Just in case

[skyring]

My late-night German lessons continue albeit langsamer. I'm reasonably proficient at nummers and can pronounce them correctly siebenzehn out of dreizig attempts, which works out to roughly threeteen out of fourty goes. I look at numberplates and phone numbers as I drive around, saying them out loud. Now and then I count up to ein hundert, just to show that I can.

I'm listening to the example dialogues and texts and making some sense out of them, recognising words and looking forward to asking, like ResQgeek, for "Eine kleine Stuck Schokoladentorte, bitte".

But now things are harder begetting. Not only are Nouns bekommen in drei genderen: masculine, feminine and neuter, each mit their own articles, der, die, das, but they come in cases, mit die articlespellung different depending on whether they are subject or object. Not to mention plurals.

Ein Mann schläft mit einem Hund, aber ein Hund schläft mit einem Mann.

This is getting tricky. And tense.

I can see myself at der Frankfurterflughafen, "My bags are lost. Also my cases. Woe ist mich!"

Comments

[miss-efficiency.livejournal.com]

You are hilarious! I love the image of you driving around trying to pronounce all of the digits in the numberplates. I too would be pleased to order eine kleine stuke schokoladentorte, but not due to the linguistic achievement. I'd be even happier to order eine grosse stuck schokoladentorte, bitte.

"Woe ist mich!" -- that's a real knee-slapper.

[elhamisabel.livejournal.com]

ROFL! So, so, you want only a small slice of chocolate cake? You should say: Ein großes Stück Schokoladentorte bitte. It's definitely better, I'm telling you. ;-)

I know, I know, we Germans like to put many words together into one very looooooooooooooong one, but as a rule, when there is a place name or name, such as Köln, Flughafen, Lisa, we don't hang other words onto it. So you'd say Frankfurter Flughafen, Lisas Torte, or Kölner Dom.
On the other hand, you get words like Studierendenausweis (which an American once told me was the longest word he'd ever seen).

In any case, rest assured: etwa neunundneunzig Prozent der Leute werden sehr froh sein, dass Du versuchst, deutsch zu sprechen. Hundert Prozent werden sehr amüsiert sein. ;-))

[skyring.livejournal.com]

You know, I had to puzzle out exactly what you said, but I recognised quite a lot of it geradeaus.

I'll never be fluent or accent free, but Ich machte no doubt that folke will besmilen at mich.

[elhamisabel.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely sure they will smile. But they won't lauh at you. :-)

[resqgeek]

LOL! Now my chocolate cravings are going to be famous in two languages!

Grammar puns! Gotta love 'em...

[skyring.livejournal.com]

One of the listening texts deals with German cakes and pastries, and a sample dialogue has Sie und ein Kellner discussing Kaffee and Sachertorte. Naturlich, Ich denk an dich.

[cathepsut.livejournal.com]

LOL! Männer, die mit Hunden schlafen.... soso! Ich schlafe ja generell mit Katzen... I'm glad that I grew up with German, English is so much easier....

[skyring.livejournal.com]

I was going to have Hunden und Katzen sleeping together, but I needed two masculine nouns to show the difference in articles.

English might not have gender or much in the way of case difference (though contrast "He told her" and "Him told she") but it must be a nightmare to learn the spelling. Half the words have multiple meanings, and the other half are synonyms.

[cathepsut.livejournal.com]

British spelling is the weird one out. I don't know how the spelling compares down under, is it more like the British or the US spelling?

[skyring.livejournal.com]

Yeah - English spelling is most irregular!

Aussie spelling is pretty much British, though we can generally puzzle out US-Speak.

[semioticghosts.livejournal.com]

Ein Mann schläft mit einem Hund, aber ein Hund schläft mit einem Mann.

Darling...good on you for learning Kraut, but why is the above confusing? And do tell me why you are attracted to dogs in that way...

[skyring.livejournal.com]

I think I'm losing my articles as well as my cases...

Dogs? I blame it on my mutter.

[lytteltonwitch.livejournal.com]

I will have to get my german dictionary out to be able to reply as I haven't studied this language since the 6th form.I am not very good at language but keep trying.

[skyring.livejournal.com]

I plan on hooking up wireless card, laptop, cellphone and Bluetooth and having this little automatic Babelfisch.com voice in my ear telling me was ist was.

Ich plane auf dem Anspannen herauf drahtlose Karte, Laptop, cellphone und Bluetooth und Haben dieser kleinen automatischen Babelfisch.com Stimme in meinem Ohr, das mir erklärt, waren ist waren.

I plan on harnessing up wireless map, laptop, cellphone and Bluetooth and credit of these small automatic Babelfisch.com voice in my ear, which explains to me, was am was.

Frankfurt Airport

[inarastarte.livejournal.com]

Gluecklicherweise sey also sprechen Englisch, ^.^

Re: Frankfurt Airport

[skyring.livejournal.com]

Ja, this will be my third visit to Frankfurt and everybody bends over backwards to demonstrate that they can speak English beautifully. But the curious word tourist in me always wants to know what the signs say. I thought Ausgang might be some hangout for expatriates, but nein.