German Sayings, Expressions, Proverbs & One-Liners Part I
Here begins my occasional series on German Sayings, inspired by a recent post on a German language podcast blog. I'll devote another entry to reviewing that blog but what's important now is how she closed the latest post: "everything has an end, only sausage has two! :-)"
Even better in German:
I've about had it with German expressions, more later and in the meantime tons of German proverbs here.
UPDATE: I'm now translating German sayings on a regular basis. Browse the constantly growing list below to find German sayings and their English translations, and follow me as I stumble through the process of translation. Sometimes I fail. That's where you come in and correct me. Or read the comments of people who correct me. It's great fun. So what are you waiting for? Click on any of the German sayings below!
A German saying about the sunrise.
Even better in German:
Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei! :-)Such encapsulated wit & wisdom is a fun and entertaining way to learn the language, and I'm driven to learn more and more German proverbs, let's begin:
Juni kalt und nass, lässt leer Scheune und FassSo I had to look up half the words on Leo.org and I still don't get it. "June cold and wet" then what lässt means is beyond me. The word leer could mean anything, I'm gonna go with "windy", after that Scheune means "barn" and Fass means "barrel" so "...barn and barrel". Off to a pretty shaky start. All I know is it's a Bauernregeln which means "country proverb" and it's about the weather. So is this one:
Hat der Berg ein' Hut, wird das Wetter gut. Trägt er einen Degen, gibt es einen RegenEasy. "If the mountain has a hut, the weather will be good. If it's got a sword, there will be rain". That makes absolutely no sense. On the upside, I knew practically all the words. But then the word I had to look up, Degen (which means "sword") is effectively the wrench in the works.
I've about had it with German expressions, more later and in the meantime tons of German proverbs here.
UPDATE: I'm now translating German sayings on a regular basis. Browse the constantly growing list below to find German sayings and their English translations, and follow me as I stumble through the process of translation. Sometimes I fail. That's where you come in and correct me. Or read the comments of people who correct me. It's great fun. So what are you waiting for? Click on any of the German sayings below!
A German saying about the sunrise.
Labels: german-words, leo.org, podcast, sayings
Posted by Will at
5:47 PM
5 Comments:
ok, German lesson:
1. The proverb about Juni kalt und nass, lässt Scheune und Fass leer means If June is wet and cold, the barrel and the barn are left empty: No sun, no harvest.
Hut mean hat, referring to the snow on the top of the mountain. Degen is a sword, I think the kind you use for fencing. How a mountain should have a rapier or such, I don`t know.
"Juni, kalt und nass" has been explained correctly.
Hut (=Hat) doesn't refer to snow but clouds and so does Degen (=sword).
So, if the top of the mountain is not visible due to big clouds, the weather stays dry. (high pressure.)
But if there is a long, thin cloud (sword shaped) at or around the mountain this means that it will be raining (low pressure).
Damn, Roman, you're good!
Many years ago in Germany, I came across a proverb that might be roughly translated to mean, as I recall:
"He who finds fault in others usually carries the same fault in a basket behind his own back." Do you know the original German version? I've searched to find it but haven't found it. Thanks!
Re: the cold and wet June, it goes something like this: A cold and wet June will beget an empty barn and barrel. Or an unseasonable June weill result in a suboptimal harvest. How's that for newspeak?
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