Hallo und Tschüss, Welcome to Germany Quiz

Answer: A farewell

Tschüss is an informal farewell, like 'see you' or 'bye'. 'Hallo' would be an example of a German greeting, and 'prosit' would be a good wish before drinking.

Answer: bitte

The German word 'bitte' is used for telling someone they are welcome and also for 'please'. 'Danke' means thanks, 'wiedersehen' is a farewell remark and 'willkommen' is used as either an invitation or something that is happily received.

Answer: Grundschule

'Grundschule' is the German word for a primary school. The German 'Gymnasium' is equivalent to a grammar school in the United Kingdom. 'Realschule' would be a high school in the UK and 'Hauptschule' is also a secondary school.

Answer: ... nicht vor dem Abend loben

Yes, in Germany they say 'Du sollst den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben' (you shouldn't praise the day before the evening), which is equivalent to the English saying 'don't count your chickens before they are hatched'.

Answer: 16

The sixteen states are: Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thüringen.

Answer: Bavaria

Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg are the only three city-states in Germany. Although Bavaria (Bayern) calls itself a 'free state' (Freistaat), it is not a city-state.

Answer: Nena

In 1983, Nena reached international stardom with her song '99 Luftballons' ('99 Air Balloons', but it was renamed '99 Red Balloons' in the English version). Jasmin Wagner, aka Blümchen, is also a German singer. However, as she was born in 1980, she would have been too young at the time of the New German Wave, which started sometime in between the late 1970s and the beginning of 1980s; it reached its peak around 1981-1982, and gradually ended around 1984.

Answer: Fasching

Fasching is also called Karneval (carnival) and Fastnacht (or Fasnacht without the 't'). The many celebrations, events and parades - to which the celebrating people attend dressed-up in costumes - traditionally start the week before Ash Wednesday, but the official beginning of the Fasching in most regions in Germany is on 11/11 at 11.11am (easy to remember).

Answer: Franz Beckenbauer

Franz Beckenbauer, a former professional footballer, manager and national team coach, acquired the name 'Kaiser' (Emperor) for a few reasons. The first one is that his first name 'Franz' was the name of an Austrian Emperor; secondly because of his skillful leadership and playing tactics; and lastly because of his sense of style, as he was always seen looking dapper.

Answer: Heino

Heinz Georg Kramm, aka Heino, was born in 1938. In earlier years many people assumed Heino was an albino due to his trademark appearance of pale skin, natural platinum blonde hair and the dark pair of shades - this was not the case, however. The actual reason for him to wear the sunglasses all the time was because he suffers from exophthalmos caused by Graves' disease.