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teecheedeedee
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 219
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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 Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 08:27 |
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Tips for speaking German...
Hi all. In a couple of days I've got a school German scholarship exam, and I thought that seeing as there are quite a few Germans on this forum, I'd ask:
What useful German idioms/ expressions are there? I'm on the look out for anything useful for constructing arguments. The stuff we've learnt in class is quite proper, and so some colloquial/ slang would be nice to make the speaking section (recorded on tape) sound more natural. (Though those Bavarians are freakin impossible to understand  )
I will probably be writing and speaking about world issues like the environment, technology etc. My pronounciation is fairly decent, so hopefully that won't be a problem. Any assistance much appreciated  .
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CosmicMouse
Jamirotalk mum
Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 4821
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 08:57 |
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Hi teecheedeedee!
Here is a link to loads of german idioms, in alphabetical order.
http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Deutsch/Redewendungen
Each of them has a german describtion - there are no english translations as far as I see. (Edit: I just saw that some even have translations in different languages, but not all)
But for translations (german/english, english/german) I can recommend:
www.dict.cc
I hope this helps. When you have a question, how to use specific idioms or expressions, knock on my virtual door!
Good luck!!  (.. or let's say: "Hals- und Beinbruch")
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Butterfly in June
Joined: 21 May 2002
Posts: 972
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 15:15 |
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If you need more than one person to ask - I'll be there too |
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the_doesman
Officer
Joined: 11 Feb 2002
Posts: 425
Location: the Netherlands
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 23:17 |
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sorry I'm no German but I'm curious why a New Zealander - Yay, Temmuera Morisson - is learning German. It's not really a common language over there I presume ... |
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teecheedeedee
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 219
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 01:29 |
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Thanks Mouse and Butterfly .
You're absolutely right Doesman, there are few Germans In New Zealand. I'm interested in languages (I also learn French). There is a bad trend of monolingualism (not sure if this is even a word ) over here, so I do my best to be an exception. Also I really dig Europe, so French and German are natural starting points.
At least in Europe you are surrounded with other countries to learn the languages in, but if you live here you have to travel halfway across the world to get experience speaking with natives  .
PS - can the Austrian and Swiss dialects be understood by Germans easily? I've always wondered...
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Butterfly in June
Joined: 21 May 2002
Posts: 972
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:41 |
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That's really interesting - monolingualism 
I think the english native speakers don't see any sense in learning other languages because english is spoken everywhere.
Nice that you want to be the exception!!!
For me, Austrian is rather easy to understand but Swiss is nearly impossible  I heard some times when Suzanna phones home and I didn't understand a word - it's a very funny dialect |
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Sandriche
Officer & Jamily Coach
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 5564
Location: Austraria
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| Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 18:21 |
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sometimes meike had problems to understand me !!!!
but i agree on that swiss is even worse ...suzie..that´s nothing personal..ahhahahhah xxx
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CosmicMouse
Jamirotalk mum
Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 4821
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 18:27 |
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| Sandriche wrote: |
sometimes meike had problems to understand me !!!!
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Yeah!! But maybe this isn't a language issue... could have just been me! ... or you!? 
Mouse |
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Butterfly in June
Joined: 21 May 2002
Posts: 972
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 18:29 |
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Ah geehhh - küss die Hand gnä Frau |
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ophone
Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 2191
Location: Lëtzebuerg
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| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 06:43 |
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Deutsche Sprach, schwere Sprach! 
Well, it's also very difficult to understand an Austrian when he speaks the real Austrian dialect, not only "Highgerman" with an Austrian accent.
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the_doesman
Officer
Joined: 11 Feb 2002
Posts: 425
Location: the Netherlands
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| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 17:20 |
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says the Luxemburger whom even have their own German/French/whatever dialect - ha ha
Btw want to try a really difficult language - try Hungarian or Finnish. I had a girlfriend who was originally from Hungary and that language doesn't make any sense, the relationship lasted 5 years and I still don't get it ... I can't even count to ten - ha ha
Thanks for the explanation teecheedeedee and good luck with learning German. |
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teecheedeedee
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 219
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 03:02 |
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Cheers. It went pretty well, it was about chocolate ( ) and a website where students can rate their teachers (set up by 3 students from Cologne). So much for world issues!
I have a friend who speaks English, Russian, Hebrew and Afrikaans. Now that's a bizzare combo of languages.
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CosmicMouse
Jamirotalk mum
Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 4821
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 05:58 |
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| teecheedeedee wrote: |
Cheers. It went pretty well, it was about chocolate ( ) and a website where students can rate their teachers (set up by 3 students from Cologne). So much for world issues!
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Well, if you think more about it... chocolate and teachers ARE world issues!!!
Mouse |
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Cosmic Girl
Joined: 15 Sep 2003
Posts: 2157
Location: Zürich, Switzerland
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| Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:29 |
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| Butterfly in June wrote: |
but Swiss is nearly impossible I heard some times when Suzanna phones home and I didn't understand a word - it's a very funny dialect |
ja ja schwiizerdüütsch isch halt än släng zum schnurrä gäll!!!!!¨I know Konni swissgerman is a slang it dosent exist (we learned Hi-German at school as a foreign language). |
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Jamiroca
Joined: 08 Jul 2008
Posts: 147
Location: UK
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| Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 22:53 |
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please don't begin about monolingualism in the UK.
we don't have songs not sung in english,
many english are arrogant because we can go to another country and people will be able to talk to us in english, but we won't need to bother with the native languge :S
i have poor grasp on language, i have no qualifications in them what so ever. I would like to learn languages, as I think that would make me way more interesting-having friends in foreign countries!!
I do try and learn, i learnt some french for inkgel, but it's soooo simple, not like my friends who do it for A level! haha
theres a made up language in my school called jaega (yay-ger) and its so weird coz i walk by and the people are just speaking it ....
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