Learn the superstitions about wishing someone a happy birthday and if shards bring good luck or bad luck
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hello and welcome to Culture Class: German Superstitions and Beliefs, Lesson 1 - Wishing Someone Happy Birthday and Shards Bringing Good or Bad Luck. I'm Eric, and I'm joined by Jennifer. |
| Jennifer: Hallo! Hi, I'm Jennifer. |
| THE TWO SUPERSTITIONS |
| Eric: In this lesson we will talk about two common superstitions in Germany. The first superstition is about bad luck. What’s it called in German? |
| Jennifer: Zum Geburtstag gratulieren |
| Eric: Which literally means "wishing happy birthday." Jennifer, can you repeat the German phrase again? |
| Jennifer: [slow] Zum Geburtstag gratulieren [normal] Zum Geburtstag gratulieren |
| Eric: Jennifer, isn’t your birthday coming up soon? |
| Jennifer: Yeah, in about a week. |
| Eric: So how do you say “Happy Birthday” in German? |
| Jennifer: I’ll tell you on my birthday, but not before. |
| Eric: Why not? |
| Jennifer: In Germany, it's believed that wishing somebody a happy birthday in advance brings bad luck. |
| Eric: Oh right. In general, Germans think that you can’t be too sure of something before it really happens. |
| Jennifer: The same goes for birthdays. |
| Eric: So I’ll tell you happy birthday on your birthday and not before. |
| Jennifer: Much obliged. |
| Eric: The second superstition is about good luck. What’s it called in German? |
| Jennifer: Bringen Scherben Glück oder Unglück? |
| Eric: Which literally means "Do shards bring good luck or bad luck?" Let’s hear it in German again. |
| Jennifer: [slow] Bringen Scherben Glück oder Unglück? [normal] Bringen Scherben Glück oder Unglück? |
| Eric: So in Germany, do shards of glass bring good luck or bad luck? |
| Jennifer: Hard to say. It's a little bit of both. |
| Eric: Because glass was once very expensive, it was seen as bad luck when glass broke. |
| Jennifer: So, after a glass broke, people would say Scherben bringen Glück. |
| Eric: Which means “shards bring luck.” This way, the bad luck would be counteracted. |
| Jennifer: So depending on what you do, shards can bring good or bad luck. |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: There you have it - two German superstitions! Are they similar to any of your country’s superstitions? Let us know in the comments! |
| Jennifer: Auf Wiedersehen! |
11 Comments
HideDid you already know about these superstitions?
Hallo robert groulx,
Danke schön for posting and studying with us. If you have any questions, please let us know.😄
Kind regards,
Levente
Team GermanPod101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
Zum Geburtstag gratulieren
robert
Hi Ken,
Thank you for your feedback.👍
Please allow me to make a few tiny little changes to your sentences:
Zürich im Spiel. Vielen Dank für die Aufgabe.
Ja! Ich wusste schon von dem Aberglauben.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
Hallo Linda,
I am glad to hear that you found our lessons easy. I hope you like the rest of our series.👍
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team GermanPod101.com
Zurich im spiel. vielen dank fur die aufgabe.
Ya! ich wusste schon von dem aberglauber.
Easy to understand. Interesting lesson.
Hallo Jessica,
Thank you for your positive feedback on our lesson!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team GermanPod101.com
I find these lessons to be very clear and easy to understand.
Hi Morana,
Thank you for your feedback, and yes, they are not
the most excited or exciting speakers I have come across. But, (😁)
what I have to give them is: they speak very clear and correct
German, and that's important for some of our less experienced
learners.
Hope you will enjoy the next lesson more!
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Reinhard
Team GermanPod101.com
They both sound so robotic and unnatural. Like those computer voices on YT Talko channel. Horrible.