The following book offers some hard facts about Germany. Well, published in 2010, there is no need to fear for it to be outdated as Germans are slow to change.

On the other hand, you can also read Margit’s post about 10 Things I like about Germany, which are based on her experience and observations.

I know, I should write my own list of things I like about Germany, which do not differ much from Margit’s post. But for a living, I have to explain the Germans’ quirks and other traits. My job, next to teaching, is also problem-solving. Some expats have a lot of questions when dealing with German neighbors and life in Germany, in general.

Once my head is free of all these interesting challenges, I shall write my own list.

The “Post Pack” is a collection of 6 transcripts, each in their own PDF file. The pack is a ZIP file containing the 6 PDFs and is available from the AllThingsGerman Download Store.

The transcripts in this pack are:

• Das Einschreiben
• Paket und Päckchen
• Nachnahme
• Büchersendung
• Die Zuschlagmarke
• Unfrei

To find out more, visit the AllThingsGerman Download Store.

Unfrei is a term used in the German postal system.  If something is sent unfrei it means that the recipient pays for the postage.

This is often indicated on the envelope as “Gebühr bezahlt Empfänger”.  Some companies pre-print their envelopes with “Bitte freimachen, falls Briefmarke zur Hand” requesting that you put a stamp on the envelope, but that they will pay the postage anyway if you do not.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Die Zuschlagmarke is a type of stamp that has two face values: one for the postage and another for a special cause, eg. 55+25

These sorts of stamps often appear before Christmas and include a small donation to a charity. In the above example 55 cents would be the postage for a letter and 25 cents would be the donation.

The donation is not allowed to be higher than half the value of the postage itself, although this has not always been the case and stamps used to be produced with values such as 12+38.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Subscribe to the podcast | Listen by telephone