the arts, including visual arts, theatre, music, architecture, design and literature.

·        Famous German visual artists include the Renaissance printmaker Albrecht Dürer and painter Hans Holbein the Younger; the Romantic landscape painter, Casper David Friedrich; members of the Expressionist art groups Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter; and other artists such as Paul Klee, Max Ernst and Käthe Kollwitz.

·        The Bauhaus was a school of arts that existed from 1919–1933 and had a huge influence on design, architecture and applied arts.

·        Famous classical composers from Germany and Austria include Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig von Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert and Richard Wagner.

·        Grimm’s Fairy Tales were collected and first published by the Brothers Grimm (Jakob and Wilhelm) in 1812. Many of the stories, such as, ‘Snow White’, ‘Rapunzel’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Cinderella’, have been turned into animated children’s classics, but the original stories are not so family-friendly.

·        Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is considered the greatest German literary figure of the modern era and is often referred to as ‘Germany’s Shakespeare’. His contemporary Friedrich Schiller was also a prominent German dramatist, poet and literary theorist, despite his relatively short life.

Sports

·        Soccer is the most popular sport in Germany and the national team has won the World Cup four times. Other sports that many people like are golf, ice hockey, basketball, handball and motor sports.

·        Skiing and snowboarding are very popular activities in the Alps in winter.

·        With around 200,000 kilometres of trails in Germany, hiking is a popular summer activity.

Food

German people traditionally eat breakfast; their main meal in the middle of the day as a family and shared; and a smaller dinner consisting primarily of bread, cheese and cold meats. With changing work patterns, this has shifted more to having the main meal in the evening. There are many different regional variations in German cuisine and some dishes are shared with neighbouring German-speaking countries.

·        Families and friends often gather together in the afternoon for coffee and cake (‘Kaffee und Kuchen’).

·        Bread is a very important part of German cuisine and there are hundreds of different types. Dark rye-flour breads are popular.

·        Germany is one of the top European Union meat producers, particularly of pork, which is the most frequently consumed meat product in Germany today. Germany is the world’s leading producer of Wurst (cold cuts and sausages).

·        Well-known German dishes include Bratwurst, Sauerkraut and Schnitzel.

·        There are many delicious German and Austrian pastries, cakes and desserts, such as Schnecken, Berliner Pfannkuchen, Zwetschgenkuchen, Schwarzwälderkirschtorte, Bienenstich, Stollen and Apfelstrudel.

Note: This document contains content that has been gathered through independent research and consultation with subject matter experts. The figures and information included in this document should be reviewed for accuracy over time.

Footnotes

ELLA is funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment and is managed by Education Services Australia. © 2021 Commonwealth of Australia, unless otherwise indicated. This material, other than Commonwealth trade marks in The Polyglots characters and The Polyglots logo, may be used in accordance with the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 licence, unless otherwise indicated.

Education Services Australia logo