Facts and Episodes
about Germany, the Germans and the German language
Cross Culture: The ‘Typical German Manager’
The abbreviation S&W in our name stands for ‚Sprache & Wirtschaft‘ - 'Language & Business'. Our special business expertise not only enables us to teach Business German in a particularly qualified manner on request. https://sw-training.com/business-german/...
Scientific German – The Most Important Nouns
Technical language differs considerably from General German language. When we talk about Scientific German, it is clear that a chemist has a largely different technical language than an economist. However, there is an overlap – a vocabulary that is more or less...
Cross Culture: Is Germany a Communist Country?
„To me that’s communism!“ That was the succinct comment of a US top manager to whom I had just explained the German model of co-determination. In large German companies, 50% of the members of the supervisory board are elected by the employees. The shareholders are...
Learning German in Paradise
If you want to book a face-to-face German course, the first thing to consider is, of course, the quality of the provider. Here, we at S&W Training really don't need to shy away from any comparison: https://sw-training.com/kunden-englisch/ In addition to the...
Cross Culture: Is this the ‘typical German presentation’?
In the past few years, we have often helped executives from all over the world to prepare presentations in German. Sometimes this involved complete presentations. Sometimes our clients' German is only good enough for a short welcome and introduction in German. In this...
About German and American Tongues
Pronunciation is not one of the great challenges of the German language. If you know the rules, you immediately know how to pronounce a German word – with very few exceptions. It's very different in English, for example. Nevertheless, there can be problems. Often...
An Italian learns a tricky German word – or two?
Some time ago I was reading a German text with my Italian client Flavio. Then it came to this little dialogue: Flavio: Niels, what does ‚anhalten' mean? Niels: 'to stop', 'fermarsi'. (I see Flavio noting: „anhalten = to stop“. I intervene)...
Quality of Life – a Question of Perspective
Quality of life is obviously a question of perspective. The British ECONOMIST publishes an annual ranking from the perspective of expats and business travellers. For years, first place in this global ranking has been taken by a city that is not located in Germany,...
Pretty Woman
One client was a top Hollywood executive early in his career. During this time there he was offered the script for 'Pretty Woman'. He turned it down. He told me he turned down the script because he thought it was 'sexist shit'. After the film's terrific success, he...
Other countries – other customs: To tip or not to tip?
For continental Europeans, the German tipping culture is not a problem. On the continent, habits are largely similar. For U.S. Americans in particular, however, the German tipping culture holds surprises in store. Tipping is also popular here - especially in...
Separable and non-separable verbs
The Latin language already knew the very practical trick of giving verbs a new, sometimes similar - sometimes completely different - meaning by using prefixes. Many modern languages have copied this trick. In German, however, an additional phenomenon has developed...
What is the best way to learn German – face-to-face or online?
At S&W Training, we offered online modules in addition to our intensive face-to-face German courses long before the Corona crisis. However, these online modules were not designed as an alternative to face-to-face courses, but as a value-adding supplement. This was...