If you could instantly be granted fluency in 5 languages—not taking away your existing language proficiency in any way, solely a gain—what 5 would you choose?
Honestly, as a German I can not quite understand the obsession of the English speaking world with the question whether a word exists or not. If you have to express something for which there is no word, you have to make a new one, preferably by combining well-known words, and in the very same moment it starts to exist. Agree?
Deutsche Freunde, could you please create for me a word for the extreme depression I feel when I bend down to pick up a piece of litter and discover two more pieces of litter?
um = around
die Welt = world
die Umwelt = environment
ver = prefix to indicate something difficult or negative, a change that leads to deterioration or even destruction that is difficult to reverse or to undo, or a strong negative change of the mental state of a person
der Müll = garbage, trash, rubbish, litter
-ung = -ing
die Vermüllung = littering
ver- = see before
zweifeln = to doubt
-ung = see before
die Verzweiflung = despair, exasperation, desperation
die Umweltvermüllungsverzweiflung = …
This is a german compound on the spot master class and I am LIVING
would a German listener just instantly know what they were on about, and get the highly specific meaning of the monster word?
Yes, without a second of thinking. Because saying the word takes time so the listener understands the word while it is being said.
Serious question—if you don’t know/can’t remember the actual word for something, if you make up a compound word that gets the point across (such as saying “kindhund” when you mean puppy), will native speakers generally applaud your effort or think you sound ridiculous?
A native speaker will understand, will acknowledge that you have understood that principle of the German language, and will probably think ‘how cute’.
My foreign exchange student did that all the time when she couldn’t remember words. It was awesome, I understood her perfectly, and I’m still in awe at how well she picked up on How To German. So feel free to make your own compound words whenever you need!
Once I didn’t know the word for the heater so I called it a “Heizungsapparat.” My host family thought this was the funniest and cutest thing. Turned out “Heizung” was all I needed to say.
Der Winter – winter Die Wintersonnenwende – winter solstice Der Dezember – December Der Januar – January Der Februar – February Das Weihnachten – Christmas Das Neujahr – New Year Die Polarnacht – polar night Arktisch – arctic Der Nordpol – north pole Der Südpol – south pole Das Lappland – Lapland Das Polarlicht – northern lights, aurora borealis Der Schnee – snow Die Schneeflocke – snowflake Der Schneesturm – snowstorm, blizzard Die Lawine – avalanche, snow slide Der Schneemann – snowman Der Schneeball – snowball Die Schneeballschlacht – snowball fight Der Schneeregen – sleet Der Hagel – hail Der Schneematsch – slush
Der Reif – frost
Das Eis – ice Der Eiszapfen – icicle Frieren – to freeze Kalt – cold Schneeig – snowy Eisig – icy Rutschig – slippery Kühl – chilly, cool Zugig – drafty Dunkel – dark Weiß – white Grau – grey Schwarz – black Blau – blue Der Bobschlitten – bobsled Das Schneemobil – snowmobile Der Schneepflug – snowplow Der Wintersport – winter sports Das Eislaufen – ice-skating Das Eishockey – ice hockey Das Skifahren – skiing Das Skispringen – ski jumping Das Snowboardfahren – snowboarding Das Rodeln – sledding Das Eisbaden – ice swimming Das Eisfischen – ice fishing Der Kamin – fireplace
Die Kerze – candle Die Laterne – lantern
Die Decke – blanket
Die heiße Schokolade – hot chocolate
Der Eisbär – polar bear Der Pinguin – penguin Der Polarfuchs – arctic fox Das Rentier – reindeer Der Hase – hare Das Eichhörnchen – squirrel Der Seehund – seal
i cant believe americans on tv really say rock paper scissors like???? its paper scissors rock omg do u irl americans actually say rock paper scissors????
rb this with whether u say paper scissors rock or rock paper scissors
me normally: linguistic differences are so interesting and cool! I love hearing different dialectal variations.
me, reading “paper, scissors, rock” with my own two eyeballs: the lord is testing me
Japanese people pronounce English names wrong sometimes. English people pronounce French names wrong sometimes. French people pronounce African names wrong sometimes. It’s called having an accent.
The fact that you only get pissy when an English person mispronounces a name is very hypocritical.
Part of being multicultural is accepting that sometimes people are going to sound different, and sometimes that means mispronouncing something here and there.
Sometimes you can correct somebody on the pronunciation but that isn’t necessarily going to mean that they’re actually capable of that pronunciation.
It isn’t “anglocentrism” to struggle with a foreign name, it’s just as much having an accent as a Japanese person struggling with an English name is.
~ Vape
It’s one thing to struggle and another to not even bother asking.
I was about to agree with OP until I got to…
“
Sometimes you can correct somebody on the pronunciation but that isn’t necessarily going to mean that they’re actually capable of that pronunciation
“
NO! That is exactly how you learn to become capable of that pronunciation. OP is definitely monolingual.
I’m not. But I do have a speech impediment. I can’t magically cure my speech impediment. People with various other disorders or who’ve gone eighty years or some shit only being able to make certain phonetic sounds might not be able to learn either, for a variety of reasons. Some people can, some people can’t – you’ve gotta learn to be okay with that.
~ Vape
here are some examples to why accents cane make it almost impossible to pronounce foreign names/words:
btw alot of people cant pronounce my name when they first read it, it gets fucked up on roll call on orders etc. even people who know me and how to properly say it can still mess it up.
Also knowing multiple languages does jack shit for pronounciation in foreign languages…
I’m fluent in english and french, but since we don’t really roll our Rs, i have trouble with spanish words that contain them.
Even my name gets mispronounced a lot but people at least try. I feel like that’s the thing that pisses people off is that there’s no effort to even try.
I can’t roll my Rs even if my life depended on it. Which means I can’t do drum rolls either. 😥
@seize-patriarch grew up with Arabic in the house and in Arabic shed have a speech impediment for being unable to roll her r’s. I have a tendency to roll r’s in places where there shouldn’t be a rolled r because I love rolling them but it makes learning a language damned difficult.
So, today, a woman came into our shop. It was a woman I’ve only heard my parents refer to as ‘the Deaf Lady’. My mum had told her about me, explained that I was doing Sign Language, and come to find me on a day she knew I was working.
But today, she didn’t need her lawnmower repaired. In fact, she hadn’t touched it since it had been, and as far as she knew everything was fine.
She’d come in to sign to me.
She waved hello, and instantly explained that my mum had told her I would be in today. I asked her how she was, and the smile that she had on her face was the biggest I’ve ever seen.
And we spent about an hour in my family’s little shop, talking about everything. She told me about her life, about how she’d lived in the same house for 60 years.
She’d been born deaf, and been a Brownie, but never a Guide, because of the War… she’s now 86.
She had some amazing stories to tell, and twice she cried. One of those times was remembering her youth, and the other was when she was explaining to me that her husband had died around 20 years ago, and how he’d been the last person she’d known that could communicate with her.
She’s been alone for 20 years, living in a silent world, unable to communicate with anyone for the most part. The most interaction she has is when she writes things down for people, but she’s struggled to make any recent friends, and her family is long gone.
Now someone explain to me what’s wrong with every school teaching a certain amount of Sign Language, and for colleges to offer it more freely and frequently. People should be encouraged to learn BSL, because otherwise we’re cutting ourselves off from talking to around 8 million people or so (in the UK alone).
That’s millions of people who are no less important than you are, who have their own stories to tell, and the same need for communication as anyone else on this tiny little planet.
J. cried today because it was the first time for a long time that anyone has asked her for her name, or listened to her stories.
She’s also coming back into work tomorrow, to sign with me, and help me practice. But also – because we’re only human – for the company.
Every school should offer the native sign language of their region.
Normalize and celebrate language in all its modes, and the cultures that go with it.
Or if offering a class isn’t possible because of funding, at least teach some in.. English or other language class or something.
Yeah, that’s a good point! Just like any language, sign language isn’t easy to learn fluently enough to teach, and on top of that you have to have a teaching degree. Generally the Deaf community (in my country at least) prefers teachers of ASL to be deaf/hoh themselves. In smaller regions this is nearly impossible, and I’d imagine most Deaf people wouldn’t want to recolate to somewhere where no one can speak their language, especially if they don’t have the option or comfort of speaking their country’s spoken language(s).
In my province there is one school for the deaf and hard of hearing. One school for 944,735 square kilometers. Students up north or farther east can choose to take a plane to school for the week, or stay in month long chunks while they attend school away from their families. A lot of them have families who don’t know ASL, or even tried to learn.
All in all, it may not be possible to teach sign language everywhere. But! You can always learn from resources on the internet! And from books if your library carries them. There are YouTube video lessons, you can set up beginners’ clubs to keep yourself motivated and invite others, and you can asks questions online when you don’t know where to look next.
So, today, a woman came into our shop. It was a woman I’ve only heard my parents refer to as ‘the Deaf Lady’. My mum had told her about me, explained that I was doing Sign Language, and come to find me on a day she knew I was working.
But today, she didn’t need her lawnmower repaired. In fact, she hadn’t touched it since it had been, and as far as she knew everything was fine.
She’d come in to sign to me.
She waved hello, and instantly explained that my mum had told her I would be in today. I asked her how she was, and the smile that she had on her face was the biggest I’ve ever seen.
And we spent about an hour in my family’s little shop, talking about everything. She told me about her life, about how she’d lived in the same house for 60 years.
She’d been born deaf, and been a Brownie, but never a Guide, because of the War… she’s now 86.
She had some amazing stories to tell, and twice she cried. One of those times was remembering her youth, and the other was when she was explaining to me that her husband had died around 20 years ago, and how he’d been the last person she’d known that could communicate with her.
She’s been alone for 20 years, living in a silent world, unable to communicate with anyone for the most part. The most interaction she has is when she writes things down for people, but she’s struggled to make any recent friends, and her family is long gone.
Now someone explain to me what’s wrong with every school teaching a certain amount of Sign Language, and for colleges to offer it more freely and frequently. People should be encouraged to learn BSL, because otherwise we’re cutting ourselves off from talking to around 8 million people or so (in the UK alone).
That’s millions of people who are no less important than you are, who have their own stories to tell, and the same need for communication as anyone else on this tiny little planet.
J. cried today because it was the first time for a long time that anyone has asked her for her name, or listened to her stories.
She’s also coming back into work tomorrow, to sign with me, and help me practice. But also – because we’re only human – for the company.
Every school should offer the native sign language of their region.
Normalize and celebrate language in all its modes, and the cultures that go with it.
Or if offering a class isn’t possible because of funding, at least teach some in.. English or other language class or something.
It’s hilarious watching non-Americans react to this with fear because I read it just nodding along like “yes, in fact this is How Things Are, there you go”
If you ask an American how they are and they respond “Super.” that means they want to die
ACCURATE
And if you add the F word (example: Fucking great, fucking fine, fucking awesome), it creates a feeling of seriousness. It amplifies the intention of the word. Fucking great would go in a negative way to mean “(this) is very bad.” Fucking fine would go in a negative way as well and comes to man “(this) is horrible.” Fucking awesome would be positive and would come to mean “(this) is the truly amazing/great/awesome!”
I enjoy using “fucking stellar!” to mean “horrible” and “amazing” because shit just be like that.
I feel like any of those could be good or bad, depending on if the tone is excited or sarcastic. Either way, the fucking amplifies it
oh sure when americans say forever it means 30 minutes but brits think 2 hours is a long bus ride so
If an American man of a certain age tells you he is living the dream, he is at that very moment begging for the sweet release of death.
ifesbob 