English Thread

[americanhero]

We had just an hour before 22°C! That is really too warm for January!
But that is one of the things I enjoy mostly, the weather, the climate, the blue sky!

I just heard a funny saying about the Four Seasons in Alabama:

1. Nearly Summer,2. hot Summer, 3.Summer, and 4.Christmas!
I think that's true!    

Oh, that´s so unfair! Please send some Fahrenheit degrees to me, ´cause here in Kiel I´m freezing my a... to death! Actually we have nine degrees below zero, that´s really hard. Especially for someone like me who is suffering the whole winter.

@Crimson Tide:

thnx for your Infos about Alabama, I really enjoyed reading it. Some facts I already knew and it is really astonishing, how less I really know about some US states. Especially the ones, who aren´t so attractive for travelers. Recently I read the Bill Clinton biography and he also described
Arkansas and the different kinds of landscapes and I was also astonished,`cause I never imagined that. The fact is, after reading the book, my to do list is getting longer and longer.


@ san francisco:

I hope you can realize your dream someday and you`re be able to live in the US.
At the moment Iam really unsure what to do. I still want to work in the US, despite the fact that it´s really difficult and that there´s a long way to go. But who knows?

Hey, you`re also reading a lot of English books? I love it to read in English and every year, when my vacation in the US is finished, I come back with approximately 15-20 books. And that´s a lot of stuff to carry in my backpack, but everey book is it worth to be carried. I could spend hours in an American bookstore and if there won`t be that baggage limit, I would buy more than twenty books. Yeah, I´m really crazy, but who cares?

Greetz,

Yvonne

[SanFrancisco]

I hope so as well! But at the moment, that seems to be impossible! But I will certainly keep on trying!

Yeah, I´m also reading a lot of English books! I´ve read all the Harry Potter Books in english, e.g.. And I´m also trying to get my fingers on every english book I can! Amazon is fantastic for that...

[ratlady]

Oh, that´s so unfair! Please send some Fahrenheit degrees to me, ´cause here in Kiel I´m freezing my a... to death! Actually we have nine degrees below zero, that´s really hard. Especially for someone like me who is suffering the whole winter.

What's unfair - that's just "hard-earned" on our part     After all, we only have it that "comfortable" for a few months (if that) out of the year, the rest is just plain sweating and suffering thru heat and humidity day and night, not to mention all those "pop-up" thunderstorms, sometimes every day, in summer...  Plus, whenever it gets REALLY cold (well, freezing or a little below), our houses are not build to withstand that at all, like those good, solid houses in Germany, so we get all the more miserable too...  
(But you're right, of course - I like it better over here too, regardless...   )

When I was still living in Germany, at some point I started reading English books, too - actually only ever "reverted" to German if I couldn't find anything I liked in English. Luckily, our public library had a pretty good English section (could've never afford to actually buy all these books...), both fiction and non-fiction, and a lot of the times you could even find fairly "recent releases". A couple of times I've picked up the English original of a book I had already read in German before - kind of interesting how they compare... I had one Stephen King once (well, I used to like him a lot...   ) and the German was almost "harmless" compared to the English...  

[Crimson Tide]

Hi Everyone!
That's a good idea, to read Stephen King in English!
Sounds good! I love crime stories and thrilling books from Stephen King and similar writers! I've read the last Harry Potter in English, and it worked! I was pretty proud to understand everything!
However, my two daughters are much more successful in English!
They needed just a few months to learn it perfectly!
It is amazing how fast young people can learn a second language! They, of course, have both a Southern slang, although their teacher tries anything to get rid of 'gonna' and 'aint' etc....
But at home with their friends they use it!   Sometimes it is like a secret language- I don't understand one word sometimes!  
It is very interesting for me to hear my older daughter when she gets a phonecall. I can hear if she has a White or a Afro-American friend at the phone because they have all different languages and Sabrina can change, whoever is at the phone! That's amazing!
In my age I can never get rid of my German accent! After I just say two words, the people are asking me, "Where are you come from? Your accent is soo cute!"  
I have to live with that, and it is O.K.!  
There are a lot of Swabian (Schwaben) with us in Alabama, (from Stuttgart, Sindelfingen, Schwarzwald), and their English sounds much more funny than our North-German accent...
It's a kind of 'Swenglish' !  

[Stephan_]

Hi Crimson Tide,

well, this is a good opportunity to practice some English. For me writing and reading English is much easier than speaking and listening. When writing I often can avoid those typical German errors like muddling up adverb and adjective - and most important: I can use the spell checker of Word when writing.

I'm reading a lot of English books too. When I notice an ad in a German magazine for the German Hardcover version of a book, I search for it at Amazon and often there is the English paperback version already published.

The prices for English books from Amazon are at about 7 € and that is very similar to the German prices. I think in the US it's about 1 to 2 dollars less at Kmart or so.

And for your children it’s a kind of happenstance that they have the opportunities to learn the English Language in the US (albeit they will have this terrible accent, but anyway better than the German accent).

By the way there is the rumour that one of the “Swenglish”  speaking colleagues at the Sindelfingen plant asked his colleague: “Du, was heißt eigentlich Airbag auf Englisch?”

Greetings from the deep south (of Germany)

stephan

[americanhero]

Hi Y`all!!

Hey, that´s really funny. I also started reading English books with Stephen King and now I have read really every book written by him. I also love this genre of books, the Thrill in it. Actually, my absolute favorite is Stuart Woods and when I was in DC for Christmas shopping, I bought two of his latest books. And then back in Germany I started reading. And then I couldn´t end until I finished the book. Do you all know that?


@ ratlady:

I think you´re right about the climate in Alabama. You have to deal with it every day, with the oppressive heat in summer, the thunderstorms, just everything. But at all- it´s better than everything here in Germany, especially the awful winter months with the cold, snow, temperatures below zero, fog. That´s hard, but I cannot change it yet.
Have you been somewhere else in the US or only in the deep South e.g. Alabama? You´ve written, you love traveling. And I think that´s not easy to realize, despite the fact, you´re also travelling now and then to Germany.

Greetz,

Yvonne

[ratlady]

@Crimson Tide -

I know EXACTLY what you mean...    When I first got down here, I'd already had several years of "real-life" English practice (including Florida and Texas), and even though most people were fairly easy to understand, with a few "hard-core drawlers" I could never quite figure out what they were talking about at first - almost always had to ask for them to repeat it...  Especially embarassing when someone would tell a joke and everybody would be in tears laughing, while I would stand there with all but a smile and a "blank" on my face... Plus, they'd never really "open their mouth" when talking... it sounded more like a "mumble" than anything else    Now, of course, I'm used to it and I don't even know how I could've NOT understood them at first...  

As far as the "accent" goes - as I said, I've been "practicing" English for well over 20 years now, and even though I'm moreless fluent, the accent will always "stick" with me... and as you said, most people will ask about it... but always in a "positive" way (I've never heard anyone say "awful accent" but always something like "cute", "interesting", "nice", "neat", "funny"...) Usually, I don't mind, it's a great way to start a conversation - as long as they don't put me into "France" or "Michigan"...    

I think the only way to learn to speak a second language without any accent is when you start living there at a very young age... 10-11 would probably be the "upper limit". If - like myself - you only learn it at school at that age, it's completely different... By the way, I once met a German guy who'd been living here for some 25+ years or so and had even "forgotten" most of his German - yet, his English clearly gave his "origin" away...  

I like that word, "Swenglish"...  

[ratlady]

@Yvonne -

funny, I guess we were writing at the same time...   Interesting how many people actually like Stephen King here - it's been a while since I last read any of his books; I think I went through "phases" as far as reading goes... from romance and drama to crime, passion, and thrill, then to more "fact-based" fiction, to war stories, to non-fiction... for example, now, I like to read "travel stories" a lot...

And no, unfortunately I haven't been around the States too much (probably less than you?   )... When I first came to (Northwest-)Florida (on a J1 visa), I spent a few weeks traveling to the Tampa/St.Petersburg area afterwards, and spent about a week in the Everglades (which was my "dream" then). Apart from that, I've been to "Canadian, TX" (which I bet no one has ever heard of   ), and to Niagara Falls... but ever since I "settled" in this area, the only "real travel" we've done was five days in San Antonio (absolutely gorgeous...!!). Other than that, it's mostly been the coast (roughly the area from New Orleans to Pensacola)... but we do have "grand plans" should we ever have the time...  

[Crimson Tide]

Hi Crimson Tide,

By the way there is the rumour that one of the “Swenglish”  speaking colleagues at the Sindelfingen plant asked his colleague: “Du, was heißt eigentlich Airbag auf Englisch?”

Greetings from the deep south (of Germany)

stephan

   

 
Hi, Stephan!
Welcome in our brandnew English Thread!
Klasse...(ooops...sorry....was German)....that was tooo funny....traitor... ...and that joke comes from someone near Stuttgart....

But you are right....after being too long here in the US, I have sometimes difficulties to translate some of the English words into German....
I'm recognizing that kind of mistakes in my E-mails more and more.
Suddenly I'm writing words like excentric not with an German 'z' but with a 'c' , and instead a 'k' I'm writing a 'c', that's  terrible! Now I'm not yet good in English AND make mistakes in German too!   That's tough!
But, admittedly, we have more advantages with our great opportunity to live here in the USA, and Mercedes pays the women for studying, so I could learn English and can improve it right now, that's great!
I have my own private teacher, can you imagine ?

[Crimson Tide]

Wow!
I'm writing one answer, and when I'm looking into the thread, there are two more answers!
Hi, Ratlady, hello Yvonne!
Nice to read from you, nice talking to you!    

@ Ratlady, that was not so funny at the beginning, when I tried to translate jokes and nobody understood them.
After trying to explain a joke it was sometimes just embarrassing!    
But it is really somtimes not possible to translate jokes,I've learnt that now,
and I think that's one of the reasons why some books are not so good after having been translated. (English-German or German English- both can be terrible! )
Suddenly I like movies when I see them here in the original English version!
Is there anybody who has the same experience?

[americanhero]

@ Crimson Tide

your own private teacher, that´s really cool. And it´s for less, wow.
I still need some practice, I guess, especially when I´m talking to someone. My vocabulary will be okay, really, but somehow I cannot remind and I have to suscibe it. And that´s because I have not many opprtunities to use my vocabulary. Only once a year for maybe two weeks, sometimes less, that´s not enough. Reading will help a little bit, the same with watching movies in English. But it´s not the same than talking to someone.
While I´m travelling with two colleagues this year, the chance to improve my talking skills is less. That´s the fact and I think the chance of starting a conversation with an American is greater when you´re travelling alone. But I hopefully look forword to my vacation, maybe I will be able to use my English skills.

@ ratlady:

hm, that´s exactly what I thought when I read your thread.
I haven´t been travelling that much in the US , mostly I´ve been at the Eastcoast( DC, Boston, Virginia, Northeast), but this year I will extend my travel route to the southwest. I wanted that for a long time and so this trip will be a real exciting one for me.


It´s really interesting to see how the thread is working and I haven`t imagined that.  


Greetz,

Yvonne

[americanhero]

Wow!
I'm writing one answer, and when I'm looking into the thread, there are two more answers!

that´s what I thought when I read your postings. The thread is working very well, I like it to hear from you as well I like to hear from ratlady.

Suddenly I like movies when I see them here in the original English version!
Is there anybody who has the same experience?

I mostly watch movies in the original version, ´cause the translation is really poor and when you compare the original one with the German version, you can see the differences. Some quotes or jokes get a totally different meaning when watching them in English.
For God´s sake DVDs are invented and you can choose between the languages. And when I´m in the US, I also buy several DVDs and enjoy it watching them back in Germany. I have a region free program at my Laptop, so I have no problems with watching the American Ones.

Greetz,

Yvonne

[Crimson Tide]

[quote="americanhero  For God´s sake DVDs are invented and you can choose between the languages.   I have a region free program at my Laptop,

Greetz,

Yvonne[/quote]

Yep, both are great inventions!
And we bought a car with a DVD- Player for the rear seats which can only "eat" US-DVD's! There were no longer arguing children behind us (as long as they rode with us together)besause of the DVD-Player!  

We 'll take our "Dickerchen", a Chrysler Mini-Van with us home to Germany, so it will be an English- Movie-Car!  
By the way-we have done so many trips with our car- if it could talk, it would tell a lot of stories! The car belongs to the family now!  

[Stephan_]

Suddenly I like movies when I see them here in the original English version!
Is there anybody who has the same experience?

Hi Crimson Tide,

I have other experiences in movies.

I think it's correct, that sometimes it's not possible to translate from English to German or vice versa in a perfect manner. But in my opinion this does not affect the movie. A movie tells always a story (or at least should), and for the story or the great picture it is nor necessary to have an absolute identical copy in another language.

I think it’s not the language that matters but the American way of life, how people think about subjects. I remember movies where people try to imitate celebrities, that seems to be something important in the US. In Germany that is not really funny. Or as an example, Forrest Gump, as I can recognize it, he is speaking a lot like the people in the south, may be to express that he is a kind of nature-boy

So, how should that be translated into German?

Or those jokes about "knock knock".

I’m also a little bit confused with the writing, it’s not only a slight difference between my good old school English and American English, but it’s also different between German and English: resource – Ressource, address – Adresse, program - Programm.

But live is struggle, so the heck with it  

stephan

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, Stephan!
The differences between British and US- English confused me too, they are amazing-(color-colour,etc., and sometimes embarassing- I'm just thinking about the different meaning between rubber and eraser....  
Both of my children asked American classmates if they could borrow them a rubber, and they haven't admitted if they had a condom
in their school stuff or not!  
I hope, my two daughters will not have difficulties after coming back to their German schools, and I'm sure, the advantages are going to predominate, having lived in the USA!

And I think the quality of a translated movie (or book) depends on a good or bad translator! It is really not easy to translate feelings, jokes, a slang or some other impressions, but in case of Forrest Gump, you just mentioned that movie, it is translated not so bad in my opinion, although,
you are absolutely right, some things you can never translate!