g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5959 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 105 of 151 28 February 2014 at 9:53pm | IP Logged |
March Challenge
I'm determined not to be late setting a challenge again!
This month, your challenge is a twist on self introductions: rather than introducing yourself, your challenge is to write an introduction to somebody else. This person could be either real or fictional, somebody you know personally or somebody famous. You can be as creative or uncreative as you wish.
I deliberately avoided a self introduction challenge, because I find that once you start activating a language you tend to end up talking about yourself over and over again anyway. This challenge is all about practicing using the third person!
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sabotai Senior Member United States Joined 5859 days ago 391 posts - 489 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Japanese, Korean, French
| Message 106 of 151 01 March 2014 at 2:11am | IP Logged |
Feb. Challenge
No issue with understanding sentences passively, but I recently found that I have a big issue with this in active use. I usually feel like I'm just totally guessing at which pronoun to use.
Prepositions and Pronouns
The following prepositions are always followed by the accusative
bis, durch, entlang, für, gegen, ohne, um and wider
And the following prepositions are always followed by the dative
aus, außer, bei, mit, gegenüber, nach, seit, von and zu
It doesn't matter if there is motion implied by the verb or not. It will always be "nach mir", never "nach mich". "ohne ihn", not "ohne ihm"
But the pronoun that follows the following prepositions depends on if the verb is a verb of motion (accusative) or if one is describing a location (dative).
an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen
Erik stellt sich hinter ihm. (Erik places himself behind him) - Accusative
Erik steht hinter ihm. (Erik stands behind him) - Dative
However, even if motion is not implied, sometimes the accusative is used if the use of the dative would not make any sense.
Wir warten auf ihn. (We wait for him....not literally 'on' him).
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BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4599 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish
| Message 107 of 151 04 March 2014 at 9:11pm | IP Logged |
Some vocab related to Karnevalszeit (Carnival Season):
Fastnacht: Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/Pancake Tuesday/Mardi Gras
Weiberfastnacht: Fat Thursday before Lent (party night for women and men dressed as women)
Rosenmontag: Monday before Lent when the Karnevalsumzug happens
Karnevalsumzug: carnival parade with amazing floats and costumes
Aschermittwoch: Ash Wednesday
Fastenzeit: Lent
Elferrat: council of eleven that oversees festivities
Verkleidung: costume
Maske: mask
Süßigkeiten/Bonbon: candies /sweets
SWR has a fantastic guide to carnival, including lexicon and videos:
Närrische Wochen
Basler Fasnacht in Switzerland hasn't happened yet, but a friend tells me the costumes there are even more
amazing and he's even getting up in the middle of the night to watch the live stream.
The motto this year is "Gäll, blyb suuber". Swiss-German is a whole other kettle of fish.
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AlOlaf Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5125 days ago 491 posts - 617 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: Danish
| Message 108 of 151 23 March 2014 at 2:47am | IP Logged |
My March Challenge contribution is here, at the bottom of the page.
Warning: Extremely long post! Sorry, it just came out that way.
Edited by AlOlaf on 23 March 2014 at 4:15am
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5959 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 109 of 151 01 April 2014 at 8:40pm | IP Logged |
March Challenge Results:
Well done to the following team members for completing the March Challenge:
AlOlaf
BAnna
If I have missed any other winners, as always, please let me know.
An April challenge will come just as soon as this forum starts working properly again...
Edited by g-bod on 05 April 2014 at 12:30pm
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BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4599 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish
| Message 110 of 151 04 April 2014 at 5:32am | IP Logged |
My contribution is very lightweight compared to AlOlaf's outstanding and touching one, but it can be found in message 166 of log (see below). Maybe I should separate my posts by language instead of a mishmash of them all together?
DE March challenge Msg 166
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5959 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 111 of 151 05 April 2014 at 12:33pm | IP Logged |
Sorry I missed your post BAnna, I have updated the winners list now. I missed it due to a combination of the forum software struggling over the last couple of weeks and the fact that I have had less time to spend on here recently. I certainly have no objections to the format of your log!
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g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5959 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German
| Message 112 of 151 05 April 2014 at 12:43pm | IP Logged |
April Challenge
The April Challenge is a very easy challenge, that anybody can win regardless of your level, preferred methods, or time available.
We have just reached the end of the first quarter of the 2014 TAC. At this time of year a lot of the TAC Log activity tends to die down, as new year's resolutions are well and truly forgotten and real life goes on. So the April Challenge is the "Who is still in?" Challenge.
In order to win this challenge, please post a message here in the Team Log, with a brief summary of how the first quarter of the TAC went and what your plans are for the next quarter. If you need language practice to make the challenge feel worthwhile to you, of course you can write it in German. But the main thing is that it's time to reflect, regroup, and reaffirm your commitment to Team Spaß!
Edited by g-bod on 05 April 2014 at 12:44pm
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