Similarities Between Certain German and Czech Expressions

Snowy Hamburg was replaced by rainy Mannheim. And they have trams here! And it looks generally much more like Brno. I have behind me the writing and listening modules of the exam, I will let you know the results after I get them.

Short stop at Göttingen

View from my room in Mannheim

Rhine River

In between I would like to talk about something else. During learning the German vocabulary, I noticed similarity of some expressions to Czech expressions and namely I speak about expressions whose meaning is not easily derivable from the structure.

An example of what I am talking about: "auskommen" means "to get by". "aus" = "out", "kommen" = "to come". The verb "vyjít" in Czech means the same thing and also its structure is similar: "vy" = "out", "jít" = "to go". Although when constructing a new artificial language, I would never connect the meaning of "getting by with money" with "going out". However, this connection somehow works both in German and Czech.

I tried to make a list of these Czech/German expressions. Here it is:

• auskommen - vyjít s penězy (to get by)
• Das wird uns teuer stehen - To nás bude stát draho (That will cost us)
• durchfallen - přepadnout (to repeat a class)
• sich etwas vorstellen - představit si něco (to imagine something)
• Darauf kannst du Gift nehmen! - Na to můžeš vzít jed! (That's for sure!)
• jemandem einen Korb geben - dát někomu košem (to leave a boyfriend/girlfriend)
• bringen sich über etwas - přenést se přes něco (to put up with something)
• in einer Prüfung bestehen - obstát ve zkoušce (to pass the exam)
• schwerfällig - těžkopádný (cumbersome)
• durchsetzen - prosadit (to accomplish in the face of the unwillingness of the others)
• anwerfen - nahodit (to actuate)
• die Aufgeblasenheit - nafoukanost (pompousness, conceit)
• auf Achse (literally: "on the shoulders", the meaning "on the move" ) - there is a Czech expression "vzít nohy na ramena", literally "to take the feet on the shoulders", used in the meaning: "to run away"
• auffällig - nápadný (noticeable)
• erhalten - obdržet (to obtain)
• die Angelegenheit - záležitost (issue)

What interests me: Is the similarity of the expressions just a pure coincidence, or did one language get inspired from the other one? Czech has been for long centuries under the influence of German, so the second explanation sounds more plausible. However, if you have another one, I will be happy to hear it.

Aaand... Goodbye Hamburg!

So the day came. After almost five months I am leaving Hamburg behind. Tomorrow, I will say goodbye to my Egyptian flatmate and set off for Heidelberg, where I will sit for the exam. I am leaving behind strong memories, good and bad too, but all of them worth it all the way.

Hamburg from the tower of St. Petri Kirche

My German employers liked me so much that they offered me the possibility to work for them through the Internet. Hell yeah! And in my last day, I got a package as a way to say: "It was really nice having you around". On Saturday I spoke after a long time some Slovak, as I was showing Hamburg to one friend that studies in Göttingen. After spending the whole day and night walking the streets of the city and then drinking with my colleague whiskey in a student bar for supermarket prices I needed the whole Sunday to recover, but worth it again.

The package from my boss

See you people!

Hold the fingers for me guys, 21th, 22th and 25th of March. See you soon, Hamburg!

P.S.: I will miss the duckies...

Déjà-vus

It is interesting to watch yourself go through Déjà-vus. But not those that last only 5 seconds. Here I mean very similar life situations that repeat themselves. One of them was when I found work in the water park in Constanța. Several years ago, I had a very similar summer job in USA. And now another déjà-vu crossed my path.

To make the story short, after a series of conflicts with my landlord, I was kicked out in one evening. When I came to Elmshorn, I found my things on a heap. I will just never understand some people. After two nights spent in a hostel I found a place for two weeks in student dormitories. And it is so nice and peaceful here, it is unbelievable. What's more, my flatmate actually uses heating :) How is this a déjà-vu  Some time ago, in Brno, I also went through a similar experience. After living with really horrible flatmates, I found peace at, for me, probably the nicest room of the world at Vinařská dorms.

To make the situation even more interesting, from all the possible houses in Hamburg, in which its 2 million inhabitants live, I am living in the one, in which I spent my first two nights at my couchsurfer host Caren. Life is funny sometimes.