The 2022 Bier Immersion onslaught and Oktoberfest visit are in the history books. What will 2023 bring for our intrepid band of bier connoisseurs? Here's the countdown to the start of Oktoberfest 2023...

Visit Dave Finlay's Oktoberfest Resources site to learn more about our past visits, some history and interesting anecdotes.


Click the Arrow for the Live Feed

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Elementary German

My nephew, who is considering the trip, asked me what German he would need to know. I provided the following advice. Anything I missed?

Here's the German you need to know:

Bier: Bier (Drink this)
Wein: Don't drink this
Ratler: Beer and lemonade: Don't drink this unless you are a girl
Wasser: water Drink a lot of this
Dunkel: Dark Bier
Weissbier: Wheatbeer
Helles: Munich lager Bier (pretty much you'll always get)
Eis: Ice, don't worry they don't have it
Ein: One (as in Beer)
Zwei: Two (as in one for you, and one for me)
Drei: Three (another one for chugger)
Damen; Women (as in Bathroom) (Don't go in this one)
Pissort: Place to pee, usually free, usually a big trough, sometimes occupied by Australians
Herren: Place to go, sometimes have to pay
Hendl: Chicken, roasted...think rotisserrie
Rindfliesch: Usually beef
Kalbfleisch: Veal
Haxen: Pork Knuckle, roasted for few hours... very tasty
Wienerschnitzel: NOT a Hot Dog chain, but shmished pork, deep fried, like a texas tenderloin
Kartoffelsalat: Potato Salad
Sauerbraten: See web site, beef covered with a sour sauce..
Donner: Amazing Gyro like food found throughout Europe, best eaten after drinking
Gleis: Track, as in Train track, usually followed by a number
Zug: Train
Einfahrt: Fellow oktoberfester, also entrance
Ausfahrt: Exit, or what Einfahrt does after he had too much beer, worse the next day.
Flughaven: Airport
Hauptbahnhof: Main Central Train station (Bahnhof is secondary station)
Zimmer: Room
Police: Polizei
Jawohl: Yes, Used to be only heard on Hogan's Heroes, but more prevalent since German Unification
Nein: No
Verbotten: Forbidden

Thats about all you need to know. Everything else is self-explanatory. A few of use speak more than others, but we get by, and most Bavarians speak English. We are much better behaved than the Eastern Europeans, and the Australians, that they don't mind we are American.

2 comments:

Barbus said...

Rot Wein: drink this
Weiss Wein: drink this
Sekt: drink this

Zimmermadchen: do not touch
Bumsen: don't do with Zimmermadchen

Hamburger: a citizen from Hamburg

Chugger said...

Danke: Thank You
Bitte: Your Welcome (depends on context)
Bitte: Please (depends on context)
Wiesn: Short for Theresienwiese, the central spot of Oktoberfest