The terrible German language
- Thread starter Korin
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My favorite line in German came from the immortal JFK:
“I am a jelly donut.”
Truly inspiring.
“I am a jelly donut.”
Truly inspiring.
Which is kind of a silly urban myth, because "Ich bin ein Berliner" is perfectly fine grammatically and does say exactly what he intended to.
Not to mention that he said it in Berlin, where the jelly donut commonly known as "Berliner" is not actually called "Berliner", but "Pfannkuchen", which is the name for pancakes everywhere else, because Berlin is a retarded nuthouse that always wants to be special.
Also, JFK's immortality was put to the test with a rifle bullet, and it was disproven.
Not to mention that he said it in Berlin, where the jelly donut commonly known as "Berliner" is not actually called "Berliner", but "Pfannkuchen", which is the name for pancakes everywhere else, because Berlin is a retarded nuthouse that always wants to be special.
Also, JFK's immortality was put to the test with a rifle bullet, and it was disproven.
I was listening to a German language podcast and someone said something along the lines of:
"I don't need therapy, I'll just move to Berlin where everyone is weird"
Yep, sounds reasonable.
Alphons
National Beholder
I've been learning German for a decade now and it's not that bad (at least compared to something like French, which I just couldn't learn more than the basics).
I can fluently talk and write in German, but I've got problem understanding other speakers, especially native Germans (after my Deutsche Sprache Diploma presentation one of the German examiners got up to congratulate me, but I've misheard it as basically "you were all right but not good enough").
I've also apparently got a horrible American- like accent. During one of the school trips I wanted to impress my friends so I've ordered meals for everyone in German to which waiter replied "Oh, Americans!". I was rather embarassed and one of my friends took advantage by replying "Yeah, we're from D.C.".
I can fluently talk and write in German, but I've got problem understanding other speakers, especially native Germans (after my Deutsche Sprache Diploma presentation one of the German examiners got up to congratulate me, but I've misheard it as basically "you were all right but not good enough").
I've also apparently got a horrible American- like accent. During one of the school trips I wanted to impress my friends so I've ordered meals for everyone in German to which waiter replied "Oh, Americans!". I was rather embarassed and one of my friends took advantage by replying "Yeah, we're from D.C.".
MutantScalper
Dogmeat
I was listening to a podcast about the unification of Germany recently, they said that folks in the former East Germany are kind of conservative etc. AfD-votin' right-wingers. Why don't you move there? I'd imagine it's your ideological home.
It's about 20% voting for the former SED and 20% voting for AfD. Given that I actually vote for the former SED, I'd actually agree with you, just not for the reasons your lack of meds tells you.
MutantScalper
Dogmeat
I actually now noticed that you are visiting the Mönchengladbach area? Your folks are from there? It's one of the two German clubs that I kind of followed and supported for a while, kind of difficult to see Bundesliga games over here, they showed them on the telly for a while. The other team I still support was St. Pauli partly because I share their politics.
But Borussia Mönchengladbach is a really good German team with a 'genuine' fan base, a sleeping giant, and I hope they get more success in the future.
Cheers and have a good trip, you don't always have to be hating on me.
Yeah, I'm from that area originally, and kinda grew up favouring Borussia Mönchengladbach by nature, them being the biggest team close by. It's nice to see that they're doing so well in recent years, even though I don't really follow football. They were in a massive rut in the late 90s and inconsistent in the Naughts, but they're doing great now.
And while Mönchengladbach is a kinda boring and shitty town, they have good beer in that area. The Niederrhein area has a local specialty beer that's not really drunk anywhere else, called "Altbier" (old beer). It's a top-fermented beer similar to Kölsch and wheat beer, but unlike wheat beer it uses barley, and unlike Kölsch (from Cologne) it uses more roasted malt to give it a different taste and a dark colour.
I think Borussia Mönchengladbach had the Diebels Alt brewery as a sponsor for a long time in the 90s...
Oh yeah, I remember this 90s jersey goodness...
In the days of Stefan Effenberg (who got infamously banhammered for flipping off a referee) and Heiko Herrlich. Now I feel like I should get me one of these to bring some football culture down here.
I make a joking reference to a common historical misconception and you give me an essay.
lol whoever told you that lied.
Continuing deep into German madness, I'll be navigating these particular labyrinths for the next month:
Das Kind ist nicht einen Erwachsene
(The child is not an adult) <- simple to understand, makes a lot of sense
Das Kind mag das Zimmer nicht
(The child likes the room... not) <- the end of a sentence becomes a plot twist
Duolingo instilled upon me that nicht would always follow the verb it was negating but now they seem to just be throwing it on to the end sentences.
And this new hell:
Solange wir hunger haben, essen wir
(So long as we're hunger having, eating we are - not wir essen)
And also:
Äpfel mag er nicht
(I read this as "Apples like him... not" but it's actually "Apples... likes he... not")
Makes me wonder if Star Wars' Yoda was based on someone's tortured understanding of German
Das Kind ist nicht einen Erwachsene
(The child is not an adult) <- simple to understand, makes a lot of sense
Das Kind mag das Zimmer nicht
(The child likes the room... not) <- the end of a sentence becomes a plot twist
Duolingo instilled upon me that nicht would always follow the verb it was negating but now they seem to just be throwing it on to the end sentences.
And this new hell:
Solange wir hunger haben, essen wir
(So long as we're hunger having, eating we are - not wir essen)
And also:
Äpfel mag er nicht
(I read this as "Apples like him... not" but it's actually "Apples... likes he... not")
Makes me wonder if Star Wars' Yoda was based on someone's tortured understanding of German
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Better: Das Kind ist kein Erwachsener.
Or: Das Kind ist nicht erwachsen.
The child is no adult? I am also confused when I should use kein/keine and when I should use nicht. It seems like you can use either if you structure the sentence for it:
Der mann isst kein brot
Der mann isst brot nicht
I don't know which would make the most sense.
That makes sense to me
Edited to make sure I GENDERED THE BREAD CORRECTLY
The first makes sense as "The man doesn't eat bread", as in, no bread at all.
The second should be "Der Mann isst das Brot nicht", meaning that he doesn't eat that specific bread.
Ok, I see... would it be fair to say that "Der mann isst brot nicht" is interpreted more as "The man is not eating bread currently" rather than saying he doesn't eat bread at all?
No, "Der Mann isst Brot nicht" is just wrong grammatically. Can't explain why, but it feels wrong ^^