Das Vokabelheft

Yes, I really have learnt something since coming to Germany. In fact, I have learnt some German. Despite beng well prepared on the language front (so I liked to think), there are still a lot of German words I do not know. But I'm getting there.

At work, there is a lot of computer-related vocabulary to learn, like der Reiter (tab, as Internet browsers have), das Laufwerk (hard drive) and Spalter and Zeilen (columns and rows on Excel). Then there are the more everyday words you thought you must surely already know, like erhalten (to receive) and gegebenfalls (if necessary). There are the words you need to know for official purposes, like die Lohnsteuerkarte (wage tax card), the ones you want to know to explain that it rains a lot in Sheffield because it is in a valley (das Tal) and the ones you want to know so you can find out what the witnesses on the cop show claim to have heard as the shots were fired: they thought the 'strange tock tock tock' was a woodpecker (der Specht).