The speech of German youngsters

Liz   Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:40 pm GMT
<<--Do German youths not fantasise about Hitler anymore?--

Not as much as the Brits do....LOL>>

Correction: not as much as Adam does... :-))

Adam, if I didn't know that you are from Bolton, I wouldn't take you for a northener. You are such a stereotypical southerner! (I don't want to offend southerners, anyway.) I really could imagine you in a comedy, you just seem to be an exaggeration of that type. :-))

(My thoughts were triggered by other comments of yours, not only by those ones, of course.)
Aquatar   Wed Sep 20, 2006 4:40 pm GMT
>>BTW I saw a really funny adaption of the sketch on a BBC show recently. A redfaced Englishman walks into an Indian hotel and the Indian receptionist starts:
- Don't mention the Empire, don't mention the Empire! <<

That reminds me of an Austrian girl I know, who, when she was asked in England 'Wasn't Hitler Austrian?' replied 'Wasn't Jack the Ripper English?' Good answer, I thought lol.
Llorenna   Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:32 pm GMT
''What are the current changes/tendencies in the speech/language use of German youngsters ''


-they seem to be using dialect-sounding German, especially in the South
-they don't respect the usage of using Perfect VS Präteritum, present in cultivated written language
-they seem to be using article with given names (Ich bin DIE Claudia instead Ich bin Claudia), similar to Informal Continental Portuguese, Catalan and Chilean Spanish
ich   Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:09 pm GMT
Ey Alder, wat geht ab?! Ich chill hier grad'n bisschen rum, unn morgen check ich dann mal alles ab, ne! :-D
Gringo   Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:31 am GMT
««similar to Informal Continental Portuguese, »»

Now it is informal? And when did they get rid of the artical in formal Portuguese?
Gringo   Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:33 am GMT
««similar to Informal Continental Portuguese, »»

Now it is informal? And when did they get rid of the article in formal Portuguese?
mike   Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:30 am GMT
Thanks Liz. The stress in german is another major story yet of another reason that makes the language sounds nice in my ears. So far being still at the very early stages of learning the phonetics without talking the stress as a main topic, but I do detect the melody/tone in the language when natives speak. The tone I think comes mainly from the stress in words, and also from the long and short vowels. Actually, I have a brother-in-low who has been living in Germany for more than 20 years now. When he speaks german, I am able to sense flatness in the over all tone of his speech and how he lacks the tone that natives have. Maybe this is due to the ignorance of the stress side of the language during study. So I think the stress is very crucial as you said, and if not practiced very well, it will be easily to be detected as a non-native.

Anyhow, I still have some problems in some phonetics:

Long u [u:] and long o [o:]… not east to be separated when you hear them.

Long e [e:]… when I pronounce it, either it comes like long i [i:], or like long ä [ε:] but I know it should be somewhere in between.

Liz, when you started this thread, did you have any slightest bit of intention to turn it into some kind of political radical conversation? Why is it that whenever a new topic is started, someone pops up and steer us into that direction? Why is it that people are so possessed in such a thing?
mike   Thu Sep 21, 2006 8:03 am GMT
I mean obsessed in such a thing

(possessed to do so)...it could work also in case of Adam!
Liz   Thu Sep 21, 2006 1:23 pm GMT
<<<Liz, when you started this thread, did you have any slightest bit of intention to turn it into some kind of political radical conversation? Why is it that whenever a new topic is started, someone pops up and steer us into that direction? Why is it that people are so possessed in such a thing?>>

By no means did I have the intention to do so. I wanted all of you to concentrate on that particular issue I have raised. I haven't ever thought that it will turn into a political conversation, not even in my wildest dreams! Once I started this thread but no one took it seriously. However, I forgot to mention that I had to carry out a sort of research on this topic, and I thought someone could help me.

I also have noticed recently that even some really "innocent" topics turn into heated discussions about extremely delicate topics/questions, which haven't actually been raised so far. I think some people need this to sort of spice up their life (which is otherwise so boring I reckon). Moreover, it's much easier to air ones narrow-mindedness and aggressivity behind the protecting walls of anonimity (there isn't such an expression, though :-))

As far as Adam is concerned, he has been here for such a long time, and he hasn't changed ever since... He keeps spouting nonsense as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Sometimes I'm wondering whether he is making fun of us (just teasing us for fun, rather, and is laughing us everytime he reads rants full of rage). But I had to arrive at the conclusion that he IS perfectly serious. I used to get a little irritated while reading his posts brimming with nationalistic clichés, but I have realised that it's not worth doing so. Although our/your (over)reactions are totally understandable, I think we'd better laugh at him. (Eyes rolled.)

<<Anyhow, I still have some problems in some phonetics:

Long u [u:] and long o [o:]… not east to be separated when you hear them.

Long e [e:]… when I pronounce it, either it comes like long i [i:], or like long ä [ε:] but I know it should be somewhere in between.>>

Quite a good question.... Well, you know, I mean it's not easy to answer. :-)
Yes...some people pronounce their "u"-s "o"-like. I noticeded it especially in the speech of Bavarians.

Your next question... Where are you from, by the way? I ask you that because of you "pronounce /e:/ as a long /i:/. I think you should try the following:
Try to produce a short /e/ the way it is produced in English. It's a bit more closed and raised than "ä" (sorry I don't have an IPA or X-SAMPA font installed), and then try to prolong it. Okay, not much of a help, is it? It sounds obvious and trivial, but this is how it is produced.

OR:

Have you ever had any exposure to Hungarian. Now, if you have, you just have to pronounce the "é"-sound, which is almost exactly the same as /e:/. Have fun. :-) I hope I could help you.
Fredrik from Norway   Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:59 pm GMT
I think Llorenna summed up it up very well!
Though I don't think that dialect-coloured German is a recent youth phenomena, rather the other way around!
Liz   Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:08 pm GMT
Typos:

laughing us=laughing at us
noticeded=noticed
because of you pronounce...=because you ...
Have you ever had any exposure to Hungarian. was ment to be a question!