I first became a fan of Annik Rubens a few years ago when I discovered her Schlaflos in München (SiM, Sleepless in Munich) podcast, which, as I write this, is now on episode 506. I wrote about her unique podcasts in German — and others — in 2005, when I was still the Guide for German at About.com (“Listening to Podcasts in German“). Since then she was on hiatus from “Schlaflos” for a while, and I lost contact with her podcast. But now she’s back — and has added a special podcast for people who may not be able to keep up with SiM (in regular German). Logically and simply titled “Slow German,” this newer podcast by Rubens is designed for people who want to improve their German skills, particularly listening. READ MORE »
Posts tagged Weihnachten
The “German” Christmas pickle ornament
An American ad for a “German tree trimming tradition” – the glass pickle ornament. Photo © H. Flippo
Today’s fat Sunday newspaper brought me a reminder about an article I first wrote back in 2003 about the so-called German tradition known as the glass pickle Christmas tree ornament, aka die Weihnachtsgurke. Today my wife pointed out an ad (see above) for “glass pickle ornaments” in one of the numerous Christmastime ad inserts. The ad makes it sound like every German household knows about this “German tree trimming tradition.” But in many years of asking Germans about this Christmas tradition, not one has ever heard of it. In the five years since the article I originally wrote for my old About.com site, it has become even more obvious that this “German tradition” is actually something invented to sell Christmas ornaments.
The irony is that in the years since I first tried to debunk this myth, READ MORE »
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