Although many people like to spend their free time with music, TV, films, and video games, there's nothing like settling down with a good book. This week, let's talk about all there is to read!

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In German, a work of non-fiction is called das Sachbuch, whereas fiction is die Belletristik. The noun "literature" is very similar in German: die Literatur. When it comes to novels, there are the names for the different genres to learn, such as der Liebesroman (the romance novel) or der historische Roman (historical fiction). 

OK, interessierst du dich für Literatur?

OK, are you interested in literature?

Caption 9, Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß!

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Und das wurde eben in diesem Science-Fiction-Roman beschrieben.

And just that was described in that science fiction novel.

Caption 73, Das 1. Newtonsche Gesetz: erklärt am Beispiel des Dodomobils

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Liest du gerne oder hast du viele Bücher, zum Beispiel Romane oder Krimis?

Do you like to read or do you have a lot of books, for example novels or crime stories?

Captions 11-12, Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß!

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In German, a short story is die Kurzgeschichte. 

Dieses wunderbare Buch mit Geschichten über die Berge und...

This wonderful book with stories about the mountains and...

Caption 41, Heidi: Der Schultest

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In addition to fiction and non-fiction books, some people enjoy reading biographies or magazine articles:

Hinter all der großen musikalischen Revolution menschelt es in seiner Biografie - zum Glück!

Behind all the great musical revolution, there is humanity in his biography—fortunately!

Captions 30-31, Ludwig van Beethoven: 250. Geburtstag

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In einem von der Zeitschrift Bravo veranstalteten Konzert spielen sie in der Stadt, die sie entdeckte.

In a concert organized by the magazine "Bravo," they play in the city that discovered them.

Captions 21-22, Die Beatles: In Deutschland

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Hallo, Leon! Ich habe hier noch was für dich: einen Artikel über den Nemmers-Preis.

Hello, Leon! I have one more thing here for you: an article about the Nemmers Prize.

Caption 8, Die Pfefferkörner: Gerüchteküche

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The last category that should be mentioned is poetry, of course!

Der eine Bruder saß unter einem Baum und verfasste Gedichte.

The one brother sat under a tree and wrote poems.

Caption 12, Märchen: Sagenhaft Die drei Brüder

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Further Learning
Think about the last thing you read—how would you describe it? On Yabla German, you can watch the entirety of Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß! to hear the vocabulary in context. 

We know you're learning German, but what other subjects have you studied? Even if you're not currently in school, it's always interesting to talk with people about what they studied, and which subjects are still relevant to their lives today. 

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First, we can start with the natural sciences and the applied sciences, respectively called die Naturwissenschaften and die angewandten Wissenschaften in German. 

Jan hat heute seine Physikarbeit zurückbekommen.

Jan got his physics paper back today. 

Caption 2, The Simple Physics: Schrödingers Katze

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Ja, das ist Mathematik oder Mathe.

Yes, this is mathematics or math.

Caption 8, Deutsch mit Eylin: Denk schnell!

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...das heißt wir gewinnen zusätzlich noch in dem Bereich Biologie auch eine gewisse Kapazität.

...which means we also gain a certain capacity in the field of biology.

Caption 40, Für Tierfreunde: Przewalski-Wildpferde

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Ich habe schnell gemerkt, dass mich Elektrotechnik sehr interessiert

I quickly noticed that electrical engineering really interests me.

Caption 10, Deutsche Welle: Lieber Ausbildung als Studium

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In these next captions, you will find some fields that relate to the social sciences, or die Sozialwissenschaften, and the world of business. 

Ja? Das wäre so eine Geschichte, ähm, mit interdisziplinärem Input aus der Sportwissenschaft, der Sportmedizin, der Psychologie und der Soziologie.

Yes? That would be something, um, with interdisciplinary input from sport sciences, sports medicine, psychology, and sociology.

Captions 65-66, TEDx: Lebenslange Fitness

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Ich hab schon in Spanien zwei Semester Jura studiert.

I already studied law in Spain for two semesters.

Caption 7, Nicos Weg: Am Bankautomaten

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Ich studiere Wirtschaft und arbeite in einem Café.

I study economics and work in a café.

Caption 27, Magie: Die Zaubershow

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The humanities, or die Geisteswissenschaften, include history, languages, literature, philosophy, and often the arts as well. For more on the arts, you can refer to two recent lessons, one which covered the visual arts, and the other on the performing arts. 

Kunstgeschichte wird ja von Kunsthistorikern gemacht. Da haben Sie recht, das waren immer Männer.

Art history is written by art historians. You are right about that, those were always men.

Caption 25, Malerei: Impressionistinnen

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Interessierst du dich für Literatur?

Are you interested in literature?

Caption 9, Nicos Weg: Das macht mir Spaß!

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Further Learning
Based on what you read above and have found on Yabla German, see if you can figure out the meanings of the following: die Politikwissenschaft, die Kulturwissenschaft, die Religionswissenschaft. Some disciplines, like die Philosophie, die Geografie, die Geologie, die Anthropologie, or die Medizin, have similar names to their English counterparts and may be easy to identify. And then, of course, some subjects have simply adopted the English term, such as das Marketing and das Management.