Soccer is the big thing in Germany, especially right now with the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship (or what’s commonly referred to as Euro 2012). Euro 2012 started on June 8th and goes to July 1st, you can try catching games stateside at local pub that caters to diehard European football fans. Most of the European countries, including Germany of course follow each game and celebrate like crazy -no matter who plays or who wins. So, how does a soccer event look like when the games are taking place all the way in the Ukraine this year?
People in Germany love to watch a soccer game in a nice Biergarten (beer garden) with a lot of beer of course, the jersey of their favorite team. Some like to paint their faces with the colors of the flags that they are supporting. A typical soccer game takes 90 minutes (2 times 45 minutes). In between, there is a break of 15 minutes. As you can imagine, this break is needed for the soccer players as well as for the fans to use the WC’s (the restrooms) and/or get more to drink.
Once the game is over, the partying begins. If the game is on a weekend, people typically stay out all night to celebrate. People get in their cars driving around honking and waiving their flags. It’s even louder when Germany wins.
So here are some phrases about soccer that you can use, if you happen to be in Germany during one of those big soccer games:
- Wer spielt heute? (Who is playing today) This is something women would ask;men usually know the entire chart of sport events.
- Lasst uns alle auf die Mannschaft anstossen. (Let’s drink on the team.) Remember that the word Mannschaft refers to any team even when the team included women.
- Ich wette mit dir, dass Deutschland dieses Spiel gewinnen wird. (I bet with you that Germany is going to win this match)
- Verflucht nochmal! ( Damn it!) You will of course hear a lot of cursing.
- Das war deutlich ein Foul. (That was definitely a Foul)
- Oh nein, der Schiedsrichter holt die nächste Gelbekarte!( Oh no, the judge is getting the next yellow card out! )
- Wenn er noch eine Gelbekarte bekommt, dann ist er raus aus dem Spiel. (If he gets another yellow card, he is out of the game!)
- Die Fans im Stadion drehen richtig durch. (The fans in the stadium are going mad)
- Das war ein super Spiel! Einfach klasse gespielt! (This match was great! They played classy!)
- Ich bin Amerikaner und ich bin ein Fussball-Fan. (I’m American and I’m a Soccer fan.)
Just to give you the heads up, soccer might be contagious.
Watch Germany play Italy today at 2:45 ET — check your local listings (or call your local biergarten) to practice your German during the game!
