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German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/2/2010 9:46:17 AM

Phoenixpower

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Hi folks,

whilst going onto internet I-player I just stumbled over this one....which is partially quite good...particular the first one I love and with me being German I never had seen it that way how he describes it in the first link with the long words we have...and I have to say I miss our long words over here as they would make it so much easier to say all you want within an essay with these damn word restrictions here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/long_words.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/waiting_for_verb.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/jokes.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/polite.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/false_friends.shtml

< Message edited by Phoenixpower -- 1/2/2010 10:04:35 AM >

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/2/2010 2:34:21 PM

NorthernGent

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Always wondered why you bolt other words onto other words........it's like bolting houses onto other houses and having a street that stretches from Hamburg to Munchen.

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/2/2010 2:43:48 PM

Phoenixpower

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Well NG, believe me, I am better then I used to be...in 2005 I used to drive my ex crazy when he corrected my grammar in job applications....I still have his comment in mind "why do you keep adding those words together"...but well, we do that...I mentioned it once ages ago in another thread whilst you would write "potato soup" for us it is one complete new word therefore we write it potatosoup.

And yes...we do have many long words...it was really good how he described it I had never seen it that way.....but his long word which he mentioned what kids would learn...well, there we have better examples than that one (and don't ask me for one I don't know one yet after living here since over 5 years...but I never learned that one and others instead).

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/2/2010 2:46:44 PM

Phoenixpower

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Also I love the one about "polite" as it is soooooooo true that we don't do this "how are you" and "i am so sorry" etc. crap when we don't mean it...we are just blunt, you know where you stand...and as one person from here said once correctly to me about that fact "maybe they (some situations I had spoken about with him) misinterpret your honesty with hostility"...and that thought from him was a very good eye opener and a very good explanation how to talk over here....I learned to shut my mouth more

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/2/2010 3:32:20 PM

Phoenixpower

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gosh I just realised there are three more regarding grammar and time, though the first one of these three is much better IMO then the other two

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/gender_bender.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/telling_time.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/alphabet.shtml

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/3/2010 2:36:22 PM

NorthernGent

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Phoenixpower

Also I love the one about "polite" as it is soooooooo true that we don't do this "how are you" and "i am so sorry" etc. crap when we don't mean it...we are just blunt, you know where you stand...and as one person from here said once correctly to me about that fact "maybe they (some situations I had spoken about with him) misinterpret your honesty with hostility"...and that thought from him was a very good eye opener and a very good explanation how to talk over here....I learned to shut my mouth more

Yeah this is a strange old country - in the time it takes to buy a block of cheese from the shop you've had 20 thank yous and 40 pleases.

But there's an upside - I had a German friend who loved it over here but had to go back to Germany as it was too expensive for her. One of the things she really liked was that every morning without fail when she walked into the shop the old dear behind the counter would say: "hello luv - how are you this morning?". She really appreciated that - not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure.

Yeah - you're a straighforward lot. Was once in a hotel in Berlin and asked the bloke behind the counter for directions to the train station - he just went into a tirade about how every monarch in the world since the inception of the world is/was German - I couldn't get a word in edgeways for the mad fucker. Then without asking he bought me a beer and sat me down to instruct me on the glory of Germany. So things were a bit heavy and I half expected him to produce an over-head projector from nowhere with supporting scientific proof and mathetmatical equations to prove the point and I thought I'd lighten the tone a bit and asked him why there's so much space in Berlin and why do all the streets seem to be in straight lines......."because you lot bombed it to rubble and ruined everything so we had to start again" was the reply.......so at this point I'm thinking well fuck this....."well stop behaving like the fuckin' Hun then and we'll leave your streets in tact" was my response. Could have went either way but he saw the funny side and turned out to be a really good host.

Then there was the time when we pulled up to a camp site just outside Cologne. We'd been all over Europe and were stinking/hungover/penniless. We pulled up at this site occupied by hundreds of Germans with those massive camper vans with massive grills and every meat imaginable on them (everything in order!) We'd wrecked our tent so couldn't put it up - so we just laid it down on the ground like a duvet had a tin of cold raviolli....then went into town drank a load of ale came back and went to sleep under this tent sheet strewn across the floor. Woke up in the morning and the Germans were looking at us like we were animals (we probably did look and smell like animals by the way - but it's rude to stare!).

To be absolutely fair I've always felt welcome and comfortable in Germany. Never had a problem. And one of the things I really like about them is they don't get take it to heart when you mention their country - we're not alike in many respects but one thing about the English and the Germans (in my experience) is we can both laugh at the laughable aspects of our countries.

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/3/2010 2:49:08 PM

SL4V3M4YB3

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This is just cheating because even in English I could just create long words which in reality are sentances without spaces.

e.g.

blackcatthatsitsonthematnearthefrontdoor.

this above word describes a particular type of cat.

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/4/2010 3:41:17 PM

Phoenixpower

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quote:

ORIGINAL: SL4V3M4YB3

This is just cheating because even in English I could just create long words which in reality are sentances without spaces.

e.g.

blackcatthatsitsonthematnearthefrontdoor.

this above word describes a particular type of cat.

LoL you make me laugh...we aren't that extreme...the word are supposed to make sense...e.g. Haustuerschluessel would mean translated Housedoorkey

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/4/2010 3:44:39 PM

Phoenixpower

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quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
Woke up in the morning and the Germans were looking at us like we were animals (we probably did look and smell like animals by the way - but it's rude to stare!).

It might be rude...but as you said...we are direct

And...yanno...maybe they were concerned in regards to your mentioned smell

...maybe they were wondering if that is a concern for the health of the environment

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/7/2010 2:47:45 AM

raraa

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i guess it makes life easier when u add words together

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/7/2010 11:23:36 AM

rockspider

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That is not unique to German. The Danes and the Dutch do it as well. But i believe the Thais is the worst. One of the most amusing thin about the danish/German language troubles is that the word for beer sounds exactly like the German for oil. Lots of pubs just south of the border have a can of Castrol the best for the danes so they can see what they are ordering

I live just north of the border. 40 km to the ferry for a 45 minute ride to Deutchland. I come there often. Nice place for a weekend.

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RE: German - explained by Henning Wehn - 1/7/2010 4:34:51 PM

Phoenixpower

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quote:

ORIGINAL: rockspider

I live just north of the border. 40 km to the ferry for a 45 minute ride to Deutchland. I come there often. Nice place for a weekend.

Lol, where I am from we were (and my parents still are) 40 mins drive by car away from france and 90 minutes drive away by car from switzerland

I enjoyed popping over to france sometimes

< Message edited by Phoenixpower -- 1/7/2010 4:35:29 PM >

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