Cartography

Wichtige Vokabeln zum Thema Kartographie finden Sie hier.

Look at your map!

You know how to get to work and to your friends’ house, but in unfamiliar places, it’s useful to have a map — most likely, it will be in a phone app or perhaps the satnav in your car.

There are maps for all sorts of purposes. Road maps show roads and motorways, junctions (Autobahnkreuze), service areas (Raststätten) and distances (Entfernungen). Streets and other infrastructure, buildings and tourist sights are marked on a city map. And if you’re looking for a specific building in an industrial estate, you’ll find it on a site plan. If you like hiking, you may have a collection of hiking maps. Sailors need a nautical chart (Seekarte), on which shallows (Untiefen) and beacons (Leuchtfeuer) are marked, for example.

All maps must be clear and easy to read. Icons (Symbole) and colours have to be explained in a legend. The scale is also important: the lower the scale number, the larger the scale and the greater the detail (and vice versa).

DON’T MIX US UP!

The translation of an English phrasal verb (verb + preposition) into German can be tricky. Here are some examples with look (schauen, sehen):

• If you look after sb./sth., you take care of someone or something. (sich um jmdn./etw. kümmern)

• If you look at sth., you consider, examine or read something carefully. ((sich) etw. ansehen)

• If you look for sb./sth., you try to find someone or something. (nach jmdm./etw. suchen)

• If you look forward to sth., you expect something with pleasure. (sich auf etw. freuen)

• If you look through sth., you read it quickly. (etw. überfliegen)

• If you look sth. up, you look for information about something online or in a book. (etw. nachschlagen)