German Lessons for World Cup Visitors

by Volker Weber

[Thanks, Dietmar]

Comments

You should be careful with that WorldCup Trophy being shown, you'll get a nasty letter from FIFA :-)

Carl Tyler, 2006-06-06

I'm not sure that it's going to be very useful in practice.

For example, I doubt any non-German will understand "the ball is round", as they won't know the origin: it is a quote by the former German national coach Sepp Herberger, meaning that this is the only certainty in the game of football and anything else can happen. I think several others have similar backgrounds. But I probably know less about football than anyone else reading the blog, so feel free to ignore this if I'm missing the joke...

(Anyway, as an absolute 101% football-hater, I am planning on being on holiday out of the country for as much of the world cup as possible :-)

John Keys, 2006-06-06

Yeah, and can somebody explain to me "Nach dem spiel ist vor dem spiel"? What's the reference for that? Lola Rennt makes reference to it, but I don't get the meta-ness of what "after the game is before the game" means.

Is it kind of a different take on "alea jacta est"? (the die is cast)

Kevan Emmott, 2006-06-06

@Kevan: There´s always another one coming up. Basically, that´s why I can´t comprehend all the fuss about World Cup anyway, there´s always another one coming up, with the regularity of elections. Only, that elections may have an effect.... Ok, I am overly critical, there definitely is an economic effect of the games. I wish I could flee the hubbub, like John, but lamentably I can´t.

Armin Roth, 2006-06-06

Kevan, it is exactly what it says. After you finished a game, you have to think about the next game. And less about the one you just finished.

Volker Weber, 2006-06-06

Wait there's a World Cup happening, I missed that news report :-)

For those of us that love the game, the four years can't come along often enough apologies to those that have to go 3 years 11 months without the worldcup on TV :-D

You could always move to the US, it's easy to miss there.

Carl Tyler, 2006-06-07

Culture Shock!: Germany (Culture Shock! Country Guides: A Survival Guide to Customs & Etiquette)

Germany for Dummies

Ray Guilliard, 2006-06-07

Ist das nicht Mareen?

Moritz Petersen, 2006-06-07

But surely the key question is still "the same procedure as last year?"

Can I mention the Der Spiegel "Germany Survival Guide" is a lot of fun:

Der SpeigelGSG

P.S. Soccer? No love, were playing football :-)

Mike Smith, 2006-06-07

@Moritz Petersen
Das ist Mareen Fischinger - sie betreibt u. a. einen tollen Foto-Blog.

Ulrich Berding, 2006-06-07

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