autobiography
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autobiography
The life story of a person, written by that person themself. It describes events, experiences, and developments from the person's own perspective.
In seiner Autobiographie blickt der berühmte Schauspieler auf eine bewegte Karriere zurück.
In his autobiography, the famous actor looks back on an eventful career.
The word comes from Greek and is internationally understandable. It is made up of 'auto' (self), 'bio' (life), and 'graphie' (writing), so it literally means 'one's own life story'.
Viele Politiker veröffentlichen nach ihrer Karriere eine Autobiographie.
Many politicians publish an autobiography after their career.
The word belongs to the word family of 'Biographie' (biography). The prefix 'Auto-' emphasizes that the author is writing about their own life, in contrast to a biography, which is written by another person.
Die Biographie über den Künstler war interessant, aber seine Autobiographie ist viel persönlicher.
The biography about the artist was interesting, but his autobiography is much more personal.
Common verbs used with 'Autobiographie' (autobiography) are 'eine Autobiographie schreiben' (to write an autobiography), 'veröffentlichen' (to publish), or 'lesen' (to read).
Er hat zehn Jahre gebraucht, um seine Autobiographie zu schreiben.
He took ten years to write his autobiography.
biography
Both words refer to a book about a particular person's life. Biographie is the general term for a life story written by someone else; Autobiographie emphasizes that the person describes their own life. The key question is therefore who wrote the text.
Die Sängerin schrieb ihre Autobiographie selbst nach vielen Gesprächen.
The singer wrote her autobiography herself after many conversations.
Die Biographie der Sängerin schrieb eine Journalistin nach vielen Gesprächen.
A journalist wrote the singer's biography after many conversations.
