Berlin Way Of Life

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Berlin Way Of Life

Thursday, October 9th, 2008 by www Subscribe To My Feed

You’ve booked your flights, you’ve got your apartment (apartamentos Berlin) sorted, and you’ve even decided which monuments you’ll be visiting first. What you’re even more certain about is that you’re definitely going to be eating a LOT of their delicious food. But what happens when you get there and realise that you don’t understand a single word of the menu because you don’t speak any German and its not all frankfurters and beer. So here goes, a list of all of the things you will need to know whether your budget accommodates 5 star dining or if your wallet only stretches as far as a Maccy D’s.

If you need an extra seat around your table, instead of sneakily trying to get to the table first to avoid that embarrassing ‘is this seat taken?’, they say ‘yes’ so you move away, then to realise that they mean ‘yes, you can take it’ moment, you might like to try asking in German at the table next door:

Sind diesse Plätze frei?

For meal times, it’s usually good to know how to say the basics like breakfast, ‘Frühstück’, lunch, ‘Mittagessen’ and dinner, ‘Abendessen’. For inbetweens such as sacks and appetisers, you’d do well to learn ‘Imbiss’ and ‘Vorspeise’.

For meat, a good German favourite, the following might come in handy:

Boulette – Meatball
Gans – Goose
Huhn/Hühnerfleisch – Chicken
Ente – Duck
Lamm – Lamb
Rindfleisch – Beef
Schinken – Ham
And obviously the most important, Wurst – Sausage

Well, by far the most important think to be able to order when in Germany are the drinks, or the Getränke, and in particular the bier (no, I didn’t spell it wrong, it’s just very close to the English). If mulled wine is more your kind of thing, then be sure to order some Glühwein, which comes in all varieties and flavours. When you need a break from the alcohol, you might like to order some kaffee, mineralwasser, or orangensaft (that’s coffee, mineral water and orange juice to you and me).

And finally, although no one really likes this part, to pay, it might be useful to ask for the bill: Bezanhlen, bitte.

So there you have it; you can now ask for your table, order your dinks and your food and even ask for the bill, all in German. Bet you’re glad you popped on here today aren’t you. And there’s nothing stopping you from biting the bullet and booking your accommodation (alojamiento Berlin) or hotel (Berlin hoteles) knowing that you won’t starve or die of thirst while on holiday. Viel Spass!

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