Do you native English-speakers have difficulty w/other Germa

Benjamin   Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:56 pm GMT
I haven't read this whole thread because I don't have enough time now, but I will say this:

I've been in Germany for a week, doing an intensive German language course (all taught in German), having relatively little knowledge and experience of German beforehand. Already, I find that I'm able to follow spoken conversational German, even if I can't produce it myself or read it very well yet.

And by the way... since we've been discussing this sort of thing on here rather a lot recently... Germany seems very very similar to England. Definitely more like England than France, I find.
Candy   Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:24 pm GMT
<<2 words in a list of 49 words !! 1% !!>>

Great maths there, Guest. Well done.
Aquatar   Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:39 pm GMT
Benjamin

Bist du jetzt in Heidelberg? Macht es dir Spass? Seit wann studierst du denn Deutsch? Du hast vor ein paar Wochen zum Draht 'Wer spricht hier Deutsch' beigetragen, und dein Deutsch war schon ziemlich gut, dachte ich. Vielleicht hast du einfach ein grosses Talent dafuer!
Fredrik aus Norwegen   Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:42 pm GMT
Hast du schon dein Herz in Heidelberg verloren,
in einer lauen Sommernacht?*

LOL!

*Strophen aus einem bekannten deutschen Studentenlied
LAA - Juaquin en la caja!   Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:27 am GMT
As an example, I will show you how little an English speaker like me, with very little knowledge of German, can understand.

"Bist du jetzt in Heidelberg? Macht es dir Spass? Seit wann studierst du denn Deutsch? Du hast vor ein paar Wochen zum Draht 'Wer spricht hier Deutsch' beigetragen, und dein Deutsch war schon ziemlich gut, dachte ich. Vielleicht hast du einfach ein grosses Talent dafuer!"


Bist du jetzt in Heidelberg? = ? you ? in Heidelberg

Macht es dir Spass? = Make it ? ?

Seit wann studierst du denn Deutsch? = Since when have you studied German.

Du hast vor ein paar Wochen zum Draht 'Wer spricht hier Deutsch' beigetragen, und dein Deutsch war schon ziemlich gut, dachte ich. = You have ? ? ? ? ? 'Who here speaks German ? and ? German was soon ? good, that I.

Vielleicht hast du einfach ein grosses Talent dafuer!" = ? you have ? a ? gross talent ?


There were 45 words in that text. Of those 45, I could only GUESS 28, and I'm sure I wasn't even right on many of them.


Could somebody post some text in Anglo-Saxon, (Old English) so others can see how "Gallicized" English has become over the centuries? Sure, many words of French-Latinate origin have been Anglicized, but these have still been entirely foreign, and non-Germanic lexical contributions, which have totally altered the language, and alienated it from its Germanic sister languages.
Candy   Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:13 am GMT
<<"Bist du jetzt in Heidelberg? Macht es dir Spass? Seit wann studierst du denn Deutsch? Du hast vor ein paar Wochen zum Draht 'Wer spricht hier Deutsch' beigetragen, und dein Deutsch war schon ziemlich gut, dachte ich. Vielleicht hast du einfach ein grosses Talent dafuer!" >>

Translation:

Are you now in Heidelberg? Are you having fun? [Literally, 'makes it to you fun?'] How long have you been studying German? [Literally, 'since when study you German?'] A few weeks ago, you contributed to the thread 'Who speaks German here?' and your German was already quite good, I thought. Perhaps you simply have a great talent for it!
Aquatar   Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:56 pm GMT
Candy

Thanks for the translating it for LAA, I was going to do it, but you beat me to it :)

As for the topic of this thread, it is hard to answer being a native English speaker who has studied German to an advanced level.

However I can say that I do find that I can often follow much of the content of the posts on here written in French, despite only having studied it very briefly. And I would say I understand comparatively less of the content of the posts written in Dutch.
Aquatar   Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:32 pm GMT
On the other hand I seem to remember that when I was briefly learning French at the same time as doing beginner's German, I did feel that German was somehow more like English, and that French was more 'alien'. I believe I found it easier to absorb German at the very beginning than I did French, although of course there were a few shocks to come with regards to the grammar.
JR   Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:07 pm GMT
Are you now in Heidelberg? Are you having fun? [Literally, 'makes it to you fun?'] How long have you been studying German? [Literally, 'since when study you German?'] A few weeks ago, you contributed to the thread 'Who speaks German here?' and your German was already quite good, I thought. Perhaps you simply have a great talent for it!
--------------
This is very interesting. In the brackets were the first litteral translation of German I have seen, word for word. And I am surprised.

Makes it to you fun - I was surprised that this made little sense in English, because in English you don't make fun, you have it. In Spanish, we say 'Se te hace divertido?' (Literally 'It to you makes fun?').

Since when study you German = Desde cuando estudias tú Alemán
Directly translated to Spanish, it makes perfect sense. Although, you forgot to translate denn.

Just amazed. And still, my previous guess of understanding about 10% of German stands. I had to pronnounce it out before I could get any of it though, in written form the English cognates are a little hard to spot.
Aquatar   Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:41 pm GMT
'because in English you don't make fun, you have it'

You can say 'to make fun' in English, as in 'to make fun of someone', but of course this has a totally different meaning i.e. the act of laughing at or mocking someone.

Anyway, funny how both those examples seem to translate directly into Spanish, but not English. I do remember hearing though that most European languages use the present tense after 'Since when...' and that English is somewhat of an exception in using the past continuous.
Candy   Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:59 am GMT
<<Although, you forgot to translate denn. >>

I didn't forget - I just thought it didn't really fit into the English sentence. 'How long have you been studying German, then?' - doesn't seem necessary to me.

<<'Since when...' and that English is somewhat of an exception in using the past continuous.>>

It's the present perfect continuous, Aquatar - the past continuous is 'I was studying...' :-)

<<Candy

Thanks for the translating it for LAA, I was going to do it, but you beat me to it :) >>

You're welcome ;)

I teach English to Germans, and they tend to over-use the word 'make' by translating directly from German - 'it made fun', 'next weekend we make a party', 'I made a good experience', etc.
Fredrik from Norway   Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:05 am GMT
Talking of Spaß machen, I really like the word Spaßmacher (= funny guy). In old-fashioned Norwegian we also have it in the Low German variety, as Spassmaker.
The indigienous Norwegian words for funny guy are a bit more outlandish: lögnas and morroklump (= fun lump)!
Sander   Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:48 pm GMT
Believe me, some language use even more ridiculous terms...

Dutch: Grapjas (Joke Jacket/Coat)
Aquatar   Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:59 pm GMT
'I teach English to Germans, and they tend to over-use the word 'make' by translating directly from German - 'it made fun', 'next weekend we make a party', 'I made a good experience', etc'.

Yes, I've noticed that, but I suppose by the same token native English speakers have the tendency to overuse the word 'have' when learning German 'Ich habe Spass', 'ich habe eine gute Erfahrung gehabt' etc.
Benjamin   Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:22 pm GMT
Ja, ich bin im Moment in Heidelberg und es ist so schön! Deutschland ist über fantastisch! Ich habe auch viele anderen Städten und ich finde, daß sie so gemütlich sind.

Actually, the one big reason for why I love it so much here is that its the first time I've been abroad and haven't felt inferior or inadequate. Whenever I've been to France, Italy, Spain or even Belgium, I've always felt as though I'm not sophisticated enough, not civilised enough, not dressed stylishly enough... but here, I seem to blend in perfectly. The amazing thing is that people here seem to look at me and assume that I'm German until they hear me speak. People have always been able to tell straight away that I'm not French/Italian/etc. in France/Italy/etc.

Is it my immagination, or are slices of cake bigger in Germany than in England?