Word of the Week: die Osterglocke

This is a new feature called Word of the Week. This week's word is die Osterglocke.

The word Oster means Easter; and a Glocke is a bell. With their bell-like centres it is easy to see the reasoning behind the German name for daffodil.

Please let me know if there are any words you would like in Word of the Week.

Eric Carle

You may know Eric Carle's story The Very Hungry Caterpillar but did you know that the author has written over 40 books? Much of his work has been translated into other languages, from Arabic to Polish and from German to Japanese!

So why have I included Eric Carle in a website for learning German? Well, although he was born in Syracuse, New York, his parents were German immigrants. Because both parents were German speakers Eric's first language or mother tongue was German. He grew up hearing and speaking German at home and used English to communicate with other children at school and with people in his own neighbourhood. Someone who speaks two languages fluently is bilingual. Many Germans moved to the United States in 1920s and 30s in search of a better life.

When he was six years old Eric moved to Stuttgart, Germany with his family. He completed his schooling in Germany and returned to the USA when he was in his twenties. After working as an art director for The New York Times for some years his career took a different turn. He was approached by children's writer Bill Martin Junior whose eye had been caught by a picture of a red lobster that Eric had produced for an advertisement. The two men worked together to create Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? which went on to become a firm favourite with parents and children the world over.



German version of Eric Carle's first book

You can watch the German version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar below.

Hundertwasser Haus

The Hundertwasser House in Vienna is such an interesting building I really want to tell you more about it. Visually it is unlike any other building and the reasons behind its quirkiness lie with its chief creator Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Hundertwasser believed that most buildings suffered from a sickness and it was his dream to create buildings that were vibrant and in harmony with nature. So he designed Hundertwasser House.

The house is an apartment house. This means it is divided up into small Wohnungen or flats and there are many residents living in it. The building is fascinating with its use of bright colour and unusual curves. The colourful mosaics, crooked walls, small balconies and roof terraces overgrown with trees all give the building its extraordinary look. It is one of the most visited buildings in Austria.

Each dwelling within the house is made individual by its own colour on the outside wall and by its own distinct type of window. The corridors inside the house have uneven floors and undulating roughcast walls made of materials that are easy to renew. The roofline of the building is ornamented with large onion domes and trees that rise up out of terraced gardens on the roof. And if you manage to look closely at the outside walls you might spot the flamboyant silver ceramic tiles used to decorate around some of the windows.

Watercolour of Hundertwasser House

If you are lucky enough to get the chance to visit the Hundertwasser House at 43 Löwengasse  in Vienna then you will have to make do with looking at the building from the outside, as it is a private, residential home. But there is a cafe on the ground floor of the building where you can soak up the atmosphere over Kaffee und Kuchen.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

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Look out for more from kidzdeutsch in the next few days!