Look who's speaking German!

Leonardo DiCaprio’s grandmother is German, that is why his middle name is Wilhelm. DiCaprio speaks German and in this interview he is talking about  the town his grandmother lives in and what his favorite German dish is.

also German and in Hollywood:
  • Movie director Roland Emmerich (Godzilla, Independence Day, The Patriot, and others)
  • Hans Zimmer wrote the musical score for The Lion King, Inception, Transformers,...
  • action film star and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria
  • Movie director Wolfgang Peterson  (Das Boot, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, and others)
Sandra Bullock speaks German really well. Did you know that her family is German? She is here giving a speech after receiving a Bambi (a German movie award) and thanking her grandmother and the rest of her family for their continued support. She also tells us that she used to be a waitress, a cleaning lady and a dog stylist before becoming the Hollywood actress we know today.

More Famous German people:
  • Basketball pros Dirk Nowitski & Detlef Schrempf
  • Supermodels Heidi Klum and Claudia Schiffer
  • H. J. Heinz (Heinz ketchup) had German parents
  • Albert Einstein, famous physicist
And even Keanu Reeves can speak some German! Here he is reciting a German saying that translates to: "Tomorrow, tomorrow, just not today, is what lazy people say!"

Germans wrote some of your favorite books:
  • Cornelia Funke, the author of Inkheart & other children and young adult books
  • Michael Ende, the author of The Neverending Story
  • Curious George was written by Hans and Margret Rey, who grew up in Germany
  • The Brother Grimm (fairy tales)
  • Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) grew up in a German-speaking family
  • L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, had ancestors from Germany
  • Erich Kästner wrote Das doppelte Lottchen, basis for the movie The Parent Trap

So what are the facts....

  • Between 1949 and 1990 Germany was devided into two parts, the west was called Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) and the east was called Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR)
  • German is the most widely spoken language in Europe with over 120,000,000 people speaking it
  • world wide more than 185 million people speak German
  • German is the official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein. It is also one of the official languages in Belgium
  • 42 million people in the U.S. have German ancestry, making German Americans the largest single heritage group in the U.S.
  • Germany is the biggest economical power in Europe
  • Germany is one of the world's largest exporters
  • 18% of the world's books are published in German
  • German is the second-most commonly used scientific language
  • The world's oldest zoo is in Vienna, Austria
  • The world's biggest zoo is in Berlin
  • The international calling code for Germany is 0049, the internet country code is .de
  • Stanford University has a German motto: Die Luft der Freiheit weht
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Deutschland
  • Germany's capital is Berlin
  • Germany is one of the few countries were Holocaust denial is a crime

Made in Germany

  • Mercedes Benz, BMW, VW, Audi, Porsche
  • Siemens produces many goods such as: mobile telephones, appliances, and computers
  • the MP3 format was invented in Germany
  • EKG: Elektrokardiogram. It monitors the heart.
  • Anthrax, invented by Robert Koch
  • Rottweiler dogs originated in Rottweil, Germany. 
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Gummibärchen are from Germany! Yummy!
  • Harribo Gummibears
  • Riesen chocolates, Werther's Echte (Originals)
  • Trader Joe's is owned by the German company Aldi
  • PEZ candy & dispensers were first created by Edward Haas, an Austrian
  • Smucker’s jelly, originally named Schmucker - the family came to Ohio from Switzerland
  • Velcro was invented by a Swiss scientist, George de Mestral
  • The Sound of Music is about the von Trapp family and their escape from Austria, the music by Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein.
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Frau Shechtman loves her Puma shoes!
  • Adidas, Puma
  • Levi’s jeans: By Levi Strauss, a German immigrant to America
  • The Ritz Hotel was founded by a Swiss man, Cesar Ritz
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Röntgenbilder
  • X-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen
  • The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by Johann Roebling
  • Printing press was invented by Johann Gutenberg