der Übersetzungsthread, Teil II: Deutsch/Englisch/Deutsch

I love languages and pick it up from visits, movies etc. I think it's cos where I grew up was multi-lingual/cultural and I have the accent down. And I also love languages.

I think that thanks to the internet you can learn a language reasonably well even if you aren't in the country in question. I spent exactly two weeks of my entire life in English speaking countries, and I spoke mostly German with almost all native English speakers I know.

OK, getting English lessons at a relatively young age in high school helps of course. But other than that I got my entire knowledge of English from reading books and the internet. Yeah, you will keep a strong accent that way, and your grammar might be off sometimes - but from my experience using media and message boards will help you if you have some formal training to build up on. And it doesn't feel like work.

Sigh, now I feel nostalgic for translating X-Files fan fiction on the net in the 90s...

Watch Tagesschau online or download some German podcasts. Broadcasters are taught to speak clearly and deliberately in every country, and with TV news you get visual cues that will help you understand the context even if you don't have much of the vocab at first.

The best way to learn is to get a girlfriend who is a native speaker.

there is also langsam gesprochene Nachrichten

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,8030,00.html

it appears to be only a little slower than the Tagesschau.

english was pretty easy after german wasn't it though?

I second this. As my Italian friends say, la posizione della lingua.

Doesn't always work though. I had an American girlfriend for 3 years and my English didn't improve at all as her German was better than my English so we ended up speaking German all the time (my fault for being lazy I guess).

Environment certainly helps, with TV and film being the next best thing. That means I won't have an excuse not knowing French after a few years here!

It's settled then, I need a German boyfriend!

We're cuddly

Not easier than other Western European languages like Spanish or French. My Spanish isn't very good, but that's mainly because I never put any effort into it, not because I found it to be a bigger challenge. Languages aren't really my think, and I usually learn those only out of need (Latin and French I only did to pass the required exams in university, Spanish because I had to in high school).

Would most likely much harder with a language that's more removed from your native language, e.g. like some Asian languages.

My language success is very mixed. I've had 5 years of French lessons in school and I've learned next to nothing.

On the other hand, I've always been rather good with English.

I guess I'm just not very good with languages in general (I've always been more of a math/science guy in school), but English is quite easy, at least coming from German...although what does baffle me is how terrible Germans are in general when it comes to English pronunciation. I really don't understand what's so difficult with a "th" for example.

As an English language teacher (still), I find that -th sounds are fairly unnatural to most people around the world because of the tongue action required for it.

I am good with languages so I've found it easy but also they help each other because the patterns of grammar and speech can be borrowed straight from one to the other in a lot of cases, from asian languages too.

I learnt english & french (at school) and sinhalese & german together till I was 12. English is my first language because i've used it academically all throughout and it's the only common language between my friends.
Forgot german and french a lot through being totally out of touch, german suffered the worst till I got in touch again recently. Because I learnt them from native speakers the proper accents are still there.

And English is the simplest of all of them.


I want to learn spanish as well, but i've found it easier and easier to grasp recently for some reason without any effort.

Accents are one of the most interesting things.....in southern bavaria...or even if you just listen to franz beckenbauer talking, it sounds close to what you'd need for hindi/urdu or sinhalese....which is in turn almost identical to spanish or italian.

The styles of speaking are very similar between those last 5 languages, and also the hand gesturing that accompanies them

It is fairly unnatural with many English speakers. We can do it, but many dialects don't bother with it, which points to the fact that the th-sound as it pronounced today, at least medially and in final position, is a fairly recent phenomenon.

Easier said than done!

But I agree, that would be ideal.

LONG POST ALERT

Cool! A languages thread!

Here's my small background (I'm still pretty young compared to most posters here ) with languages:

So growing up in Canada, English is my first, and basically, still my only language. Unfortunately in Canada, French is also shoved down your throat. (Just in case some of you are unaware, even though French is our official 2nd language and it is mandatory in school up until grade 10, not a lot of people speak French in Canada. The only people who do are from Quebec [even there not everyone does], immigrants from French-speaking countries or the few who continue their French studies all the way through high school and into university.) I was not the biggest fan of French because of it being mandatory and just a lack of interest, so I stopped taking French at my first opportunity (grade 10.)

Even with all of those years of French I did not learn much, just basic, basic stuff. Also from never having to or wanting to I have already lost a lot of the basic stuff I knew. But based on what I've seen from friends though, you learn a lot more from grade 10 and on.

In grade 10 and 11 I took Spanish because I have always been interested in languages in general and unlike French I actually wanted to learn it. It came very easy to me and I was much better at it than I was at French. In the two years of Spanish I took I had learned much more than I did in all my years of French. Which had to do with a few different variables like the speed of the courses compared to French and the effort I put in because of my interest. Now with not using my Spanish for 2 years I have started to lose some of it like I did with my French.

Grade 12 there wasn't enough people to make up the 3rd level Spanish class and I didn't have the room for an elective like that in my time table anyways so I had a year off from languages.

Which brings me to now. I am still in highschool, doing a 5th year. (A victory lap for extra credits and to improve my math, I've already graduated! ) This year I am taking German! Just like Spanish it is coming pretty easy to me and I've already learned a lot since September. But unlike Spanish I've been around German my whole life.

Side story: When I was a baby my mother was teaching me both German and English. But my father's mother told my mom to stop teaching me German because when she was teaching my father both German and English when he was a baby he got confused with the two and by the time he went to Kindergarten (he was born in Canada) he only picked up the German and not the English so he had to completely learn English from school so he was behind all the other children. So assuming the same would happen to me my Oma brainwashed my mother to only teach me English and robbing me of German. (I still hold a grudge at my grandmother for that to this day. )

Both sides of my family are German. Both sets of grandparents, my mother, my father (can understand perfectly but has trouble with grammar, pronounciation, etc for speaking because of the little side story above), 1 aunt, 2 uncles and 2 cousins (aged 7 and 5) all know German. So because so many people in my family know it and the side story I gave I have a big interest in learning German and my lifelong goal is to be fluent.

Next year when I move on to College I will be in an International Business Management program to get my Bachelor of Business Administration and I aim to continue with my German and one day hopefully be able to use it with my family and it would be really cool if I could as part of my job.

Awesome, Kyle. Stick with it.

hahahaha

Lol yeah I am very jealous of those little buggers! xD

They are awesome, most people who are the 2nd generation born in north america have no idea of their grandparents' language.

About the german thing....just watch as much stuff as you can. There are also some brilliant online audio courses for a fee.

Lol yeah it's pretty neat watching those two little guys speak German. They will only speak German to their Vatti and my grandparents though unless they are spoken to in German by their aunts or uncle. Even when they are speaking directly to each other they prefer English. With them just beginning school they're surrounded by English all the time so I guess it's just easier for them. Also with that, lately when they speak German now they seem to mix in English words.

I got some audio CDs for Christmas a couple years ago but it was hard for me just to listen to what was being said and than trying to repeat it without actually seeing the spelling infront of me. Now that I'm taking it in school I can get both audio and visual so it's much easier. After this school year it will be easier to pick it up off shows and movies and what not with this foundation. And unlike Spanish and French I'll have people to use it with so I won't lose it.

One of the best language learning sites (IMO) is Livemocha, its awesome (and free), if you follow the lessons it'll teach you to read, speak and write and it quite helpful. I've used it for a few years now, and partnered with regular classes it really helps.

Hello again.

I'm doing an exercise in which I have to transcribe an interview into Indirekte Rede (Konjunktiv I). I'm slightly confused as to which verbs change into Konj. I verbs, and which do not. Example

(original interview) Seyran Ates: "Mich interessiert, was Sie, Frau Merkel, über uns wissen."

(my transcription) Seyran Ates sagt, es interessiere sie, was Frau Merkel über die Türken weiß.

Is that correct? I'm debating whether "was Frau Merkel weiß" should be "was Frau Merkel wisse." It's confusing (to me at least). Any help is appreciated.

It's: Seyran Ates sagte, dass es sie interessiere, was Frau Merkel über die Türken wisse. (sagte, es interessiere sie, was Frau Merkel wisse is correct too)

You're better off not using the indicative at all. Most of the time suing the indicative in indirect speech is informal anyway.

Cool. That will make this a lot easier.