HGS Languages

German Phrase of the Week

• Freunde in der Not, gehen 1000 auf ein Lot.
  • Translation: In time of need, 1000 friends shrink to a lot (16.5 grams).
  • Meaning: In bad times you have very few friends.
  • Equivalent: A friend in need is a friend indeed.
  • Equivalent: Remember man and keep in mind: A faithful friend is hard to find.

French Phrase of the Week

Qui a bon voisin a bon matin.

• Literal meaning: Those who have good neighbors, have good mornings.
• Idiomatic translation: Good neighbours give good days.

Language Trips!

   

 

Welcome back to most of year 7 who spent last week in Albert, Cologne and Barcelona practicing the language skills they had picked up this year and discovering the cultures of their chosen European country.  Reports to follow!

German Phrase of the Week

Stadtluft macht frei.

• City air makes you free.
• Meaning: In medieval times peoples living in free cities were free from a sovereign. They were not bond-slaves like the people in rural areas. So living in a city - ´breathing city air´- meant to be free from bond-slavery to a sovereign. People living in cities could express their own opinion without being harassed. If people escaped to a free city and lived there for one year and one day, they were free of any previous bond to a sovereign.

Italian Phrase of the Week

• "Tra il dire e il fare, c'è di mezzo il mare."
  • Literal translation: "Between doing and saying lies the sea."
  • Idiomatic translation: "Easier said than done."

Latin Phrase of the Week

We have had this one before but here it is again in a good luck wish to all of our linguists sitting exams at the moment.

per aspera ad astra!
Through difficulties to the stars!

French Phrase of the Week

L'argent ne se trouve pas sous le sabot / le pas d'un cheval.

• Idiomatic translation: Money doesn't grow on trees.
• Literal meaning: Money is not found under a horse's hoof / step.

Spanish Phrase of the Week

Quien la sigue, la consigue.

• Translation: He/She who follows it, gets it.
• Interpretation: When you persist in something, you can obtain what you want

Finnish Tongue Twister!

 
Kokoa kokoon koko kokko.
(Gather together the whole bonfire.) 

German Phrase of the Week

Setz nicht alles auf eine Karte.

• Translation: Don't bet on only one card.
• English Equivalent: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.