Near and Next to --- In der Naehe von & neben

Germlish = I live in the near of the train station.

What you want to say: I live near the train station.

in der Naehe von = near


Germlish = Biberach is next to Ulm.

What you want to say: Biberach is near Ulm.

neben = next to

Ich auch = Me too

 Germlish = I too  

What you want to say: Me too


 Note:  I too is sometimes grammatically correct, it's just not common. So, use me too.

*English comes from German. Yep, they are cousins. That's why English is a piece of cake

Did you know that English comes from German i.e. they are cousins. It's true.

There are many similarities between German and English - think of word pairs such as Schuh and shoe. 'Sch' in German is the same as 'sh' in English. When you consider language specific differences in spelling, you can very often work out the meaning i.e. you are sometimes dealing with True Friends e.g. Englisch & English, Schuh & shoe, Busch &bush, bringen & bring, etc. The sound 'ou' in English, is often represented by 'au' in German, so Haus means house.  'C' usually has the equivalent 'k' in German, therefore Kaktus is cactus, and Musik is music, and if you remove the infinitive endings from the German verbs finden and kommen, for example, you see that they are easily recognizable as  find and come. 

HOWEVER 

Some words that look and sound the same or similar in German and English may not have the same meaning. Yes. I am talking about False Friends. 

 A few examples:

German	English
Gift	poison
Kind	child
Police	insurance policy
Taste	button or key (on a machine)
Wand	wall
Mist	dung, manure, or nonsense, rubbish
Brand	fire
Rock	skirt
Ratio	reason
aktuell	current

 Chef           cook
 Milliarde     billion
 Büro           office
 defekt         defective

In the end, English is a piece of cake!

More False Friends/Falsche Freunde Video

Bitte nicht knicken ---- Do not bend: mailing the old fashion way

Sending something the old fashion way i.e. by mail/post or 'snail mail.'
Email is not mail, it's email i.e. electronic mail

Dieser Satz klingt schoen: Bitte nicht knicken

This sentence in English = Do not bend

Abwesenheitsnotiz - Out of Office Autoreply Message and the word THE

Germlish = I am out of office until October 20...

What you want to write: I am out of the office until October 20 ...

Two definitions of office

1. office: a position of authority and responsibility in a government or other organization.

Ex: Bush is now out of office. Merkel will soon be out of office.

2. office: a room or part of a building in which people work, especially sitting at tables with computers, telephones, etc., usually as a part of a business or other organization.

Ex: I am currently out of the office…

The standard usage in both British and American English is to use an article before the noun office when it means the room in which you work.

Ex: I work in an office. The office is big. There are three people in the office.

“Out of Office” is the "title" of the message

“I am out of the office from July 31 to August 5” : You have to use the.

Some examples of Out of Office messages you can use

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am (currently) out of the office and will return on date. I will not be able to check my e-mail during this period. For urgent matters, please contact: give contact info here

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am currently out of the office and have limited access to e-mail. I will be back on Friday, Oct. 5. If you need immediate assistance, please contact name of contact at telephone number, etc.

Thank you for your e-mail.

I will be out of the office from ____ until ____. I'll be checking e-mail once a week, every day, etc., but will have limited ability to respond. If you need (immediate) assistance or information about a/an question/issue, please contact name, e-mail address, phone number.

*Example of a short term absence for a day or two.

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am currently out of the office. During my absence my colleague name, tel. number, e-mail, other contact info will be happy to assist you.

Thank you for your e-mail.

I will be out of the office until Monday, Oct. 2, but will answer all e-mails as soon as possible on my return.

Sie you, Du you --- You can call me You --- politeness

The Alphabet - English 26 ---- German 30

Too, As well and Also ---- auch

Too and as well both can mean also.

However, you cannot say "as well" without a verb, so "Me/we as well" is incorrect.

         "We're going to the party tonight." "Us too." = "We are as well."

Finally, as well as means also but cannot be used in the same place in a sentence as too:

         She is good at soccer as well as basketball.

         She is good at soccer and basketball too/also/as well.

Too and as well nomally go at the end of the sentence.

Also normally goes in mid position with the verb. It is placed after auxiliary verbs and before other verbs.

• He got his article published. He also won an award.
• She is an accountant. Her husband is also an accountant.

When also refers to the whole clause, it goes at the beginning.

• I am not going to buy this house. It’s too small. Also, it needs a lot of repairs.

Lastly,  too, as well and also are used in positive sentences.

Ex: I like schnitzel, too, as well, also

*Either is used in negative sentences

Ex: I can't speak German. He can't speak German either.

By and Until revisited

By and Until

Germlish = Please send us your reply until Friday. 

What you want to say: Please send us your reply by Friday.

By and Until
by + a time means "no/not later than" (bis spätestens) Tip: connect it to a deadline

e. g. The ABC project has to be finished by (no later than) Dec. 15.

until + a time means “up to a time”

You cannot use until with this meaning.
NOT The report has to be finished until 3 o'clock.

Something continues until (up to) a time in the future.

e. g. Many grocery stores stay open until 8 pm. = I can go shopping up to 8 p.m.


Note: You can write am/a.m. = ante meridiem or pm/p.m. = post meridiem

Each & Everyone

Keeping it simple

Each & Everyone  ----  jeder & jedermann

Each is an adjective and Everyone/everybody is a pronoun. Although you can sometimes use these two words interchangeably, this is not always the case. Each is used when speaking about people, objects or anything else individually. Everyone is used when talking about people.

Numbers, numbers, numbers - how to say and write numbers

 Germlish = 5, 2 percent (five comma two percent)

What you want to write and say: 5.2 percent (five POINT two percent)

Saying and writing numbers in English

Decimal point – use the word point NOT comma

5.2 percent = five point two percent

5.02 = five point zero/oh two

0.05 = zero point zero five

Comma – use a comma and NOT a decimal point

10,567  =         ten thousand five hundred and sixty seven

5, 230, 567 =   5 million, two hundred and thirty thousand, five hundred and sixty seven

Sums of money

€ 9.67 = nine sixty seven or nine euro and sixty seven cents

$ 3m =   three million dollars

Years

1990  = nineteen ninety NOT nineteen hundred and ninety

2010 = two thousand and ten or two thousand ten  (you can also say twenty ten)

Beside and Besides - what's the difference?

Beside and Besides

Beside means ‘by the side of’ 

Besides means ‘in addition to’

 
Beside:
Our house is beside the river. (= by the side of the river)
She stood beside me during the presentation. (= by my side) 



Besides:
He plays squash besides (in addition to) tennis and soccer.
Besides (in addition to) being a good speaker, he is also a very good singer.

Waiting For The Verb - German

German can be very complicated .... that's why English is a piece of cake

Ready and Finished: Was ist der Untershied?

 

Ready and Finished: What's the difference?

"Ready" und "finished" meinen beide "fertig". Aber sie werden in unterschiedlichen Situationen benutzt:  "ready", wenn wir 'fully prepared' meinen und "finished" im Sinne von 'completed' or 'ended'.

 

Examples:

Dinner is ready  =  We can come to the table to enjoy the meal (dinner).
 

I finished my dinner =  There's no food left i.e. it is 'completely' gone.

Thank God

Germlish = Thanks God (Gott sei Dank)

NO 's' on thank


What you want to say: Thank God


TGIF = Thank God It's Friday