THE THREAD

[Historiker]

("trotzdem" wäre richtig, ich hoffe Du nimmst diese Korrektur nicht übel?))

Whoever took part, thank you for this work. I'm somehow happy to be here in the alps without sufficiant internet connection, because I need my time for my thesis...

[DuckofTindalos]

Ach, Du Lieber Thread... Ich schreibe nicht Deutsch oft genug...

[DuckofTindalos]

Wäre dies eine deutsch-sprachiche gemeinschaft hätte ich nur um die 250 posts.

Still, let's switch back to English. It's faster, and more inclusive.

[Mynok]

Ya'll keep the bilingual stuff up. Ich brauche übung!

[Historiker]

Hey, noch einer!

Ich habe eine Idee...
tm.asp?m=2174014&mpage=1&key=&#2174014
[;)]

[Mynok]

Nein, mein Deutsch is schrecklich. Ihr spricht und ich werde lesen und lernen. [8D]

[Historiker]

(sprecht)
So you'll help me improve my english and I'll help you with German? I really think I should take some grammar lessons again, my grammar must be horrible, no?

[DuckofTindalos]

Not nearly as bad as you think.

[Mynok]

Ooops...see? I forgot sprechen was an irregular verb. [8|]

Certainly I will help. Your grammar is fine. Most of your "mistakes" are idiomatic, not grammatical.

[Mynok]

For example:

we won't like to live without one any more

Would more naturally be

we don't like to live without one any more

[Historiker]

Anyway, I'd be happy to read what I'm doing wrong! It has already helped me a lot to write here. I read many words I don't know and use a dictionary to find out their meaning. Together with the words I learn from trying (is that right?) to write not like a five year old kid, I'm pretty sure it already improved my english significantly. It wasn't trained in any way all the years before!

won't is from "will", right?

[Mynok]

Yes, and it's "from trying to not write like a five year old". See, these are just differences in idiom between German and English, not bad grammar.

Also, we say "it wasn't taught". The meaning is perfectly clear, it's just differences in idiom.

[DuckofTindalos]

Lots of people have tried to get me to become a school teacher over the years, to teach kids some of my allegedly "good" English. Can't do it. I practice a sort of Zen English, just going with the flow. I'm actually no good at grammar.

[anarchyintheuk]

German sentence structure usually makes more sense than ours . . . for a german-speaking-english-as-a-second-language-type it must be like being taught that 2+2=3 when you know it's 2+2=4. At least english doesn't have those compound 10+ syllable words.

[Historiker]

ORIGINAL: Mynok

Yes, and it's "from trying to not write like a five year old". See, these are just differences in idiom between German and English, not bad grammar.

Also, we say "it wasn't taught". The meaning is perfectly clear, it's just differences in idiom.

So the not always in front of the verb?
When does a "y" at the end turn into an "ie"?
Doesn't "taught" mean teach? I intended to say "I didn't have any practice", so I've written train like training.

[Historiker]

At least english doesn't have those compound 10+ syllable words.

But that's what makes the german language so potent [:D]

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: anarchyintheuk

German sentence structure usually makes more sense than ours . . . for a german-speaking-english-as-a-second-language-type it must be like being taught that 2+2=3 when you know it's 2+2=4. At least english doesn't have those compound 10+ syllable words.

the sheer number of words in English also makes it very difficult to master. If I recall correctly, about 4-times the number of other major languages--and if you include the Oxford vs Webster spelling differences, it has 8 times as many.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Lots of people have tried to get me to become a school teacher over the years, to teach kids some of my allegedly "good" English. Can't do it. I practice a sort of Zen English, just going with the flow. I'm actually no good at grammar.

T, I often completely forget that English is not your native language. [:)]

[USSAmerica]

I studied French in High School for 2 years, but never had the chance to use it.  Some place like this on the internet would have been fantastic practice.  Now, 25+ years later, I'm lucky if I remember a few words of French vocabulary.  [8|]

[Wirraway_Ace]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

At least english doesn't have those compound 10+ syllable words.

But that's what makes the german language so potent [:D]

did you mean painful instead of potent?[;)]