What are you doing about languages? (German language primer)

[Dougly]

Point one from a once long-time resident of Germany and Austria:

Will you be able to get by in Germany without knowing a WORD of German? Yes.

Will you make a good impression and possibly open a few doors that would otherwise have remained shut if you even just learn a little bit of German? Yes.

As an American, you have a choice: You can reinforce the stereotype that Americans can't/don't/don't want to/don't think they have to learn any of another language at all, or you can shock your hosts by showing that yes, you actually are aware that other languages exist.

To that end, a completely free online course geared very nicely towards just learning a bit of what you need as a tourist:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/lj/

Enjoy. I wish I could be there, too.

[bltleo]

I think I told it already...the best way to learn foreign language or in this case German it is to find nice german friend....or even boyfriend or girlfriend...
but nice friend is already enough....talking to people....

if you show your effort, german will appreciate this....and help you..

so learn at least few basic words....if someone come to Germany and don´t know how to say Thanks or Please, it does not look as if you would interested for the country do you visit..

do that like James Bond...if he visited any new country, he always read local newspapers and eat local food and drink local drinks...

so learn few german words..

and find nice german friend:)

bltleo
GERMANY

[TOTC]

My words:

"Zimmer frei?"

"Weissbier!"

"Danke schoen!"

"Ich bin ein berliner!"

and my personal favorite ...

"Bush ... dumbkopfen!"

[Palermo10]

Everyone said Parisians and French were unfriendly to Americans. I did not encounter that over the past weekend. All I had to say was "Bonjour.... English?" or just point and ask "English? Espanol?" and I would get helpful responses.

Germans are better at English than the French, and just as, if not more friendly. I'm just surprised how few Swiss speak English!

Just remember your please and thank yous, and youll be fine.

[TOTC]

On my French experience...
I had to stop for gas there while driving from Germany to UK. That's when I discovered I didn't know one word of French. When I went to pay, I just held up 4 fingers (for pump #4). I guess the moral is: If all else fails, use sign language.

Thankfully, you didn't have to go to pump No. 2 ....

[TOTC]

Ich finde Deutsch sehr einfach. Es ist so wie Englisch. Alle sollen Deutsch lernen. Unfortunately, German wasn't the most practical language to take in the US. Oops. Ich liebe Deutsch und ich glaube dass es eine schöne Sprache ist.

Spater!

Nun danke alle Gott!

[Shibb]

Everyone said Parisians and French were unfriendly to Americans. I did not encounter that over the past weekend. All I had to say was "Bonjour.... English?" or just point and ask "English? Espanol?" and I would get helpful responses.

Germans are better at English than the French, and just as, if not more friendly. I'm just surprised how few Swiss speak English!

Just remember your please and thank yous, and youll be fine.

You're in Geneva... those are all French people you're meeting. The Teuts speak English, which is a good thing, since no one else can understand their German. I lived in Carouge for a while, I know what you mean.

[The Wisdom Cube]

Hear that. I dropped my class because that's $400 I might need to pay scalpers for tix now. Dammit, the professor was HOT, too.

You should audit, if possible.

[bltleo]

My words:

"Zimmer frei?"

"Weissbier!"

"Danke schoen!"

"Ich bin ein berliner!"

and my personal favorite ...

"Bush ... dumbkopfen!"


looks great:)

just if you come to Cologne or Münich, don´t say "Ich bin ein Berliner":)

The WEISSBIER is great world

but for Cologne use more "Kölsch"..

but I´m really impressed by your German.

you are like born Geman:)

Just put into your vocabulary: Danke, Bitte, few politely phrase..and you are perfect


bltleo
GERMANY

[T Nitty]

Thankfully, you didn't have to go to pump No. 2 ....

Are you referring to what the Brits do? Was it meant for French archers, or was it some other country? Yeah, that would have been bad.:D

[miked9]

Just a word for the the GrammatikPolizei...

it's pointless to nitpick on little things when what you're looking for is just a barebones ability to communicate. like was said before, being gracious and making the effort to use the native tongue is the most important thing.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

German W sounds like English V. In the list of who/what/where/when/why given back in post #38, the German equivalents are "wer/was/wo/wann/warum" but each of those words starts with a V sound, so they sound like "verr / vass / voh / vahn / varoom". For the most part, whenever you see a W, just pretend to be Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes "Ve have vays of makingk you talk!" and you'll be fine.

German V sounds like English F. The term "wieviele" means "how much" -- for example, if you're in a store and you point at something and say "wieviele" the shopkeeper will tell you how much it costs. It's pronounced "vee feela."

Enjoy!

Thanks for that Bill. I just had a very nice flashback to my late German born Dad calling the car a Folksvagon when I was a kid, and me asking him what the heck he was talking about! :)

I hope to see the town he was born in when I'm there........

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

German W sounds like English V. In the list of who/what/where/when/why given back in post #38, the German equivalents are "wer/was/wo/wann/warum" but each of those words starts with a V sound, so they sound like "verr / vass / voh / vahn / varoom". For the most part, whenever you see a W, just pretend to be Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes "Ve have vays of makingk you talk!" and you'll be fine.

German V sounds like English F. The term "wieviele" means "how much" -- for example, if you're in a store and you point at something and say "wieviele" the shopkeeper will tell you how much it costs. It's pronounced "vee feela."

Enjoy!

Thanks for that Bill. I just had a very nice flashback to my late German born Dad calling the car a Folksvagon when I was a kid, and me asking him what the heck he was talking about! :)

I hope to see the town he was born in when I'm there........

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

German W sounds like English V. In the list of who/what/where/when/why given back in post #38, the German equivalents are "wer/was/wo/wann/warum" but each of those words starts with a V sound, so they sound like "verr / vass / voh / vahn / varoom". For the most part, whenever you see a W, just pretend to be Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes "Ve have vays of makingk you talk!" and you'll be fine.

German V sounds like English F. The term "wieviele" means "how much" -- for example, if you're in a store and you point at something and say "wieviele" the shopkeeper will tell you how much it costs. It's pronounced "vee feela."

Enjoy!

Thanks for that Bill. I just had a very nice flashback to my late German born Dad calling the car a Folksvagon when I was a kid, and me asking him what the heck he was talking about! :)

I hope to see the town he was born in when I'm there........

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

German W sounds like English V. In the list of who/what/where/when/why given back in post #38, the German equivalents are "wer/was/wo/wann/warum" but each of those words starts with a V sound, so they sound like "verr / vass / voh / vahn / varoom". For the most part, whenever you see a W, just pretend to be Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes "Ve have vays of makingk you talk!" and you'll be fine.

German V sounds like English F. The term "wieviele" means "how much" -- for example, if you're in a store and you point at something and say "wieviele" the shopkeeper will tell you how much it costs. It's pronounced "vee feela."

Enjoy!

Thanks for that Bill. I just had a very nice flashback to my late German born Dad calling the car a Folksvagon when I was a kid, and me asking him what the heck he was talking about! :)

I hope to see the town he was born in when I'm there........

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

German W sounds like English V. In the list of who/what/where/when/why given back in post #38, the German equivalents are "wer/was/wo/wann/warum" but each of those words starts with a V sound, so they sound like "verr / vass / voh / vahn / varoom". For the most part, whenever you see a W, just pretend to be Colonel Klink from Hogan's Heroes "Ve have vays of makingk you talk!" and you'll be fine.

German V sounds like English F. The term "wieviele" means "how much" -- for example, if you're in a store and you point at something and say "wieviele" the shopkeeper will tell you how much it costs. It's pronounced "vee feela."

Enjoy!

Thanks for that Bill. I just had a very nice flashback to my late German born Dad calling the car a Folksvagon when I was a kid, and me asking him what the heck he was talking about! :)

I hope to see the town he was born in when I'm there........

[bltleo]

But would Americans really learn German only because their travelling to Germany during the World cup? German language is very nice and interesting langauge. It is worth to learn it. But how many of you wants to learn German
only because of your travelling to our country? I´m curious

bltleo
GERMANY

[JBigjake]

But would Americans really learn German only because their travelling to Germany during the World cup? German language is very nice and interesting langauge. It is worth to learn it. But how many of you wants to learn German only because of your travelling to our country? I´m curious bltleo GERMANY
Since Germany did not conquer the world, there are not many places where it is the native language or where "Deutschland ueber Alles" is routinely sung!

[JBigjake]

Industrial strength German humor:
http://home.astrakan.hig.se/sax/rokka/files/staplerfahrer_klaus.wmv

[gngrasso]

But would Americans really learn German only because their travelling to Germany during the World cup? German language is very nice and interesting langauge. It is worth to learn it. But how many of you wants to learn German
only because of your travelling to our country? I´m curious

bltleo
GERMANY

Hi, I saw your post on the Yanks in Germany Yahoo board. Thanks for all of your help!

I plan on learning as much as possible in the short time before June, just to try to make it easier to get around, order foood etc.

I also speak some Italian, and it should be fun to try to talk to the Italian fans