german-enthusiast

[german-enthusiast]

The German language has quite a few animalistic verbs:

fuchsen ("to fox") = to annoy

hechten ("to pike") = to dive

reihern ("to heron") = to puke

dackeln ("to dachshund") = to walk slowly

aalen ("to eel") = to bask

vögeln ("to bird") = to have sex

einigeln ("to hedgehog in") = to curl up

hamstern ("to hamster") = to hoard

schlängeln ("to snake") = to wriggle

stieren ("to bull") = to goggle

unken ("to toad") = to gripe, augur doom

tigern ("to tiger") - to walk tigerishly

#i never realized it's that many!! #but most of them i actually hear used regularly #german #langblr #deutsch #learning german #language learning #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language #german vocabulary

[german-enthusiast]

just a quick FYI that I've been surprisingly busy with uni in the last couple days and I'm so sorry if you're waiting for a response somewhere! Do text me again plz!

[german-enthusiast]

"Meine Güte!" = My goodness!

incredible translation of sheeesh thank you google

#german #langblr #deutsch #learning german #language learning #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language #german vocabulary

[german-enthusiast]

hehehe

Series: Dirty Syntax

(aus Grewendorf, Sternefeld, Hamm)

How complex can get an NP? Thanks Recursion!!

#i kinda wanna draw the tree structure for that monster #nur eine Nominalphrase #langblr #german #deutsch #learning german #language learning #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language

[german-enthusiast]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

A win for trans rights!!!!!! 🏳️‍⚧️

The Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (self-identify law) allows trans and intersex people to change their name and gender in the civil registry much more easily than before by submitting a self-disclosure form. This will be possible starting on the 1. November 2024 while the self-disclosure forms can be submitted as early as 1. August 2024 because of the 3 month waiting period in the law. After a name and gender change the person will be barred from changing it again for one year. People of ages 14-17 will need the approval of a legal guardian to change their gender and name while for children under 14 the legal guardians can submit a form for the change.

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'The Selbstbestimmungsgesetz has passed in the German Bundestag' to Cas' 'I love you'. /End ID]

[german-enthusiast]

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

#IMO: yes and no. #it's grammatically sound #but only ever used in official documents in its niche #so the average person will never say or write this in their life

[german-enthusiast]

Auf größeren Larps mit höherem production value und mehr Plot ist es fast immer schon schade, dass ich meistens mit irgendeinem bullshit beschäftigt bin und alles was annähernd plotrelevant war verpasse. Sorry, ich konnte nicht der Krönung von Prinz Schlagmichtot von Wasweißich beiwohnen, unser Wettbüro ist aufgeflogen und wir hatten... bürokratische Probleme. Woher soll ich denn wissen wer sich mit wem duelliert hat, ich bin aus Versehen einer Diebesgilde bestehend aus Kindern beigetreten. I'm sorry, ich weiß nichts von Schlachtplänen, ich habe den Landsknecht meines Vertrauens mit zwei Parfüms eingesprüht und dann zwei Tage lang mit ihm Marktforschung zu Herrendüften betrieben, indem wir jede Dame in Riechweite gebeten haben an seinen beiden Schultern zu riechen. Von welchem Wachdienst redest du, ich habe fünf Kindern Poker beigebracht. Plot what plot

[german-enthusiast]

Is there someone out there who is curious about learning German and wants to be a lab rat in my dream of investigating the question

how fast can I help a person go from zero to comfortable in German?

I don't have huge amounts of time myself but beyond texting, (video) calling (Skype/Discord/Whatever) would be an option when there's time

And I would of course offer up myself as a lab rat to learn your language too if you're interested in teaching it :>

About me: 21, language student, like to read, gay, have a cute dog, always trying to be less online but failing, idk what else to sayyyyyy but I'm very nice!

No money involved! I'll get you all the resources to study, meaning you wouldn't have to buy a textbook or smth

_____

plz spread this even if it doesn't apply to you I just want to be language obsessed with someone ': ]

#learning german #language learning #langblr #deutsch #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language #german

[german-enthusiast]

reblogging this because I just talked to a colleague making this mistake and think it's so helpful to know about this kind of stuff!!!

Scary scary German syntax... right?

The following sentence exhibits a typical mistake German-learners make: Heute ich gehe in ein Museum.

It's not conjugation ("ich gehe" is correct!), it's not declension ("ein Museum" is correct too!). The issue is "heute ich gehe". Correct would be: Heute gehe ich in ein Museum (or: Ich gehe heute in ein Museum.)

What's the rule here?

It's unfortunately not simply "there can only be one word before the verb"

German word order is so difficult be cause it is so variable. All following sentences are correct and synoymous (though emphasis shifts):

Der Opa schenkt seiner Enkelin zum Geburtstag ein Buch über Autos.

Seiner Enkelin schenkt der Opa zum Geburtstag ein Buch über Autos.

Ein Buch über Autos schenkt der Opa seiner Enkelin zum Geburtstag.

Zum Geburtstag schenkt der Opa seiner Enkelin ein Buch über Autos. All mean: The grandfather gifts his niece a book about cars for her birthday.

What do they all have in common, syntax-wise? There's only one phrase in front of the finite verb. What does this mean? A phrase is a completed (!) unit that can consist of one or more words (depending on the word class (-> noun, verb, …)) Typical word classes that can be a phrase with just one word are:

Proper nouns, plural nouns, personal pronouns, relative pronous (Lukas kocht. Busse fahren. Ich schreibe. Der Mann, der kocht, …)

Adverbs (Heute, Morgen, Bald, Dort, Darum, …) Most other word classes need additional words to form a full phrase:

adjectives need a noun and article: der blaue Ball, der freundliche Nachbar

nouns need a determiner (= article): der Mann, eine Frau, das Nachbarskind

prepositions need… stuff (often a noun phrase): auf der Mauer, in dem Glas, bei der Statue

…

A finite verb is the verb that has been changed (=conjugated) according to person, time, … All verbs that are NOT infinitive or participles are finite. ich sagte -> "sagte" is the finite verb ich bin gegangen -> "bin" is the finite verb The infinitive and the participle are called "infinite verbs" and are always pushed towards the end (but not always the very end!) of the sentence: Ich bin schon früher nach Hause gegangen als meine Freunde.

So: Before the verb (that is not the participle or infinitive) there can only be one phrase.

Since "heute" is an adverb (-> forms a full phrase on its own) and "ich" is a personal pronoun (-> forms a full phrase on its own), they can't both be in front of the verb "gehe" You have to push one of them behind the verb: Heute gehe ich in ein Museum Ich gehe heute in ein Museum.

Both of these are main clauses (Ger.: Hauptsätze), which in German exhibit "V-2 Stellung", meaning the finite verb is in the second position (after one phrase).

What happens if we push all phrases behind the finite verb?

Gehe ich heute in ein Museum? (Watch out: Gehe heute ich in ein Museum would be ungrammatical! The subject has to come in the second position)

It's a question now!

In German, question sentences (that do not start with a question word like "Was?", "Wo?", …) start with the finite verb (called "V-1 Stellung").

Questions, main clauses,… what's missing?

Dependent clauses!

The third type of sentence exhibits "V-letzt Stellung" or "V-End Stellung", meaning the finite verb is at the very end of the sentence. Ich bin gestern in ein Museum gegangen, … main clause -> V-2 Stellung … weil es dort eine interessante Ausstellung gab. dependent clause -> V-letzt Stellung If you want to practice this....

... determine if the following German sentences are correct. If not, what would be the right way to say it?

Der Zug war sehr voll.

Gestern ich war in der Schule.

Die Lehrerin mich nicht hat korrigiert.

Gehst du heute zur Arbeit?

Das Buch ich finde nicht sehr interessant.

To practice this further, translate the following sentences into German and focus on the order of words:

The boy gave the ball back to me.

I called my girlfriend because I missed her.

The girl saw her brother at the train station.

The horse, which was standing on the field, was white and black.

#maybe you'll notice it from now on #don't worry if you still get it wrong though #that's completely normal #and you'll still be understood #being understood is the main goal of learning a language! #learning german #german #deutsch lernen #german langblr #german language #deutsch #language learning #german learning #language #langblr #it's definitely not easy #but you can totally learn it! #german grammar

[german-enthusiast]

Something German I listen to during my daily commute is

The news by Deutschlandfunk.

As far as I understand, it's simply the news they share in the radio recorded and uploaded (every 30min) to Spotify, and it covers international as well as national news.

What's super nice about it (especially if you're still practicing German!) is that it's only 5 minutes long and in those five minutes:

- they give an overview at the start (short list, one sentence for each topic)

- they go through each topic, about 30-60sec each

- they give the same overview again

So you'll get an idea and keywords, then get the story, and at the end you can see if you understand more of the overview once you've heard more of the story and context!

#deutschlandfunk #german #langblr #deutsch #learning german #language learning #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language #german vocabulary #german learning resources #german resource #german resources

[german-enthusiast]

German Immersion Task

Put together a little task for y'all to practice :)

You can access it via Google Docs here or just use the screenshots.

Feel free to reblog with your vocab and/or your thoughts!!!

#german #langblr #deutsch #learning german #language learning #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language #german vocabulary #german resource

[german-enthusiast]

Dinge, die ihr nach eurer rechtlichen Namesänderung ändern (lassen) solltet:

Sozialversicherungsnummer (beinhaltet im Deutschen euer Geschlecht und Namen!)

Führerschein

Reisepass

Geburtsurkunde (müsst ihr nicht besitzen, braucht ihr aber spätestens zum Heiraten!)

Personaldaten beim Betrieb/dem Chef/der Chefin (HR)

Bankkonto/Bankinstitut, Paypal, ...

Versicherungen (Auto-, Haftpflicht-, Gesundheits-,...)

Stadtwerke und Co. (Nebenkosten: Strom, Wasser,...)

Telefonanbieter & Internetanbieter

Wahlregistration (trifft in DE nicht zu, für Wahlen ist man automatisch angemeldet, wenn man einen Wohnsitz hat)

Schule/Uni

Hausarzt und Co.

Abonnements (Zeitung, Streaming, TV, ...)

Anrufbeantworter

Dazu fällt mir noch ein:

ÖPNV (Monatsticket, Jahresticket, BahnCard,...)

Clubs, Vereine, etc. (Pfadfinder, Wanderclub,...)

Impfpass (Darf man einfach überkleben afaik)

Haustierversicherungen, Haustierimpfpass

Bibliothek und Co.

Onlineprofile (LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook,...)

things to update after a legal name change!

Social security card

Driver’s license

Passport

Birth certificate

Employer HR

Bank account

Credit card company

Car insurance

Health insurance

Utilities

Cell phone account

Voter registration

Your school

Professional organizations (for nursing, bar, teaching, etc.)

Doctor’s office & other health specialists

TV & internet

Paypal

*Please add to this list if you can think of anything else!!!

#german #langblr #deutsch #learning german #language learning #deutsch lernen #german language #german learning #language #german vocabulary

[german-enthusiast]

Stehe aktuell als Einrichtungs-Legastheniker leider vor der Aufgabe, mein Wohnzimmer irgendwie Gäste-freundlicher zu gestalten. Auf englisch: Ich brauche halt mehr Sitzgelegenheiten als ein gottverdammtes Sofa.

Das Problem ist jetzt, dass das hier keine blendend weiß raufasertapezierte Neubauwohnung ist, sondern eine Immobilie mit sogenanntem Charakter. Meine Besucher sagen alle, dass sie sich hier wie in einer Hobbit-Höhle vorkommen, es gibt im ganzen Grundriss keinen rechten Winkel und Alles Ist Aus Holz. Ich wohne hier in einem Fachwerkbau auf Steroiden.

Also gut. Warmes Holz, dieser Couchtisch mit Blümchenteppich und vom Vermieter besorgtes Ledersofa. Ich kann da jetzt beim besten Willen keine Ikea-Sessel dazustellen. Dann kann ich mich auch gleich von irgendeinem Innenarchitekten kreuzigen lassen. Ich müsste theoretisch irgendwas vintage-iges anschleppen, aber ich weiß beim besten Willen nicht auf welches Jahrzehnt ich hier zielen muss. Oder auf welches Jahrhundert, let's be real. Unter welche flavor von Retro fallen denn Hobbithäuser?? Kann ich mir Bilbo Beutlin in einem Ikea-Sitzsack vorstellen?? Funktioniert so interior design???

[german-enthusiast]

Ich kann es kaum erwarten, dass Uni wieder anfängt und ich nicht mehr Vollzeit arbeite :')

Ich träume von 7:30 bis 16:00 vom Lernen, vor allem Sprachen, vom Videos schauen, Nichts tun. Aber wenn ich dann um 17:00 zuhause bin, bin ich müde, muss aufräumen, muss kochen, habe Verabredungen :')

Aber in zwei Wochen ist wieder Uni! Und ich werde mehr Zeit haben! Und mehr coole Dinge lernen (unter anderem Zweitspracherwerb!!! (= L2-aquisition)

:)

#i know this is just 'the 9-5 reality' #but I'm allowed to hate it #and want a more flowy workday #and to want to have time for my interests #only 2 more weeks though!

[german-enthusiast]

Because I was interested in game development, I've started messing around with a simple text-based game engine (ink) and am making a simple game in German, aimed at A2-B2 German learners.

But it also made me think: That would be such a cool practice for my TLs too. Create a simple story as a game in Spanish instead!

It's a bit more dynamic than straight-forward writing a story and that makes it a lot more fun for me!

Maybe you would enjoy that too!

#learning german #german language #language learning #german #langblr #deutsch #deutsch lernen #german learning #language #german vocabulary #game dev #making a game

[german-enthusiast]

Because I was interested in game development, I've started messing around with a simple text-based game engine (ink) and am making a simple game in German, aimed at A2-B2 German learners.

But it also made me think: That would be such a cool practice for my TLs to. Create a simple story as a game in Spanish instead!

It's a bit more dynamic than straight-forward writing a story and that makes it a lot more fun for me!

Maybe you would enjoy that too!

#learning german #german language #language learning #german #langblr #deutsch #deutsch lernen #german learning #language #german vocabulary #game dev #making a game

[german-enthusiast]

I just finished a book yesterday (finnische tage by Herman Koch, who is DUTCH but I bought the GERMAN book because I didn't KNOW and it was on sale for 4€ :')

But finally taking the time to reply to this while also wondering what book I might reed next, I've decided to read "Dwang" next, a non-fiction book about OCD. Goal: Finish it by the middle of April, when uni starts again.

Thank you for the NOS rec and the music rec! I already know Suazan&Freek and Meau and they, as well as Froukje, are my main Dutch-music input!

As for learning German advice:

Duolingo+native input are a great start!

I think it would make sense to add a textbook to that as Duolingo isn't great at explaining stuff (and explaining German really helps!)

I personally rarely buy language textbooks because my libraries have a BUNCH, so I reccomend checking out a library near you!

Also: Produce produce produce and have someone correct you! The most obvious mistakes (cases and sentence structure) are totally fixable if you put time into them becoming second nature!

I totally understand the _how do I learn a language all on my own_ issue and the mass of content about it both helps and makes it harder IMO.

What works for me (depending on how much time I have)

- work through textbook

- immerse as much as possible (music, videos, movies), but also only if I care. I don't watch stuff I don't find at least mildly interesting

- RE-play video games that are text-heavy (detroit become human was great for french, any open-world RPG probably has a nice balance of _talking to ppl_ and _running around trying to figure out what to do and have little language breaks_)

- Interact with natives (mostly through discord)

- practice vocab with anki or a similar program

- keep a diary in target language

As for German for you specifically: I jump at every chance to teach people German, so if you want an overhyped native sidekick, text me on tumblr or on discord! (I also have a german-learning discord with some other tumblr-folks, if you're interested)

How is the Dutch learning going? Anything you need help with?

I'm glad to be confronted with this question because... eh

Last semester was really full for me and I barely did any language learning (at least that's what it felt like) so for 2024 one of my goals is simply to "get back into language learning"

I'm doing amazingly with that since I started Spanish just a couple weeks ago and am motivated as FUCK since I have a venezuelan best friend who's helping me

but I've let Dutch slip... a lot. I bought two Dutch books in Maastricht last year and I'm planning to read them both this year. I'm confident that will go well but I also know that, especially with Dutch, passive vocabulary and language skills are not the issues, active vocab is. I feel like I could barely produce a straight sentence right now, nevermind speak confidently with a native.

But being confronted with that through your ask, I've decided (while writing this), that I'll be taking notes in Dutch about the books while reading them (they're both non-fiction, one about OCD, the other about multilingualism – both central topics for me I'm super interested in). I know the issue with reading Dutch isn't understanding, it's that it just takes me longer than German or English and is more of a mental effort.

I should really try to get more immersion though and produce more on a regular basis, even if it's small stuff.

If you have YouTube or Spotify recs (music, videos, podcasts, audiobooks) do let me know!

I'd also generally be interested in language exchanges (this goes out to Dutch-, French-, Spanish-speakers and Latin-enthusiasts) (obv. I can mainly offer English and German) but be warned that I tend to have a turbulent life 😅

So overall: I've been slacking, I want to do more but it'll be hard to work that into my life right now...

Thank you so much for asking btw. Simply in replying I've thought so much about it and what the issues are and what I could do that I feel much more confident in getting back at it!!

#ask #language learning #learning german #learning dutch #dutch #german