15 messages over 2 pages: 1 2
Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 9 of 15 14 March 2010 at 4:18pm | IP Logged |
wandern wrote:
My main problem is being able to recall the gender of the relatively few nouns I know. (Why is the sun feminine and the moon masculine? It makes no sense whatsoever). |
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I have similar problems in Spanish, usually with more-or-less cognates (el coche, die Kutsche for example.)
I try to memorize the word with article as if it were a prefix and then stop worrying about it. I make mistakes but then again, in German you can say der/die/das Joghurt.
Maybe the best advice I can give is that when something like that crosses your path, a topic of which you can't make any sense at all: don't get bogged down on the question of it. If you notice you're wasting your time put that topic aside, proceed in whatever lessons you're doing, and come back to the difficult topic some days later.
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| wandern Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Germany Joined 5372 days ago 8 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese Studies: German
| Message 10 of 15 14 March 2010 at 4:44pm | IP Logged |
Thanks Bao.That makes sense. (By the way, isn't a "Kutsche" a carriage transporting people? Maybe in slang, a
"Kutsche" is a car, no? Anyway, I would translate "el coche" into "das Auto", but "die Kutsche" into "la
carroza" (carriage/coach), but I might be totally off).
datsunking1: I am thinking of ordering the book you suggested. The old edition is way cheaper than the new one.
Do you know if the revisions are worth the price difference?
Cainntear: I was reading in some other thread Sprachprofi's suggestion to start with Michel Thomas. I think I'll do
that and then go into Assimil using the techniques she also mentioned. Now I just need to match the tapes I have
with the right printed English version book.
Edited by wandern on 14 March 2010 at 4:54pm
1 person has voted this message useful
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5584 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French
| Message 11 of 15 14 March 2010 at 5:00pm | IP Logged |
wandern wrote:
Thanks Bao.That makes sense. (By the way, isn't a "Kutsche" a carriage transporting people? Maybe in slang, a
"Kutsche" is a car, no? Anyway, I would translate "el coche" into "das Auto", but "die Kutsche" into "la
carroza" (carriage/coach), but I might be totally off).
datsunking1: I am thinking of ordering the book you suggested. The old edition is way cheaper than the new one.
Do you know if the revisions are worth the price difference?
Cainntear: I was reading in some other thread Sprachprofi's suggestion to start with Michel Thomas. I think I'll do
that and then go into Assimil using the techniques she also mentioned. Now I just need to match the tapes I have
with the right printed English version book. |
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http://www.amazon.com/German-Speak-Write-Beginners-Guides/dp /9650060359/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268582256&sr=8-1
^ I have this exact version, it's literally just a different cover. everything on the inside is the same. I cost me 10-11 dollars in Barnes and Noble (bookstore) so the price is fairly good :D
It really is an excellent book, if you have good pronounciation you should have NO trouble getting through it. Supplementing it with Assimil should be perfect :)
1 person has voted this message useful
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 12 of 15 14 March 2010 at 10:28pm | IP Logged |
wandern wrote:
By the way, isn't a "Kutsche" a carriage transporting people? Maybe in slang, a "Kutsche" is a car, no? Anyway, I would translate "el coche" into "das Auto", but "die Kutsche" into "la carroza" (carriage/coach), but I might be totally off. |
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Nope, that's correct in both points. I don't know if those words are cognates that went on a different path in meaning, or if it's some kind of odd coincidence, but the similarity of those words is strong enough that Kutsche interferred with my concept of coche.
Edited by Bao on 14 March 2010 at 10:30pm
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| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5734 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin
| Message 13 of 15 14 March 2010 at 11:41pm | IP Logged |
Bao wrote:
wandern wrote:
My main problem is being able to recall the gender of the relatively few nouns I know. (Why is the sun feminine and the moon masculine? It makes no sense whatsoever). |
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There's no sense behind it. Just ignore it. Try to learn it, but if it doesn't stick the first time, just move on. With time and exposure you'll get to know which is which. In the meantime, rather learn a new word, than trying to get the gender of an old word right!
Bao wrote:
I try to memorize the word with article as if it were a prefix and then stop worrying about it. I make mistakes but then again, in German you can say der/die/das Joghurt. |
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Was that another 'no worries', or an actual example? Because I'd never say anything else than "Der Joghurt".
1 person has voted this message useful
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5765 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 14 of 15 15 March 2010 at 1:32am | IP Logged |
Pyx wrote:
Was that another 'no worries', or an actual example? Because I'd never say anything else than "Der Joghurt". |
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Both.
Duden gives all three articles as correct.
I use der/das depending on whom I am talking to. I just use this example to remind myself that language often does not follow any kind of obvious logic, that people tend to assimilate the usage they hear most frequently, that this can be highly confusing until it becomes intuitive all of a sudden, and that this isn't something I should lose any sleep over.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5734 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin
| Message 15 of 15 15 March 2010 at 1:35am | IP Logged |
Bao wrote:
Pyx wrote:
Was that another 'no worries', or an actual example? Because I'd never say anything else than "Der Joghurt". |
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Both.
Duden gives all three articles as correct.
I use der/das depending on whom I am talking to. I just use this example to remind myself that language often does not follow any kind of obvious logic, that people tend to assimilate the usage they hear most frequently, that this can be highly confusing until it becomes intuitive all of a sudden, and that this isn't something I should lose any sleep over. |
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Don't you come near my house saying "Das Joghurt"! Tz, kids these days! ;P
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