Support NeoGAF

[LazyLoki]

"Der Mann der dort steht, ist größer als ich."

"Der Mann der dort steht, ist genau so groß wie ich."


Happy now?

Those are your run-of-the-mill "Nebensätze", a "Komparativsatz" is something more special, and NOT THE SAME THING as the english "comparative clause".

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Those are your run-of-the-mill "Nebensätze", a "Komparativsatz" is something more special, and NOT THE SAME THING as the english "comparative clause".

So what is a Komparativsatz then? Wikipedia says this:

In dem Satz: „Er hat mich genau so behandelt, wie er das auch bei allen anderen tut“ ist der mit wie eingeleitete Nebensatz der Komparativsatz, der den Vergleich zu dem bewirkt, was im Hauptsatz ausgesagt ist.

In that example it doesn't seem very clear. I think it translates along the lines of "He treats me like he treats everyone else. But if that's the case it just seems like it's a normal comparison.

 

[LazyLoki]

So what is a Komparativsatz then? Wikipedia says this:

In dem Satz: „Er hat mich genau so behandelt, wie er das auch bei allen anderen tut“ ist der mit wie eingeleitete Nebensatz der Komparativsatz, der den Vergleich zu dem bewirkt, was im Hauptsatz ausgesagt ist.

In that example it doesn't seem very clear. I think it translates along the lines of "He treats me like he treats everyone else. But if that's the case it just seems like it's a normal comparison.

It is a normal comparison, only in a specific form/order:

[main clause including fact X], [sub clause including comparison related to fact X]

In your example, fact X is "He treats me", the comparison related to fact X is "like everybody else".

In this special constellation, the sub clause is called a "Komparativsatz". The english term "comparative clause" is used for any sentence or clause used for a comparison.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

It is a normal comparison, only in a specific form/order:

[main clause including fact X], [sub clause including comparison related to fact X]

In your example, fact X is "He treats me", the comparison related to fact X is "like everybody else".

In this special constellation, the sub clause is called a "Komparativsatz". The english term "comparative clause" is used for any sentence or clause used for a comparison.

So the wie or als has to start the sub clause or not always? Would "Er spielt fussball, wie sie frueher gespielt haben". (Ignore the poor grammer, I mean to say something like "He plays foot like they used to play")

 

[Rapstah]

So the wie or als has to start the sub clause or not always? Would "Er spielt fussball, wie sie frueher gespielt haben". (Ignore the poor grammer, I mean to say something like "He plays foot like they used to play")

I believe it does need to start the subordinate clause. And your sentence there, although I'm aware you weren't asking for input on that part of it, means something more like "he plays football, like they did earlier".

EDIT: Hang on, I changed that "as" to "like". Isn't it a bit like the difference between those two, but also applied to "than"? My old teacher used to tell us that "als" was used whenever it was pointing so something that was the same thing as what was being compared, while "wie" was for separates.

Als Tourist wollte Jürgen Hosen kaufen.
-> As a tourist (implied he is currently a tourist), Jürgen wanted to buy trousers.

Jürgen wollte wie ein Tourist Hosen kaufen.
-> Jürgen wanted to buy trousers like a tourist (would).

 

[LazyLoki]

So the wie or als has to start the sub clause or not always? Would "Er spielt fussball, wie sie frueher gespielt haben". (Ignore the poor grammer, I mean to say something like "He plays foot like they used to play")

Exactly!
I can't think of any examples of comparative clauses NOT starting with "als" or "wie"...

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

How do you say something like used to instead of "played earlier" or whatever you want the verb to be.? I've been saying things like that because I didn't know how.

And it makes me depressed that I hate English class most in school and I have to make my do "english" stuff so I understand the grammar to apply to another language. It's bullshit.

I believe it does need to start the subordinate clause. And your sentence there, although I'm aware you weren't asking for input on that part of it, means something more like "he plays football, like they did earlier".

EDIT: Hang on, I changed that "as" to "like". Isn't it a bit like the difference between those two, but also applied to "than"? My old teacher used to tell us that "als" was used whenever it was pointing so something that was the same thing as what was being compared, while "wie" was for separates.

Als Tourist wollte Jürgen Hosen kaufen.
-> As a tourist (implied he is currently a tourist), Jürgen wanted to buy trousers.

Jürgen wollte wie ein Tourist Hosen kaufen.
-> Jürgen wanted to buy trousers like a tourist (would).

You live in France don't you?

 

[Rapstah]

You live in France don't you?

Yes. I've taken classes in German obviously though.

EDIT: I'm a bit rusty as this stuff and I can't remember the prase for "used to", I think there is one though if you can find a web page or book with a list. The thing that makes your sentence above seem more recent is the "früher", which is literally "earlier".

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Yes. I've taken classes in German obviously though.

Ah, ok. I thought you were the guy asked for help with stuff in France but I couldn't remember. I'm jealous of your knowing multiple languages now.

 

[LazyLoki]

How do you say something like used to instead of "played earlier" or whatever you want the verb to be.? I've been saying things like that because I didn't know how.

And it makes me depressed that I hate English class most in school and I have to make my do "english" stuff so I understand the grammar to apply to another language. It's bullshit.




You live in France don't you?

I'm a bit distracted right now, so I can't think of good examples.
You could express "used to" with a blatant distinction of tenses or making clear that the facts have changed.

"He doesn't play soccer like he used to." "Er spielt nicht mehr Fussball so wie früher." (a bit ambiguous, this could either mean he ceased playing or that he got badder at it).

 

[tornjaw]

I already posted this in this thread, but as suggested by Goldmund, I'm also posting here.

I'm stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany and currently deployed to Afghanistan. I'm taking my mid-tour leave in less than two weeks. I spent less than two months in Germany before deploying, so I'm not very familiar with the country.

So, GermanGAF, where should I go, what should I do? I've only got two weeks back, but all suggestions are welcome, I'll hit them up when I finish this tour.

Appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

 

[Alpha-Bromega]

heute war, sozusagen, 'one of those days' aber in ein gutem Zustand gemeint. Ich fühle als ob mein Fernziel, Deutsch zu sprechen, näher und näher kommt. Langsam aber sicher!

Mein Wortschatz wachsen jeden Tag zu, und kann ich endlich voll Gereden und Unterhalten haben (hat man ein Gereden? oder ist das aus idiomatisch english hervorgegangen?), ohne angst bekommen oder zur/auf Englisch schalten. Deutsch denkt zeitgleich mit Englisch in meinem Gehirn, ahhhhhhhhh. bin mit mir ganz zufrieden, es ist kein Hochmut. Ich habe noch ein Gebirg auf zu steigen, aber ich doch die ferne Gipfel endlich sehen kann.

ich habe wirklich jeden Tag, vielmehr Jeden Uhr, heftig und ständig Deutsch gestudiert; Nachrichten hören, Zeitung lesen, mit viele Leute sprechen, etc. etc. Für viele Eu, ich würde glauben, dass es kein Erfolg eine neue Sprache zu lernen ist, aufgrund der Normalität unterschieden Sprachen, aber für mich als ein Barber wäre ein grosser Erfolg.

und es wäre unhöflich deutsche-Gaf zu vergessen, weil sie mir häufig hilfen! Danke Schön!

 

[Patrick Bateman]

So, GermanGAF, where should I go, what should I do? I've only got two weeks back, but all suggestions are welcome, I'll hit them up when I finish this tour.

Appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

How far do you want to travel in Germany? If it's far than the classics Hamburg, Berlin, München, Rhein-Ruhr-Kreis (Düsseldorf, Cologne) could be interesting. If it's supposed to be nearer visit Frankfurt am Main (Mainhattan), Weimar (Home of Goethe and Schiller, you could visit Goethe's house), Würzburg, Heidelberg (beautiful old city) for a start.

 

[snap0212]

I'm stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany and currently deployed to Afghanistan.

What, really? That's where I live. Let's grab a beer.

 

[tornjaw]

How far do you want to travel in Germany? If it's far than the classics Hamburg, Berlin, München, Rhein-Ruhr-Kreis (Düsseldorf, Cologne) could be interesting. If it's supposed to be nearer visit Frankfurt am Main (Mainhattan), Weimar (Home of Goethe and Schiller, you could visit Goethe's house), Würzburg, Heidelberg (beautiful old city) for a start.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm flying into Frankfurt so I'll definitely check it out and I'm going to start looking into the rest of the cities you mentioned. Any ideas on what to do in each?

What, really? That's where I live. Let's grab a beer.

Sounds great. I've been sober for 4 months, so it'll be far more than just a beer.

Edit ~ PM me and I can give you my number

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Are there any times where a preposition goes to the end of a sentence by itself when it's not part of a verb it separates from? A girl at my college throws the preposition at the end but I can't think of german verbs that split that have a definition of what she means. Like one example is I asked her if she could help me with something and she said, "Yes, I will be the whole day in". I'm just curious if there's something like that for maybe that example? For some things like that I can only think of something along the lines of "Ja, Ich bin hier der ganze Tag

Edit: I agree, you should come to Heidelberg. Best city ever.

 

[LazyLoki]

Are there any times where a preposition goes to the end of a sentence by itself when it's not part of a verb it separates from? A girl at my college throws the preposition at the end but I can't think of german verbs that split that have a definition of what she means. Like one example is I asked her if she could help me with something and she said, "Yes, I will be the whole day in". I'm just curious if there's something like that for maybe that example? For some things like that I can only think of something along the lines of "Ja, Ich bin hier der ganze Tag

Edit: I agree, you should come to Heidelberg. Best city ever.

Does she literally say "Yes, I will be the whole day in." in english? Sounds like a mixture of english and german sentence structure.

EN: "I'll be here the whole day."
GER: "Ich bin den ganzen Tag hier." The "hier" in this case would be an (local) adverb belonging to "(Ich) bin".

 

[Fritz]

heute war, sozusagen, 'one of those days' aber in ein gutem Zustand gemeint. Ich fühle als ob mein Fernziel, Deutsch zu sprechen, näher und näher kommt. Langsam aber sicher!

Mein Wortschatz wachsen jeden Tag zu, und kann ich endlich voll Gereden und Unterhalten haben (hat man ein Gereden? oder ist das aus idiomatisch english hervorgegangen?), ohne angst bekommen oder zur/auf Englisch schalten. Deutsch denkt zeitgleich mit Englisch in meinem Gehirn, ahhhhhhhhh. bin mit mir ganz zufrieden, es ist kein Hochmut. Ich habe noch ein Gebirg auf zu steigen, aber ich doch die ferne Gipfel endlich sehen kann.

ich habe wirklich jeden Tag, vielmehr Jeden Uhr, heftig und ständig Deutsch gestudiert; Nachrichten hören, Zeitung lesen, mit viele Leute sprechen, etc. etc. Für viele Eu, ich würde glauben, dass es kein Erfolg eine neue Sprache zu lernen ist, aufgrund der Normalität unterschieden Sprachen, aber für mich als ein Barber wäre ein grosser Erfolg.

und es wäre unhöflich deutsche-Gaf zu vergessen, weil sie mir häufig hilfen! Danke Schön!

Gern geschehen! You sure are getting better and better.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Does she literally say "Yes, I will be the whole day in." in english? Sounds like a mixture of english and german sentence structure.

EN: "I'll be here the whole day."
GER: "Ich bin den ganzen Tag hier." The "hier" in this case would be an (local) adverb belonging to "(Ich) bin".

She did that time, or she wrote it at least in an email. She might just not been paying attention when she was writing, I was just curious if there was something similar in german and that's why she made the mistake. I know other errors she's made at times is because she used german structure with english words.

Edit: Damn, Alpha Bromega's progress makes me sad at my progress.

 

[LazyLoki]

She did that time, or she wrote it at least in an email. She might just not been paying attention when she was writing, I was just curious if there was something similar in german and that's why she made the mistake. I know other errors she's made at times is because she used german structure with english words.

Edit: Damn, Alpha Bromega's progress makes me sad at my progress.

Don't let it make you sad, take it as an incentive!

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Don't let it make you sad, take it as an incentive!

Incentive that I suck maybe. :/

 

[Alpha-Bromega]

She did that time, or she wrote it at least in an email. She might just not been paying attention when she was writing, I was just curious if there was something similar in german and that's why she made the mistake. I know other errors she's made at times is because she used german structure with english words.

Edit: Damn, Alpha Bromega's progress makes me sad at my progress.

bro! don't let that shit get you down, if anything i mean it as a straight up like eye of the tiger motivation. It's slowly becoming possible for me, and i want to show that it is possible for a monoglott like you or me to remove that hinderence. I feel really down sometimes, but today after a day of just hanging at the Uni, talking, getting coffee, hangin' at the book markt, i just felt this elation and realisation that everything was coming together.

I can give you all the tips and tricks i've developed for the past while, and don't ever, ever be afraid to fuck shit up. I do it all the time, i will continue to do it all the time, and that's called learning

also, in the other meaning of 'fuck shit up', just go out there with your knowledge of German and straight fuck shit up!

 

[Rapstah]

She did that time, or she wrote it at least in an email. She might just not been paying attention when she was writing, I was just curious if there was something similar in german and that's why she made the mistake. I know other errors she's made at times is because she used german structure with english words.

Edit: Damn, Alpha Bromega's progress makes me sad at my progress.

If you think about it, the "in" at the end there could just be a symptom of realising English doesn't do verbs at the end of a sentence (dependent clause? Nebensatz in German. Clause de charge in French, not that it matters) and not changing the rest of the sentence around it.

Ja, ich werde den ganzen Tag in sein.

She moves the verb,
-> Ja, ich werde sein den ganzen Tag in.

That's word-for-word the sentence you have right there.

 

[wsippel]

Does she literally say "Yes, I will be the whole day in." in english? Sounds like a mixture of english and german sentence structure.

EN: "I'll be here the whole day."
GER: "Ich bin den ganzen Tag hier." The "hier" in this case would be an (local) adverb belonging to "(Ich) bin".

Might be worth noting that "Hier bin ich den ganzen Tag" und "Ich bin hier den ganzen Tag" are also correct sentences, but those constructs wouldn't be used in the context Zaraki_Kenpachi mentioned, which could be a bit confusing to non native speakers.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Ya, it's more of something that's been bothering me since I've arrived here. Granted others backgrounds in learning German are different than mine but it just seems like everyone else is progressing at a much faster pace and my german is progressing really slowly to the point where I'm not pleased at the rate it's progressing either.

If you think about it, the "in" at the end there could just be a symptom of realising English doesn't do verbs at the end of a sentence and not changing the rest of the sentence around it.

Ja, ich werde den ganzen Tag in sein.

She moves the verb,
-> Ja, ich werde sein den ganzen Tag in.

That's word-for-word the sentence you have right there.

Ah, that actually makes a lot of sense. I couldn't think of how I would phrase it like you did but now that you write it out that's probably what she did. Thanks!

 

[Alpha-Bromega]

Ya, it's more of something that's been bothering me since I've arrived here. Granted others backgrounds in learning German are different than mine but it just seems like everyone else is progressing at a much faster pace and my german is progressing really slowly to the point where I'm not pleased at the rate it's progressing either.

read the newspaper daily.

read a wikipedia article daily. mark all words you can't get from context and put them in Anki. test that shit daily.

listen to the news constantly. They speak (by law or what?) Hochdeutsch, it's crystal god damned clear, and will help your ear for German in general.

when your alone, talk to yourself. force yourself to think auf Deutsch. z.B ist nicht schwierig 'i'm going shopping' mit 'ich gehe einkaufen' zu ersetzen. Erfolg erwartet dich, wirklich, es IST möglich. Kein Zweifel daran.

ich habe soeben dieses Buch angefangen, weiss ich noch nicht, ob es nutzlich oder was ist, aber es kann nur hilfen. "How I learned languages" von einer berühmte ungarische Polyglott

http://tesl-ej.org/ej45/tesl-ej.ej45.fr1.pdf

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

read the newspaper daily.

read a wikipedia article daily. mark all words you can't get from context and put them in Anki. test that shit daily.

listen to the news constantly. They speak (by law or what?) Hochdeutsch, it's crystal god damned clear, and will help your ear for German in general.

when your alone, talk to yourself. force yourself to think auf Deutsch. z.B ist nicht schwierig 'i'm going shopping' mit 'ich gehe einkaufen' zu ersetzen. Erfolg erwartet dich, wirklich, es IST möglich. Kein Zweifel daran.

What is Anki? I try to listen/read as much as I can but with some of my classes being in german and having studying it's hard. Do you watch the news online or on the internet? I've just been using swr.de but I don't know if there's a better place.

I guess I need to talk with more people to but it's hard to find people to talk to. The words I do learn just always seem so... worthless in a way. They just are words that never seem to come up in conversation. Not that they're bad but it doesn't make me more comfortable to talk with other people. I know to say cocaine, drawbridge, genocide, blackmail, etc. It's all things along those lines from reading news/books/watching videos online. I just don't know what to look at to learn more "useful" german for lack of a better description.

 

[wolfmat]

listen to the news constantly. They speak (by law or what?) Hochdeutsch

It's not by law. It just makes sense for most news broadcasts on German TV because they're usually not local.

Edit: Zaraki_Kenpachi: Check out http://www.dradio.de/

 

[Alpha-Bromega]

What is Anki? I try to listen/read as much as I can but with some of my classes being in german and having studying it's hard. Do you watch the news online or on the internet? I've just been using swr.de but I don't know if there's a better place.

derspiegel.de
dradio.de
surfmusik.de <- for t.v. i'm sure there are FAR better ones but it's what i've used.

Anki is a SRS flashcard system. Ankisrs.net <-

here's my language thread
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=446208&page=1

they were just having damn French radio on drwissen for some reason...

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

It's not by law. It just makes sense for most news broadcasts on German TV because they're usually not local.

Edit: Zaraki_Kenpachi: Check out http://www.dradio.de/

Cool, I was listening to the radio at first but most just played a shit ton of american music which got old quick and made my stop listening. I wasn't sure where to look for stations though.

 

[Rapstah]

Cool, I was listening to the radio at first but most just played a shit ton of american music which got old quick and made my stop listening. I wasn't sure where to look for stations though.

Don't be fooled by the way, funk does not mean funk. And aren't there usually at least locally normally several mostly spoken radio stations almost everywhere? If you have a regular radio that is. My only experience is driving through Germany a couple of times a year which does not leave a lot of room for fiddling with frequencies.

 

[cloudwalking]

Ya, it's more of something that's been bothering me since I've arrived here. Granted others backgrounds in learning German are different than mine but it just seems like everyone else is progressing at a much faster pace and my german is progressing really slowly to the point where I'm not pleased at the rate it's progressing either.

don't sweat it, everyone learns languages at a different pace. some people have a natural talent or aptitude for it and can pick it up super easily, and others need to hit the grindstone and study every day. the point is that you're interested in it and are making an effort to learn. who cares how long it takes? i run into people all the time who've lived here for ages and never bothered to even give learning german a try. they just don't care, or are perhaps intimidated. if it makes you happy and you're motivated to learn, that's the most important thing.

for the record, german was the last language on earth that i ever wanted to learn. i had zero interest in it. but when i moved to switzerland i kind of reluctantly accepted that i'd have to learn it if i ever wanted to function normally in society. i'll be the first to admit that i misjudged the language... it's wonderful!

Spoiler

(although i prefer swiss german )

 

[wolfmat]

Cool, I was listening to the radio at first but most just played a shit ton of american music which got old quick and made my stop listening. I wasn't sure where to look for stations though.

If you want some overload: http://www.listenlive.eu/germany.html
Includes (a fuckton of) local broadcasts.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

derspiegel.de
dradio.de
surfmusik.de <- for t.v. i'm sure there are FAR better ones but it's what i've used.

Anki is a SRS flashcard system. Ankisrs.net <-

here's my language thread
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=446208&page=1

they were just having damn French radio on drwissen for some reason...

Holy crap Anki is awesome. No wonder you know more, you're a dirty rotten cheater!

Spoiler

Which decks have you been using?

Don't be fooled by the way, funk does not mean funk. And aren't there usually at least locally normally several mostly spoken radio stations almost everywhere? If you have a regular radio that is. My only experience is driving through Germany a couple of times a year which does not leave a lot of room for fiddling with frequencies.

Ya, I don't have a regular radio so I was trying to search online since at least in the US pretty much every radio station has an online feed these days.

 

[wolfmat]

I used to listen to NDR Info a lot, for example. Traffic news is local, the rest is national news. http://ndrstream.ic.llnwd.net/stream/ndrstream_ndrkultur_hi_mp3.m3u

Edit: Clear northern dialect bias, obviously.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

don't sweat it, everyone learns languages at a different pace. some people have a natural talent or aptitude for it and can pick it up super easily, and others need to hit the grindstone and study every day. the point is that you're interested in it and are making an effort to learn. who cares how long it takes? i run into people all the time who've lived here for ages and never bothered to even give learning german a try. they just don't care, or are perhaps intimidated. if it makes you happy and you're motivated to learn, that's the most important thing.

for the record, german was the last language on earth that i ever wanted to learn. i had zero interest in it. but when i moved to switzerland i kind of reluctantly accepted that i'd have to learn it if i ever wanted to function normally in society. i'll be the first to admit that i misjudged the language... it's wonderful!

Spoiler

(although i prefer swiss german )

It's actually funny you post because when I got really frustrated about a month or so ago, I was thinking about PMing you to ask what your experience was like having to learn another language since you had to go from learning english to german and what your feelings were about it when you had to do it. Naturally, it's a lot easier when you live there but it's still hard at times. It sucks the variety of reactions you get from people too. Some people get pissed off that you don't speak perfect german or have a question and others bend over backwards to help you.

There was a guy yesterday that said a word I never heard and he was excited to help me out when I was trying to figure out what he meant and talked for a good 10 or so minutes after that about different words I might come across. I guess that sort of influences how it feels at times to. When people get the gist of what you're saying even if it's wrong and they're trying to help you then it feel likes I'm making a good amount of progress but when people shut you out and question everything you say because the grammar might be off then it feels like you've been doing it all for nothing and if you're already frustrated it just makes it feel that much worse and pointless.

Edit: :lol That anki program makes me depressed when it gives me the english definition of the word in german and I've never heard of it in english.

 

[cloudwalking]

It's actually funny you post because when I got really frustrated about a month or so ago, I was thinking about PMing you to ask what your experience was like having to learn another language since you had to go from learning english to german and what your feelings were about it when you had to do it. Naturally, it's a lot easier when you live there but it's still hard at times. It sucks the variety of reactions you get from people too. Some people get pissed off that you don't speak perfect german or have a question and others bend over backwards to help you.

There was a guy yesterday that said a word I never heard and he was excited to help me out when I was trying to figure out what he meant and talked for a good 10 or so minutes after that about different words I might come across. I guess that sort of influences how it feels at times to. When people get the gist of what you're saying even if it's wrong and they're trying to help you then it feel likes I'm making a good amount of progress but when people shut you out and question everything you say because the grammar might be off then it feels like you've been doing it all for nothing and if you're already frustrated it just makes it feel that much worse and pointless.

Edit: :lol That anki program makes me depressed when it gives me the english definition of the word in german and I've never heard of it in english.

i'm not sure that my experience would necessarily be a good example to go on simply because my situation is perhaps a bit atypical. especially due to the dialect here. i didn't come to this country thinking that i would be spending the rest of my life here, so i originally had zero plans to learn german. for the first three months or so, i didn't make an effort at all except to learn a few key words. once my husband and i decided to get married, though, i realized that i would have to learn german at some point.

i learned kinda quickly (or so other people tell me) because i was ridiculously, extremely determined to learn it for a couple of reasons. first off, even in the time spent here where i wasn't making an effort to learn, i found that my natural curiosity and love of the written word were pushing me to it. it just started to drive me nuts that i couldn't pick up the newspaper and read it, couldn't make sense of the advertisements and signs i'd see all around town, couldn't buy a book at the bookstore. i knew i couldn't live like that. secondly, i had family reasons. my father-in-law and my husband's grandparents do not speak any english. i wanted to be able to talk to them on my own and to express myself to them in my own words. they're part of my family now.

i tried to learn high german and swiss german at the same time, and it worked... kind of. i started speaking sort of a mix of the two, but it began to annoy me that i'd be pegged as an "outsider" for the rest of my life unless i learned to speak the dialect. so i made a conscious switch to focus on swiss german more, and, well... at this point, it's like second nature to me. it doesn't feel like a foreign language to me anymore. i routinely think in it and dream in it, and a lot of days i speak it more than i speak english. i love swiss german. looooooooooove it. i can't even express how awesome i think it is. it's so close to my heart now. <3

i struggle when i have to speak high german, though. it does feel "foreign," however, i don't have any problems communicating. and reading is also no problem, i read novels and such in german. it just feels kind of strange when i have to speak it because i tend to still think in swiss german and have to kind of translate it in my head before i say anything. and i have a really bad swiss accent, haha

i know what you mean about peoples' reactions, too. when i think back, i used to have people switching to english with me when i was learning german and trying to speak with them. i hated that reaction... i also hated it when people would switch to high german with me when i was speaking swiss german to them. i always found that super rude. doesn't happen anymore though unless i have to show my ID, people will always address me in english or high german when they see KANADA because they assume there is no way in hell i speak dialect.

well, that was a long post, but maybe someone found it interesting

 

[Alpha-Bromega]

that's great stuff cloudwalking

Zapachi don't use a pre set deck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
make your own! collect all the words in your daily readings, whether from Zeitung, Nachrichten (since it's clear as the carribean Hochdeutsch you can spell perfectly unknown spoken words you hear as compared to umgangssprachlich)

I only have one pre made deck, and that's a map of the Bundesländer and their capitals

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

that's great stuff cloudwalking

Zapachi don't use a pre set deck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
make your own! collect all the words in your daily readings, whether from Zeitung, Nachrichten (since it's clear as the carribean Hochdeutsch you can spell perfectly unknown spoken words you hear as compared to umgangssprachlich)

I only have one pre made deck, and that's a map of the Bundesländer and their capitals

Ya, I just realized that. I loaded a couple and they all sucked so I made like 60 cards from words I have in a word document. Is there a way to import a word document and it automatically make cards or do I have to retype them all?

i'm not sure that my experience would necessarily be a good example to go on simply because my situation is perhaps a bit atypical. especially due to the dialect here. i didn't come to this country thinking that i would be spending the rest of my life here, so i originally had zero plans to learn german. for the first three months or so, i didn't make an effort at all except to learn a few key words. once my husband and i decided to get married, though, i realized that i would have to learn german at some point.

i learned kinda quickly (or so other people tell me) because i was ridiculously, extremely determined to learn it for a couple of reasons. first off, even in the time spent here where i wasn't making an effort to learn, i found that my natural curiosity and love of the written word were pushing me to it. it just started to drive me nuts that i couldn't pick up the newspaper and read it, couldn't make sense of the advertisements and signs i'd see all around town, couldn't buy a book at the bookstore. i knew i couldn't live like that. secondly, i had family reasons. my father-in-law and my husband's grandparents do not speak any english. i wanted to be able to talk to them on my own and to express myself to them in my own words. they're part of my family now.

i tried to learn high german and swiss german at the same time, and it worked... kind of. i started speaking sort of a mix of the two, but it began to annoy me that i'd be pegged as an "outsider" for the rest of my life unless i learned to speak the dialect. so i made a conscious switch to focus on swiss german more, and, well... at this point, it's like second nature to me. it doesn't feel like a foreign language to me anymore. i routinely think in it and dream in it, and a lot of days i speak it more than i speak english. i love swiss german. looooooooooove it. i can't even express how awesome i think it is. it's so close to my heart now. <3

i struggle when i have to speak high german, though. it does feel "foreign," however, i don't have any problems communicating. and reading is also no problem, i read novels and such in german. it just feels kind of strange when i have to speak it because i tend to still think in swiss german and have to kind of translate it in my head before i say anything. and i have a really bad swiss accent, haha

i know what you mean about peoples' reactions, too. when i think back, i used to have people switching to english with me when i was learning german and trying to speak with them. i hated that reaction... i also hated it when people would switch to high german with me when i was speaking swiss german to them. i always found that super rude. doesn't happen anymore though unless i have to show my ID, people will always address me in english or high german when they see KANADA because they assume there is no way in hell i speak dialect.

well, that was a long post, but maybe someone found it interesting

Haha, cool. Ya, a little bit different but you still had to learn a new language so it's always interesting to me how other people fared when trying to learn one. Especially when you're not learning in a school, or maybe not anymore depending on the person and you have to teach yourself which can be frustrating. And ya, I have a wallet that also holds my passport and when I have to get something out of my wallet I try to hide my passport so they don't see in big gold letters "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" otherwise a lot of people switch back to english, which I assume is them trying to be nice since that's my mother tongue but it's annoying when you're trying to learn the language.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Zaraki_Kenpachi, where are you living btw?

Spoiler

You've probably wrote it, but I missed it. :/

 

[cloudwalking]

jarosh took this photo actually, but i thought it was too good not to share:

afaik this is still hanging up on the 5th floor of our building.

 

[Pisuke1983]

Also immer schön die Tür abschließen da oben! xD

 

[jarosh]

Also immer schön die Tür abschließen da oben! xD

i wish i knew for sure that's what is actually being asked :/

 

[wolfmat]

i wish i knew for sure that's what is actually being asked :/

Fremnd die Leute! Macht hinaus! Erstrickkeller oben 5.Etage! Immer öffen auf dem Türe! Öfter gemacht geklaut! Dürfen nicht machen!

Not sure why there are ovens on the door, but if the cellar is on the 6th floor, there MUST be something wrong with the place anyway. But it really isn't right to steal ovens.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I think the person who wrote this, wants to shoot somebody. Makes sense with all those Swiss people and their guns.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Yikes, I'm assuming that's really bad german right? It just felt like a really weird run on sentence. You wouldn't use schliessen and zu together would you? It's usually one or the other no? Koennen Sie die Tuer schliessen. Oder, Machen Sie die Tuer zu. Or something along those lines right? It seems weird having both.

:lol I just saw the schiessen instead of schliessen. I hope he's not an angry guy.

 

[wolfmat]

Yikes, I'm assuming that's really bad german right? It just felt like a really weird run on sentence. You wouldn't use schliessen and zu together would you? It's usually one or the other no? Koennen Sie die Tuer schliessen. Oder, Machen Sie die Tuer zu. Or something along those lines right? It seems weird having both.

Nope, zuschließen means to lock something up. So that's alright.

Edit: Although abschließen is more common. I dunno.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Yikes, I'm assuming that's really bad german right? It just felt like a really weird run on sentence. You wouldn't use schliessen and zu together would you? It's usually one or the other no? Koennen Sie die Tuer schliessen. Oder, Machen Sie die Tuer zu. Or something along those lines right? It seems weird having both.

You can use both: "zuschließen" e.g. Same goes for "einschließen".

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Nope, zuschließen means to lock something up. So that's alright.

Ah, ok. Cool.

You can use both: "zuschließen" e.g. Same goes for "einschließen".

Cool, I didn't realize that zuschliessen was another verb. And I'm living in Heidelberg.


Edit: What would erstrickkeller even mean? Keller is obviously basement but I can't find a definition for erstrick anywhere.

 

[jarosh]

yes, that is very very bad german. but it's also hilarious. we've been laughing our asses off over this note among friends and family. i can make sense of some parts, but others will forever remain a mystery. i think it was written by the janitor.

"Erstrickkeller" (like so many other words in that note) doesn't actually mean anything. the first part ("Erstrick") is a misspelling of "Estrich" (mostly used in switzerland for "attic"). and there is "Keller", which means "basement". now, why you would combine those two words into one, i have no idea. have YOU ever heard of an "attic basement"? since the note is on the top floor, i can only assume he's talking about the attic, not the basement or the "attic basement".