Learning German

[Blondie Bear]

(I hope this is the right place to post this.)

Does anybody currently on the boards speak German? I'm learning, and I could use a buddy to help out when I get stuck. I'll be your best friend ever and give lots of thank-you karma!

[Rowan Hawthorn]

(I hope this is the right place to post this.)

Does anybody currently on the boards speak German?

Nicht sehr gut. :) Ich habe zwei klassen hatte, ein immer mein Hoch schule und ein im Universität.

Mein Vokabeln sucks und mein Grammatik is worse... :whistle:

[Blondie Bear]

Can't be any worse than mine; I'm just starting. Pretty much what I'm doing is getting ready for a reading proficiency test, in which I'll have 2 hours to translate 200-300 words of text, which will come from one of two stories: "Der Zwerg Nase" or "Kleider Machen Leute." So I know I'm not actually LEARNING German (I'm by God not learning to speak it, that's for sure), but it'll have to do for now.

But, hey, I got the gist of what you said without looking anything up, so I must be doing okay!

[Rowan Hawthorn]

They give two hours for 200-300 words? My high school class, the textbook had no English in it, and the teacher had us reading (as in: translating on the fly) from it in class. That would be 200-300 words in five or ten minutes. I always knew my spoken/listening comprehension wasn't very good, but at the time I thought my reading was fair - maybe it was better than I thought (right now, I couldn't get through a passage to save me. It's been <mumble-mumble> years since I took the class...)

[Blondie Bear]

The major problems I'm having with vocabulary are all those dratted compound words that aren't necessarily in the dictionary. The inflected endings aren't easy, either, but I'm picking those up from context.

[kitty-cat]

I'm German. I'm trying to help if you have any problem...

[Blondie Bear]

That would be awesome! Here's a question for you right off the bat: I'm working on translating "Der Zwerg Nase," as I mentioned above, and there's one line that makes no sense no matter what I do with it:
"Wollen sehen! Wollen sehen! Krautlein schauen, Krautlein schauen, ob du hast, was ich brauche."

I have the second half as "if you have what I need," but the first half is coming out with something about wanting to see herb flax? Which doesn't make any sense to me.

Any ideas?

Oh, and the "a" in "Krautlein" is supposed to have an umlaut, but I don't know how to do that here.

[Rowan Hawthorn]

To do umlauted characters, you use Alt-<number-keypad> combinations. ä is Alt-0228. Here's a link to a table: Windows Alt Key Codes (http://tlt.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html)

[freakydorky]

Nicht sehr gut. :) Ich habe zwei klassen hatte, ein immer mein Hoch schule und ein im Universität.

Mein Vokabeln sucks und mein Grammatik is worse... :whistle:

Deine Deutsch ist sehr gut Rowan Hathorn! Ich habe deine namen gern!

[kitty-cat]

Okay, the "Wollen sehen! Wollen sehen!" simply means "Want to see! Want to see!" That is some kind of child language...I don't know what "Der Zwerg Nase" is about but I assume that there is some kind of a person that never really learned how to talk right and how to conjugate and that's why he is using the infinite verb forms here. It is hard to translate it into English because the infinitive works here.
"kräutlein" is a diminutive to "Kraut". Maybe there is a childish or naiv touch to it. That's why he's using the diminutive here.

You're absolutly right with the translation of the second part. The person is looking for some kind of herb and he wants to the what if the person he talks to has it.

I hope it helps a little bit. It's just a little difficult for me since I don't no that text...But feel free to ask again if it wasn't a good help so far;-)

[Blondie Bear]

Thanks! I have gotten a little further, and yes, the old lady speaking kind of babbles. It's a fairy tale, but I'm not far enough into it (it's about 25 pages long) to tell what its about besides a cobbler's wife sitting at the market waiting on this really old weird lady.

May I PM you if I get stuck on anything else? No sense bothering everyone on the boards with my idiocy.

[Rowan Hawthorn]

Deine Deutsch ist sehr gut Rowan Hathorn! Ich habe deine namen gern!

Dänke, aber ich haben keine Illusionen. Er ist zu lang gewesen.

[kitty-cat]

May I PM you if I get stuck on anything else? No sense bothering everyone on the boards with my idiocy.

Sure feel free to PM me anytime

[Cangel]

I speak German...fluently :-)

So if you need any help, just ask.

[Blondie Bear]

Hey, all you smart people. More questions, because I ist der loser (don't you love my pidgin German?).

Two words I'm hung up on and can't find in any dictionary (which is making me think they may be place names, but that doesn't quite fit in the logic of the sentence): "Fallimentes" und "Seldwyler."

For context, here's the sentence and my translation of it:
Denn er hatte wegen des Fallimentes irgendeines Seldwyler Schneidermeisters seinen Arbeitslohn mit der Arbeit zugleich verlieren und auswandern müssen.
For he had because of the wagon [Fallimentes] any [Seldwyler] master tailors lost his wages and work at the same time, and must emigrate.

Thanks in advance!

[Cangel]

Okay, I don't know the exact meaning, but I think 'Falliment' (that's the nominative) means something like bankruptcy
And I think Seldwyla is some kind of town. No idea of it really exsists or only in fiction.

[Blondie Bear]

I broke down and e-mailed the German teacher at my college, and here's what he had to say:
Falliment is an old term for Konkurs or Zahlungsfähigkeit or Bankrott - or bankruptcy in English. Seldwyler is the fictional name of a village in Switzerland and also in the title of Keller’s whole cycle of novellas: “Die Leute von Seldwyla.” Enjoy!

Just in case anyone's interested.

[Jade In The Sky]

Uuuhm Ich habe fuer fuenf Yahren Deutch im Gymnasium gelernt aber alles ist vergessen :D! Wenn ich in einem Hotel gearbeitet habe, ich habe es auch ein bisschen gesprochen. Oh darn it's so clismatic but I'll keep trying! And when I think I used to know it better...scheide :(

[XDruX]

Du sollst besser Französisch lernen. Es ist einfacher und lustiger... ;)

[Blondie Bear]

And has nothing to do with my major in Medieval British Lit!

[Evilyn]

Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken
Drei Ecken hat mein Hut
Und hat er nicht drei Ecken
So war es nicht mein Hut

I took German in High School and that's one of the only things I really remember. That and whenever I ask what time it is I always say "Wieviel uhr ist es?"

I was always better with pronunciation than writing it. I was really into the class though. I used to speak German in my sleep. I really wigged my parents out with that. Ha!

Sorry, I don't have any input with your translating, I just wanted to share. :whistle:

[Blondie Bear]

Well, I'm going to be better at reading than pronouncing! Maybe we should combine brains. . . . *eyes your forehead speculatively*

[Cangel]

Och Leute, redet doch mal Deutsch hier ^^ Und ich bin gut bei sowohl Aussprache, als auch Schreiben, Lesen, Zuhören, Reden.... auf Deutsch., versteht sich....in anderen Sprachen (Englisch z.B.) ist das anders

[Blondie Bear]

Turns out these fairy tales were written in the early and mid 19th century, which may explain why I'm having so much trouble with vocabulary. Anyone know what "ausglitt" or "umfiel" mean?

[XDruX]

umfiel is the past tence for umfallen and it means > to topple down, to topple over, to drop dead

ausglitt is the past tence for ausgleiten and it means to slip...

[Cangel]

Warum lest ihr solche alten Texte in der Schule? Wir reden in Englisch über den Klimawandel und so.

[Blondie Bear]

I come begging for the wisdom of the German-speaking on the Buffy-Boards again. I've got two words that I can't find translations for: "estarben" and "sammetfutter." (That second one just sounds dirty to me.) Here's the contextual sentence fragment:

so erstarben ihm, da er überdies nicht beredt war, die Worte im Munde, also daß er der Märtyrer seines Mantels war und Hunger litt, so schwarz wie des letzteren Sammetfutter.

For "so schwarz wie des letzteren Sammetfutter," I'm getting "as black as the back" of something?

[XDruX]

:lmao:

I didn't find the translation to your words, the only thing I can tell you is that erstarben is the past tence of the verb "ersterben". FunnyBunny muss Dir helfen!
But I found the text you're translating...
Isn't it the "Kleider machen Leute" von Gottfried Keller? :rolleyes:

[Blondie Bear]

Yes, indeed, it is. I'm only a few paragraphs in, though.

So what's "estirben"? I can't find that in my dictionaries, either.

[XDruX]

ersterben means to pass away.

I thought about that since sterben means to die but I wasn't sure. But got the confirmation.

Edit:

Hey! Found this!

MAybe it will help you ;)

Interesting link (http://www.languages.ttu.edu/courses/Germ4303/keller_wortschatz.htm)

I habe Sammetfutter hier gefunden und das meint: velvet lining

(Is it right FunnyBunny310?)

[Blondie Bear]

I'm not seeing how "pass away" fits in this sentence, but it could be my translating skills failing me. Here's the whole sentence and my translation so far (it's still a little rocky cause I haven't adjusted everything for English word order and stuff):

Näherte er sich einem Hause, so betrachteten ihn die Leute mit Verwunderung und Neugierde und erwarteten eher alles andere, als daß er betteln würde; so erstarben ihm, da er überdies nicht beredt war, die Worte im Munde, also daß er der Märtyrer seines Mantels war und Hunger litt, so schwarz wie des letzteren Sammetfutter.

As he neared a house, the people considered him with surprise and curiosity and expecting anything other than that he would beg; so estarben him; moreover, he was not eloquent with words in his mouth, also he was a martyr in his overcoat and suffered hunger, as black as the last Sammetfutter.

The only permutation of "die" that fits my translation is "kill" ("so they killed him"), but that doesn't make sense in context. Have I screwed up something along the way?

[XDruX]

Es sind die Worte, die ihm im Munde erstarben.

"The words died in his mouth" would it be litteraly...

It is like he wanted to say something, but, as he isn't eloquent, he just stoped and the words "died" in his mouth.

[Blondie Bear]

That makes much more sense. Thanks!

[Cangel]

Geez, I've got to say, you have to translate strange texts, really old words.
Yes, 'erstarben' means to pass away, and the whole sentence is more or less an idiom
And it also could be the right translation for Sammetfutter.
But like I said, it sound really old, with a lot of rhetorical devices in it. Like for instance Sammetfutter, today you would say 'Samtfutter'

[Blondie Bear]

Well, my major is Medieval British Literature, hence the learning German. The German teacher was aware that handing me a text in Medieval German would just be evil, so these two texts are 19th century. Here's his exact words:

Here are two fantasy tales from the early and later 19th century, respectively by a German and a Swiss German, that should be of interest to you and will amount to about 50 pages total. The first one is by Wilhelm Hauff and is entitled “Zwerg Nase." The second one is realistic social fantasy by Gottfried Keller, “Kleider machen Leute” about a tailor who is mistaken for a count and briefly lives the life of the latter.

Hence the older words and some of the difficulty I'm having; many modern German dictionaries--even online ones--don't have some of these words in them anymore.

[Cangel]

Yes, and I have the same problem. Some of these words I know (I call myself educated, after all), but not all. I sometimes have the same problem with English, it took me some days to figure out what 'gravitas' means, for example. And I have 4 sets of English/German dictionaries.
That's why I was wondering about the texts you translate, because these are just words you won't find in everyday life

[Blondie Bear]

The patheticness that is me needs more help. I've run aground on "bequemen," which I'm finding two different translations for, neither of which makes sense in context: "deign" and "consent."

Here's the sentence (or part of it, cause the whole sentence is enormous):
Als er bekümmert und geschwächt eine Anhöhe hinaufging, stieß er auf einen neuen und bequemen Reisewagen

I have:
As he went up a hill, troubled and weak, he encountered a new and [bequemen] carriage

[XDruX]

Bequem also means comfortable.


Though don't know if this translation will be of any help...

[Cangel]

yup, comfy. And it's 'bequem'. you always have to keep in mind that in contrast with the English language, German has 4 cases. So in this case it's accusativ, that's why it's 'bequemen', which can also be a verb. Always think about that ;)

[Blondie Bear]

That does make much more sense. My German dictionary has this entry:
bequem: adj comfortable . . . b~en (sich) vr deign

Hence my confusion; bequemen appeared to mean "deign."

[Blondie Bear]

Can "ei" mean anything but "egg?" The context of the sentence makes it look like an exclamation (like "hey!") more than a comment about eggs:
»Ei, das weißt du falsch«

[kitty-cat]

yap you're right. It's an interjection. It means something like "Oy!". Kinda oldfashioned too;-)

[Blondie Bear]

I think I just flunked my German test. Sigh. I started running across words that weren't in my dictionary and panicking, which just made everything worse. And I think I sabotaged myself by practicing on the computer cause I type faster than I write so I didn't realize how long it would actually take me to transcribe stuff, so I didn't even finish the last 3 sentences, and they were NOT short sentences. The teacher's grading it now, so I guess we'll see. Maybe he'll be in a really good mood and not count those last 3 sentences against me too much.