It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass Monkey.
NOTE: Business English etc.
can be found below the translation exercises.
Translate the Text into English: Übersetzen:
Andreas, Nadine, Heike, Joachim, Reiner and Simone.
Überflüssig / arbeitslos
Meineid
Fraglich
Übertreiben/ überzeichnen
Ich lese.
Sie lesen eine Zeitung.
Wir lesen eine Zeitung.
Ich lese eine Zeitung.
Du liest eine Zeitung.
Ein Mann isst einen Apfel.
Er isst einen Apfel.
Ihr esst einen Apfel.
Ich lese ein Buch, sie liest eine Zeitung.
Die Frauen lesen ein Buch.
Da bin ich genauso schlau wie du.
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English – English – English – English – English – English – English
Business English Word of the Week:
Geschäftsenglisch Wort der Woche:
A business word/phrase = “To lay off staff” means to make a number of the people in the company redundant. (Überflüssig / arbeitslos).
Sample Sentence:
“Because of the economic downturn, we need to lay off a number of our staff.”
Law English Word of the Week:
Gesetz Englisches Wort der Woche:
A law word/phrase = A Perjurer is someone who commits Perjury.
Perjury noun. The offence of wilfully telling an untruth or making a misrepresentation under oath.
Sample Sentence:
“She claimed two witnesses at her trial had committed perjury.”
NOTE: There is a second section to this word in the next Blog in December 2024.
Vocabulary for Contracts:
Wortschatz für Verträge:
A word/phrase for contracts = To draw up a contract –to draw up (a contract): to prepare, to create, to design, to produce (a contract) verb idiom.
Sample sentence:
“I will draw up a contract today. I will show it to you tomorrow when I’ve finished it.”
Vocabulary for Negotiations:
Wortschatz für Verhandlungen:
A word/phrase for negotiations = Debatable – Fraglich
Sample Sentence:
“The true value of this antique is debatable.”
English – English – English – English – English – English – English
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Word of the day: Wort des Tages:
Lesezeichen – Bookmark (in this case used for computers) favourite.
Sample Sentence:
“I like to bookmark my favourite websites so that I can easily find them at a later date.”
Phrase of the day: Satz des Tages:
A right cock up = definition: 1. a rude phrase meaning to do something wrong or badly: 2. something that is done wrong or badly.
Sample Sentence:
“The Conservative Party made a right cock up of the last election, losing by the biggest margin since the Second World War.”
Idiom of the day: Redewendung des Tages:
“To take something with a pinch of salt.” – this idiom means a person to not completely believe something that you are told, because you think it is unlikely to be true:
Sample Sentence:
“You have to take everything she says with a pinch of salt, because she tends to exaggerate.” Übertreiben/ überzeichnen.
British English / American English Vocabulary:
Britisches Englisch / Amerikanisches Englisch Wortschatz:
British English (B.E.) = to make pregnant/put in the family way.
American English (A.E.) = to knock up
NOTE: I think to knock up has crossed ‘the Pond’.
Special Grammar tip of the Week:
Spezieller Grammatik-Tipp der Woche:
Use SOME when it is a POSITIVE sentence and you are using PLURALS or UNCOUNTABLE nouns.
Use ANY when it is a NEGATIVE sentence and you are using PLURALS or UNCOUNTABLE nouns.
Use ANY when it is a QUESTION sentence and you are using PLURALS or UNCOUNTABLE nouns.
However!!!!! Using SOME when you are OFFERING things:
Sample Sentences.
Would you like some more coffee?
Would you like some more cake?
Would you like to use my telephone?
or you are asking someone for a favour such as:
Can I have some more ….?
Can you give me some ….?
NOTE: Yes, both of these forms are a QUESTION; but you are offering or asking for a favour from someone.
Pronunciation tip: Aussprachetipp:
Fruit – this is often pronounced wrong as in ‘Fruw it’. There are NOT two syllables it is only one. So we will practice this in our lesson – Fr-oo-t.
False Friends Tip of the Week:
Falsche Freunde Tipp der Woche:
German = Roman
Translation = Novel
False Friend (F.F.) = Roman
Meaning of F.F = Römisch
NOTE: Romans are the Italians who had the Roman Empire under people like Julius Caesar.
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English – English – English – English – English – English – English
Wit, wit, wit – Education:
Witz, Witz, Witz – Ausbildung:
“The survey showed that, in a class of 21, not one pupil knew what marmalade was, and a sixth-class pupil saw horses being fed with nose bags, on a school tour, thought they were sniffing glue.”
Quote by John Golds.
NOTE: It is very difficult to ascertain where common sense went, as well as what my generation took for granted as common knowledge. If this last generation has come so far from having an understanding of what I consider as common sense and common knowledge how far have we come from what my Grandfather thought these to be?
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English – English – English – English – English – English – English
Slang word of the day:
Slangwort des Tages:
Ace – Wonderful, great.
Sample Sentence:
“That song was ace.”
NOTE: In World War Two a Fighter Ace was a person who had shot down so many airplanes. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied but is usually considered to be five or more.
Colloquial / Colloquialisms:
Umgangssprache / Umgangssprache:
Archer – £2,000 – references a 1980s libel case involving the novelist Jeffrey Archer, who allegedly offered the sum as a bribe.
Sample Sentence:
“I give you an Archer if you tell me who the next person to call me to ask me for money is?”
Cockney Rhyming Slang:
Cockney Reimender Slang:
Whistle = ‘whistle and flute’ = a suit = as in “a nice whistle.”
Sample Sentence:
“Cor Blimey mate that’s a smashing Whistle and Flute bet it cost at least a Monkey!”
Quote of the week: Zitat der Woche:
“Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have some fun.”
Quote by Groucho Marx
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