[en] Learning German

[Largefry07]

I'm learning the first foreign language class ever. I'm excited about it. Right now we're learning the letters and how to greet people. Also today we learn all of the different you's that is in the German language. EX: Zie and du and eir.(I think I spelt them right) Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be able to speak and write in german that is understandable to most people.

[Traveller]

You mean: Sie, du and ihr/Ihnen? :wink:

[penelope]

Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be able to speak and write in german that is understandable to most people.

Guten Morgen!

You are wellcome. :go: :go:

And if you have any questions - here is the right place.

[Moryarity]

Hallo!

btw:
penelope....."You are welcome" is the english term for our "Bitte" in response to "Danke"..so it means:

Bitteschön!
Bitte sehr!
Keine Ursache!
Nichts zu danken!
Gern geschehen!

So I do not get the meaning, that you mention it as a response to the citation.....

but nevertheless Largefry..if you have any questions or want to train a little bit the new things you´ve learned, feel free to do so..we are glad to help you....

How did it occure that you took German as our first language...have there been difffernet languages to choose? How is the system in the US..how many languages are you learning? In which grade do you get new classes?

[Rnett]

And don't forget your umlaut.........:wacko:

[Prince Eric of the Lorah Clan]

Hallo! Guten Tag! :biggrin:

[paprika]

Sounds good Largefry
if you think saying "you" in German is good, wait until you get to all the different ways of saying "the".
Moryarity is right - here you are certainly in the right place to ask for a assistance if the homework gets tough.
I wish you lots of luck. :go:

[Traveller]

Ah, the German articles were among the worst things when I was studying German. At the end I got so tired of them that I just stopped learning and started using them by intuition! Which could actually cause a lot of mistakes and misunderstandings in exactly this language! But I'm not so good in German anyway, so... :rolleye: :lol:

[mamayourpeoplearehungry]

How did it occure that you took German as our first language...have there been difffernet languages to choose? How is the system in the US..how many languages are you learning? In which grade do you get new classes?

I don't know how he choose the language but my kids began learning a language in 1st grade. The school had twice a week classes for them in Spanish. Our middle schools have courses in French, Spanish and German. Those are the same choices as in High School. By the time you get to college you have many more choices.

[Largefry07]

Well I'm currently in my last year at high school. My high school only offers Spanish which I have no interest in. So since I'm out at the local college everyday in the mornings I take German. The college offers only French, German, and Spanish. There are not very many schools in America that begin to teach a second language at an early age. I find this sad since I know that it would make things a lot easier. Anyways I do plan to come here for help and thanks in advance for it also. I have a test on the alphabet tomorrow. If anyone knows of a web site that give the pronoucation of words, phraes, or letters please feel free to share.

You mean: Sie, du and ihr/Ihnen?

Yes that is what I meant. Is ihr and Ihnen the same thing? Bcause my professor said nothing about Ihnen.

if you think saying "you" in German is good, wait until you get to all the different ways of saying "the".


Oh great how many ways are there to say "the"?

[Ravell]

Hallo Largefry, so trifft man sich wieder ( a time to meet again) :wink:

glad to see you again, don't worry about the grammars first, in here in the forums DU=you is pretty much good enough to learn first steps.
Forget about ihnen/ihr/sie and such, that comes in much later.

and don't worry about 'the', there's only one translation for it---> das , meant for 'things'
it depends on the gender he/she er/sie though, if you know him/her or it/es in young ages or get to know them better later on you use the du=you. 'It' means 'das', usually for things, not persons or animals.
But never say 'Du' to an older unknown person (but some exceptions from this rule also)..... so just don't worry and talk and write away as it comes.

Your spelling mistakes in english went right down to the cellar mal so ganz nebenbei gesagt (to mention it on a sideway :biggrin: )
seid ich dich kenne (since i know you) from back in 1503 I always appreciated your work on deck Largefry!!
German is not that easy to learn, but who cares for the bloody language.

Let set sails to the carribean first and then over the pond from there ....Lieutenant Largefry ... ahoi :cheers:

[penelope]

Hallo!

btw:
penelope....."You are welcome" is the english term for our "Bitte" in response to "Danke"..so it means:

Bitteschön!
Bitte sehr!
Keine Ursache!
Nichts zu danken!
Gern geschehen!




:blush: Sorry, think I was a littlebit confused. You are right.

What I really wanted to say was:
We are looking forward to help you!


Aber wie sagt man dann richtig: Wir heißen dich willkommen.
Please translate!

[Moryarity]

"Wir heißen Dich willkommen"...ich weiß nicht, ob man das wörtlich übersetzen kann...ich würde sagen :"We welcome you" oder sowas in der Art..

@LArgefry:

"Ihnen" is a very polite form to adress an unknow person (it is a dativ form)(grammatically it belongs to "Sie" (please note "sie" = she or they and "Sie" is a polite form of "you")
example:
"How are you?"

if you know the person well, it would be
"Wie geht es dir?"

if you do not know the person it would be:
"Wie geht es Ihnen?"

or "May I ask you a question?"
if you know the person well:
"Darf ich Dich etwas fragen?"
if the person is not known to you:
"Darf ich Sie etwas fragen?"


Concerning the "the"...German is very different in this from English...
"the" is used everywhere..in Germany youhave to consider Casus and Numerus to decide, which word to use..so possible usages for "the" might be:
der, die das, dem, den, des..but it will become clear if you learn declination :biggrin:

[Angryminer]

Oh, and I found a website that claims to have the pronounciation of everything online. It's here (http://www.dict.cc/) (I use it for German to English, but it works both ways). Check the online pronounciation of some english words to get an idea of the quality before you blindly imitate it :wink: .

Angryminer

[furdude6]

In my neck of the woods, I think they teach German.. in highshool I don't know, or for that matter I don't know in the college I go to either.. and I've been going for 4 years..:wink: even though I'm in a two year program.. :wink: I took Spanish in my Junior year of highschool I think, may have been Senior... Out of curiosity does my translation page of my download page that I translated with babelfish(altavista) make any sense??

[Largefry07]

Took my first quiz today. I think I did well. It was mainly over spelling correctly and which vowel sound goes where. EX. For eins, she gave a blank with the letters __ns, then she would say the word and you had to fill in ei. There were a few I wasn't sure on and I know I missed "Tschüs". I can remember how I spelled it but it was wrong.

Also, I've noticed that Germans appear to love long words. Like numbers, is there a simple way to write/say achtundzwanzig other then 28. And is it very common for you to write it out like that. I know in English there is a rule that says if the number is 10 or higher you can use numerals, but if it is below 10 you must write it out. I was wondering if there is a simular rule in German?

@furdude What part of this great state do you live in? Kansas City side, St. Louis side, up north, bootheel, by Springfield?

[Moryarity]

There were a few I wasn't sure on and I know I missed "Tschüs". I can remember how I spelled it but it was wrong.

It would be "Tschüss" (according to our new wrtiting order (formerly it was "Tschüß")
Which brings me to the point to think, that it must be very hard for someone to learn German..in Germany we have a huge discussin about our orthography reform...many rules have been changes as in the example above: formerly it was "Faß" now it is "Fass"..and some other things...but I guess, you might learn the old spelling way ?!? Did you learn "Tschüß" or "Tschüss"?



Also, I've noticed that Germans appear to love long words. Like numbers, is there a simple way to write/say achtundzwanzig other then 28. And is it very common for you to write it out like that. I know in English there is a rule that says if the number is 10 or higher you can use numerals, but if it is below 10 you must write it out. I was wondering if there is a simular rule in German?

There is a similar rule in German, it is to write out the numbers including "zwölf" and from 13 on, you can use the numerals :biggrin:

[Angryminer]

About germans and long words: We mostly assemble different words into a single one. So the words themselves aren't that long, but we just put two of them together. ("Binnenschifffahrtsunfalluntersuchungsermittlungsvo rsitzender" - That word is actually one word, it just seems too long for the forum-software. :smile: )
But I expected you would rather complain about long sentences. But maybe your learning-materials spare you with that.
When I learned english in school my teacher told the class "Stop doing long sentences. Native english speakers don't do that" but I still tend to write sentences that are by far too long...

Angryminer

[Largefry07]

It would be "Tschüss" (according to our new wrtiting order (formerly it was "Tschüß")
Which brings me to the point to think, that it must be very hard for someone to learn German..in Germany we have a huge discussin about our orthography reform...many rules have been changes as in the example above: formerly it was "Faß" now it is "Fass"..and some other things...but I guess, you might learn the old spelling way ?!? Did you learn "Tschüß" or "Tschüss"?


Well that's interesting. In the book it is "Tschüs" and that's the way our professor has spelled it this whole time with jsut one "s". Also the book translates it as "So long!" is that a correct translation? The book's last copywrite date was 2003 so that might have something to do with it.

[Ravell]

There were a few I wasn't sure on and I know I missed "Tschüs". I can remember how I spelled it but it was wrong.


once you start thinking about the rules you're bound to get lost, its way better to write away, noone cares about tschüs or tschüss with double s, thats really unimportant!!
As you could read there's a discussion goin on here in germany concerning the orthography... the second silliest thing ever happened here :biggrin:

Also the book translates it as "So long!" is that a correct translation? The book's last copywrite date was 2003 so that might have something to do with it.


And its still and will ever be 'so long', doesn't have anything to do with the year or the spelling :cool: