Ach, du liebe Zeit!

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Writer Jen Percy is dating a German-speaking man. She’s found that the language of love is not, as advertized, universal: expressing her love in German is fraught with linguistic confusion. Download MP3

• The World in Words
• Mark Twain’s ‘The Awful German Language’
• From the BBC: Cool German

German anger over GM’s decision on Opel

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General Motors has decided not to sell its European subsidiary, Opel. And that has the German government fuming. Reporter Brett Neely has the story from Berlin.

Bilingual metaphors, place name changes, and interpreting for the Dodgers

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, Nobel literature prize winner Herta Mueller dreamed up metaphors in a mix of her native German and the Romanian she learned at school. Try translating that into English. Also, a conversation with the author of “Whatever Happened to Tanganika? The Place Names that History Left Behind.” And a profile of the man the Los Angeles Dodgers hired to interpret for the team’s Japanese players.

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Boom, Bust and Bertolt Brecht

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In the late 1920s, American capitalism inspired a German opera about a city built on greed … “Everything is defined by money. Everything can be bought, including human relations” … The opera’s creator decried capitalism. In the wake of the 1929 Wall Street Crash, Brecht wrote about New York. It’s as if he was writing last year. The World’s Alex Gallafent has the story. Download MP3

• Poem: Late Lamented Fame of the Giant City of New York
• Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
• Bertolt Brecht: Poems 1913-1956

Cell phone symphony

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For today’s Global Hit, German audio technician Hans Koch who went to Mumbai, India to compose, with an audience, a cell phone symphony.

German comedian’s election bid

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Meet Horst Schlämmer, alter-ego of one of Germany’s most famous comedians, Hape Kerkeling. Schlämmer usually works as the deputy editor of a fictitious German newspaper. But now, Kerkeling’s got his creation running for public office. And not just any public office. Schlämmer wants to be Chancellor. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Schlämmer, and Kerkeling. >>>more about Kerkeling and his book I’m off then >>>More about Horst Schlämmer’s election run.

Comic relief for German politics

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with a one-of-a-kind candidate who is pretending to run for the German parliamentary election this September. His name is Horst Schlaemmer, a character created by comedian Hape Kerkeling and he’s gaining some traction in the polls.