Have you ever seen "Berlin" as the verb berlinern? It means to speak with a Berlin dialect. Now you may not necessarily want to learn to speak like a waschechter Berliner (Berlin native), but it's good to get your ears around hearing it a bit so it's easier to understand! This week we'll go through some sample videos of people speaking Berlinerisch. Here are some of the main features of the dialect. 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Ick (or icke) instead of ich: 

Ick [ich] hab' die alle manipuliert, ick hab' die alle manipuliert.

I've manipulated them all, I've manipulated them all.

Caption 17, Rapucation - Lernen durch Rapmusik

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Wat instead of was: 

Und Bananen, so wat [so was] fressen bei uns nur die Affen, du Affe.

And bananas, only apes devour stuff like that where we live, you ape.

Caption 60, Die Klasse - Berlin '61

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Keen and weeß instead of kein and weiß; in fact, most standard German "ei" sounds are pronounced as "ee": 

Alle keen [kein] Zuhause oder wat [was]? -[„Die Anstalt“, Regie: Axel Bock]

All of you don't have a home or what? -["The Institution", directed by Axel Bock]

Caption 53, Alexander Hauff - Showreel

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Dett [dass] ick [ich] nicht deine Geliebte bin, weeß [weiß] ick [ich] och [auch].

I do know that I'm not your lover.

Caption 14, Mathieu Carriere - Ein Mann will nach oben

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You probably noticed too that dass in the above is spoken as dett and auch as och: a translation to standard German would be: Dass ich nicht deine Geliebte bin, weiß ich auch.

Another typical feature of Berlinerisch is that the hard German "g" is rendered as a soft German "j": janz jenau!

Sind janz [ganz] schön viele. -Bärbel.

That is a whole lot. -Bärbel.

Caption 12, Die Klasse - Berlin '61

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There are also a number of words that are unique to Berlin, such as der Kiez instead of die Nachbarschaft:

Gitarrist Jürgen Ehle wohnt seit fünfundzwanzig Jahren

Guitarist Jürgen Ehle has lived for twenty-five years

in dem Kiez und schwelgt in Erinnerungen.

in the neighborhood, and luxuriates in memories.

Captions 3-4, Pankow - Rolling Stones des Ostens

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Further Learning
Read the German Wikipedia page about the Berlin dialect and look for some of the unique Berlin words on Yabla German to accustom yourself to understanding it.

There are a number of ways to indicate that something is going "up" in German, but today let's take a look at the prepositional phrase nach oben, which can be translated into English in a number of ways, depending on the context. Let's take a look at some different interpretations of the phrase in German Yabla videos.

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Vielleicht halten Sie's grad so ein bisschen nach oben.

Maybe you could hold it up a little bit.

Caption 29, Fußball - Torwandschießen

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... dass ein unsichtbarer Faden am Kopf den ganzen Körper nach oben zieht.

... that an invisible thread on top of your head is pulling the whole body upward.

Caption 15, Flirt-Coach-Serie - Die richtige Körpersprache

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Das war ein langer Weg nach oben.

It was a long way to the top.

Caption 3, Preisverleihung - Bestes Magazin

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Nach oben sind dem Preis keine Grenzen gesetzt.

No price limits are set at the top.

Caption 13, Highend-Fashion aus dem Kloster - Ein Mönch als Maßschneider

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Als der Frosch nach oben in ihr Bett getragen werden wollte ...

When the Frog wanted to be carried upstairs to her bed ...

Caption 57, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Der Froschkönig

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In the examples above, you see nach oben used to mean "up," "upward," "to the top," "at the top," and "upstairs." Note that when you say in German that you are going upstairs, it is more common to simply say you are going nach oben than to use the more literal die Treppe hinaufgehen.

The prepositional phrase nach oben also has a number of idiomatic usages: 

Das heißt natürlich nicht, dass hier alle Leute die Nase nach oben tragen.

Of course, that doesn't mean that all the people here put their noses up [idiom, are conceited].

Caption 5, Rhein-Main-TV - Badesee Rodgau

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Die Nase nach oben tragen means "to be conceited."

Es gibt noch Potential nach oben.

There is still upward potential [room for improvement].

Caption 21, Rhein-Main-TV - Green-Region-Konferenz zur Nachhaltigkeit

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And here, Potential nach oben means there is room for improvement.

Ein Mann will nach oben is the title of a novel by Hans Fallada, whose final novel from 1947, Jeder stirbt für sich allein (English title: Every Man Dies Alone), became a surprise bestseller in its English translation in 2009. Ein Mann will nach oben was made into a 13-part TV film in 1978.

Ein Mann will nach oben.

A man wants to move up.

Caption 1, Mathieu Carriere - Ein Mann will nach oben

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Further Learning
Do a search for nach oben on Yabla German and see some more examples of how this phrase is used in German in a real world context!