St. Nikolaus or Santa Claus?
Would you be able to explain how the Germans celebrate St. Nikolaus? And is St. Nikolaus the same as Santa Claus or Father Christmas?
If you need help, you might like to read this article in The Local.
Healthy vegetables
Richard and John were talking one day. “My wife asked me to buy organic vegetables from the market garden,” said Richard.
“So were you able to find some?” John asked.
“Well when I got to the market, I asked the gardener, ‘These vegetables are for my wife. Have they been sprayed with any poisonous chemicals?’ And the gardener answered: ‘No, you’ll have to do that yourself.'”
(organic = biologisch angebaut)
Test your social intelligence
Are you good at reading other people’s emotions? Test yourself here by just looking at people’s eyes, to see how socially intelligent you are!
Little goose feet?
I always forget the German word ‘Anführungszeichen’ when I need it. So I use either ‘Gänsefüßchen’ or ‘Tüddelchen’ (I lived in north Germany years ago!).
But what on earth do you say in English when you want to talk about those punctuation marks? Well, we call them ‘quotation marks‘ or ‘inverted commas‘. Their form and position are a little bit different as you can see in the picture above. Both are positioned at the higher level. The first set looks like a 66 and the second set like a 99.
Just thought you might like to know! 😉
Wishing a happy Christmas
You’re not sure how to write Christmas messages? Here are a few ideas to get you started. And remember, if you don’t know whether your reader celebrates Christmas, just use the words ‘holiday season’ instead of ‘Christmas’!
- Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
- We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
- We would like to wish you a very happy and healthy holiday season and a prosperous New Year. With best wishes, and grateful thanks for your continued support.
- I hope you and all your colleagues, family and friends have a wonderful holiday season. Best wishes for a happy new year.
- Thank you for the pleasure of working with you. Happy holidays!
- It has been a real pleasure to work with you this year. Have a lovely holiday season and a happy 2014.
- Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with you this year. It has been an honour and a very valuable experience for all of us. We wish you happy Christmas and a new year filled with success, good health and happiness!
- Merry Christmas! May the holidays bring you pleasant memories and much happiness.
- As the year comes to an end, we stop and reflect on all the things we are grateful for. Our relationship with you and your company is one thing we treasure. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you. We wish you a merry Christmas and much success and happiness in 2014.
