My name is Melani. I’m old enough to remember Spice Girls and life before the Internet, but also young enough not to remember the events that led to my country’s re-independence, or well, anything else that happened before 90s, for that matter.

I come from Estonia. After finishing high school there at 19 and having studied in France and Belgium for a while, I’ve ended up in ...

Die Gegenwart: the present (time)

If we take this word apart we find it is made of gegen (against) and wart (waiting). So literally, the word means ‘against waiting’. I find this word so beautiful because of what it represents. In the present, we aren’t (or shouldn’t) be waiting for anything – we are here.

Additionally, I’m assuming this word was developed after the words ‘gegen’ and ‘wart ...

Der Beruf: Occupation

While in English we often (or at least technically) refer to a ‘Job’ as an ‘Occupation’ (literally something that occupies us and our time), I love that the German word for occupation (Beruf) is composed of the word ‘Ruf’ which translates into ‘Call/ Calling’. The German word reminds us that our ‘occupation’ should not simply be something that ‘occupies’ our time, but rather something that ‘calls’ us ...

Vitamin B

• High German: Vitamin B
  
• Swiss German: Vitamin B
  
• English: Good connections

If you want to find a job in Switzerland, or anywhere for that matter, you will need a good dose of Vitamin B. This has nothing to do with the vitamin B complex that help your body process fat and protein, but everything to do with the people you know who can help land you that job ...

I just came back from Italy. I again witnessed how it’s all about our mind whether we improve in our target language abilities or not. It’s an attitude – a mindset (of course, we also need time and situations that involve the language. More on that in another post).

So I was in Italy with my mom to visit relatives. I understand a lot of Italian, I don’t ...