German language
posted on May 10th, 2009, 5:05 am
i have those days too.
posted on May 11th, 2009, 1:56 pm
posted on May 11th, 2009, 2:14 pm
posted on May 11th, 2009, 4:26 pm
I want to learn it. It doesn't look that hard
but it is. if you just want to learn it for fun its very hard.
And I can read latin very well.
yes but german is a lot different. you have to pay much attention how to pronounce words and if im right its not the case with latin. in my experience american have problems with the german "ch" like in "ich" (I)
no offense. i dont want to deter you from learning it, in the contrary.
viel spaß beim lernen
posted on May 11th, 2009, 5:12 pm
posted on May 11th, 2009, 5:34 pm
Last edited by Anonymous on May 11th, 2009, 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Jepp ... French uses several letters for the same phoneme german needs one. Jacqueax = Jak 
I think that latin would be a poor source to draw hints from. The Limes wall prevented Germanic tribes to invade the Roman empire, otherwise the German influence on Latin would have been much higher.
Just kidding.
In fact, most similarities between German/English would have stemmed from Anglo-Saxon invasion in the fifth and sixth century ... afaik there have been some marriages in the 18th century with a Hessians and English but the major corpus of vocabulary has been developed prior to that, but I am far from being sure.
However, any specialized/scientific vocabulary shares features of Latin and Greek, both in German and in English.
Hmmm ... German has four cases with many irregularities in comparision to the case-formation in English. Polish even has seven cases, most of which are even more irregular (I'm currently struggling with it), which made me wonder: What do they do with all theses cases? An easy answer could be: The cases fulfill a function covered by using more morphemes/semantic units in other languages via inflection.
I think this is reflected by current trend in German to substitute the Genitive by using a Dative-construction instead. German-Native speakers will know ...
I think that latin would be a poor source to draw hints from. The Limes wall prevented Germanic tribes to invade the Roman empire, otherwise the German influence on Latin would have been much higher.
Just kidding.In fact, most similarities between German/English would have stemmed from Anglo-Saxon invasion in the fifth and sixth century ... afaik there have been some marriages in the 18th century with a Hessians and English but the major corpus of vocabulary has been developed prior to that, but I am far from being sure.
However, any specialized/scientific vocabulary shares features of Latin and Greek, both in German and in English.
Hmmm ... German has four cases with many irregularities in comparision to the case-formation in English. Polish even has seven cases, most of which are even more irregular (I'm currently struggling with it), which made me wonder: What do they do with all theses cases? An easy answer could be: The cases fulfill a function covered by using more morphemes/semantic units in other languages via inflection.
I think this is reflected by current trend in German to substitute the Genitive by using a Dative-construction instead. German-Native speakers will know ...
posted on May 11th, 2009, 6:29 pm
Last edited by Lt.Cdr.White on May 11th, 2009, 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
mimesot wrote:Yes there are many many ways to pronounce a letter. But look at french *gg*: 'eaux' sounds similar to germans 'ö'. And germans speaking a german-like Englich is great fun to listen at.
In fact, 'eaux' sounds like o, not ö. After all, Bordeaux is pronounced 'bordo', not 'bordö' - although I have to admit, 'bordö' sounds funny.
The problem with German is not really the correlation of written and spoken language, but the different sounds compared to English, similar to the problems Germans encounter with the 'th' or concerning overcompensation of the soft w that is absent in German, but Germans then tend to overuse it and even put it in place of the English 'v'. (Funny thing is that Chekov seems to do this a lot.
)Oh and yes, the Germanic dialects that the Saxons, Angles (?) and Jutes (?) brought with them is essentially the basic for the English language. Celtic words are hardly to be found. That's why there are so many similarities between German and English words, because they share the same roots.
The second large influence were the Normans invading Britain in 1066. That brought the large Romanic (French / Latin) influence to the English language.
Funnily, German has been influenced by French to some extent, as well (17th / 18th century mainly, I think). And or course, Latin loanwords where always popular because of Latin being the language used in the Clergy and Universities.
posted on May 11th, 2009, 6:56 pm
@ Lt.Cdr.White : hast du ma germanistik studiert? 
(did you study german?)
(did you study german?)
posted on May 11th, 2009, 7:27 pm
Last edited by Lt.Cdr.White on May 11th, 2009, 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
No, but I'm interested in language history and why words are like they are.
My first language is German, I had 9 years of English at school, that's one thing.
But after all, I'm really interested in the English language and ... well, I like to do research about things, be it history, language (and its etymology), geography and so on. It's just fun to know that stuff.
And since Wikepedia was invented, it has become even easier to find the information you're looking for. Before that, books where the only solution.
Unfortunately, I know many things that are hardly of any use while I often forget the things I should know.
My first language is German, I had 9 years of English at school, that's one thing.
But after all, I'm really interested in the English language and ... well, I like to do research about things, be it history, language (and its etymology), geography and so on. It's just fun to know that stuff.
And since Wikepedia was invented, it has become even easier to find the information you're looking for. Before that, books where the only solution.
Unfortunately, I know many things that are hardly of any use while I often forget the things I should know.
posted on May 11th, 2009, 8:27 pm
Last edited by Anonymous on May 11th, 2009, 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
posted on May 11th, 2009, 9:06 pm
Lt.Cdr.White wrote:In fact, 'eaux' sounds like o, not ö. After all, Bordeaux is pronounced 'bordo', not 'bordö' - although I have to admit, 'bordö' sounds funny.
Of course you are right... stupid me...'eux' souds like ö. "peux" spoken in german sounds like something pinky (remember Pinky and Brain *gg*) likes to say, and I always liked to wind my sister up with that, when I found it in her homework.
posted on May 11th, 2009, 9:12 pm
Last edited by Lt.Cdr.White on May 11th, 2009, 9:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Old-German on Old-English"
Right, keeping in mind that German and Germanic is not the same.
German and English are both Germanic languages. And the Angles and Saxons brought their Germanic dialects to Britain.
Thus, the dialects spoken in Britain and Germany developed independently but share a common history which leads to the many similarities seen especially between Old English and German.
Many many words have leftovers of their original pronunciation that show the relationship.
Knight (spoken nite) vs. Knecht (spoken with k and German soft ch)
Night vs. Nacht
to ride vs reiten (i and ei are pronunced the same here)
Especially the Low German dialects resemble English even more, also grammar-wise (spoken in the areas where Angles and Saxons once departed for Britain).
Edit: Ah, let me just quote a paragraph from the Wikipedia article on English language. It's about what I wanted to say:
English language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ever thought about the reason why there are Wessex, Essex, Sussex (and Middlesex) in Britain?
Those were the old kingdoms of the Saxons... west, east, south etc. And the Angles had East Anglia.
Right, keeping in mind that German and Germanic is not the same.
German and English are both Germanic languages. And the Angles and Saxons brought their Germanic dialects to Britain.
Thus, the dialects spoken in Britain and Germany developed independently but share a common history which leads to the many similarities seen especially between Old English and German.
Many many words have leftovers of their original pronunciation that show the relationship.
Knight (spoken nite) vs. Knecht (spoken with k and German soft ch)
Night vs. Nacht
to ride vs reiten (i and ei are pronunced the same here)
Especially the Low German dialects resemble English even more, also grammar-wise (spoken in the areas where Angles and Saxons once departed for Britain).
Edit: Ah, let me just quote a paragraph from the Wikipedia article on English language. It's about what I wanted to say:
English language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historically, English originated from several dialects, now called Old English, which were brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th century. The language was heavily influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders. After the Norman conquest, Old English developed into Middle English, borrowing heavily from the Norman (Anglo-French) vocabulary and spelling conventions. Modern English developed from there and continues to adopt foreign words from a variety of languages, as well as coining new words. A significant number of English words, especially technical words, have been constructed based on roots from Latin and ancient Greek.
Ever thought about the reason why there are Wessex, Essex, Sussex (and Middlesex) in Britain?
Those were the old kingdoms of the Saxons... west, east, south etc.
And the Angles had East Anglia.
posted on May 12th, 2009, 7:20 am
posted on May 12th, 2009, 8:29 am
Se Dschörmänns
i think the overkill german word for english speakers would be "Knüppelchen" (a small club)
i think the overkill german word for english speakers would be "Knüppelchen" (a small club)
posted on May 12th, 2009, 8:40 am
Last edited by runaway on May 12th, 2009, 8:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hi, dachte ich mir doch, dass sich hier so viele Deutsche rumtreiben. Sieht man öfters mal am Satzbau und der Wortwahl im Englischen...leider auch bei mir.
Abi is schon wieder 4 jahre her und es Studium hat bis auf nen deutsch kanadisches Seminar und Wissensmagament kaum englische Inhalte. Darum les ich hier gerne mit, einfach um mein Englisch auf nem halbwegs erträglichen Niveau zu halten
.
In dem Sinne, weiter so mit Fleetops
Hi, i figured that so much germans are in this forum. You can see it on the structure oft he englisch sentences and word choice...same here!
I did my A-Level 4 years ago and the studie has barley english contents except a Canadian-German Case study and Knowledge Management. This is why I'm delight to read the articles on this board, to keep my english on a passable standard.
With this in mind, Keep up the good work on Fleetops
Abi is schon wieder 4 jahre her und es Studium hat bis auf nen deutsch kanadisches Seminar und Wissensmagament kaum englische Inhalte. Darum les ich hier gerne mit, einfach um mein Englisch auf nem halbwegs erträglichen Niveau zu halten
. In dem Sinne, weiter so mit Fleetops
Hi, i figured that so much germans are in this forum. You can see it on the structure oft he englisch sentences and word choice...same here!
I did my A-Level 4 years ago and the studie has barley english contents except a Canadian-German Case study and Knowledge Management. This is why I'm delight to read the articles on this board, to keep my english on a passable standard.
With this in mind, Keep up the good work on Fleetops
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