Was? Hwæt?

I Am a Jelly Doughnut

2010-02-08T07:28:00.000-08:00

Isn't this what JFK said in Berlin?

No matter. I passed the German translation exam, and I am thrilled about it.

Next up, I have a reading list to finalize. All the while, however, I hope to be translating a German article that's close to my heart. (More on this later).

Word Order and Translation

2009-09-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Two basic kinds of word order:

(1) The important element comes at the end of the sentence.
Cellulose ist in Wasser und verdünnten Säuren unlöslich.

The trick for me is to read the entire sentence before translating. A predicate adjective or some other important element may be at the end of the sentence, but it is translated immediately after the verb.

(2a) Normal Word Order
Präsident Roosevelt verkündete die vier Freiheiten im Jahre 1941.

This is English order. I see few sentences like this.

(2b) Inverted Word Order - 1
Im Jahre 1941 verkündete Präsident Roosevelt die vier Freiheiten.

This is O-V-S word order. I can see myself getting really confused about which is the subject element and which is the object.

(2c) Inverted Word Order - 2

Die vier Freiheiten verkündete Präsident Roosevelt im Jahre 1941.

This is also an O-V-S order, with the direct object in the first position of the sentence. In any case, it seems like the verb takes second position and whatever immediately follows or precedes it should be the noun phrase subject.

The hints I am getting for translation:

When the first element is an adverb or adverb phrase, translate it first and then the subject.
When a direct object begins the sentence – assuming I can tell that it is the DO – either translate the subject first and proceed in order or begin with the object and translate as a passive construction.

To me, it seems that identifying the subject and beginning there are the key.

Compound Nouns

2009-08-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

Compound nouns are common in German because it is possible in German to form an almost unlimited number of word combinations. Many of these compounds, as such, are not listed in dictionaries, so to find their meaning one often will need to break up the component parts and then check the meaning of each component.

Lehrbuch, textbook (teaching book)
Kalbfleisch, veal (calf meat)
Stadtbevölkerung, urban population (city population)
Sommersonnenshein, summer sunshine
Überschallgeschwindigkeit, supersonic speed (above-sound speed)
Unterseeboot, submarine (underwater boat)
Gesundheitsregel, health rule

The combinations may consist of several nouns, or of nouns plus other words. The key part of the compound is the last element, with the preceding elements usually functioning as modifiers.

Occasionally, s is inserted between nouns of a compound. For example, the compound Gesundheitsregel is composed of Gesundheit (health) and Regel (rule).

The last component in a compound determines the gender of the resulting word. This last component takes both plural ending and umlaut, if an umlaut is indicated. An example is Motorräder, motorcycles, which is derived from Motor (motor) and Rad (wheel). The plural of Rad is Räder.

When two or more compound nouns in a sentence have the same final component, a hyphen is used to avoid repetition.

Morgen- und Abendzeitung (morning and evening newspaper)
Straßen-, Luft- und Wasserverkehr (road, air and marine traffic)

Es Gibt

2009-07-28T05:52:00.001-07:00

I learned this morning that "es gibt" approximates "there is" or "there are" in English. it makes sense now, but I was a bit surprised at first.

Other common es gibt constructions:

Es gibt ... in Deutschland. There is ... in Germany.
Es gibt heute ... zu essen. We are having ... today. (to eat)
Was gibt es heute zu essen? What are we having today? (to eat)
Gibt es hier ...? Is there ... around here?
Das gibt es dort drüben. You/One can get it over there.
Gibt es denn sowas? It is possible?
Das gibt es doch nicht! That's impossible!

Irregularities in the Present Tense of Strong Verbs

2009-07-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Some German strong verbs have a vowel change in the second and third persons singular of the present tense.

stoßen (to push)
ich stoße
du stößt
er stößt
sie stößt
es stößt
wir stoßen
ihr stoßt
sie stoßen

sehen (to see)
ich sehe
du siehst
er sieht
sie sieht
es sieht
wir sehen
ihr seht
sie sehen

geben (to give)
ich gebe
du gibst
er gibt
sie gibt
es gibt
wir geben
ihr gebt
sie geben

laufen (to run)
ich laufe
du läufst
er läuft
sie läuft
es läuft
wir laufen
ihr lauft
sie laufen

Changes in the second and third persons singular occur in some verbs having e, a, au, or o in their stem syllable.

Vowel changes are as follows:

e to ie or i
a to ä
au to äu
o to ö

Study Tips for Learning German

2009-07-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

From About.com:

Here are some study tips and practical advice to help make your learning of German more effective:

Use your first language to learn the second!
German and English are both Germanic languages with a lot of Latin and Greek thrown in. There are many cognates, words that are similar in both languages. Examples include: der Garten (garden), das Haus (house), schwimmen (swim), singen (sing), braun (brown) and ist (is). But also watch out for "false friends"1 — words that appear to be something they're not. The German word bald (soon) has nothing to do with hair!

Avoid language interference
Learning a second language is similar in some ways to learning your first, but... there is one big difference! When learning a second language (German), you have interference from the first (English or whatever). Your brain wants to fall back on the English way of doing things, so you have to fight that tendency.

Learn nouns with their genders
German, like most languages other than English, is a language of gender2. As you learn each new German noun, learn its gender at the same time. Not knowing whether a word is der (masc.), die (fem.) or das (neut.) can confuse listeners and makes you sound ignorant and illiterate in German. That can be avoided by learning das Haus rather than just Haus for "house/building," for example. More: The Top 10 German Mistakes Made by Beginners3

Stop translating!
Translation should only be a temporary crutch! Stop thinking in English and trying to do things the “English” way! As your vocabulary grows, get away from translating and start thinking in German and German phrases. Remember: German-speakers don't have to translate when they speak. Neither should you!

Learning a new language is learning to think in a new way!
Das Erlernen einer neuen Sprache ist das Erlernen einer neuen Denkweise. - Hyde Flippo

Get a good German-English dictionary
You need an adequate (minimum 40,000 entries) dictionary and you need to learn how to use it! A dictionary can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Try not to think too literally and don't just accept the first translation you see. Just as in English, most words can mean more than one thing. Consider the word “fix” in English as one good example: “fix a sandwich” is a different meaning than “fix the car” or “he's in a fine fix.”

Learning a new language takes time.
Learning German — or any other language — requires a long period of sustained exposure to German. You didn't learn your first language in a few months, so don't think a second one will come any faster. Even a baby does a lot of listening before talking. Don't get discouraged if the going seems slow. And use all the resources at your disposal for READING, LISTENING, WRITING and SPEAKING. This site can lead you to those resources.

The United States is the only country where people believe you
can learn a foreign language in two school years. - Hyde Flippo

Passive skills come first!
A period of LISTENING and READING is important before you can expect to use the active skills of SPEAKING and WRITING. Again, your first language was the same way. Babies don't start talking until they've done a lot of listening.

Be consistent and study/practice on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, language is NOT like riding a bicycle. It's more like learning to play a musical instrument. You DO forget how to do it if you get away from it too long!

Language is more complex than we realize.
That's one reason computers are such lousy translators1. Don't worry about all the details all the time, but be aware that language is much more than just stringing a bunch of words together. There are subtle things we do with language that even linguists have difficulty explaining. That's why I say, "Learning a new language is learning to think in a new way."

Sprachgefühl
You have to develop a "feeling for the language" to master German or any language. The more you get into German, the more this hard-to-describe Sprachgefühl should develop. It's the opposite of a rote, mechanical, programmed approach. It means getting into the language's sound and "feel."

There is no "right" way.
German has its own way of defining words (vocabulary), saying words (pronunciation), and putting words together (grammar). Learn to be flexible, to mimic the language, and to accept Deutsch the way it is. German may do things differently from your point of view, but it isn't a matter of "right" or "wrong," "good" or "bad." Learning a new language is learning to think in a new way! You don't really know a language until you can think (and dream) in that language.

Dangerous! - Gefährlich!
Some things to avoid:
Avoid the most common beginner's mistakes. See The Top 10 German Mistakes Made by Beginners.
Don't be overly ambitious. Set realistic goals and take things one step at a time. Our lessons are designed that way.
Don't try to pretend you are a native-speaker of German (Muttersprachler) when you aren't. That means avoiding jokes, swearing and other linguistic minefields that can make you sound and look foolish.
One more time: Stop translating! It gets in the way of real communication and should be left to skilled professionals.
Also one more time: A dictionary is dangerous! Verify meanings by also looking up the word or expression in the opposite language direction.

Ein-Words

2009-07-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

There are kein (no, not any) and the possessive adjectives (see below).

Here's the singular:

Nominative: kein, keine, kein

Genitive: keines, keiner, keines

Dative: keinem, keiner, keinem

Accusative: keinen, keine, kein

Now here's the plural for all genders:

Nominative: keine

Genitive: keiner

Dative: keinen

Accusative: keine

The singular possessive adjectives are:

mein - my

dein - your

sein - his, its

ihr - her, its

Finally, we have the plural possessive adjectives:

unser - our

euer - your

ihr - their

Ihr - your

German: Indefinite Article Ein

2009-07-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

Nominative: ein, eine, ein

Genitive: eines, einer, eines

Dative: einem, einer, einem

Accusative: einen, eine, ein

I'm told to note that the case endings match for the definite article: des-eines, dem-einem, den-einen, der-einer.

Nominative seems to make sense. Accusative makes only one change: einen. Genitive and Dative also make good sense to me.