Learning New Words...In Your Native Language

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When you are living in a foreign country, you're exposed to many new words. You can't escape it. Some words stick better than others. But what I find most interesting is that I tend to immediately learn a German word when the English word is also new to me.

Each person has a unique and personal repertoire of words and I recently expanded mine with some medical and dietary vocab.

Hexenschuss - lumbago

In context, I immediately knew this word was referring to lower back pain. I also thought it was hilarious as I immediately envisioned a "witch push" to the lower back, or a "witch shot" as this lovely Google Image demonstrates. What's even better is that this word popped up twice, in unrelated situations, within a week's time. What I didn't know was the medical term lumbago. Will this be very useful for me to know? Probably not.

Dinkel - spelt

I had some Dinkelbrot (spelt bread) at the organic stand at the weekly market last week not knowing what it really was. But I knew it was bread and I knew it was organic. When I finally got a chance to access a dictionary, I still didn't know what I had eaten. Apparently Dinkel is a trendy organic ingredient at the moment and it's basically just a type of wheat -- with Gluten for those Gluten-free people out there.

A friend also shared a great tip about grocery shopping for ingredients with a new German/English name. Just Google the word (either one!) and check out Google Images. A very simple but wise idea.