• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

GAF spricht Deutsch, zumindest hier drinnen...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Y

youngwerther

Banned
Royal_Flush said:
Your "r" is fine. Pronounciation / stressing of some words is sometimes quite odd, I'm guessing there a some words in this book you haven't actually heared yet? Also you pronounce "ch" as a "k" most of the time. It should be more like a "h" with more pressure or something like this (It's really hard to describe as I don't come up with any english words that are pronounced like this right now). Just listen to a view words with this sound in it, like Nacht, Suche or Loch. (click on the small speaker next to the word)
Click to expand...


Thank you so much for the response!
The German "R" is quite intimidating; it's reassuring to know that mine is at least ok!

And yes, you are quite correct, I assume my flow is odd because there were a number of words that I had never pronounced before.

Thank you also for the 'ch' tip. I know that this is another area of pronunciation that is difficult for foreign speakers that I will have to work on. I really appreciate your time!
 
M

Milchjon

Member
WanderingWind said:
Is there a place like Starbucks that offers coffee and Wi-fi?
Click to expand...

Starbucks.

Your best bet is probably McDonald's. Most of them have a "McCafe", which isn't all that bad, and pretty much all of them have free WiFi (only an hour per day, though.)

Free WiFi is something Germany's very bad at. I loved having my phone in Boston and pretty much being free to communicate via Wifi and Whatsapp/Facebook.
 
Y

youngwerther

Banned
Milchjon said:
Starbucks.

Your best bet is probably McDonald's. Most of them have a "McCafe", which isn't all that bad, and pretty much all of them have free WiFi (only an hour per day, though.)

Free WiFi is something Germany's very bad at. I loved having my phone in Boston and pretty much being free to communicate via Wifi and Whatsapp/Facebook.
Click to expand...

How can your English be this good?
What in the fuck?
 
M

Milchjon

Member
youngwerther said:
How can your English be this good?
What in the fuck?
Click to expand...

Hmm, it's actually nothing out of the ordinary. Feels like half of GAF is not a native speaker, and especially Dutchies and Scandinavians are much better at English.

I think there are several reasons. English is relatively simple, especially if you're speaking a Germanic language. There's nothing like the der/die/das debacle.

And then it's simply a matter of how much time you spend with the language. Since it's the most important language internationally, you just grow up with it. Our English classes started in 3rd grade. And since most of our media/entertainment comes from the US, it's easy to surround yourself with the language. For me it started with Shenmue. And in the past 10 years, I've probably read and watched and listened to more stuff in English than in German. So it just comes naturally, and now I'm at a point where I'm comfortable reading stuff like Infinite Jest...

But I'm still having lots of problems expressing myself. And English is an outlier anyway. I had Russian in school for almost 10 years and couldn't even order a cup of coffee. When there's no incentive and no way to read/watch/hear a lot of stuff in a language, it gets way, way harder.
 
G

Gustav

Banned
Milchjon said:
Starbucks.

Your best bet is probably McDonald's. Most of them have a "McCafe", which isn't all that bad, and pretty much all of them have free WiFi (only an hour per day, though.)

Free WiFi is something Germany's very bad at. I loved having my phone in Boston and pretty much being free to communicate via Wifi and Whatsapp/Facebook.
Click to expand...


USA USA USA!!!!
 
R

Rufus

Member
I think he means in person. It's much easier in text where you can take your time and think on the page, so to speak. Unless you're having an IM conversation or whatever, then it's just as difficult sometimes.
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Wrayfield said:
I forget where you are, there are a few Starbucks around GE. Some sports bars and cafés have internet, too. Not aware of any chains though.

Btw, Happy Thanksgiving, bro.
Click to expand...

Milchjon said:
Starbucks.

Your best bet is probably McDonald's. Most of them have a "McCafe", which isn't all that bad, and pretty much all of them have free WiFi (only an hour per day, though.)

Free WiFi is something Germany's very bad at. I loved having my phone in Boston and pretty much being free to communicate via Wifi and Whatsapp/Facebook.
Click to expand...

Thanks again guys!
 
H

Hammer24

Banned
Hey Milch, nur damit du weißt, was du heute verpaßt: Thanksgiving Vorbereitung im Hause Hammer.

wp_0002486gu4t.jpg
Click to expand...
 
V

vitacola

Member
Hammer24 said:
Yep, so eine Art Wachstuch/Papier Geschichte. Zum Ausmalen, Rätseln, und für anderen Blödsinn...
Click to expand...
I'd like a Christmas version of it.

@FreeWiFi:
Politicians were on the right way regarding the "Störerhaftung", but it seems like the "große Koalition" will destroy any progress. In addition to that they won't support the expansion of fast internet connections. Their new goal is a 2MBit/s connection in every household "as fast as possible" ... Welcome to Germany. Hochtechnologiestandort!
 
S

Sloane

Banned
vitacola said:
@FreeWiFi:
Politicians were on the right way regarding the "Störerhaftung", but it seems like the "große Koalition" will destroy any progress. In addition to that they won't support the expansion of fast internet connections. Their new goal is a 2MBit/s connection in every household "as fast as possible" ... Welcome to Germany. Hochtechnologiestandort!
Click to expand...
To be fair, the 2 MBit/s connection is mostly meant for rural areas that still use 56k or ISDN. 16 MBit/s is available in most cities and VDSL has become relatively common in big cities, too. I guess most people just don't see much reason for more than 16 MBit since it's pretty much only necessary / helpful for downloading video games but not for everyday web browsing.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Sloane said:
To be fair, the 2 MBit/s connection is mostly meant for rural areas that still use 56k or ISDN. 16 MBit/s is available in most cities and VDSL has become relatively common in big cities, too. I guess most people just don't see much reason for more than 16 MBit since it's pretty much only necessary / helpful for downloading video games but not for everyday web browsing.
Click to expand...

You know, if companies and consumers alike weren't so anal about VoD, there would be much more demand for higher internet speed.
 
V

vitacola

Member
Sloane said:
To be fair, the 2 MBit/s connection is mostly meant for rural areas that still use 56k or ISDN. 16 MBit/s is available in most cities and VDSL has become relatively common in big cities, too. I guess most people just don't see much reason for more than 16 MBit since it's pretty much only necessary / helpful for downloading video games but not for everyday web browsing.
Click to expand...
At least in Jena there are several neighbourhoods where 2 to 3 MBit/s is the "top notch" connection speed through DSL. In Dresden it's almost the same: 6 MBit/s is the maximum speed in many areas. Most people I know who crave for faster connection speeds chose KabelXYZ, which I'm not a big fan of, but I understand them.
 
S

Sloane

Banned
brotkasten said:
You know, if companies and consumers alike weren't so anal about VoD, there would be much more demand for higher internet speed.
Click to expand...
Dunno, Netflix recommends just 5.0 Megabits per second for HD and 7.0 Megabits per second for Super HD whatever that means. Watchever recommends 3 to 6 Mbit -- not that much really.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Milchjon said:
Starbucks.

Your best bet is probably McDonald's. Most of them have a "McCafe", which isn't all that bad, and pretty much all of them have free WiFi (only an hour per day, though.)

Free WiFi is something Germany's very bad at. I loved having my phone in Boston and pretty much being free to communicate via Wifi and Whatsapp/Facebook.
Click to expand...

Most of the hostels I've looked at have had free Wifi. Although I probably will end up taking advantage of McD's too. We have it here in Aus, but I've never used it. Are there DL limits? I'm thinking mostly of downloading podcast episodes on my phone.
 
M

Milchjon

Member
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Most of the hostels I've looked at have had free Wifi. Although I probably will end up taking advantage of McD's too. We have it here in Aus, but I've never used it. Are there DL limits? I'm thinking mostly of downloading podcast episodes on my phone.
Click to expand...

Don't really think so. I've downloaded several hundred MB at McDonald's/Starbucks when I didn't have WiFi at home for a while.

Edit: Speaking of bandwidth, speedtest.net just told me that I'm getting 38Mb/s down/ 63Mb/s up right now. Seems like I should do more of my downloads in the morning when apparently fewer people use it in our Studentenwohnheim.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom