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#26 Old 31st Jul 2015 at 1:14 AM
Quote: Originally posted by no.[666]bicycle
I am learning ASL and I'm loving it!


I heard that really enhances language skills of babies who are taught sign language before they can properly vocalize speech.
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Theorist
#27 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 2:54 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Johnny_Bravo
As a Tri-languagal entity (German, Dutch, English), I can say that German is, well, boring. And the Articles are hell.


A language which is as perfect for shouting and yelling as the German language can never be boring.

The gorgeous Tina (TS3) and here loving family available for download here.
Mad Poster
#28 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 8:53 AM
Heh...a language that uses this word for phone booths (or did) - Münzfernsprecher - which I understand literally translates to "coin far speaker" is rather amusing, not boring! Maybe it's just the way it's being taught at your school.
Top Secret Researcher
#29 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 9:50 AM
That's pretty archaic at this point. When I still lived in Germany (I left in 1998), I would use Telefonzelle = telephone cell.

These days, that's an odd word to translate literally considering the word "cell phone" for "mobile phones" in North American English.
Mad Poster
#30 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 3:13 PM
Oh, I realize it's been outdated, I just find it amusing that when certain new words were needed, some really interesting and fun combinations were created. That aspect of putting words together draws me to German, along with the sound of it and the history. The grammar looks hard, though.


By the way, and this remark is directed at this thread in general, I want to remind people that it's important to be careful when commenting on another's language because language, culture, and nationality are tied up with identity, so it can be seen as a personal attack.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#31 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 4:44 PM Last edited by Don_Babilon : 1st Aug 2015 at 5:02 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by VerDeTerre
Heh...a language that uses this word for phone booths (or did) - Münzfernsprecher - which I understand literally translates to "coin far speaker" is rather amusing, not boring! Maybe it's just the way it's being taught at your school.
Well, "tele-" itself means 'far' or 'over a distance'. So telephone translates to 'farsound' and "fern" is the German word for 'far' or 'tele-' (both tele- and -phone are Ancient Greek, btw, @OP).
But "Münzfernsprecher" is a good example for a peculiar aspect about German and the nightmare for all translators: one can create words on the fly by combining several, sometimes unrelated, words and Germans would understand most of them. The "Münz-" is short for 'coin operated' and "-fernsprecher" for "Fernsprechanlage" or 'apparatus that enables you to speak over a distance'.
Just try to find a single English word for "Fortsetzungsroman", "Weltschmerzliteratur" or "Schadenfreudenhaus". The first one does exist, the other two I just made up, but any German would get a rough idea of what they could mean.

Quote: Originally posted by VerDeTerre
Oh, I realize it's been outdated, I just find it amusing that when certain new words were needed, some really interesting and fun combinations were created. That aspect of putting words together draws me to German, along with the sound of it and the history. The grammar looks hard, though.
Although there is nothing as brain damaging as the English system of prepositions. Sometimes things are on, in, at or with something, and even though the things' positions are always the same it always means something else.


Quote:
By the way, and this remark is directed at this thread in general, I want to remind people that it's important to be careful when commenting on another's language because language, culture, and nationality are tied up with identity, so it can be seen as a personal attack.
Oh, with regard to German, I think you can safely bitch away. While I don't think that it is boring, I can understand if people find it tedious, and unless you're meeting someone from this new generation of "we want to feel patriotic again" you won't find many Germans who will mind being confronted with the same old prejudices over and over again. Just don't mention the war!
Top Secret Researcher
#32 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 6:18 PM
Well, this German here is as sensitive as anyone when it comes to prejudice. Let's just say, it's boring and exhausting to hear the same-old-same-old over and over. Having more than one citizenship doesn't really help in that regard.

A recent longer visit to Germany has made me sensitive to Denglish expressions that might confuse English speakers learning German in Germany these days.
"mail" for email, "handy" for cell phone, "mobbing" for harassment or bullying, for example.

This article talks at length about the phenomenon. I think with the prevalence of English worldwide, it's not just a German phenomenon.
http://german.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/denglish.htm

Quote:
Just try to find a single English word for "Fortsetzungsroman", "Weltschmerzliteratur" or "Schadenfreudenhaus". The first one does exist, the other two I just made up, but any German would get a rough idea of what they could mean.


Fortsetzungs.roman = episodic novel
Welt.schmerz.literatur = depression literature (possibly literature that is depressing? about depression? about depressed people?) "World pain literature" would be a literal translation. Weltschmerz is an archaic and somewhat artistic/romantic word for depression.
I think Schadenfreude has made it into the English vocabulary a long time ago? So, it would be a house where Schadenfreude is practiced?
Theorist
#33 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 6:40 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Aaron4Ever
Ich bin ein Berliner!


Ich bin ein...
Banned
#34 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 6:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by ScaryRob
Ich bin ein...

WOAH WOAH WOAH get a clip off YouTube, I ain't downloading nuthin'!
Theorist
#35 Old 1st Aug 2015 at 8:05 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Aaron4Ever
WOAH WOAH WOAH get a clip off YouTube, I ain't downloading nuthin'!

Huh? It's just a short soundclip which doesn't d/l anything.
Theorist
#36 Old 2nd Aug 2015 at 4:44 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Don_Babilon
Just don't mention the war!



The gorgeous Tina (TS3) and here loving family available for download here.
Theorist
#37 Old 18th Sep 2015 at 5:27 PM
Sorry for the bump, but came across this video.


The gorgeous Tina (TS3) and here loving family available for download here.
Banned
#38 Old 18th Sep 2015 at 7:34 PM
Any good ways to remember the numbers above three, and up to ten? Pink Floyd taught me the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in German, but that's all I know.
Theorist
#39 Old 18th Sep 2015 at 9:52 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Aaron4Ever
Any good ways to remember the numbers above three, and up to ten? Pink Floyd taught me the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in German, but that's all I know.


School. Hot German Models. Torture.

There are many ways for the people to be educated.
Top Secret Researcher
#40 Old 18th Sep 2015 at 10:08 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Aaron4Ever
Any good ways to remember the numbers above three, and up to ten? Pink Floyd taught me the numbers 1, 2 and 3 in German, but that's all I know.


-Find a German snack food you like
-Dress up like The Count from Sesame Street
-Go up to someone you know and put a certain number of snacks in front of them.
-Point at the snacks and count them. Sechs Schokolade! Sechs! Ah ha ha! Cackling is mandatory.
-Repeat this with everyone you know.
-When they all think you're insane and obsessed, they will begin quoting the numbers back to you, and you will be able to remember all of them.

My MTS writing group, The Story Board
Theorist
#41 Old 18th Sep 2015 at 11:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Mistermook
School. Hot German Models. Torture.

There are many ways for the people to be educated.


I approve.

The gorgeous Tina (TS3) and here loving family available for download here.
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