Essential German phrases

The southern greetings, both used here. But do not extrapolate: you are in Bavaria administratively and in Franconia culturally, and the difference matters to everyone around you.

The Franconian intensifier with no translation — it emphasises, softens or contradicts depending entirely on where it lands in the sentence. Using it correctly buys you more goodwill than a year of grammar drills.

Franconia. Lederhosen, Oktoberfest and Weißwurst are Old Bavarian, not Franconian, and saying otherwise here is the local equivalent of calling a Scot English.

The Christmas market on the Hauptmarkt, opened each year by a girl chosen as the Christkind. The city's largest annual event, and it reshapes the centre for a month.

A half-litre of beer, and the Franconian unit of measurement. Upper Franconia just north of here has the highest density of breweries anywhere in the world.

Roast pork shoulder with crackling and a potato dumpling — the Franconian Sunday dish, and the thing to order when someone takes you somewhere serious.

'Three in a roll' — three Nuremberg bratwursts in a bread roll with mustard. The sausages are protected by origin and must be made within the city.

Registering your address within two weeks of moving in. It produces the certificate that your tax ID, bank account, health insurance and residence permit all require.

Cold versus warm rent. Adverts quote cold; the warm figure adds heating, water, rubbish and building costs and is what leaves your account.

The credit reference agency. Landlords and mobile providers both ask for a Schufa-Auskunft, and a newcomer arrives with an empty file rather than a bad one.

112 for ambulance and fire, 110 for police. 112 works across the EU from any phone.