Many people learned either French or Spanish in school. German isn't commonly taught at the HS level.

As a result many people have never seen a German dictionary. People can find them on the Internet to translate from and to German.

One German dictionary many people know is a translator such as Google's or Yahoo Babelfish. They both include many other languages. They translate between the languages. You can use them to translates websites. It's fun to use. Google's is superior.

However another German dictionary translates two ways at the same time. If you enter a German word it returns other similar German words as well as the English translations. Let's give it a whirl.

Nothing, for example, returns some interesting results. One of these is nothing doing. This is like saying oh no you don't. It's an emphatic way to say no. It's also uttered as a disagreement. For instance the salesman wanted to pour dirt on my rug, I kicked him out saying nothing doing. The German phrase for this is nichts zu machen. The phrase is closer to no chance. The German word nichts means nothing.

Kleinluftschiff in this German dictionary is blimp. Zeppelin is another word for the same thing. Airships of this type often float over football games. The Hindenburg was a famous airship. In 1937 the Hindenburg caught fire. It was a total loss. 35 of the 97 people on board were killed. There's a rather famous clip of the incident. It included the reporter yelling “oh the humanity!” It's on YouTube.

Nobody knows for certain why the Hindenburg started burning. A German dictionary has no answers. It may have been sabotage. One theory is that static electricity built up on the skin, igniting the tanks. It might have been lightning. It would be odd for the hydrogen to explode. But the hydrogen mixes with oxygen when vented out during a landing. Mixed with oxygen, it could ignite. On the 70th anniversary an article proposed a theory. Maybe sparks from engine exhaust ignited. The results were horrific.

That's only some of what a German dictionary contains.