Original illustrations of our favorite German proverbs
June 19, 2017
How well do you know German proverbs? In these exclusive illustrations by Antje Herzog, DW presents a collection of wise old sayings that you'll still hear regularly in Germany today.
Watch Antje Herzog at work in this time-lapse video of one of the illustrations in the series, which is updated weekly with a new proverb.
Do you know which proverb she's drawing in the video? If not, you'll find it in the gallery above.
In this second video, you can meet up with illustrator Antje Herzog, go behind the scenes of DW's proverbs series, and learn more about the history of proverbs in the German language.
Did you know that there are about 250,000 proverbs in the German language, and that each proverb averages seven words?
Renowned expert Wolfgang Mieder spoke with DW's Kate Müser about what differentiates a proverb from a slogan and why his very favorite English expression would never work in German. Here's the interview.
Click on the audio links below this article to listen to the pronunciation of eaach proverb, as spoken by voice artist Stephan Kaiser.
We asked you to share your favorite German proverbs as well, and here's what you sent.