German is awesome

Yep, I had one year of Dutch in school. To be honest, I came late for course sign up, and it was the only course left, but I grew to like it :icon_bigg

 

Would come in handy going to Amsterdam, but Dutch understand the following heavily repeated sentences fine: zwei gramm 'white widow' bitte und wie viel fur bumsen?

 

berueht ganz uf gägesitigkeit

 

Schwitzerduetsch sounds like a rollercoaster, it's very hard to understand for me.
I doubt anyone learning German would understand native Tatsujin's in their habitat!

I speak so-called Hochdeutsch which is could be regarded as Oxford English while Schwitzerdütsch is some sort of an underground London English.

What do you fellas think of German accents?
I think Bavarian/Austrian is the nicest, followed by the Fränkisch (south-west Ger.). Saxon is the most awful language mankind has ever created IMO

 

the best german is the "Ruhrpott-Deutsch"..ha ha...ist ne sehr assige sprache mit wat,dat und sowat...ha ha...na,ich sprechs ja selber teilweise

 

Like I said, everything sounds more bad ass in German or with a sterotypical German Accent (which is nothing like a real one)

 

BTW that's Flemish not Dutch.

Here is some real Dutch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvUFrR64Ml8

 

To me it seems like a mix of English and German. I can understand Dutch pretty well even though I only speak English and German (and a few unrelated languages).

I think that the hardest part for an English speaker is the male/feminine/neutral stuff. But if you want to learn a European language you cannot avoid it.

 

Actually, the Dutch language does not have that anymore. We also don't use cases anymore.

 

in Danish we have common gender and neuter when it comes to nouns.

 

I like having detailed gender/based distinctions. Strict linguistics simplify the interpretation at the expense of the learning curve, but ultimately it's best for record keeping/history/law etc.

 

Native Tatsujin's a language in it's own. Nid war Tatsu?

Schwiizerdütsch isch ja scho e supr sprach zum schnurre und fachsimplä, aber zum schriibe isch's aifach horror.

Naja, solang nid es sanktgaller oder kuurer-dialäkt schribsch / schnurrsch geits ja no.

German itself sucks, learn a dialect.

And the very first question to lern: Was kostsn? (Schwäbisch for: How much is it?)

 

I can imagine that, when I learned French it was such a hassle. Keep in mind that German male/feminine words and French male/feminine stuff are two different worlds. You have to learn it all from new >_<

You said you spoke German, after your experience, how hard was it to learn the whole gender thing from new? Most Europeans are born into it and thus can't imagine speaking without using it, but how hard is it to conceive the feeling for the gender of words for a "newcomer"? A shame that it's really necessary since people sound like jerks if they put a female article in front of a male noun. ^^ I know I do sound like one when speaking French xD
Copyright names also have genders. iPod is male, Playstation is female. Dreamcast has officially no gender, but people choose freely what to call it (male, feminine, neutral - everything almost equally accepted, I prefer male).

 

For me it was hard, and I still find it hard. It seems there is no real rule as to what class a word falls within, so you have to learn each word.

 

That is exactly the case.

On topic: http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html

Not to discourage you, take it with a pinch of salt :thumbsup:

 

Frankly though, if you're a fluent English speaker, there's absolutely no need to learn Dutch or, to a slightly lesser extent, Danish. As much as I hate English/American tourists who will go to a foreign country and speak English at people (only louder and with an "o" on the end of every word), it's entirely possible to hold a fluent conversation in English in these countries. I think I even read somewhere that the Dutch speak English better than some parts of England. The only reason to prioritise learning something like Dutch or Danish would be if you were researching the history or literature of the country in question.

As for German - das ist ein wasserfarbe. That's about as much as I know and it's probably grammatically incorrect - I just like the word wasserfarbe. Would be cool to learn though.

 

Wasserfarbe is female^^
That apart, it's correct. There are many German words that I prefer to any equivalent in another language due to their sharpness, expressiveness. Zartheit (tenderness), Ferne (distance), Einschnitt (cut), Kraftwerk (power plant), Zahnrad (gear), just to name a few

 

Not only Gymnasium, Vorschule, Hauptschule... Its like that, we native german speakers learn english and the native english speakers learn german. Its the same effort IMO, so just go for it.

And I personally love to watch movies in english, I noticed it to be very funny when english is mixed with german in movies like in the Indiana Jones series when the german soldiers are screaming things like: "Halt, stehenbleiben!" and stuff like that.

BTW, funny thing is that Kindergarten means the same in english and in german xD

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065207/

Where Eagles Dare

Features the most common stereotypical German expressions like: "Rein da!" (Go in there!) "Raus da!" (Come out!) etc.
Fun to watch for a German speaker, and the movie itself is a classic too!

Some more German loan words in English: Waldsterben, Kaputt, Erwartungshorizont, Angst (not exactly the same meaning, but close), Blitz, Doppelgänger, Ersatz ;-)

 

Don't you forget me Schadenfreude, Gemütlichkeit and Autobahn Never knew about Erwartungshorizont though.

"Wachstumsbeschleunigungsgesetz" ("Growth-accelaration-law") is a nice one too, lol.