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Stefan Israel
Feb 10, 20202 min read
Dutch and Deutsch: so similar, so dissimilar
We’d talked about how much the German dialects vary, looking at dialect forms of the Lord’s Prayer. Let’s compare High German and Dutch.
778 views


Stefan Israel
Jan 29, 20202 min read
AUGH! From German to English
AUGH! It’s not just a cry of distress, it’s an anglicization. Why do we see lots of names ending in -augh? Baugh, Grumbaugh, Brumbaugh?
1,114 views


Stefan Israel
Jan 27, 20201 min read
Mozart and the Founding Fathers
In honor of Mozart's birthday on January 27th, we look to a curious Mozart connection or two crossing the Atlantic.
3,195 views


Pamela Israel
Jan 21, 20202 min read
Milestones Unlocked
I noticed that our next published blog would be #60. We've accomplished so much. Translations. Genealogy. Blogs. Presentations.
80 views

Stefan Israel
Jan 10, 20203 min read
German Dialects, Names & More
German has developed a lot of dialects. How different are they? Platt and Schwyzerdütsch differ from the standard High German the most.
974 views

Pamela Israel
Dec 23, 20192 min read
Little Christmas spirits with the Christmas spirit
How to express Yule-tide greetings in German and the Scandinavian countries - inspired by 1960s postcards. Plus examples of some Scandinavia
74 views

Pamela Israel
Dec 12, 20193 min read
1960 Christmas Card Mystery
Why were there piles of Christmas cards from 1960 sent from around the world to a young girl in Virginia?
236 views


Stefan Israel
Nov 6, 20197 min read
Ancestors in the Internet
A Google search finds a family letter in an overseas archive showing Alois in San Francisco and corresponding with a well-known anarchist.
148 views

Stefan Israel
Oct 16, 20193 min read
Low German, High German, Upper German- what is all that?
Are German dialects really more extreme than American dialects?
Are they ever! The Old World dialects in general are far, far more extreme t
8,974 views

Stefan Israel
Oct 7, 20192 min read
German in English I
Gesundheit! Bless you? In the American melting pot, you hear bits of the various ingredients still in the mix. Here are a few examples of Ge
246 views

Pamela Israel
Sep 19, 20193 min read
Washing & Sewing: A Diary & Tins
Sewing, in addition to laundry, used to be a responsibility that almost every woman had. And yet it can be tough to get insights into this p
83 views

Pamela Israel
Aug 31, 20192 min read
Chicago. German Painter. White City.
It’s 1893. Chicago. Full of ambitious people eager to make their mark. Twenty-five year old Alois, trained in decorative carpentry and paint
84 views

Stefan Israel
Aug 4, 20193 min read
Dutchland? Germany?
The tribes that coalesced into Germans spoke 'the people’s/ popular language’ as opposed to Latin
8,111 views


Pamela Israel
Jul 26, 20192 min read
Why Do We Say Germany (& Not Deutschland)?
Not long ago, a friend asked me why we say Germany when the Germans use the word Deutschland. The words aren't even related! Good quest
7,025 views


Stefan Israel
Jun 24, 20192 min read
The Siegfried Idyll gift
In honor of his son's third birthday, Wagner wrote an Idyll. Learn the story behind its first performance.
105 views

Stefan Israel
Jun 5, 20194 min read
The Mystery of the Old "S" Explained
What on earth is going on with those letters? The s looks like an f !It sure does. I hope you never need those last couple of sentences. Old
3,658 views

Pamela Israel
May 22, 20193 min read
Old German Writing Tips
Here are a couple tricks to help decipher old German handwriting, Kurrent or Suetterlin, especially important with old family letters.
2,205 views

Stefan Israel
May 8, 20193 min read
H- huh? Making Sense of German
German and English both mostly use h the same, as that puff of air at the start of a word:
hello/hallo, here/hier, horn
But what’s that h do
648 views


Pamela Israel
May 1, 20192 min read
Tips for Finding the Day of the Week
Figuring out the day of the week that something happened can be important in genealogy. Here are a couple approaches.
147 views


Stefan Israel
Apr 22, 20193 min read
O du lieber Augustin
This simple song is said to date back to 1679 in Vienna, Austria - Marx Augustin was a cheery, popular balladeer and bag-piper of the time
3,366 views







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