GERMAN questions, answers, grammar and anything related

I hear english is a difficult language to learn because of words that have more than one different meaning.

For all people out there whom are not english by nature, is what I say here true?

:)

Someone who learned English as a second language said that the hardest thing for her to learn English was the pronunciation of the words. I can remember from both Spanish and German that the sounds of the words were pretty uniform. However, English has a lot of different sounds for the words, which I think would really confuse people.

I learned English as meine muttersprache, though, so I'm afraid that I never had that problem. But I believe that it would be an obstacle, reflecting on the English language.
 
That's true, in English you can't tell the pronunciation from seeing the spelling. Which can be really annoying. Quite often I found out I wrote a word a dozen times but whan I said it nobody knew what I was trying to say because I pronounced it in one of the OTHER ways the spelling allowed for :)
 
That's true, in English you can't tell the pronunciation from seeing the spelling. Which can be really annoying. Quite often I found out I wrote a word a dozen times but whan I said it nobody knew what I was trying to say because I pronounced it in one of the OTHER ways the spelling allowed for :)

I think it's pretty bad when the word "phonetic" isn't sounded as it's spelled, which should serve as a warning to those wanting to learn to speak English. :lol
 
I think it's pretty bad when the word "phonetic" isn't sounded as it's spelled, which should serve as a warning to those wanting to learn to speak English. :lol

Soooo true! Couldn't have said it any better :p
 
Yeah.

Or for example in German there is only one word for Shadow and Shade : Schatten
So it's hard to keep remembering that some shadows are shade (not shades, that's sunglasses or blinds..confusing) because you can use them to protect yourself from the sun, and you don't really care what it's the shadoew of :)

I think in general english differentiates more between things and names them differently even if there are only minute differences. That's very eh.. different, differently so :)
 
I've never thought of it like that before, but you are right. I guess I have the undifferentiated opinion that your opinion doesn't differ from mine. :lol

I think the big difference, though, is that English is hard to pronounce, and has many gramatical rules with many exceptions. From what I've seen in German, the gramatical rules are pretty rigid, but they are a bit more complicated in German. Do I make sense?
 
I've never thought of it like that before, but you are right. I guess I have the undifferentiated opinion that your opinion doesn't differ from mine. :lol
:lol

Once you got the rules down't they don't change much?
Yeah, but there is no real rule for some things like der, die , das. You pretty much have to learn every single one. So yes and no I'd say. There's some pretty rigid srtucture but a lot of things you simply need to learn by heart.
 
( Sprechen Sie Griechisch? :) )



Kakosi? - don't know

Dobar? - russian?

Ti si dobar? - don't know

Ti kavete? - no clue

Kala? - greek?

Ola? Loco! - spanish

Komitikiame? - come ti chiame? - italian

Guapo! - no clue
 
Kakosi? - Macedonian - How are you?

Dobar? - Macedonian - good

Ti si dobar? - Macedonian - are you good?

Ti kavete? - greek - how are you?

Kala? - greek - good

Ola? Loco! - spanish - hello, crazy!

Komitikiame? - come ti chiame? - italian - yep

Guapo! - tagalog - handsome!

Tagalog is the language used in philipino.

:)
 
I thought ti kavete was familiar. :)
Kalimera is good morning isn't it ?

Kakosi? - Macedonian - How are you?

Dobar? - Macedonian - good

Ti si dobar? - Macedonian - are you good?

Ti kavete? - greek - how are you?

Kala? - greek - good

Ola? Loco! - spanish - hello, crazy!

Komitikiame? - come ti chiame? - italian - yep

Guapo! - tagalog - handsome!

Tagalog is the language used in philipino.

:)
 
Wow, Angvav. Do you know all the languages that you presented here? If so, I am deeply impressed. Of course, I'm proud of you for being able to master two languages (English and Greek). In today's world, I'm sure that being bilingual helps a lot.
 
It's always such a surprise for non native english speakers, well at least this one when bilingual (and so on) is being said to be so special. I think starting with english is such a disadvantage in the way that almost everybody understands you.
Where I'm from everybody has to know their original language, english and usually learns another one at school. :) So meeting someone non-bilingual was the unusual thing. Do you have a compulsory foreign language class in the States?
 
I can explain the reason for that, Jassian, why in America it is special for someone to know more than one language, and there are two factors that come into play: historical, and geographical.

First, one needs to look at the location of the United States, as opposed to Europe. I live in Northern California. If I go 300 miles in any one direction, I'll either be in the ocean middle of the ocean (where I would need to learn how to communicate with the dolphins as a language :lol), or still in America. My point is that America is not close to any other non-English speaking countries, save for Mexico. However, most states aren't near Mexico, and most people from Mexico come here, not vice versa, so unless you live near the border of Mexico, it is not imperitive that one learns Spanish. In Europe, and other countries around the world, most nations are close to each other, and so you need to learn a few languages if you plan on going 300 miles in any one direction.

Second, one needs to looks back at the World War II economy. After World War II, most major countries, save the U.S., was devestated, while we experienced an ecnomic boom. As such, this was about the time that modern globalization kicked in, and the U.S. became one of the two global superpowers (the other being the Soviet Union). People wanted to trade with American corporations, and have our Burger Kings and Wal-Marts. However, Americans said that other countries would have to learn OUR language if they wanted to trade with us. Therefore, most countries think that it is wise to teach their children English, because of the growing Western influence throughout the world. If you want to trade or deal in America, you had better know English.

To answer your question, while living in the U.S. doesn't require knowing anything outside of English, most universities require two semesters of a foreign language. However, the problem is that foreign languages are not seriously taught until High School, which would be around fifteen-years-old. I took Spanish in high school, but wasn't very interested in it and hardly remember anything about it. German, though, I am making a serious effort not only to learn it in school, but to retain it beyond just using it for the scope of the class. However, foreign languages are not required to pass high school, and you only have to have taken foreign language classes on your transcript. One is not tested on it after that, though, so you could logically forget everything that you learned. Again, though, I really want to retain what I learned in German, which is why I'm a bit worried when this class is over, because I don't think that the university I'm transferring to has a German class (though I could be wrong).

Understand? :) If so, I have a quesiton. Seeing as how Australia is still part of the British Commonwealth, do they require that a foreign language be learned in school?
 
Firstly - To answer your question ohboy - I do know nearly all those languages :)

I am currently learning tagalog and spanish :)

Thank you for the very nice words :)

Jassian - Yes that means good morning :)

Wow - Ohboy - your history is quite awesome :)

I don't think a different language was compulsory in the past in australian schools.

But different languages such as greek, italian were taught in school when I went.

Languages would still be taught in australian schools nowadays - don't know which one's though.

If anyone would be kind enough to correct me on this if I'm wrong - thanks :)

I know in greece, english is taight at school, where as it never was in the past.

:)
 
I agree very much with your reasoning, Ohboy. :)
Once you live in the States you don't need anything beyond english. I think it's similar in Australia.

I guess learning aa foreign language at school and then never touching it again is much different to being confronted with it a lot. Something similar happened to me with my french, i used to get great marks for it, but as I had no reason to keep practicing my vocabulary is purely passive. English on the other had is much more around you on a day to day basis even in a country like germany or france where tv and movies are dubbed. Plus,I always had a special interest in english.

I think you could study german by distance.

Nice job on your languages, Ang :)

I think in Australia Japanese and Mandarin are very popular at school.
 
The two big languages taught in the United States (besides English, of course) is Spanish and French. Spanish is obvious, because of the close border to Mexico. However, it took me a bit to realize why schools would learn French. The province of Quebec speaks primarily French, and that would be the closest foreign language to America, save French. However, from what I have heard, Chinese is actually starting to gain prominence in high school. When I left my high school, a councilor said that next year would be the start of a Mandarin Chinese program. I can't see the logic behind that, though...

By the way, I had a German question. I was reading a book that took place in Germany, and I observed a cultural note. In Germany, as a sign of respect, is it common say something like Herr Doktor or Herr Professor, where I would say "Mr. Doctor" instead of Dr. Smith. The book took place in the 1960s, and the language that was used was primarily between retired S.S. Officers, so I didn't know if that was an archaic form of address, or if it is still used in contemporary German.

In other words, would be more correct to say "Wie geht es Ihnen, Herr Professor?", oder "Wie geht es Ihnen, Professor Smith?".
 
In other words, would be more correct to say "Wie geht es Ihnen, Herr Professor?", oder "Wie geht es Ihnen, Professor Smith?".

the second would be more contemporary.
But you could say the first one, although you'd be more usual to say it if you were from an older generation.

Or you would say the first one, I guess, if you wouldn't know the good Professor's name.

Actually with our high school teachers we'd call them Doc Smith if they were doctors and had a sense of humor. :)

Well, China is quite strong economicaly really, don't want to go too much into politcs here, but Australia is economically pretty much chinese, most products on the shelf are made in china. So it may make sense for people to learn mandarin. And I see great psychological value in learning a language from a quite different culture. A language kinda forms its unique thought patterns, am i making sense here? So it's likely it will broaden one's way of perceiving the world.
 
You do make sense in your argument about why the Chinese language is being taught. I won't get too much more into that, though, because like you, I'd be getting pretty close to political views.

Thanks for the explanation, by the way.
 
After having completed the German Class, I've been trying to keep up at it daily, and have found a wonderful website that deals in German news and videos (actually, the German teacher told us about it at the beginning of the semester, but I've only recently remembered it). I've been trying to spend at least 20 minutes a day here, either translating articles or watching videos, and there are some pretty interesting German related things here. Right now, the big story is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

http://www.n-tv.de/

Just thought I would shout it out, for anyone interested in other parts of the world.
 
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Deutschland! :)

I have a question about word order that I've come across frequently when trying to read those articles. We only got halfway through the textbook, and writing was very formal, so this could be a more informal piece that I have to learn.

If I translate the above setence literally, looking up each word and taking apart zum (zu + dem), then you said: "Everything good to the birthday, Germany".

Could you explain how that sentence was constructed, or did I mistranslate something. Or was that sentence just informal. I'm not doubting that it is a correct German sentence, because I know that you know how speak German proficiently, I'm just wondering the gramatical structure behind it.

I hope I'm not sounding too stupid... Sorry if I am.
 
I think your translation is correct, literally. It's just that German speakers would understand it to mean the same as "Everything good for your birthday" or "Have a great birthday" for us.
 
Alright, that makes sense. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. After all, American English is a very colloquial language, so hence I should know better than to try and translate things literally in other languages. Thanks, Snish.
 
You're right Snish, thanks :)

I think it would run along the lines of
"(I wish you) Everything Good on the occasion of your Birthday"
But you're right, I can't think of any other construct in which zum
is used that way. Other than the same phrase replacing the occasion, like
Muttertag, Vatertag, Namenstag

Ah wait, the "to your health" equivalent : Zum Wohl
(to (your) wellbeing)
There might be some more out there.
 
Alright, I have another German-related question. I'm trying to keep up on it even after the class, although its a bit hard sometimes.

What is the real differnce between machen (when used in reference of "to do), and tun? Both say "To do" in the definition. The German teacher said that one is more informal than the other, but I wanted to know when one would be appropriate in which situation. Oh, and the book doesn't conjugate tun anywhere, so could I be helped with that as well.

Vielen Dank!