New Year's Eve is just around the corner! We at Yabla wish you einen guten Rutsch and hope to contribute to your festivities with some relevant vocabulary.

Eine kurze Frage: Wie feiern Sie Weihnachten? -Mit der Familie.

A quick question: How do you celebrate Christmas? -With the family.

Caption 10, Weihnachtsinterviews - Diane in Karlsruhe

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Wir werden wahrscheinlich mit ein paar Freunden feiern.

We will probably celebrate with a few friends.

Caption 5, Silvester - Vorsätze für das neue Jahr - Karlsruhe

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The noun die Feier is used for a party or celebration, although it's normal to hear die Party as well. You may remember from our recent newsletter that the preposition auf is used: Wir gehen auf eine Party for "We're going to a party," and Wir sind auf einer Party for "We're at a party."

Hauptsache sie haben Spaß. -Hauptsache: Party und schöne Stimmung!

The main thing is that they have fun. -The main thing: party and good vibes!

Caption 63, Fastnacht - Karneval - Karnevalisten

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Und natürlich drückt das auf die Partystimmung.

And, of course, that puts a damper on the party atmosphere.

Caption 60, Heute-Show - 30 Jahre Mauerfall: So feiern die Deutschen ihre Einheit

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Fun fact: die Stimmung can refer to instruments being in tune, but also means "mood" or "atmosphere." 

And finally, a slang usage related to celebration is Lass es krachen!, which literally means "Make noise!" 

Also, dann wünsch ich dir viel Spaß.

So, then I hope you have a lot of fun.

-Danke schön. -Und lass es krachen!

-Thank you. -And make some noise!

Caption 17, Fasching - mit Cettina

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Further Learning
For more about New Year's Eve in Germany, you can do a quick search for our related videos on Yabla German. You can also review our previous newsletters on the topic: Learn about the origins of the word Silvester and make a few New Year's resolutions in German!

Anglicisms

anglicism: an English word or phrase that is used in another language

Germans can't do without them. There are some though, who don't feel the need to add a couple of English words to their mother tongue for good measure. Three students sharing an apartment in Berlin, for example, went as far as translating anglicisms back into German and introduced fines for every slip-up in Germish.

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March is Carnival season or "The Fifth Season" in Germany. People dress up and masquerade to chase and scare away winter. In this month's featured video three veterans explain the old Carnival tradition, dating back to the Middle Ages. Note the following anglicism:

Und am Sonntag is' Pause, "beauty sleep", oder...

And on Sunday a break, beauty sleep, or...

Caption 65, Fastnacht - Karneval - Karnevalisten

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Anglicisms are very common in German.
In our video about the famous Austrian tattoo artist Mario Barth, in which he expresses his support for the animal rights organization PETA, you'll find a number of them.

...und hat das "Statement" gesetzt

...and has made the statement

"Ink, not Mink" [Tinte nicht Nerz].

"Ink, not Mink".

Caption 10, Tierfreund Mario Barth - Der Tätowierer der Stars

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Finally: Longing for your summer vacation or just a brief holiday get-a-way to a warmer clime? Then take a look at Christiane - fährt in den Urlaub. Test your understanding of spoken German in this practical scenario and search for das Handy* in the clip. Regarding this anglicism, German has taken an English adjective and morphed it into a noun. Can you guess what it is? She says before leaving on her trip: Ah, was ich immer vergesse, das Aufladegerät fürs Handy.

* Tipp auf Deutsch für Fortgeschrittene: Das Handy ist eine Erfindung der modernen Kommunikationstechnologie, ohne die viele von uns nicht mehr aus dem Haus gehen.
 

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Learning Tip

If you want to reinforce the use of words in your favorite vocabulary list, go to the Video tab on Yabla German and type the word into the search box on the upper right side of the page. A list of every video containing this word will be generated. The captions from each clip in which the word occurs will appear. Try this and easily discover the word's correct use in different contexts.