German-question

[vitoNova]

is it true Jagen means hunter?

jagen ("juh-gen", soft g) = to hunt

der Jäger ("yay-guh") = the hunter

herein lies the importance of the umlaut.
Isn't the case that Muller is pronounced simple moo-ler but Muller (u with umlaut) it becomes Myu-ler?

Umlauts like ü, ö, ä are very tough to learn for English speakers because their sound is so alien to them.

Isn't ä pretty much the vowel in American English "bed"?

Yes, kinda actually.   More like an "aiyd" or "aiy-dt" sound.  But you're getting there.

But you must have soul.  You must have rhythm.  And snap.

That is the only way proper to speak German.

[JA]

Ich hatte einen Freund aus Hamburg dass geholft mir Deutsch zu lernen. Ich schriebe diesen Text nur aus den Gedachtnis. Ist es richtig?

[Tender Branson]

Ich hatte einen Freund aus Hamburg dass geholft mir Deutsch zu lernen. Ich schriebe diesen Text nur aus den Gedachtnis. Ist es richtig?

Pretty good & almost correct.

„Ich hatte einen Freund aus Hamburg, der mir geholfen hat Deutsch zu lernen. Ich habe diesen Text nur aus dem (oder „meinem“) Gedächtnis (oder „aus der/meiner Erinnerung“) heraus geschrieben.“

[Mr. Smith]

Is Wald the German word for forest?

Yes.

Germans pronounce it "Wuh-ld".

We pronounce it "Woid" or as the English term "Void".

All the translations and songs I've heard pronounce it as "Vahlt".

[Sozialliberal]

is it true Jagen means hunter?

jagen ("juh-gen", soft g) = to hunt

der Jäger ("yay-guh") = the hunter

herein lies the importance of the umlaut.
Isn't the case that Muller is pronounced simple moo-ler but Muller (u with umlaut) it becomes Myu-ler?

Umlauts like ü, ö, ä are very tough to learn for English speakers because their sound is so alien to them.

What is the rule generally when it comes to umlauts? Add a trace of a 'y' sound?

There's no general rule. You simply have to know the pronunciation for each Umlaut. To make things even more complicated, there are two pronunciation variants for each vowel (including Umlaute): a short one and a long one. The consonants after the vowel often indicate the length of the vowel. The ü in "Müller" is pronounced short because it's followed by a double l. On the other hand, the ü in "Mühle" (mill) is long because it's followed by an h.

Well, there is no English equivalent for the ü sound in Müller. Just as some English sounds don't exist in German (e.g. the w in "world"), some German sounds don't exist in English (e.g. the ü in Müller); but if you follow these instructions, your pronunciation should be about right: Pronounce "Müller" like "Miller", but pucker your lips a little when you pronounce the ü.

As said before, the long ü (in words such as "Mühle" or "über") is pronounced differently. I'd say it's somewhere between the "oo" in "book" and the "ea" in "beak". Knowing French would be an advantage because it sounds like the u in the French word "sud" (south).

is it true Jagen means hunter?

jagen ("juh-gen", soft g) = to hunt

der Jäger ("yay-guh") = the hunter

herein lies the importance of the umlaut.
Isn't the case that Muller is pronounced simple moo-ler but Muller (u with umlaut) it becomes Myu-ler?

Umlauts like ü, ö, ä are very tough to learn for English speakers because their sound is so alien to them.

Isn't ä pretty much the vowel in American English "bed"?

Yes, a short ä is pronounced like the e in "bed".

Is Wald the German word for forest?

Yes.

Germans pronounce it "Wuh-ld".

We pronounce it "Woid" or as the English term "Void".

All the translations and songs I've heard pronounce it as "Vahlt".

When Austrians and Bavarians speak in their dialect, they pronounce "Wald" like the English word "void". An Austrian newscaster, however, would pronounce this word as their colleague in northern Germany would.

[Tender Branson]

Challenge for Germans.

Please try to translate this Pinzgauerisch-German dialect sentence into Standard German:

Some context, so it won’t be that hard ...

A father talking with his older daughter:

„Kust ma heit tschnochts bittsche as Buzzaö kinzn, I muas no huseg wos hoön foon.“

I have already given one hint on this thread: Buzzaö (baby, infant)

[Tender Branson]

Here a comparison of the words „wählen“ (to vote) and „Welle“ (the wave*).

In Standard German, they are pronounced completely differently.

In Bavarian/Austrian, it is literally pronounced identically: wöön

There’s also a 3rd word, which is also pronounced „wöön“: wollen (to want something)

* to wave is „winken“

[Mr. Illini]

I am spontaneously learning it on Duolingo, but am still pretty early in the process. Voted for vacation level.

Hope to become fluent eventually!

[RINO Tom]

I would say I knew "Vacation German," but I'd be pretty rusty at even that.  This might make me want to try to at least polish up during this quarantine, though!

[Tender Branson]

BTW:

Who are the 7 people who voted "native German speaker" ?

I only count 4:

* myself
* Old Europe
* POTUS Johnson
* Sozialliberal

[President Johnson]

BTW:

Who are the 7 people who voted "native German speaker" ?

I only count 4:

* myself
* Old Europe
* POTUS Johnson
* Sozialliberal

My guess would be Omega21, urutzizu, Astatine and parochial boy? I don't know about the latter, since he's Swiss. Probably some more from Germany.

[Tender Branson]

BTW:

Who are the 7 people who voted "native German speaker" ?

I only count 4:

* myself
* Old Europe
* POTUS Johnson
* Sozialliberal

My guess would be Omega21, urutzizu, Astatine and parochial boy? I don't know about the latter, since he's Swiss. Probably some more from Germany.

Omega is a Bosnian immigrant from what I know and parochial boy is from French Switzerland.

No clue about the others.

[Mr. Smith]

is it true Jagen means hunter?

jagen ("juh-gen", soft g) = to hunt

der Jäger ("yay-guh") = the hunter

herein lies the importance of the umlaut.
Isn't the case that Muller is pronounced simple moo-ler but Muller (u with umlaut) it becomes Myu-ler?

Umlauts like ü, ö, ä are very tough to learn for English speakers because their sound is so alien to them.

Isn't ä pretty much the vowel in American English "bed"?

More like the weird middle ground between "red" and "raid".

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

how is the word 'Macht' generally used?

[Tender Branson]

how is the word 'Macht' generally used?

You mean like in force/power ?

„May the force be with you.“ („Möge die Macht mit dir sein.“ - from Star Wars)

Or:

„The king had a lot of power.“ („Der König hatte viel (or große) Macht.“)

...

Then there is the verb „make“ (which is also a form of macht, but written with a small „m“):

„The baker makes the Faschingskrapfen in a unique way, namely ...“ („Der Bäcker macht die Faschingskrapfen in ganz spezieller Weise, nämlich ...“)

[Tender Branson]

This is pretty cool and sums everything up:

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I have a C in GCSE German (taught from 14-16) but have forgotten pretty much all of it now. That's the state of foreign language education in this country.

[parochial boy]

Here's another good example of Swiss German. Specifically the Vögelisch dialect

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

what are the funniest cases of false friends in German and English?

[Starpaul20]

what are the funniest cases of false friends in German and English?

I'd be disappointed if it wasn't that Austrian village whose name is spelled the same way as an English profanity.

[Tender Branson]

what are the funniest cases of false friends in German and English?

I'd be disappointed if it wasn't that Austrian village whose name is spelled the same way as an English profanity.

Yeah, Fu**ing.

Anyway, there are lots of villages here with a profane/strange name, not just Fu**ing:



Also, Austrian states and cities for English speakers:

[Tender Branson]

My favorite Austrian towns, translated to English are:

* chicken scream
* nig*gers
* semen village
* vagina village
* puke ditch
* ass river
* washpoint
* Saint blowjob
* Turkey
* goodbye
* f**kbarn
* hell
* pig village
* overly awesome
* smirking
* Black India
* meat-eating
* scum
* Maria misery

[Tender Branson]

Äußere Einöde is also a cool name for a town: Outer wasteland.

Or Kleinzicken: little bytch.

[President Johnson]

what are the funniest cases of false friends in German and English?

Oldtimer is a classic. In the US and elsewhere, people think of an older gentleman. If a German is talking about an oldtimer, we mean a car older than 30 (?) years. The term is mostly used for classic old cars from the 1960s or before. We have entire Oldtimer clubs, which is a bunch of people who own and drive old cars for fun.

There are a number of German words that were invented in recent years and decades that sound like English, but aren't. Classic is the very common word Handy. That means cell/mobile or smart phone. A lot of people think it's an English or American word, but obviously neither Americans nor Brits are familiar with that word. Beamer is another one. Americans and Brits used to call it projector.

What I find interesting in politics is only some titles have a German word for the tenure. Presidency obviously means Präsidentschaft (President/Präsident is very similar), Chancellorship means Kanzlerschaft (chancellor/Kanzler), but there is no word for governorship. Governor means Gouverneur in German, but nobody would ever say "Gouverneurschaft". Neither does a word for speakership exist in German. Ambassadorship is another case: Ambassador means Botschafter, and "Botschafterschaft" doesn't exist of course. Botschaft exists, but that means Embassy.

When it comes U.S. states, only California has a Germanized name (Kalifornien). All other US states are called the same. And California and Texas are the only one with an adjective for Californian or Texan (kalifornisch/texanisch). Nobody would call something from Ohio "ohioisch" or from Oregon "oregonisch". I've rarely read pennsylanivisch for Pennsylvanian, but that is rarely used (I assume a holdover from German immigrants or so).

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

what are the funniest cases of false friends in German and English?

snip

One thing I find funny is that Lied means is a noun, song, in German but in English it is the past tense of the verb lie. This generates irony when you consider the fact that, well, songs can lie, or distort.