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Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 4861 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes  Studies: German | Message 1 of 8 01 June 2012 at 6:26pm | IP Logged |
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I may have already made a thread about this but
I am actually now reading this book, Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod and was wondering if anyone else has read this, what did you think of it? I have not gotten too far into it yet, but I like so far the author's sense of humor. I like it so far. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5896 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 2 of 8 02 June 2012 at 3:22pm | IP Logged |
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I didn't really care for it but I have to admit I've only read about 20 pages. I live in Hessen and I'm a fan of German slang and dialect so I'm probably not the right person to read the whole book.
Bastian Sick goes on to talk about whether it's more correct to use the article "die" or "das" for a jar of Nutella. This might be the stuff of conversation for Germans but it seems a bit trivial for a foreign speaker. More than the book, I can recommend Zwiebelfisch which is the author's column in Spiegel-Online. Lebensform this might be a good topic for the German forum! edit: oops i meant the "Deutsch Raum" of this forum -- that might be a better spot to attract people who've read it ^^ Edited by Sunja on 02 June 2012 at 10:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4655 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 3 of 8 04 June 2012 at 6:28pm | IP Logged |
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Oh, I read it about seven years ago when it was brand-new. I don't remember too much of it now, but I think I liked the author's humourous approach to language. I care for a good and elegant style in my German - as well as in any other language -, so I found it rather interesting. I know I have read the whole book, but as I already said I don't remember anything particular about it.
The only thing that comes to my mind are Bastian Sick's remarks about "Dieser Zug endet hier". I must think of it every time I'm sitting in the train when the conductor proclaims the final stop. Sometimes, they really say "Diese Zugfahrt endet hier", just as Sick suggests, but most of the time it's the usual "Dieser Zug endet hier". I don't have a problem with this idiom though. Sick may be right when he states that a train ends at its last coach and not at a station, but to my mind it's just an idiom. You say it this way whether it's logical or not. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4639 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 4 of 8 06 June 2012 at 12:31am | IP Logged |
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I wonder is he the Lynn Truss of German? :-)
(David Crystal, who is an actual linguist, has a slightly more enlightened view of changes to English than does dear old Lynn, bless her). @Lebensform: If you liked that, in case you are not aware, there are several follow-up volumes to the original book. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| LebensForm Senior Member Austria Joined 4861 days ago 212 posts - 264 votes Studies: German | Message 5 of 8 07 June 2012 at 5:05pm | IP Logged |
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The book I have has three parts to it. It's over 700 pages! I will look into additional volumes...
Thanks everyone for your replies! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5658 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 8 01 July 2012 at 7:44am | IP Logged |
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I have this book "Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod" and I also have the game of this book. It's indeed humorous and you can learn a lot about German spelling and grammar. It's originally written for Germans, who make some silly mistakes in their own language. I would recommend it to foreign learners of German because Bastan Sick explains the rules well and it's not boring at all.
Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 01 July 2012 at 7:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6514 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 8 01 July 2012 at 10:07am | IP Logged |
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I have got not one, but two books in the series, and there may be more. I like the author's style and sympathize with many of his misgivings about subjects like the latest orthography reform. But the books are definitely not for people who still are trying to make sense of the German grammar - you really need to know the subjects he is speaking about by heart to follow his argumentations, and you need a lot of practice to evaluate whether those topics are central or peripheral to the things you need to learn.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Umin Triglot Newbie Germany despairedreading.worRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4358 days ago 37 posts - 52 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Japanese Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 8 of 8 04 July 2012 at 4:56am | IP Logged |
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I don't really like these books. First of all, I'm not really fond of prescriptive approaches to language, which is
basically was Sick does in the book (trying to tell people how they should speak in their mother tongue). Secondly, there also are some things in the book which are really disputable, e.g. the whole thing about "Sinn machen" (see http://www.iaas.uni-bremen.de/sprachblog/2007/10/01/sinnesfr euden-i/ for a completely different opinion on the matter). I sometimes read Sick's blog on SpOn, but it also often causes me to sigh loudly. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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