Jagdsteuer is a tax that has to be paid in Germany by people who either want to hunt or fish.

It is a tax that is paid locally, and some areas of Germany do not levy it at all.  The level of tax to be paid depends on the annual catch or on other factors such as the area hunted or fished.

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

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Hundesteuer is a tax that is paid by dog owners, similar to a dog license in other countries.

In the 19th Century the German state considered it a luxury for a private person to have a dog, hence the tax.

There are however exceptions, eg. for guard dogs – as long as these are owned by a company.

Dogs that are particularly dangerous often pay a higher rate of tax, whereas guide dogs pay less tax in some areas of Germany.

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

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Hausnotruf is a system offered my organisations such as the German Red Cross (DRK).

People who do not want to move into an old people’s home, but still want the peace of mind of being able call for help in an emergency use the system.  The have a red button on a necklace that they can press in an emergency, which contacts a base station which in turn dials an emergency call centre.  They then send out someone who has a key to the flat or house to help.

Some systems also offer a an option, whereby the user has to press a button on the base station eg. every 24 hours.  If they do not, they receive a call or help is sent out.  This can be useful if they are not able to press their button.

For more details on the Red Cross system, visit www.drk.de.

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

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GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communications and is the the mobile phone standard common in many parts of the world.  It has been the main standard in Germany since the middle of the 1990s.

The two GSM frequencies in Germany are known as D-Netz and E-Netz.

The standard also covers features such as SMS (Kurznachrichten), which started out as a by-product and is now one of the most popular ways of using a mobile phone.

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

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The word Amtsleitung has two possible meanings:

1. It can refer to the phone line between the exchange and the socket in a flat or house, also known as the Letzte Meile (last mile).

2. It can also be used to talk about an “outside line” in a corporate environment.  People talk about “ein Amt holen” or “eine Amtsleitung holen”, ie. obtaining an outside line.  Since ISDN is more popular in Germany than other countries, even private homes may have internal extension numbers require a number, eg. 0, to ring an external number.

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

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