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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Badner Diglot Newbie GermanyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5252 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish | Message 17 of 42 09 August 2011 at 4:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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To make it even more confusing: "Omeletts" and "Eierkuchen" are two different things.
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| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5320 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes  Speaks: German*, English | Message 18 of 42 09 August 2011 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
You're right, but they're pretty close and usually share the same key ingredient (eggs) and the same method of cooking. Depending on the recipe, you might even mistake an omelet from a distance for a pancake, but you'd never mistake either one for a donut. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fnord Triglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 5033 days ago 71 posts - 124 votes Speaks: German*, Swiss-German, English Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch | Message 19 of 42 10 August 2011 at 12:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Read this thread a few hours ago without being able to reply. I'm not going to read it all again, so please
excuse if some points have said before.
Very much, yes. Primarily depending on age and education, I would say. Most college graduates should speak English at least to an intermediate if not advanced level. Chances are that they will try to switch to English, the younger, the more likely. Many others on the other hand often don't need any English at all in their daily lives. And they aren't likely to be confronted with English, except for the occasional loanword and the most common bits of pop culture. I guess I'm not alone in saying that I usually just "zone out" when listening to English music on the radio. And there's lots of it, in Germany there's no quota for the proportion of foreign-language and Germany. I don't perceive its words and/or meaning, unless I actively try to concentrate on it - or the chorus is all to blatant. As for TV and cinema, virtually everything is dubbed in German. I think Germans quite possibly enjoy the best movie dubbing in the world - which, of course, doesn't bode too well for language competence, once one has been out of school a few years. So... being able to speak and understand the local language should definitely be an asset in Germany - probably more so than in the Netherlands or Scandinavia (but less so than in France or Wallonia *SCNR*) and many people will prefer speaking German with you. Dialect or accent shouldn't be a problem in larger cities or university towns, once people recognize you as a foreign speaker. Just in some more rural areas, particularly in the south, would I expect the local populace to have difficulties speaking proper standard German to you. You wouldn't be alone in this. My mother is from Berlin. Even though she has been living in Swabia for twenty years, she still doesn't understand everything in dialect. She often has to deal with farmers in the countryside (literally). Though it certainly cannot hurt to make yourself with colloquial German and a few key differences between written and standard German, common contractions, elisions and the like. A few of them are quite prominent even when one tries to speak standard German.. Example: Ich habe -> Ich hab' Wir haben -> Wir ham' 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 5050 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes Studies: German | Message 20 of 42 10 August 2011 at 4:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Now this topic is making me hungry lol.
So when, Kennedy said "ch bin ein Berliner," he was technically correct? Even though, Berliners are donuts in other parts of Germany but not necessarily in Berlin? This is all so interesting. Thanks all again for sharing your perspectives, now I'm anxious even more to go and speak German lol. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fnord Triglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 5033 days ago 71 posts - 124 votes Speaks: German*, Swiss-German, English Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch | Message 21 of 42 10 August 2011 at 11:45am | IP Logged | ||
Well... technically speaking, Kennedy was neither a donut, nor did he live in Berlin or was born there. But on a more serious note, I have somewhere heard/read there's some kind of "donut" misconception about this sentence in the English-speaking world? My mom - who, by the way, stood in the crowd at Kennedy's famous speech herself - would say "Ich bin Berlinerin", meaning she was born and/or grew up in Berlin. A male would say "Ich bin Berliner". "Ich bin ein Berliner is certainly a rather unusual phrasing, yet it does not seem "funny" at all to me. Especially when put in the right context: "If these and those values are what Berlin stands for, then I am a Berliner too." I think it's a mere figure of speech, indicating affiliation with the city of Berlin (and what it stood for after the Berlin wall was built), without literally being from or living there. Most of the audience of Berliners is unlikely to have associated this with pastry anyway, as they aren't called "Berliner" in Berlin. Likewise, "Wiener Würstchen" aren't called "Wiener" in Vienna either, as far as I know. Edited by fnord on 10 August 2011 at 12:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6379 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 22 of 42 10 August 2011 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, most Americans who know the story believe he called himself a donut. Right behind it is the apocryphal story that Chevrolet didn't know that Nova meant no go in Spanish.
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| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 5050 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes Studies: German | Message 23 of 42 10 August 2011 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Interesting... Yeah, I was wondering about the correctfulness of the sentence as fas as the grammar part in German, not necessarily if he used it in the right context.
But thanks :) newyorkeric, ya I did not know that... lol. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| j0nas Triglot Groupie Norway Joined 5542 days ago 46 posts - 70 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German | Message 24 of 42 11 August 2011 at 8:02am | IP Logged | ||
That's like winning the paralympics. (sorry) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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