usa-reise.de Forum
Nordamerika => American Life => Thema gestartet von: SanFrancisco am 21.01.2006, 00:27 Uhr
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I know that there was already an english Thread here, but somehow it wasn´t really up to date and also not visited very often... I would like to ask if there is nobody here who wants to write and practice a bit - I know it isn´t easy to keep a thread with no real theme up to date - but I think there could be one which is open to all kind of discussion or stuff like that!
Maybe it is also possible to open a english part of the page - one could attract english readers from other European countries with that as well as german readers?
Anybody interested?
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hi Yvonne,
I think, there will be some members of the Forum, who are interested in writing in English, but I´m not sure if such a thread will survive very long. As you have seen with the old one it was difficult to keep it up to date and also alive.
So what should be the key themes of an English thread? Just writing about some stuff in English like phrases, jokes or something like that? I don`t think that it will be very interesting for many of us.
And to open an English part of the Forum in that kind it is now in German will not made any sense,`cause many members aren´t so fluently with the English language and will be inhibited in writing something.
Iam also interesting in writing in English and if this thread doesn´t work, maybe you are interested in writing to me via PN(in English) :lol:
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hi Yvonne,
you are right, I also think that it will be difficult to keep this thread alive!
With no special topic, you don´t know about what to write!
Maybe we could just start with telling how we "discovered" the USA for ourselves, or something like that. I think it is always interesting to read how others first started!
What do you think?
If it is not working, we can of course write PN - I love writing and practising english in this way!
Greetz,
yvonne
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Maybe we could just start with telling how we "discovered" the USA for ourselves, or something like that. I think it is always interesting to read how others first started!
What do you think.
Hi Yvonne,
that sounds great. I´m not sure what our Mods are thinking about it, but if they want to close that thread we will still have the option of writing to each other via PN.
So, how have you started? What was your reason for visiting the USA? Was there something that caused an special interest?
For me it were my relatives in Detroit and we were visiting them for the first time, when I was ten years old. And after that first time in the States with all the exciting things I had seen, I was totally infected with the US virus. Well, it really started there and I was totally relieved that we were visiting my relatives again two years later. Beside the fact they couldn´t speak German any more and I had to try to speak to them in English I totally enjoyed my visits there and one more followed a few years later.
I also took part in a school exchange program hosted by our local school and spent 3 months in Detroit, really funny. It was just a few miles away from the part of Detroit where my relatives were living.
And after I finished Nursing School five years ago I started travellingt to the US by myself. I spent a lot of time in Washington, Boston, Philli and different cities at the East Coast, where I met a lot of interesting people. So one of my best American friends is studying in Houston and I already have visited her there. As I told you recently, I have been to the US at least once a year. And if there is not much time or not too much money left for a longer trip, I will spent at least a few days in Dc, New York or somewhere else at the EAstcoast.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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*sorry to "interrupt" :wink: , but... I'm in!!! :D Also, per pm, of course - whoever's interested... :) Unfortunately, my English's not really THAT good any more, since I've been living in the Deep South for almost four years now... :shit: :oops:
How did I first get to the US? Well, out of "necessity", kind of - since that was where "all the good jobs were"... Never "dreamed" or even thought about going to the US before, on the contrary - that was about the last place I had in mind back then :oops: ... Came here the first time in late 2000 on a J1-Visa, then back and forth between US and Germany... finally, found "my place" (and my husband :wink: ) here on the Gulf Coast... Now, I LOVE IT and wouldn't trade it (or him :wink: ) for the world... ! But if, five years ago, anybody had "predicted" anything like that for me, I would've called for the guys with the straight-jacket... :twisted:
Haven't been around the US too much, unfortunately, though... and if, it's basically - of course - the south... But we do have plans and hope we can "put them into practice" one of these days... :)
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Great idea of opening another thread in English. I just hope, that we will be able to keep this one alive.
As my Mum is canadian citizen (with asian roots) that moved to Austria, I had something you'd call a good starting point. :D At the age of five, my parents brought me to Canada for the first time of my life. From then on, we continued to visit family and friends not only in Canda, but also in Los Angeles, Fresno and San Francisco. And as americans usually are quite frequent movers (I once heard that statistically, every american moves like once every 7 years), we had some relatives on the east coast as well, that had to be visited. So any way, I had been to the States and to Canada another 11 times with my parents. On these 10 trips, I really started to love the variety of the country, the way you are treated by sales persons, waiters and waitresses, the generally easy way of getting into a conversation with residents and the large choice that can be made, almost everywhere.
Long story short: Last year I could convince my girlfriend to join me on a trip to Florida, which had been my first trip to the US without my parents. It was a great trip, and my girlfriend enjoyed this one alot. So we started planning on our next trip already, which will take us to the west coast, and I am already looking forward to this one. I think after this one, she will be addicted to this country just like I am. :D
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*sorry to "interrupt" :wink: , but... I'm in!!! :D Also, per pm, of course - whoever's interested... :) Unfortunately, my English's not really THAT good any more, since I've been living in the Deep South for almost four years now... :shit: :oops:
How did I first get to the US? Well, out of "necessity", kind of - since that was where "all the good jobs were"... Never "dreamed" or even thought about going to the US before, on the contrary - that was about the last place I had in mind back then :oops: ... Came here the first time in late 2000 on a J1-Visa, then back and forth between US and Germany... finally, found "my place" (and my husband :wink: ) here on the Gulf Coast... Now, I LOVE IT and wouldn't trade it (or him :wink: ) for the world... ! But if, five years ago, anybody had "predicted" anything like that for me, I would've called for the guys with the straight-jacket... :twisted: yearsHaven't been around the US too much, unfortunately, though... and if, it's basically - of course - the south... But we do have plans and hope we can "put them into practice" one of these days... :)
Hi, Ratlady,
where have you been in "The Deep South" for four years?
I'm just interested in because I'm right now living in Alabama.
When the customs at the border in Atlanta are looking into my passport, they always asking me,"What the hell are you doing in Alabama, I'm so sorry for you!" I think that's not fair! O.K. it is not really the most developed country in the U.S., but it has beautiful landscape, 80% forest, the rest are Golf-Courses, :wink: , and I love the Gulf Coast too.
When we'll go back to Germany, we'll miss the beautiful weather, the mostly blue sky, and our big house with three garages! Our house in Germany (between Bremen and Oldenburg) is as half as big than our house in Tuscaloosa.
Sorry for my bad English grammar, but I hated English before we came to Alabama.
In my schooltime 25 years before I didn't like, I hated my English teacher, so I wanted to punish her,(I only punished myself :cry: ) with ignoring her lessons. Later I took Latin (for 6 long years), and when my husband suddely came with the idea and the great opportunity to live for three years in the USA, I got a shock! :oops:
Now I HAVE to learn it, and suddenly I like it!
I would never have dared to write these sentences into a public Forum two years before, but I think it can just help me to improve my English!
I like the idea of an English-Thread and I'm sure it will last a long time!
Sincerely,
Monika
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Hi, Ratlady,
where have you been in "The Deep South" for four years?
I'm just interested in because I'm right now living in Alabama.
When the customs at the border in Atlanta are looking into my passport, they always asking me,"What the hell are you doing in Alabama, I'm so sorry for you!" I think that's not fair! O.K. it is not really the most developed country in the U.S., but it has beautiful landscape, 80% forest, the rest are Golf-Courses, :wink: , and I love the Gulf Coast too.
"State", you mean...? :wink: Anyway, I agree with you wholeheartedly... although I've come thru ATL plenty of times and never got asked THAT "stupid" a question... :lol:
We're right here on the coast, living maybe a mile or so from the Gulf on Fort Morgan peninsula (and actually there's a golf course in our "back yard" :wink:...) I know a lot of people come here for the golf as much as for the Gulf but personally, I couldn't care less... and I don't even know a whole lot of people who do play golf around here... :oops:
At this time, I'm not planning on going back to Germany (other than on vacation, to visit my family) but we may move to another state some day, maybe even only temporarily... I'm sure I'll miss it down here - even though with tourism and, consequently, development booming all over the place and especially along the beaches, who knows, some day I might just want to leave here too. That's what my husband says - it's just changed too much since "the old days", it's almost like a "strange" place now... Even in the short time I'm here, I've seen plenty of it... Still, I just LOVE the Gulf, the white sand and the few remaining sand dunes along the coast, the wildlife... Also, people are wonderful and the "local spirit" (where it still remains) is great... :D
Sorry for my bad English grammar, but I hated English before we came to Alabama.
Ever noticed grammar ain't no problem around here...? And do they even "speak English"...?? :wink: :lol: My standard "joke" is, "well, I used to speak English but that was before I came here - it's been going down the drain ever since..." :oops:
I've almost always loved English (even though I hated my very first English teacher - she used to come down in front of your desk until she was "face to face"... and then spit straight into yours while "demonstrating" the "tongue-between-teeth-TH"... :twisted: ) I took English as "Leistungskurs" later on, then it kind of "accompanied" me all thru university (a lot of the literature was in English)... then went down to Australia for about half a year and was completely lost at first!! :lol: Hard-core "Strine" really is something different, too... but I got to "love" that as well. :wink:
I still think that English is probably one of the "easiest" languages to learn, especially later in life... it's just so plain simple compared to something like German... :) And, "cuss-words" are a lot "better" (and more "versatile"), too... :mrgreen: :engel2:
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I would never have dared to write these sentences into a public Forum two years before, but I think it can just help me to improve my English!
I like the idea of an English-Thread and I'm sure it will last a long time!
Hey, you´re absolutely right. It takes some time before you bring yourself to that point that it won´t harm you while writing something in English. Instead you can improve your skills and I´m sure no one of us is really perfect with the English language.
You still have the advantage of everyday practice and that improves your skills like speaking, listening to a conversation and also writing. For me it´s just a chance to use all my language skills (I think, some are still there) and become more fluently in using them.
The fact is I like it to talk and write to someone in English, `cause I´ve forgotten really a lot and my vacation once a year to the US for a week or two is really too short for that.
You`re really enviable, ´cause you got the chance of living for three years in the US. And for me it doesn´t matter where someone live in the States. And I think these three years will be very valuable for you, won´t they?
If I had a chance, I would also go and at least I would live there for some time. The reason why I´m still here is my working contract, ´cause it is an unlimited contract and nowadays it´s really difficult to get one. So I am still here and spend the whole year with planning my next trips to the US, but why not? That´s better than nothing and at least once a year I can spent some time in the States.
So, that´s enough with all that silly stuff, let´s talk about something else.
We could talk about Alabama. I´ve never been there before but it is a state, I will visit in my further future.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hey, it´s really great that my idea is so warmly welcomed by you! I just thought I´d try if there is any chance for such a thread, and here I am...
As I started this thread, I guess it´s finally my part to tell my own little "american history"... It started a long, long time ago (15 years). I have to say, I don´t know what exactly started it, but from the age of 11, I wanted to travel to the USA. First, what interested me most was Boston, and New York, mostly eastcoast as you can see. Just hearing the names of this citys gave me such a longing feeling, that it even made me sad sometimes. Then, I met my boyfriend. He was an American Militarist from Utah. His discriptions of the "most beautiful country in the world", made me wanting to go there even more. Later, as I grew up and my boyfriend hat left back to Salt Lake City, my interests changed, more to the westcoast, especially Los Angeles and San Francisco. When I was 16 years old, I told myself "when you are 18 years old, you will do your first journey to the US". And that´s what I did. Unfortunately, my best friend at that time, wasn´t so interested in the West, she was more interested in Florida. And as she was the only person who was interested in travelling with me at all, she got me persuaded, and we did our first journey to the USA - Florida. Ever since I took the first step out of Miami Airport, and took a deep breath of the hot, wet air, I loved the USA even more than before. And everytime I travelled there since that day, it feels like coming home to me.
I really wish to be able to live there one day forever - even though I know it is really hard, much harder than here in Germany. But I think it will be a long time until this dream finally comes true!
I´m surprised to see that there are so many citizens here - there were people searching for citizens here in this forum I think, and there were no answers at all... But it is so interesting to read how you got there!
As you all can see, my English - neither grammar nor vocabulary is perfect or even close to perfect - but I noticed that practising is everything! I have a Mail-Friend in Minnesota, and I´m reading a lot of english books, and I think I´m getting better!
Well now, enough from me, tell more about you, and thanks again for your stories!!!
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Sorry - the guest was me! :oops:
@Yvonne: good idea, talking about Alabama! I´ve never been there as well, and it´s one of the states I don´t know a lot about!
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:D
...not really a "citizen" :wink: , but I totally agree - it is indeed interesting to read those "stories"... and BTW, thanks for opening this thread! :) And, quite honestly, I can't see too much wrong with "y'all's" English... :wink: (...duh, like mine was perfect... :roll: :lol: )
As far as a "topic" goes... I think even "small-talk" would be fine to keep this thread going... Strange as it may sound, even though I've been referring to Alabama as "Sweet Home" (and "proud" of it... :wink: ) for quite a while now, I really don't know too much about it as a whole :oops: ... same holds true for the rest of the US. In fact, I'd bet most of the people on this board have seen and "experienced" more of this country than I have! But thinking about it, after all, I've spent well over a quarter-century in Germany, yet most Americans I've met over here have been around Germany more than I have, too...
It's really not that I wasn't "interested", on the contrary - I love "the land" and the "dimensions" over here... and I'd LOVE to go to all those places... but then, it's always hard to get away from work for more than a day or two, and usually whenever I do take more it's because we're going to Europe... :wink:
Interesting enough, though - now that Germany has become a "holiday destination", I see it with somewhat different eyes... more focused on the "beauty" and "highlights", and I enjoy visiting there more than ever before. Of course, since all of it is relatively "new" to my husband, we're more like "tourists" over there now - and through his eyes, a lot of the things I always took "for granted" suddenly appear in a whole new light... :)
@SanFrancisco - I wish you good luck realizing your dream - you're right, it's not always easy, but it can sure be worth it... :wink:
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Hi, Y'all....
what a funny idea to talk about Alabama, and it is an opportunity for me,while you are sleeping, to begin with a little bit of history.
I'm just learning all about Alabama from my English Teacher Polly, who loves her state, and she is trying to infect me (succesfully!) with her enthusiasm.
Before I begin, I have to confess that our family at first wanted to see the rest of the USA like New York, Chicago, New Orleans,etc., instead of looking what to do in Alabama. I think that's normal.
Do Y'all spend your vacation in Germany? No! You want to see what's in the rest of Europe, or in the USA,and in other continents, am I right?
Now, with the help of Polly, my wonderful Teacher, I'm learning a lot of interesting things from Alabama. She asks me, for example:"What, you have never been in Selma??? We have to go there! ".....
ALABAMA, Nickname: The Heart of Dixie
The national flower is the Magnolia!
(Not a littke plant like you think, but a huge tree, some of them almost 10 meters tall, the white blossom as big as both of your hands together, it is beautiful!)
The capital city is Montgomery, Birmingham is the biggest city, and most of the people call it the Secret Capital City. Birmingham was once a very important city with it's Iron Production, and it is the most important city for the Civil Rights Movement,(Martin Luther King), about seggregation, herassment etc.
The most important city at the Alabama Gulf Coast is Mobile with the oil company (with the same name, you know, now Exxon-Mobile).
Alabama has about 4 1/2 Million citizens.
In the 15th century the first Spanish settlers came to Alabama,at the end of the 16th century the French came from the South, 1763, the British conquered Alabama, and, of course, from 1861 to 1865, the Alabamien had been in the middle of the Civil War as one of the Confederated States, who had fought together against the "Agression of the North". :wink:
Tradition is until today very important for the Southern. They are very proud people. You shouldn't discuss with them about the Civil War. You 'gonna' find everywhere the Flag of the Confederated right now.
I love the Gulf Coast, the forest everywhere, the North of Alabama with the lower mountains (the south of the Appalachians), the waterfalls, the creeks, Alabama has a lot of lakes, and don't forget the golf-courses!
Special points of interests are Huntsville, with the Space and Rocket Center,
Birmingham, with the Museum of Civil Rights,the Botanical Gardens,a nice Zoo,
my town Tuscaloosa has its "University of Alabama",very impressiv buildings, (all rebuilt after completely burnt down in the Civil War), and a football stadium for more than 80 000 people,(all the time sold out!) so you can put the whole citizenship of Tuscaloosa in that stadium. And their football team "Crimson Tide" is just a University Team, not one of the professionals!
If someone should be interested in visiting the Mercedes Plant, you can go to a visitor center in Vance (Tuscaloosa County).
Last but not least I have to mention the very south end of Alabama with sugarwhite sandy beaches at the Gulf Coast, Fort Morgan at Gulf Shores, Dauphin Island (very strong devastation after the last hurricanes), Orange Beach, Mobile,where a very special
point for me is "Bellinggrath Gardens",(located in Theodore), a house and garden ( built 1917), from Walter Bellinggrath, who became a Millionair with Coca Cola.
In Mobile is a little historical downtown, where you can celebrate "Mahdi Gras" like in New Orleans, (some people told me, that it would be better in Mobile :wink: ), I hope I can enjoy that one time before we go back to Germany.
Mahdi Gras, celebrated in February, is a kind of "Carneval" like the 5th season in Düsseldorf, Cologne, or Mainz.
So, thats it! ....That's all I remember after my last lessons and from my own experiences with my currently home country.
I hope, it was a beginning for a little discussion about Alabama.
See y'all,
Monika.
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Hi, Ratlady,
while I was creating my Alabama-History-Story.... (I was sweating because of too much grammar!)... :wink: :lol: , I didn't notice that you have been here! I just forgot that you don't sleep yet, because you're here in the deep South too! :lol:
So have a nice rest of Sunday Night! It is too warm outside! I can smell the thunderstorms!
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! :arrow:
I think that's true! :lol: :wink:
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:lol: :lol:
True enough - even though it's getting somewhat "closer to bed time" here too, by now...
Thanks for your Alabama "fact sheet" - even though most of it is "familiar" it's quite interesting, and some news for me, too :) . Mentioning the iron production in Birmingham brought one of our own few visits there back to mind - went to see Vulcan Park, which has a lot of information on that particular "chapter" in history there...
By the way, I'm not at all into football (even though a loooong time ago someone actually took the time to explain it to me... :lol: ) but as far as I know, college football is considered to be a lot better than professional football, and college (university) football will generally attract a much bigger crowd than a "professional" game... :wink: Well, as far as I'm concerned, "these Americans" are crazy anyway... :wink: (just kidding, of course - I'm a soccer fan :D )
And, you're right, it is indeed unusually "hot" for the season... I think we only had about a week of "winter" this year, and this close to February I doubt it's going to get back down to freezing again... well, I don't mind :D - even though it would mean that this year I've "missed my chance" to light a fire in the fire place... And it can get cold down here too - I think about 15 years ago they even had snow (on the ground!) in the area... :shock:
take care with those thunderstorms tomorrow - sometimes they can be "wicked"... :? :wink:
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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! :arrow:
I think that's true! :lol: :wink:
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
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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...
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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 :lol: :wink: 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... :wink: 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... :oops: ) and the German was almost "harmless" compared to the English... :wink:
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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! :wink: Sometimes it is like a secret language- I don't understand one word sometimes! :lol:
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!" :cry: :evil:
I have to live with that, and it is O.K.! :wink:
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' ! :wink:
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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
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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
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@Crimson Tide -
I know EXACTLY what you mean... :lol: 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... :oops: 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... :lol:
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"... :wink: :lol:
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... :wink:
I like that word, "Swenglish"... :D
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@Yvonne -
funny, I guess we were writing at the same time... :wink: 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? :wink: )... 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 :wink: ), 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... :D :wink:
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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
:lol: (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/a040.gif)
(http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/b020.gif)
Hi, Stephan!
Welcome in our brandnew English Thread!
Klasse...(ooops...sorry....was German)....that was tooo funny....traitor... :wink: ...and that joke comes from someone near Stuttgart.... :lol:
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! :lol: 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 ?
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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! :D
@ 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! :lol: :oops:
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?
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@ Crimson Tide
your own private teacher, that´s really cool. And it´s for less, wow. :lol:
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. :lol:
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. :respekt:
Greetz,
Yvonne
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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. :lol:
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
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[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! (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/a040.gif)
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! :lol:
We 'll take our "Dickerchen", a Chrysler Mini-Van with us home to Germany, so it will be an English- Movie-Car! :lol:
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! :wink:
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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 :D
stephan
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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.... :lol: :oops:
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! :lol:
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!
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hey @all :D -
:lol: ...this thread is almost getting "out of hand" now... :lol: - I'll see if I can "catch up" a little here (hope that I don't miss too much... and that "darn" [sorry... :oops: :wink: ] computer of ours won't mess up again...)
As far as movies go, I always enjoyed watching the original even though it took a while to really understand everything... but back then, I was watching mostly for "practice" anyway... :wink: Now, I can't really enjoy the German version of a US/English movie any more, since for once, I mostly know the original voice of the actor (ever compared "Seinfeld" here and there? yuck! :wink: ), and second, I can kind of "see" that the words don't match up with the "lip movements"... something I've NEVER noticed before...
@Crimson Tide -
yeah, it can get kind of "confusing" after a while - and even worse sometimes... For me, I've had a point a few years ago when I actually had trouble talking in German - like, my mum would call and I'd feel like an idiot, trying to find the words and always ending up mixing in English words... :oops: I know, it's probably hard to imagine, but it's real... Luckily, now that I've discovered the joy of "internet communities", I read and write in German regularly, which helped a lot to "eliminate" those problems...
(and the "rubber - eraser mess-up" is a "classic"... :lol: )
@stephan -
sorry, I think I completely "missed" your first post here, sorry :oops: - welcome on board :) The "Airbag" and BE-AE-German "discussion" actually got me to think of another thing that's always puzzled me... The "Handy", as they call it in "German", is unknown over here... that's a cell phone (sometimes, but rarely, mobile phone). I don't know whether the British call it "handy", too? I think "mobile phone" is more common over there...?
Some words that still "bother" me due to their "similarity" in German are words like "vehicle" (...my "favorite" :roll: ... no matter how often I hear it or how often I "rehearse" in my mind, it always comes out wrong... :( ), "azalea", "acetaminophen",... ooohhh, usually I "come across" way too many of those when I try to "avoid" them, but whenever I try to think of some, they absolutely elude me...! :twisted:
On the other hand, sometimes it's real hard to find the "right" word in German... I just recently - finally! - found out what an ATV (or "Fourwheeler") is in German, because on our last visit there, we saw one by the side of the road... I immediately pointed it out - "THAT's what I always mean by "dune buggy" - what IS it?" :lol: Well, now I know over there they call it a "Quad". Sounds funny...
Oh, one more thing to the movies - @Stephan, you said it would not affect the story, which is true, but sometimes there's "play of words" involved which is always somewhat hard to get across... Take Monthy Python, for example (ok, that's kind of extreme, as there really IS no story - but even those I've - occasionally - "seen" dubbed rather than "sub-titled"... :( )
Makes me think of that joke I heard recently - about those three boys at Christmas, who get assigned the roles of the Three Wise Men at their school's "Christmas play" and are told to "read their bible and dress accordingly"... Well, at the rehearsal, they show up dressed as fire men! The teacher is shocked and asks them - didn't they read their bible as told? Answer: Yes we did, it said the Three Wise Men came "from a fire"...!
...no worries, that's really only understood in the South - where "a fire" sounds EXACTLY like "afar"... :lol:
...sorry, stupid joke - but I still like it... :wink:
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Oh, one more thing to the movies - @Stephan, you said it would not affect the story, which is true, but sometimes there's "play of words" involved which is always somewhat hard to get across... Take Monthy Python, for example (ok, that's kind of extreme, as there really IS no story - but even those I've - occasionally - "seen" dubbed rather than "sub-titled"... :( )
Hi ratlady, hi @ll
I think you have to know a few things about the British if you want to understand Monty Python (one of my favourites/favorites). They are making fun of the British way of life. To understand these sketches you have to know the news broadcast of BBC and those things. Or the relation between the French and the English.
Some movies play with the relation between US citizens and Canadians. So, I you have no idea about the relation of this neighbors, it won’t help if the translation is perfect.
So to make it short, it immensely helps if you live in the country where the movie is done, but it does not depend so much on the translation.
I’m used to the German voices of the actors and for me it’s funny to here the “strange” voices of the original movie.
Anyway, when I’m in the states I notice, that it helps a lot to listen to the original soundtrack of the movies in the plane and the first days I like to watch tv. That helps to brush up my untrained English.
Greetings from the deep south of Germany
stephan
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@Stephan -
gee, you're up early... I'm just about to go to bed over here! :lol: (would be by now, but still "fighting" with that "dang" computer... :roll: )
yes, you're right... a lot of the times you have to know the "background"... Still, sometimes it does "lose a little" in translation when they do "play with words" (although at other times, the German "word play" is really not that bad either... :wink: )
And, I admit, there were a few TV-series I regularly watched in Germany long before I ever set foot into an "English-speaking" country... THAT was strange, too, all of a sudden getting used to a "different" voice... I guess it's just been a little "too long ago" for me... :oops:
(BTW - Monty Python is still on top of my favorites, too... I hardly ever watch a movie more than once, rarely twice - most of theirs, I've seen two or three times, or more... and still laughing my "rear end" of every time... :lol: )
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My english is so bad, but i like to read it. And i´m so proud that i understand the most of it. 8)
If i need a special word that i never read, i use http://dict.leo.org/ .
Bye!
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My english is so bad, but i like to read it. And i´m so proud that i understand the most of it. 8)
If i need a special word that i never read, i use http://dict.leo.org/ .
Bye!
:D
(...can't be THAT "bad", then... :) )
...and LEO is exactly what I use too... even now, still, occasionally... :wink:
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Hi, IKEA REGAL......welcome in our Thread! ( :lol: I like your nickname!)
I'm sure, you are much better in English than me, for example!
When you can understand all, then you can also write it down!
You just have to write one time, it ist like the first jump into cold water, and then, suddenly, it works----and nobody is perfect, but you are on the way to improve your skills from that moment, you are writing your exchange of views here with us! Try it!
@ Hello, Stephan , Ratlady,
I like Monty Python too, and the more I've seen old series (Flying Circus), the more I loved the jokes!
I have never tried to understand the original tone, but now, when I come back to Germany, I'll catch up on them without looking to the subtitles!
I love black humor in jokes AND in crime stories!
I like especially John Cleese, as an individual actor too!
When I just think about "A Fish Named Wanda", (hope the title is right?)
I would like to see that movie in English!
You talked about the voices of the actors!
Have you ever heard the original voice of Sylvester Stallone?
He has such a deep voice, how could they synchronize it so high?
The different voice changes the character of a person!
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Hi all together,
now I also try to join this thread. Maybe it helps me to improve my written english a bit! In general, it's really interesting to read here!
I also like to read books in the original english version like you! When I like to read a book which was written by an English/American author, I always order the original version at amazon or buy it directly in the States (if I'm there for vacation).
Same with movies: In my opinion, some things (especially jokes) you can't translate very well! Luckily, we have a movie theater here in Stuttgart which only shows movies in the original version!!! And every Wednesday there is an english sneak preview in the Ufa (for only 4,10 Euros) or Cinemaxx in Stuttgart! And when my boyfriend returns from one of his 6 to 8 week long business trips from the US, he always brings some original DVDs (movies, friends-collection, sex-and-the-city-collection,...). Fortunatelly, we have a DVD-player, which plays DVDs with all regional codes! :)
Greetings from the (South)-East of Stuttgart
cleoxx
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@ cleoxx,
cool, you joined us in our English thread. I never thought it will work so well and like you we all want to improve our English in some way.
I`m really astonished that there are so many members/users in this board who are interesting in reading books in the orignal version. Before I start a trip into the USA, I create a book list with books I wanted to buy there. What kind of fiction do you like?
Greetz,
Yvonne
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@american hero:
The first english books I read were from John Grisham, because they are easy to read: Short sentences, no difficult grammar or words used...
But I think it's 3 or 4 years ago that I read the last John Grisham book.
After that, I started to read some travel books written by Bill Bryson. And I have also read all "Harry Potters" in English - except the newest one. I hope the english paperback is available soon!
Normally, I only buy paperbacks - not only because they are cheaper. Another reason is, that I take the train for going to work. This takes me 40 minutes (one-way), which I normally use for reading. So I have to carry books in my bag - and the paperbacks weigh less!
The latest book I bought in English is "Angels & Demons" written by Dan Brown. But I haven't started reading yet!
Since 4 weeks, we also have a subscription to the "Time"-magazin - we had a really good offer for that! So I have another opportunity to read articles in English!
I think, I have a lot of practice in "passive" English (reading, listening,...=, but I seldom use English active (like speaking or writing), which is one of the reasons I joined this threat.
Hope, we will continue with that threat!
Many greetings
cleoxx
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Hey @cleoxx :D That's great you joined in, too - we're going & growing!!
...and, what a coincidence - I LOVE John Grisham, in fact, I just got me "The king of Torts" from a "second-hand" bookstore the other week... Haven't read it yet, though (too busy reading and writing online... :oops: :wink: ) And, the last book I did read was "Angels & Demons"!! :D
@IkeaRegal & maybe "others out there"-
You just have to write one time, it ist like the first jump into cold water, and then, suddenly, it works----and nobody is perfect, but you are on the way to improve your skills from that moment, you are writing your exchange of views here with us! Try it!
@Crimson Tide - you're EXACTLY right!! And also, by coming forward yourself you may even "encourage" others who might be reading this thread, but feel "unsure" about writing anything, to come forward, too!
In fact, it's kind of similar to "real life" - you don't have to be perfect or even near-perfect to be understood - the main thing is, to overcome your "inner barrier" and just try it out... "Just do it" - isn't that the "American Spirit"? :wink:
By the way, y'all are SO lucky to have that "DVD" option :wink: ... at home in Germany, we (even now) don't have anything like that, and back when I was still trying to "practice" as much as I could at home, I had to "make do" with whatever came on regular (cable) TV that occasionally had the "option" of switching over to the original... watching movies I'd NEVER watch otherwise... sometimes, I think it didn't even matter that I didn't understand what was going on... :lol:
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My favourites are Grisham and Crichton. I order most of my books via Amazon, because I can afford a stay in the US only every two years :-(
When I’m in the US I buy the books at the supermarket - depending on the cover and the blurb (I found this word in LEO :-)) and the price.
One thing is funny about reading English books: I cannot always remember the title, so I bought a few books twice.
I also read the Potter books in English and in the beginning it was sometimes difficult to get the words because I didn’t recognize whether I don’t know the vocabulary or whether it’s a special word out of the job typical vocabulary of a wizard.
stephan
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Hey,
For all who enjoy listening to native speakers, I’d recommend podcasts. As you probably know, a podcast (~2nd generation blog) is an audio file that can be downloaded and listened to on your PC or mobile listening device (~ipod). Both the BBC and NPR (national public radio) offer tons of free broadcasts on their websites. For starters, I’d recommend NPR’s story of the day (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=4819386).
Enjoy,
Kurt.
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I also read the Potter books in English and in the beginning it was sometimes difficult to get the words because I didn’t recognize whether I don’t know the vocabulary or whether it’s a special word out of the job typical vocabulary of a wizard.
stephan
:lol: :lol: Hi, Stephan!
I know that problem very good, but after the third book I knew the most typical wizard vocabulary! Sometimes better than the
muggle-language! :wink:
Right now I'm reading the new John Le Carre´, The Constant Gardener,
I'm finished with the first 100 pages, it is good :!: I can already recommend that book!
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Hey,
For all who enjoy listening to native speakers, I’d recommend podcasts. As you probably know, a podcast (~2nd generation blog) is an audio file that can be downloaded and listened to on your PC or mobile listening device (~ipod). Both the BBC and NPR (national public radio) offer tons of free broadcasts on their websites. For starters, I’d recommend NPR’s story of the day (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=4819386).
Enjoy,
Kurt.
Hi, Kurt,
welcome to our thread!
NPR Radio is one of my favourite radio channel. At first I heard about that interesting programm not voluntarily,(our teacher from the English Language Institute "forced us" :lol: ) It was sometimes my homework to hear some of teir stories, a discussion of two professors who discussed about DNA and Gene Manipulation, for example! :shock: That was hard, but it is a very good way to learn a lot of new vocabularies!
I found out very fast that NPR Radio is one of the most critical(ly) programm I have ever seen or heard here in the USA! I appreciate that!
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Wow, this is really the first thread that deserves the name "english thread".
I enjoy reading books in english very much. I think english is a colorful language and it is much easier to express your feelings. In the US I joined a book club, where we had to read a book every month, and then discuss it in the group. This was a great experience. Not only did my vocabulary steadly grow, but I also learned how american think and see life.
In addition to the native languages german/french/italian movies and shows in Switzerland are also shown in der original language, which ist mostly english. So over here we get lots of possibilities to listen to english native speakers. I really prefer movies and shows in english with the original voices. And the punch line is right there where it should be. For those who are interested in getting to know the american culture better and know what satire means, I would recommend "The Simpson". A little bit over the top, but just out of everydays life. :wink:
NPR was also one of my favorite radio channels. And we also should mention PBS on TV. In the morning they have a great childrens program Later in the day their informational program is great and critical.
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Hey,
For all who enjoy listening to native speakers, I’d recommend podcasts. As you probably know, a podcast (~2nd generation blog) is an audio file that can be downloaded and listened to on your PC or mobile listening device (~ipod). Both the BBC and NPR (national public radio) offer tons of free broadcasts on their websites. For starters, I’d recommend NPR’s story of the day (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=4819386).
Hi Folks,
I listen very often to C-Span radio. Beside the fact that it´s covering mostly political themes, it is really interesting. First of all I´m really interested in American politics and history, second it´s a chance to improve the own skills while listening to the different kinds of American speakers and or hosts. I also listen regularly to WJCD FM, a radio station in Norfolk, Virginia and to WMZQ, my favorite country broastcasting station in DC. Via Internet livestream it´s really cool to listen to them right here in Germany.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Right now I'm reading the new John Le Carre´, The Constant Gardener,
I'm finished with the first 100 pages, it is good :!: I can already recommend that book!
Hey, that IS getting better and better :wink: - that was in fact the last movie I saw!! Can recommend it wholeheartedly... :) Actually, I don't go to the movies THAT often over here (prefer fishing... :lol:) but that one my husband "dragged" me to as he thought it would be some kind of "espionage/war story"... well, I looked at some "reviews" on the internet first so I knew it was going to be at least "interesting" - but it turned out a whole lot more than just that! Only later I learned that it was based on a book by John LeCarre - and I usually don't even read his books...
@Anoka-
I enjoy reading books in english very much. I think english is a colorful language and it is much easier to express your feelings.
couldn't agree more... :D And, glad you joined in, too!! :)
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[quote="ratlady
Hey, that IS getting better and better :wink: - that was in fact the last movie I saw!! Only later I learned that it was based on a book by John LeCarre - and I usually don't even read his books... :)[/quote]
... :lol: And I haven't seen the movie yet! :wink:
But this weekend I saw another great movie:
Memoires of a Geisha! (Director was Spielberg).I can borrow the book tomorrow, and I prefer to see at first the movie and THEN reading the book, because I think I could be disappointed from the movie AFTER having read the book first.
Often the book is more in detail, and then, while wtching the movie,I miss people or whole chapter.
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@Crimson Tide -
again, I agree... I've seen a few movies after reading the book first, and almost always ended up a little "disappointed"... most remarkably so with "The Neverending Story", but some others as well. On the other hand, if I see the movie first, I may not even feel like reading the book afterwards... so in the end, I mostly know either the book, or the movie - and only "occasionally" both... :oops:
I've been thinking about going to see the "Geisha"... kind of "got away" from it but may rethink :wink: IF we do go to the movies again while it's still on... if not, I'll sure pick it up once it's out on in the video stores 8)
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Hi, Everyone! (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/a010.gif)
Where are Y'all? (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/a020.gif)
What' up ?
(http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/d045.gif)
Is there anybody who wants to talk?
For what do we we need "Learning English at the Computer", when we have these English thread! :lol:
...And perhaps we have to change just the topic!
Aaaaah, I have an idea! (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/froehlich/d040.gif)
I can tell you about my terrible experience from Wednesday afternoon, because we could discuss afterwards about using guns! :oops: :cry: :evil:
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Hi all together,
I agree with Crimson Tide, we should continue with this thread. its the best opportunity to train and improve our english....
@crimson tide:
what the hell happened to you on Wednesday afternoon? Guns? An Attack? Hope nothing serious took place?!
Maybe we can have an interesting discussion about that?!
Hope to hearing from you all soon
Many greetings
cleoxx
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Hi Folks,
I´m still here and interested in keeping that thread alive. But I had a really hard week loaded up with lot of work at our ward, but that´s life-isn´t it?
@Crimson Tide:
Hey, what happened to you during the week, especially on Wednesday? I hope, nothing serious at all.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hey,
I thought I would also add something in English. It seems to be kind of hard to keep this thread "alive" without having any topic to talk about. But as I can see there are serveral topics that are being talked about. That is pretty cool. I am not sure what exaclty to add to this thread at this time but I will make sure to keep on checking it out from time to time to add a comment or something else.
America_Crazy
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We had beautiful weather, (17°C, sunshine) at Wednesday afternoon, so my friend called me, asking me , if I would have been interested in walking with her dogs in our neighborhood. I answered that it was a good idea, and we met at our house. We just walked about ten minutes, when we suddenly heard a shot in front of us!
A dog, a Black Retriever,like the dog of my friend, was wining, crossed the street, broke together and began to die.
Two children, one older boy and his little brother had to watch their own neighbor in the opposite with the pistol in his hand, shooting the dog, and then he just went into his house, as if nothing had happened before!
The children and my friend and me were all pretty shocked! The boy's mother came, another car stopped, they all couldn't believe what they saw!
The police came, not very interested in that incident,(there exists a rule that you can shoot your own dog in your garden, it is legal! :shock: ), and the man who had shot,came out later, told suddenly a fairy story about having no choice, because he had to save his wife's life. He talked about that "very dangerous, suddenly agressive dog"etc.... The boys told us later the truth. The dog came one week before to the neighbors house, he had adopted it, and it was a very friendly dog. The boys often had played with him.
The next day my friend and me had an appointment with the police, because we wanted to write a report as witnesses in case of anyone would like to something against the dangerous shoot-out in the middle of a neighborhood and in front of the children! That couldn't have been legal!
But there is no chance for any charge or warning against the man who had shot! The only person who could do something is the mother of the two boys, but she is ancious, because the man is living in front of her!
I can understand her, but it is a little bit like in an old "Wild West Movie"!
:oops: :twisted: :?
What do you think about it?
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Hi Crimson Tide,
Oh my Gosh, that`s really hard to believe. And absolutely unbelievable ist the fact that you can use your guns and weapons like a Cowboy. But fact is, it´s really difficult to understand all these laws. And for you as a witness of this cruel and useless shooting it it hard to believe that there ist nothing, what can be done.
Me for myself has also problems to understand all the laws concerning the right to bear arms. But the fact is, this amendment and its weapon lobby is so powerful, that there is nearly no chance to change it. Some years ago I followed the Brady Bill discussions and the problems to get it through Congress. It´s a theme you can discuss on and on but with no result.
But I´m not sure but we shouldn´t discuss that too much, ´cause it will get too political and that´s against the boardrules. :?
So for that fact we should discuss something else, there are so many things related to the USA that fit the rules and policy of that board.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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I agree with americanhero... if we did start to discuss that, it may well get into what's "off-limit" on this board... :(
Sad as it is, if they say that there's nothing that can be done in this case... :cry: People "dispose" of unwanted pets in many ways, both here and in Germany; I think it's mostly the use of a firearm "in public" and the fact that it happened before the eyes of two little kids that could maybe serve as some "grounds" to hold him responsible... However, you can be punished for "cruelty to animals" as well, at least that much I know. In the end, I guess it all kind of depends on the "quality" of his "story"... if he claims he used the weapon in "self-defense" because of something that happened inside the house before the "incident" - as much as I hate to say this - there really may not be much that could be done about it... :cry:
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I'm also think that nothing will happen in that case! :twisted:
It is pretty disappointing, but some things will never change! :cry:
If I hear something from the police or from our nice neighbor, I'll let you know.
The only thing I'm changing now, is my walking route, because that road is a little bit too dangrous in my opinion! :shock: :oops: :wink:
New Topic! Weather! (http://bestsmileys.com/weather/3.gif)
We are waiting for a new round of heavy thunderstorms tonight!
And tomorrow we shall get 23°C, and sunshine, isn't that great?
I'll send you 10°C, so it is not too cold for you in Germany!
I like to share! :lol:
Have a nice night, and a beautiful Sunday!
See Ya!
Monika
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well... personally, I'd be interested to see if that "moron" can really get away with that (as I said, unfortunately, it may well be the case... :( ) ... but then again, this board may not be "appropriate" for matters like that... :oops:
Change of topic - might be a good idea... :wink: Well, I think we're going to "share" the same system of T-storms overnight but - judging from the current radar - will probably get the "lighter" end of it... And yes, good news is, this time there's no "significant" drop in temperature associated with that... :) Although I think towards the end of the week it may get down into the single-digits (Celsius) again for a night or so. Anyway, we're heading into February and I remember years when that was the time for the first "serious" sunburn of the year... :D
Just a few days ago I talked to my mum on the phone... and she was telling me about how it had just started to snow again over where they live in Germany... I always get kind of a "strange" feeling at that, sitting there sweating under a blue sky and "burning" sun trying to imagine snow... :oops: :wink:
...hope to "see y'all later"... :D
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Sorry for having been away for such a long time! But don´t think I haven´t read everything that´s going on here - I just didn´t find time to join and write something - but as you can see, that changes today!
Oh my god, I would give everything for the 23°! Okay, I can perfectly well live without the thunderstorms, but it´s so damn cold over here! We have something around 0, but it feels much colder! We also had new snow on wednesday this week, it came pretty much as a surprise!
It looks nice, the snowy fields and ice blue sky over it, but it´s so cold you cannot stay outside for long. For me, it´s hard to imagine that there are places where it´s not that cold!
My friend from Minnesota told me that normally in this time of the year it´s still bitter cold and snowy and everything in Minnesota, but at that time, they have around 45 (Fahrenheit of course), and rain! She says it´s not bad, but just not normal...
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Hi everybody,
San Fransisco seems to come from Stuttgart and I live close to Stuttgart as well. I can just confirm the weather conditions here in the South. We had some sunshine here today but still it is really cold esp. the winds are chilly and once they catch you you feel pretty bad. I was walking from the train station to some place in the city this past week and the wind felt so cold and it was really unplesant having to walk outside and you totally freeze immediatly.
I am just looking forward for spring to come.
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Hi, SanFrancisco!
I think, you are right! The temperature is more than 10 degrees about average in the whole USA, and it lasts already for two weeks now!
I 'm sure, we'll get suddenly cold weather in March or so!
Last year we had such a sudden (cold) temperature change, accompanied with tornadoes, in March!
I'm a little bit a storm chaser, I like that thrilling weather here!
I like the interesting clouds, supercells,like to take pictures of them, but I also have respect because of the danger of the weather!
The people should avoid going outside half an hour after a thunderstorm, and many people don't know or even don't accept that!
At golf places, for example, many people come to death, or people who clean up the mess in the garden after thunderstorms, get a flash of lightning! There are more dead people from lightning than from tornadoes each year! Did anyone know that?
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Hi everybody,
so I must say I can`t deal with the winter conditions here in Germany. For months it´s so awfully cold and it doesn`t matter what you wear - it´s always cold and chilly. But somehow it´s not the same when I´m in the USA. Maybe it´s my imagination or just something else-but it seems to me that I can deal better with the winter conditions there. I experienced that again last december in Washington DC. It was really cold an chilly, no question, but the most time it was okay for me and I was walking around town quit a lot. The same in 2003. I´ve been in DC and the Eastcoast during and after a Blizzard and temperatures were somewhere in the 20ies, but I could deal with it.
Is there somewhre else who made the same experiences like me?
So after all, the 2003 Blizzard was one of the most exciting events in my live. And the flight to Newark was the longest I ever had.
Have you all experienced something special while in the USA? Or something really embarassing? I´m really curious to hear about it. :lol:
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Have you all experienced something special while in the USA?
I think that it is quite easy to experience something special in America. There is always lots of excitement while being there. It is hard to tell though what exactly the special thing was. I think there are a lot of little special things that happened or that I experienced in America whether it was just a little talk to someone or just eating food or just to have seen something very beautiful. But I got to say that flying into America is always something special to me. No matter if it is flying into New York or Washington or some other city.
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Hi, Yvonne!
For me the most exciting time was the first hurricane that hit us, IVAN! The preparation, the chaos in the stores, vou could nearly buy nothing after a few hours! Water, food, batteries, flashlights, everything was gone! Then the rain and the wind came, we all looked out of the window, the rain came, horizontally, for more than 14 hours!
The wind was normal for me, because I'm living in the Wesermarsch at a levi in Germany, so I know Orkane, but we have a very different house with one foot thick brick walls!
I was not afraid of the storm, but the wooden houses!
Fortunately it was not so hard in Tuscaloosa, but it was an adventure I'll never forget!
Katrina was not so hard for us, but Rita's aftermath came with
8 tornadoes in Tuscaloosa county! We had tornadoe warnings for hours, and eight touchdowns around us, while I had to bring a German to the airport in Birmingham! I was really frightened the first time in Alabama, because the car is not the best place when you have tornadoe warning!
My friend called me while I was driving, and told me very excited that she had seen a tornadoe with her own eyes! And I was not with her! :cry: :evil:
I would have done a picture with my camera, and I WAS NOT THERE! :cry:
I have to come back to "Katrina"!
We had visitors from Germany that time, Katrina came, and my father, my uncle, and my aunt spent , together with us, a 10 day vacation in New Orleans, Biloxi, Misissippi, and in Gulf Shores, and Dauphin Island, Alabama.
Two days after we came home to Tuscaloosa, everything we had seen, was destroyed! That was a terrible feeling!
Later I worked for several weeks as a volunteer in a shelter, and that was hard too! All the people, and what different kind of strokes they have experienced!
I'll remember Katrina and the other hurricanes for the rest of my life!
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Hi Crimson Tide,
wow, you have a real exciting life down there in the South. With all the hurricanes that hit you in some way.
I´m also not very concered about the strong wind that is coming up with it, you know, I´m also living in Northern Germany. But for me it would also be very strange with all that wodden constructions of the houses. When I was younger I spent the summer in Detroit with my relatives and very often there were tornado warnings. And in consideration of all that wooden houses it is clear what will happen when a tornado hit such a house.
it must been very hard for you to see the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. For me here in Germany and very far away it was also shocking to see. Und absolutely unbelievable. But despite the destruction New Orleans is still on my to do list and I think it`s important for that hidden city to get back to normality as soon as possible. And that means tourists as well as quite normal visitors.
The worst and most exciting event I had in the USA was that Blizzard in december 2003. I was on my way to Washington DC via Newark and during our flight the pilot told us that it was snowing in New York. That´s nothing special, it´s snowing there really often. So I wasn´t concerned. But as soon as we got near New York, the weather conditions worsened more and more. We were flying large circles, hoping to get a permit to land. But the airport wasn´t cleared with snow. it was too much, they couldn´t deal with it. After two hours we were circeling in the air we were out of fuel and had to land. It remembered me always of a scene in Die Hard 2: The view out of the windows and all the planes circeling around DC.
After all we did an emergency arrival and were welcomed by a bunch of cars of the fire brigade, police, ambulance and so on. The plane slid nearly away the runway, really weird situation.
But nothing happened despite the fact that I missed my plane to Washington due to the closing of the airport and I spent the night in a motel nearby. :?
And during that same visit to Washington there was a small earthquake right there in DC and Virginia. That was absolutely weird. After that rattle and shaking I thought to myself: Wow, cool, was that an earthquake? In the evening news I saw the coverage about that event, it was just a 5.1 quake on the Richter scale, but it was a real quake. :shock:
But it´s funny, mostly when I´m in the US, I have exciting moments. And theses are the moments I will never forget and when I read my journal I still can´t believe that it happenend to me.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Wow, Yvonne!
That's just as exciting and thrilling adventure with your flight into the blizzard !
Could y'all tell the pilot how great his job was?
He saved the live of all passengers because he kept cool!
I think it was not so important that you missed your next flight at that moment!
I'm sure that you won't forget that day!
You can have a lot of experiences depending on weather conditions, they are always extremely, "not normal"! :lol:
Flash floods, Thunderstorms, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Tornadoes....it is really not boring,with regard of the weather in the USA! :) :?
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@Yvonne -
I can only agree with Crimson Tide, that sounds REALLY "exciting"... actually, I'd rather say "frightening"... that was quite a bit of luck there that nothing more serious happened!!
@Crimson Tide -
I still remember Ivan, too, and always will - of course... my first experience with that down here... Back then, we actually "decided" (or got talked into :wink: ) almost in the last minute to pack up and "run"... ended up in Pensacola, of all places... really a "smart move" in hindsight... :? However, since then, I've come to realize that our little apartment here in town is just about as safe or unsafe as anywhere else within 100 miles or so... so might as well stay here... :wink:
Well, and I admit - while I could easily do without the hurricanes, I'm kind of "fascinated" with the weather down here in general... even after several years, it still surprises me just how quickly it can change sometimes... and how patchy it often is... There might be lightning flashing and rain pouring down right here, and 10 miles down the road the sky is bright and blue... Or, sometimes when you look at huge black clouds building up in the sky and just wait for them to "explode", nothing ever happens... I believe sometimes it can go from sun to major thunderstorm and back to sun in a matter of an hour or two... I remember one day when my husband and I were driving over to Biloxi and could "watch" a big patch of thunderstorm south of us - we never got a drop of rain as we were driving around it...
And, I for one do know all about thunderstorms and lightning now :wink: - that was one of my "most memorable miserable moments" here, last summer, when I actually "managed" to get myself caught in one of the better T-storms out on the beach... never thought that could happen to me ("always aware & extra-careful"...yeah right... :roll: ) but that day, I just didn't see it come in time to "get off" :oops:... Incidentally, that happened exactly the week the National Weather Service had their "Lightning Awareness Week" going on - so now I also know you're NOT supposed to lay down flat on the ground but instead kind of crouch down on your heels to minimize "ground contact"... duh - I couldn't even do that inside our home for more than 20 minutes...!! :shock: :?
By the way, talking about the beaches, lightning strikes are also a lot more "dangerous" than sharks, for example... :wink: And yet, a lot more people are so much more afraid of a shark attack than of a thunderstorm... :? Sometimes, I really can't believe how careless some people are - walking upright sticking an umbrella up against the rain - like that wouldn't be the perfect "antenna" to catch a lightning bolt... :shock:
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Hi Ratlady!
Oh yeah! I can imagine your fear at the beach!
I can't get enough of the topic Thunderstorm!
Last summer I talked with a friend who was really frightened of a severe Thunderstorm in our neighborhood!
We have an old fashioned telephone, fixed at the wall, and I told her, "just a minute, I call you back with my cellphone, because of the heavy lightning, it is dangerous!"
Suddenly the housephone rang, and, as a reflex, I reached for the receiver of my phone. At that moment a lightning crashed into our lawn in front of me, it was huge, loud, and my arm got a hit of electricity!
I had pain for three, four days. couldn't move my arm very good!
I really know how powerful thunderstorms, especially lightning can be!
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Hey Crimson Tide :D
I see you're up "late" again too... :wink:
Whoa... your story sounds even more scary than mine... (in fact, I still think it was actually my husband who was REAL scared... I myself was "only" plain miserable and just wanted it to be "over" one way or the other :oops: Even though I admit for weeks after that I would literally "jump" at every plane-take-off from the nearby Naval Air Station 'cause it sounds a lot like thunder... :lol: ) But, you know you're not supposed to be using cell phones (or two-way radios, for that matter) in a thunderstorm either? (...even though I did, too... saved me... :wink: )
I read a story on the NWS website about a woman picking up the phone in a thunderstorm who nearly died from a lightning strike thru the phone line...
One day (at my "old" job), we were all standing around the parking lot at work ready to head home, with not-too-bad of rain but thunder and all... and lightning hit a tree right behind one of the guys... boy, did he jump in the air... :lol: But, looking back at that, in fact everybody around there was pretty lucky not having suffered anything, as the power (electricity) travels thru the ground, too... that's why they recommend you better stay away from any tall structure if you're outside during a thunderstorm...
And yes, I still LOVE thunderstorms, too - but I do prefer to be watching them from somewhere inside a building or car... :wink:
Have you ever been to Australia? I think Darwin is one of the "best" places on this globe for lightning/thunderstorms... :)
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Hey Crimson Tide :D
But, you know you're not supposed to be using cell phones (or two-way radios, for that matter) in a thunderstorm either? (...even though I did, too... saved me... :wink: )
And yes, I still LOVE thunderstorms, too - but I do prefer to be watching them from somewhere inside a building or car... :wink:
Have you ever been to Australia? I think Darwin is one of the "best" places on this globe for lightning/thunderstorms... :)
Hi, Ratlady!
:cry: :oops: :shock:
No, I Didn't know that I shouldn't use cellphones!
And, yes, I love thunderstorms, too! :lol: Especially in my house, and it must be dark outside, then you can watch the lightning very good!
When we drove back from New Orleans through Biloxi, a few days before Katrina came, we had a very severe thunderstorm on our way!
And I had my Camera with me! I could film very strong lightning strikes,one hit the beach very closed to us, sitting in our save car!
That was great! Our visitors from Germany were pretty impressed!
(And we didn't know that time what would happen with the region around us, just three days later with Katrina! :cry: :cry: :cry:
By the way, how is Dauphin Island looking? Could they repair again their roads, houses, etc.,or is it completely destroyed now?
I'm asking because we drove there, too, in our vacation at August 05, and we could see them that time, restoring the devastation from IVAN yet, and then the next Hurricane came!
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Hey Crimson Tide :D
just for a rather short answer for now :wink: - I'm afraid I really don't know much about what Dauphin island looks like at this time... in fact, I haven't been over there since before Ivan... :oops: Yes, they did get it pretty badly, I think they might be some of the "worst-off" and yet hardly anyone ever mentions anything about them... I saw the pictures after Ivan, and then again after Katrina - not to mention Cindy (was it? I think...) in between... it's just so sad, even over here, to see places that had just been repaired and fixed up after Ivan now being washed out all over again... :cry: Driving down the beach highway around here and into Florida, I can't even tell anymore what of all the "damage" that's still visible was from Ivan, Dennis, or Katrina... :(
What I do know is, the ferry service started back up I think about two weeks ago; and, just today, they had a "big story" in the local newspaper about MardiGras celebrations going on down there... so I don't think it's completely destroyed :wink: In fact, in a way it's amazing how "life on the coast" will always "bounce back", time and again... Orange Beach and - even more so - Gulf Shores have been "desperate" for quite a while now to get the word out they're "open for business"... Even in New Orleans, they're already trying to "lure" tourists back in... :wink:
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Hi everybody,
nice topic: thunderstorms! I also like them, but only if I am in a "safe" house and not outside on a tour!
Like Yvonne, once I also had the experience of a Tornado warning in Detroit, MI. It must have been 2 or 3 years ago from now...!
But first I didn't understand what was going on... it startet to rain, everybody was runnin, I heard sirens --> and first I didn't know what to do then; nobody told me before about that! :(
But then 2 friends of mine explained that to me and we went into the car for driving home as fast as possible :?
So, at first, I didn't like that experience at all! But when we were back in the house, I really liked the thunderstorm - and the Tornado finally took another route trough the county!
Last autumn, when we arrived in Milwaukee (our first night in the U.S.), the weather first was OK. But then there also was a thunderstorm and there was a power blackout caused by the storm! The problem was, that we had to find our motel. This was really hard without the light-signals!!! We searched for the motel about half an hour. And the whole motel didn't have power - we checked in with candle light (how "romantic" :wink: ) and had to find our room in the dark - this was really difficult: we had to "feel" the room numbers at the door! But when we woke up next morning, power was back again!
And that wasn't my first experience with power blackouts - we were on our flight from Chicago to Detroit, when the great blackout in 2003 happened! But that's another story....
Many greetings
cleoxx
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Last autumn, when we arrived in Milwaukee (our first night in the U.S.), the weather first was OK. But then there also was a thunderstorm and there was a power blackout caused by the storm! The problem was, that we had to find our motel. This was really hard without the light-signals!!! We searched for the motel about half an hour. And the whole motel didn't have power - we checked in with candle light (how "romantic" :wink: ) and had to find our room in the dark - this was really difficult: we had to "feel" the room numbers at the door! But when we woke up next morning, power was back again!
Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?
About the weather: I think people in specific regions of the us are used to natural disasters, like people in Germany are familiar with the annual flooding of the Rhine :-)
For myself, I must say that I feel on the one hand thrilled with things like thunderstorm, forest fires, flooding and tornados. On the other hand I feel very uncomfortable when I only see the signs with tornado evacuation route on it.
In California I drove through a region with forest fires. For several miles you couldn’t see the sky because the smoke was so dense. That was fascinating and threateningly at the same time.
stephan
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Last autumn, when we arrived in Milwaukee (our first night in the U.S.), the weather first was OK. But then there also was a thunderstorm and there was a power blackout caused by the storm! The problem was, that we had to find our motel. This was really hard without the light-signals!!! We searched for the motel about half an hour. And the whole motel didn't have power - we checked in with candle light (how "romantic" :wink: ) and had to find our room in the dark - this was really difficult: we had to "feel" the room numbers at the door! But when we woke up next morning, power was back again!
Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?
About the weather: I think people in specific regions of the us are used to natural disasters, like people in Germany are familiar with the annual flooding of the Rhine :-)
Actually, I think you're quite right about that... :) Even I, still moreless a "newbie" to "our" specific area, can now "see" how you kind of "arrange" yourself with it... after all, it is part of everyday life, in a way... and a lot of the times, people will even "joke" about it, too - maybe one of the better ways to "cope" with it... :wink:
Regarding the motels - I don't know about the regulations as far as emergency lights go but you'd think there ought to be "something"... And, what I'm also wondering about is how you actually "operate" the doors without power? I mean, I'm pretty sure there's a way for that, too... but I just remember the motel we stayed in during Ivan, when the power went out and you really had to watch out so the door wouldn't fall shut behind you... :oops:
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Hi all together,
Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?
Yes, I remember ... the motel (a Super 8 ) had emergency lights (we saw them next morning), but unfortunatelly, they didn't work... :cry:
So I don't know, how strict the regulations for that really are.
Regarding the motels - I don't know about the regulations as far as emergency lights go but you'd think there ought to be "something"... And, what I'm also wondering about is how you actually "operate" the doors without power? I mean, I'm pretty sure there's a way for that, too... but I just remember the motel we stayed in during Ivan, when the power went out and you really had to watch out so the door wouldn't fall shut behind you... :oops:
Yes, ratlady, you're right about that; we also wondered how it worked: no emergency lights on, but the room doors opended like every day by using the key card. Maybe they have a different power source for the doors :?:
But in the room itself , nothing worked: no light, no TV, no shower, no lavatory, no radio alarm, nothing! And our only Maglite was in the suitcase which was lost at the airport in Paris (and arrived two days later...)!
And I agree with all of you, that you get more relaxed to some kind of weather depending on where you live...
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Hi all together,
Most motels I've seen in the states had those emergency lights. It thought of them as kind of regulation that is strictly checked?
Yes, I remember ... the motel (a Super 8 ) had emergency lights (we saw them next morning), but unfortunatelly, they didn't work... :cry:
So I don't know, how strict the regulations for that really are.
well, who knows... maybe they just make sure they're in "good shape" when it's time for an "official inspection"... ? :lol: Although I'm not sure there is such a thing either, but I think certain safety features (in "public places") do get inspected on a moreless regular base... (at least, I would hope so... :? )
Oh, talking about weather, again - just heard it on the radio this afternoon (today's "Cat Country Conundrum" :lol: )... "today in History" - on Jan 31, 1977 was the only day ever (in "recorded history" of the United States) that all of the "Lower 48's" had snow on the ground... all the way down to south Florida!! Now, imagine that... :wink:
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...ok, I guess you could call this doing a "push-up" (with this thread)... :?
WHERE IS EVERYBODY???? :zuck:
And, I still hope there's more people out there that are reading this, apart from those that so far have been actively participating - C'mon y'all, help us keep this alive... :applaus: ...just a short hello and maybe a sentence or two about yourself and/or how you "got interested" in the US... nothing to be afraid of!! And then take it from there - and who knows, you may be surprised how easy it might turn out to be... :wink:
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...ok, I guess you could call this doing a "push-up" (with this thread)... :?
WHERE IS EVERYBODY???? :zuck:
Hi ratlady,
I'm still here, still reading...
I think it is very difficult to keep a thread alive that has no specific topic (except of writing everything in English :-))
At the moment I’m looking forward to my next stay in the US. I’ll be there in may, starting with an RV from Los Angeles, via Page – Yellowstone – San Francisco – Los Angeles. Now I’m in the phase of ‘tuning’ the route. I’m looking for must sees along the route, for campgrounds, and so on.
I had a look at the impressive pictures from CrimsonTide and the Canyon Tour. Bryce and Antelope canyon are already fixed. I’ve been several times at Bryce Canyon, but it’s my first visit at Antelope Canyon.
Greetings from Stuttgart, where ist’s cold and foggy for the moment
stephan
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...ok, I guess you could call this doing a "push-up" (with this thread)... :?
WHERE IS EVERYBODY???? :zuck:
Hi ratlady,
I´m still here, too. But as Stephan told, it`s difficult to keep a thread up to date without a special topic.
It would be better to get an English section where we could write and open threads in English. Maybe more people would join us.
At the moment I`m very busy and have lot to do at work. So sometimes it`s really difficult to get home on time. But that`s life. At least I can visit that board the whole night, ´cause I´m working at noon, that`s great.
Like Stefan I´m actually planning my US Southwest trip in May and at least my route is ready so far. For now I have to check the rates for flights and hotels and I think in two or three weeks I´m ready with everything and wait as time goes by and our trip will start. Yeah, I´m really looking forward to it.
I will also visit the Antelope Canyon but yet I´m not sure which part of it to visit. One of the other highlights beside Antelope Canyon will be the Cottonwood Canyon Road, a gravel road which is also a shortcut between Page and Bryce Canyon. And I hope the conditions will be all right, so we can enjoy using it and see all the wonderful scenic views beside it.
While I´m writing my journal for years in English, I can also write something about our trip here in this thread. Sounds cool somehow.
So, Folks, have a nice day, I will be online again this evening.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hi evreryone!
There You are again!
I don't think that the thread will die because of a few days without an answer!
And the topics will change all the time, when someone begins to tell any story which happened just in their life, ore actual the day before.
You see, Ratlady called us, and here we are! :lol:
What's going on this weekend? Do vou have plans, or do you have to work, Yvonne, for example?
We have an invitaion to a Birthday Party, and we are very glad that the reason is a Birthday, and not a "Good Bye" Party like the last three events!
That is always very hard to go to one of these parties, when a German family goes back to Germany forever!
It is a mixture between being happy to go back and being sad to go away!
In Germany we would say, you're going with one laughing and one crying eye! :wink: :cry:
The house is nearly empty then, because the container is packed, or they have sold everything in an exciting Garage Sale!
Have you ever been at a Garage Sale? That's fun! :P
It is like a flea market in your own garage.
You can sell,and buy :lol: anything you really (don't) need! :lol:
And you cannot imagine how many people are coming to such a sale!
They begin to drive in front of your house at 6am and waiting for the opening! :shock:
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it’s my first visit at Antelope Canyon.
Greetings from Stuttgart, where ist’s cold and foggy for the moment
stephan
Hi, Stephan!
Then I wish you (finger crossing :wink: ) good weather with sunshine in the Upper Antilope Canyon for good pictures with (perhaps) spotlights,therefore you have to visit the Canyon in midday time, and don't forget the tripod (or 800-ASA- Films like I used for my old fashioned "Spiegelreflexkamera").
That looked very funny, my husband's little digital camera, fixed at the huge tripod, but it was very successful!
We are waiting for...guess what...right...,for severe thunderstorms in a few hours, (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/p025.gif) and we enjoyed the last warm day, because now we'll get the "normal" February average temperatures after a too warm January....we appreciated that... :wink: (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/o010.gif)
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What's going on this weekend? Do vou have plans, or do you have to work, Yvonne, for example?
@ CrimsonTide,
you´re absolutely right, this weekend I have to work. That´s not as awful as it sounds, ´cause weekends are less stressful than during the week. But tomorrow I´ll start with the early morning shift and that means getting up at 5:15 am. :shock: Normally that´s a time I´m going to bed (you know, like Thuesday :lol: ) and I´m not used to get up in the middle of the night.
And Sunday night is Superbowl!! Yeah, that´s something I won`t miss for anything in the world. And this year I´m watching it for the 12th time. And Superbowl night means to have some friends with me who are also interested in football and we will have a small nice Superbowl party with beer and Fingerfood. Is someone else watching it on TV?
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Live Report!
(http://bestsmileys.com/weather/3.gif)
Wow, what a thunderstorm....our road in front of our house is a river! :lol:
I'm very happy about our electrician garage, so we can go to our party pretty dry! Just the way from the car to the hosts housedoor we have to go through the rain!
Let's go! :wink:
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Hi evreryone!
There You are again!
I don't think that the thread will die because of a few days without an answer!
And the topics will change all the time, when someone begins to tell any story which happened just in their life, ore actual the day before.
Hey y'all - good to see you're still here!! :D
And I agree with Crimson Tide... whatever topic comes to mind, just bring it up... as in, "The Art of Small Talk" - you know, when you talk forever on end about nothing at all... :wink:
Funny you mention garages sales - reminds me of our own "yard sale", which we've been "planning" to hold for I don't even know how long... about a year and a half ago, we actually had a date set for that, but just that weekend it was pouring rain... :lol:
Well, so what's going on... let's see... my work truck "let me down" for the 3rd time in two weeks... we were supposed to have a "mostly sunny day" but basically I wasn't able to see anything outside a radius of about 50-100m all day long because of the fog (weird to stand on the beach unable to see the water! :? )... been joking about all of the above quite a bit today :lol:
I'll be doing some work tomorrow (Saturday), too, but "work from home" - put in a long "field-day" today so I wouldn't have to go back in this weekend. Usually, though, what happens is that I'll enjoy the weekend and catch up on my "homework" starting sometime Sunday evening. .. and then stay up till way after midnight to get it all done (although I admit it depends a little on how many "breaks" I take in between to "play" on the computer... :oops: :mrgreen: ) Sunday we'll probably spend with friends for the most part... :)
@Yvonne-
I saw you up way late that day... was about to "speak up", too, but at that time you'd already left... :wink: And, I'm definitely not going to watch the Superbowl but we may end up in one of the "sports bars" - my husband's got a bet going "in the game"...
Getting back to thunderstorms again... we had a pretty good "system" moving through Thursday morning - I later heard that the same system did considerable damage in some areas in and around New Orleans... :( We only had some minor "flooding" in low-lying areas around here but that's something that happens with almost every major rain event...
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Hi everyone,
I'm still here, too. Last week I had a lot of work to do, so I only read here. Sorry, I didn't have time for writing!
At the first of February I changed my job - still the same company, but another team. So I have to learn a lot at the moment! But I try to follow this thread as often as possible... So I hope (like you all) that we will keep this thread alive!
While I´m writing my journal for years in English, I can also write something about our trip here in this thread. Sounds cool somehow.
That would be really great, if you could do that!
At the moment, I'm sorting our digital pictures which we took on our last vacation: 4 weeks from Chicago to Seattle in September/October 2005.
We took a lot of(maybe too much) digital pictures there: about 1500!
And the problem with that now is, that all these pictures are on our hard disk, but they are not in the right order. We used two different cameras and put the pictures in different directories on our PC (not very clever...). And to make it more difficult, many of them don't have a date (when it was taken), because the camera took an initial date(which was 99991231) :( So I don't know, which pictures we took on which day of our vacation... So I really have to take my notes, remember where we were and try to put all this pictures in the right order. Sometimes it's easy (like the geysirs in Yellowstone...), sometimes more difficult (we saw buffalos in different National Parks...).
But of course, it also is a lot of fun for me, remembering all this great things we saw and did! We really had wonderful and great vacations there!
Goal of all this is to get a CD with about 250 to 300 pictures to show our friends. They always ask about our pictures, but 1500 (and some short films...) are definitely to much to show anyone!
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Hi everyone,
At the moment, I'm sorting our digital pictures which we took on our last vacation: 4 weeks from Chicago to Seattle in September/October 2005.
We took a lot of(maybe too much) digital pictures there: about 1500!
Hi Cleoxx,
1500 pics in 4 weeks are not too much. I think that`s just the average number of pics for that period . I shot in Washington DC in only one week something about 450 Pics and afterwards I thought that it wasn´t enough and I won´t have pics of all the important sights.
Will you write a travel report of your trip for this board? Not in English, just the ordinary one in the report thread. :D
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hi there,
talking about the amount of pictures that were being taken during vacation is very interesting.
Here is just a little list of my own experiences: :D
I took about 620 pictures in Washington DC last March in 2005 within 11 full days.
I did not own a digital camera in the year 2004 when I was in New York but I took about 700 pictures in 7 days.
When I was in the North East and Canada in 2003 I took a lot of pictures as well within 13 days.
The problems in the years 2003 and 2004 were very clear: I had a lot of expenses on developing my pictures. I do not develop all of my pictures anymore these days just the ones that I really like. Normally I just copy them onto a CD and also save them on my computer.
When I fly to America this year I am using 2 512MB and one 128MB SD cards to make sure to be able to take a lot of pictures. I also want to burn CDs in America already to be able to take even more pictures. I am excited to see how many pictures I am going to take.
America_Crazy
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Hi, Y'all!
I know very well the addiction of making too many pics! :lol:
But the best thing is in case of the digital cameras, that (at first) it doesn't cost any Dollar to see the pics on your computer!
Nevertheless, I love my old Spiegelreflexkamera,(sorry, I don't know the English vocabulary! :oops: ), because I believe in my old camera, and in my opinion the pictures are sometimes BETTER! :wink:
Especially when you want to shoot very fast, the motive is sometimes gone before the camera reacts! :cry:
Very often, when we're trying to get pics from dolphins, for example, or whales near Seattle, last October, they had been under water too fast! :evil: :twisted: :x
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Hi CrimsonTide,
I used a SLR (that's the English word for Spiegelreflex :-)) for several years and I used it during my trips to the states. In 2004 I bought a new digital SLR, a D70 made by Nikon.
I'm very happy with the camera, and what was important to me: it worked with the lenses from my old analog camera, a F70 from Nikon.
For the matter of speed, there is no difference between the analog and the digital SLR.
You may be right about the quality of pictures. Due to cost and limited amount of films, I've been very carefully with shooting pictures with my analog camera, very plannig.
Now, with no specific costs and almost unlimited memory resources, I'm shooting a lot of pictures, often several pictures of the same object. That makes it difficult to choose the right picture for a photo book or a presentation. On the other hand you have a better chance for the perfect picture :-)
And to make a contribution to the weather discussion, in the last days we had glazed frost (as leo would say) on the trees and this morning we had some snowflakes. Temperatures are between 25-20 degrees, during the day over 30.
Greetings from cold and icy Germany, from the wild south
stephan
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Hi CrimsonTide,
I used a SLR (that's the English word for Spiegelreflex :-))
I'm very happy with the camera, and what was important to me: it worked with the lenses from my old analog camera, a F70 from Nikon.
stephan
Hi, Stephan!
Oh, that's great!
We have two old SLR-Cameras from Canon, (what does SLR mean exactly, I'm just curious!), and I would like to buy the digital SLR Camera from Canon one day,(not now, we are constantly bankrupt, because of too much vacation :lol: ) but in this case all our lenses wouldn't fit!
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Hi Monika,
what does SLR mean exactly, I'm just curious!
SLR means "Single-lens reflex". You could throw an eye on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slr) if you want :-)
Greetings from Vienna
Andreas
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Hi Monika,
SLR means "Single-lens reflex". You could throw an eye on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slr) if you want :-)
Greetings from Vienna
Andreas
Hi, Andreas!
That advise was not only interesting because of my now answered question, but also very informative to see the history of Cameras, and how the Asian have taken over the camera business from Germany (and other European countries).
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Hi,
I have to come back to the topic Weather, because it is too funny!
We have "Winter Weather Alert" right now! We could get some SNOWFLAKES in between the rain tonight and frozen roads.......oh my goodness....snow in Alabama :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm very curious about that, and if that will really happens! :wink: :wink:
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Wow, snow in Alabama. I can´t imagine that to happen for some reason but maybe it does. I hope we do not get any further snow today. We had more than 32F today which means that snow started to melt a little bit which was great to see cause I just want spring to come as soon as possible. I do not like having to be outside gettind rid of ice on the wind shield of my car and sitting in there freezing and waiting until the car finally gets warm. Mostly I need to get off again once it is warm :x
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Hi, America Crazy,
I can understand so good your feelings about the cold winter!
A lot of German friends told me that it is now enough!
My sister, for example, she had a bad experience last week in München with frost.
She parked her car into a rest of snow which was melted.
Over night they had minus 15°C, and the next morning she couldn't move, her tires were frozen about 10 cm deep into the ice! :lol: She needed hammer and chisel and one hour to get her car free!
She already hated the "White Stuff" before, but now she hates it much more! :lol:
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Hi Crimson Tide,
on one hand it is really a funny story but then on the other hand it is just a mess. These are the moments you learn to dislike, probably to hate winter. I just know it is going to be the same kind of chilly adventure as every morning when you need to get up early in the morning to avoid traffic. It is just about time for spring to come. That is all I can say :D
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(http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/d030.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/f030.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/f015.gif)
(http://bestsmileys.com/sun/4.gif)(http://bestsmileys.com/sun/2.gif)(http://bestsmileys.com/sun/3.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/verschiedene/s050.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/tiere/e055.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/tiere/a020.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/tiere/g060.gif)
Don't worry....be happy! Spring will come very soon! Just a few weeks!
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These are very nice smilies. I esp. like the sheep. :D All smilies just represent what I am really looking forward to. Even though there is said to be snowflakes coming your way tonight, how warm/cold is it in Alabama right now?
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We have right now 48°F, 9°C!
Not very much for our region!
You cannot imagine how fast you get used to the warm temperatures and how I was shivering last year in Mai, when I came to Germany for a wedding. That was soooooooo cold! Unusual cold for Germany, too.
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hey @all
well, I'm really pleased this thread just keeps thriving!! :)
Unfortunately, our internet service has been rather "crappy" for the last two days, and still is... just every once in a while I can get kind of a "sneak look" online :cry:
Weatherwise - well, the forecast has below freezing temperatures for around mid-week... and that while I was already looking forward to springtime... :wink: But actually, "freezing" is not that uncommon around here - however, this year's "pattern" surely is! Normally, it's mid/late December until mid/late January when it's "really" cold... and NOT in February!! But even though we do get "freeze warnings" on a rather regular base every year around that time, snow is indeed highly unusual... I think the last time they had snow on the ground down here was about 15 years ago or so... although it may be a different story where Crimson Tide lives... after all, that's way "up north" :lol: (@Crimson Tide - no "offense", of course... :wink: ) Right now, we are at about 50 Fahrenheit...
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hey @all
was about 15 years ago or so... although it may be a different story where Crimson Tide lives... after all, that's way "up north" :lol: (@Crimson Tide - no "offense", of course... :wink: ) Right now, we are at about 50 Fahrenheit...
Hi, Ratlady!
We have just 39°F, means 4°Celsius! You see the difference between the South and the West Central Alabama! :lol:
I don't believe really that it will snow at night! But if it'll happens, my husband drives at 6am to Mercedes, and he takes a camera with him to prove the existence of snowflakes, because I'm sure they'll be gone a few hours later!
And Seattle lost the game! :oops: :cry:
But they can be very proud to be the 2'nd best team in the whole USA!
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And Seattle lost the game! :oops: :cry:
But they can be very proud to be the 2'nd best team in the whole USA!
yeah, I heard about that earlier (...we didn't go out to watch the game after all... :wink: )... do you know that someone actually (well, "allegedly") placed a 10 million dollar bet on Pittsburgh?! :shock: ...kinda makes you wonder... :?
By the way, my husband was looking over my shoulder recently and saw your "avatar" - his "reaction": "go tell them: War Eagle!"... :lol: :oops:
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By the way, my husband was looking over my shoulder recently and saw your "avatar" - his "reaction": "go tell them: War Eagle!"... :lol: :oops:
:shock: :evil: ......
(http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/frech/k030.gif) Auburn
----- our arch-enemy! Baaaaaaah! :? (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/frech/h020.gif)
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@ Crimson Tide -
:lol: Good thing I don't care too much about football... :wink: I do have some sort of "affection" for Auburn University though - after all, they've been my "employer" for most of my first four years over here - in fact, it's partly thanks to their highly knowledgeable staff at the International Office that I was able to come and work over here to begin with... :)
Auburn is actually one of the few "places" in Alabama other than the coastal areas that I've been to several times - I really like the way their campus is set up but then again, that's about the only campus I've ever really been to over here... :oops:
Did it actually ever snow "up in your area"? For us, I think "tonight's the night" - won't have any snow but may get down to around freezing... "luckily", I have a dentist's appointment in the morning so will probably leave home a little later than usual - and by then, any possible ice on the windshield should be gone anyway... :wink:
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IT IS SNOWING IN ALABAMA !!!!! :shock: :D :P
:arrow: ....therefore...(http://bestsmileys.com/winter/11.gif) ...it will not be enough, but it is really snowing right now!!
I just wanna tell y'all :!: :!:
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Whew! Not everywhere in Alabama, though... :mrgreen: I guess you could count that under "northern blessings"... :wink:
Had a nice and sunny day today after rain petered out in the early morning hours; little windy for the first half of the day (gusts in excess of 40mph according to the weather channel) and therefore "feeling" a little chilly but otherwise nothing to complain about :D (Even though that would be a completely different story if I had to work thru this... :wink: )
And, apparently I was wrong with my earlier post - it's actually tonight that a freeze warning will be in effect. One of the guys at work made a remark about that: "Well, a lot of people once again will realize they don't have enough anti-freeze in their cars..." 8)
(which reminds me, better run to get today's mail out of the mailbox before I'll freeze to death out there... :lol: )
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Hi,
Snow in Alabama?? That´s really hard. :shock:
I had also a nice and sunny day here in Kiel. Despite the fact it was a little bit chilly outside. But it was the first sunny day this week. I hope, Spring will come soon, I´m fed up with that f... winter weather. Freezing my a... to death the whole time. Brrh!!
The next three days I can spend at home. After a hard 13 days working turn I´m relieved to relax for a while and I´m sure, I´m able to write now and then something into this thread.
Greetz from Kiel
Yvonne
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Hi,
The next three days I can spend at home. After a hard 13 days working turn I´m relieved to relax for a while
Greetz from Kiel
Yvonne
Only three free days after 13 working days.... :? That's pretty hard!
So I wish you very nice weather for your free days! (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/d010.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/o010.gif)
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[Only three free days after 13 working days.... :? That's pretty hard!
So I wish you very nice weather for your free days! (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/d010.gif) (http://www.cosgan.de/images/midi/verschiedene/o010.gif)
@CrimsonTide
that´s okay, sometimes I´m working some extra shifts and at least I will get some money for it. :lol: While we`re having a shortage in nurses due to illness or vacation, I´m working theses extra days. But one thing I can say at the moment: I´m really exhausted and will need the time off.
And I will sleep very long tomorrow. :lol: :schlafend:
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Well, it's almost the weekend again, and while I'm still contemplating whether or not to go to work tomorrow, may just as well take the time for another "push up"... :lol: :wink:
Don't have much to "tell" at this point (other than that the outside daytime temperature went from 2 to 20 degrees Celsius in just 2 days 8) ) but just heard something in the news here that I found quite "interesting"... unfortunately, don't have a German text for it, so I figured what the heck, may as well post it as a "refreshment" of the English-Thread... :wink:
Ever had problems with lost luggage at the airport? Not that it helps you now, but you're certainly not alone:
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=1632907&page=1
Incidentally, I was never really fond of neither U.S. Airways or Delta... :lol: (although the only one that ever actually "lost" my luggage was British Airways - which is still one of my preferred... :oops: )
And, imagine that poor guy...
When Scott Phillips flew to his wedding and honeymoon last December, his bag failed to arrive with him.
For the ceremony in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Milwaukee resident wore his winter clothes in the beautiful 80-degree weather. Fortunately, his luggage arrived the next day. Phillips said he was just glad it was his luggage and not his fiancée's that went missing.
Although of course it may have provided some "cover up" for any non-heat-related sweating... but How Could You Stand That...?? :shock: Probably made a bee line for the indoors A/C first chance he got...
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Oh, that's incredible, the poor Scott Phillips! :cry:
When I think about the fact that the wedding should be one of the most wonderful (and perfect) days in your live!
*Touching wood*....I'm very lucky that I always got my luggage....so far...
And, talking about the weather! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Last Thursday we had 25°C, and today we had just 4°c!
What a nasty day it was! I just had to buy some milk in the morning, and on my way back to my car it rained cats and dogs, and the first time I enjoyed the seat heating in my car, otherwise I would have frozen to death or were drowned, or both, :cry: :cry: :cry:
...it was typical "Bremer Schmuddelwetter"!
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Well, at least nobody could blame "Scotty" for "sweating the small stuff"... :lol: (sorry... :wink: )
I guess you can consider yourself real lucky given the chances of about 1:100 (even though that was only the "worst" airline) of ending up without your bags... I wonder if from now on I should be kind of "planning" on that, i.e. have some kind of "emergency plan/kit" ready just in case... :?
And, talking about the weather! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Last Thursday we had 25°C, and today we had just 4°c!
What a nasty day it was! I just had to buy some milk in the morning, and on my way back to my car it rained cats and dogs, and the first time I enjoyed the seat heating in my car, otherwise I would have frozen to death or were drowned, or both, :cry: :cry: :cry:
...it was typical "Bremer Schmuddelwetter"!
"That weather" really IS a "classic", isn't it? :lol:
Similar here, although it didn't rain too hard and didn't get quite that cold either... currently "still" 9°C. Well, but quite honestly, at least the rain was quite welcome for me - provided a good "excuse" not to go to work today... :lol: (my current job is highly weather-dependent, and while a little drizzle is only inconvenient for myself, anything more than that and I do indeed have to "pack up"...)
Well, supposedly it's going to warm up again on Monday, with a pretty good outlook for the week... :D
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Hi, Ratlady!
See the weather advisory for tonight.
Winter Weather Advisory from the National Weather Service:
/O.EXB.KBMX.WW.Y.0002.060218T2128Z-060219T0600Z/ PICKENS-TUSCALOOSA-JEFFERSON-SHELBY-TALLADEGA-CLAY-RANDOLPH-BIBB- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CARROLLTON...TUSCALOOSA...BIRMINGHAM... HOOVER...COLUMBIANA...PELHAM...ALABASTER...TALLADEGA... SYLACAUGA...ASHLAND...ROANOKE...CENTREVILLE 328 PM CST SAT FEB 18 2006
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT.
TEMPERATURES WERE IN THE 30S ACROSS THE ADVISORY AREA...AND COLD AIR WILL CONTINUE TO FUNNEL SOUTHWARD OVERNIGHT IN A BRISK NORTHERLY FLOW. TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY FALL TO FREEZING AS FAR SOUTH AS AN ALICEVILLE...TO PELHAM...TO WINTERSBORO...TO WEDOWEE LINE BY MIDNIGHT. ANY PRECIPITATION THAT FALLS INTO THIS AIR MASS WILL FREEZE ON ELEVATED SURFACES SUCH AS TREES...POWER LINES...AND BRIDGES. ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL NOT BE ENOUGH TO RESULT IN DOWNED POWER LINES OR TREES.
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF FREEZING RAIN WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
That is so exciting for North- Alabama, :lol: :lol: :lol:, and soooo normal for the North of the USA! They would laugh about that advisory!
And about the topic luggage---I always take some clothes, underwear and a toothbrush into my hand luggage, especially when I have to fly via Paris :twisted: , because 80% of the German who have to fly via Paris, get their luggage two or three days later!
I don't know if that is a mistake from Delta, Air France or the chaotical Airport in Paris :?: :?: :?:
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:lol:
Here's our "Advisory"...
ALZ051>064-FLZ001>006-MSZ067-075-076-078-079-190400-
BALDWIN COASTAL-BALDWIN INLAND-BUTLER-CHOCTAW-CLARKE-CONECUH-
COVINGTON-CRENSHAW-ESCAMBIA-ESCAMBIA COASTAL-ESCAMBIA INLAND-GEORGE-
GREENE-MOBILE COASTAL-MOBILE INLAND-MONROE-OKALOOSA COASTAL-
OKALOOSA INLAND-PERRY-SANTA ROSA COASTAL-SANTA ROSA INLAND-STONE-
WASHINGTON-WAYNE-WILCOX-
745 PM CST SAT FEB 18 2006
.NOW...
COLD AND DAMP CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MIDNIGHT.
TEMPERATURES WILL SLOWLY FALL INTO THE MIDDLE 30S FOR MOST INLAND
COUNTIES BY MIDNIGHT...WITH UPPER 30S TO LOWER 40S EXPECTED BY
MIDNIGHT ALONG THE GULF COAST. OCCASIONAL PERIODS OF LIGHT RAIN AND
DRIZZLE CAN BE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE...WITH NORTH WINDS AROUND 15 MPH
MAKING FOR WIND CHILLS IN THE UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S AT TIMES.
RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE GENERALLY LESS THAN ONE TENTH OF AN INCH
THROUGH MIDNIGHT.
So, nothing exciting at all down here, we'll stay well above freezing even though windchill might get it down close but so what... same ol', same ol'... 8)
By the way, so far I've always been able to avoid travelling via Paris - pure "prejudice", even before I'd ever heard of all the "warning" about how "awful" it were... I've always hated French in school (actually took up and kept Latin in order to be able to give up French) and later had some of my friends at university "talk me into" spending a weekend getaway in Paris... which was OK, but I really don't have too many ambitions whatsoever to go back into any French-speaking environment if I can help it - including an airplane or airport... :engel2:
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:lol:
By the way, so far I've always been able to avoid travelling via Paris - pure "prejudice", even before I'd ever heard of all the "warning" about how "awful" it were... I've always hated French in school (actually took up and kept Latin in order to be able to give up French) and later had some of my friends at university "talk me into" spending a weekend getaway in Paris... which was OK, but I really don't have too many ambitions whatsoever to go back into any French-speaking environment if I can help it - including an airplane or airport... :engel2:
Ha,ha,
I know exactly how you feel, but I kept Latin and cancelled English! :lol:
I had just twoo years French as a volunteer class , and I forgot most of that language! :lol:
But we,(my family) have been part of the 20% lucky people, whose luggage arrived punctually in Bremen,in December, after having flown via Paris, so we had, for example, a very interesting experience with a French stewardess in our plane who tried to speak English! :cry: :oops:
At first I could hear her French, then, a few minutes later, it sounded strange, and suddenly I noticed that it must have been English! :lol:
At the Charles De Gaulle Airport Paris they couldn't speak English too which was not very helpful, because that chaos you can have there, forces you to ask a lot of questions. It is very "interesting" in Paris! :wink:
By the way,neverthless, the city of Paris is a wonderful place!
I had spent 8 Days there with my "Kunst Leistungskurs" from my Gymnasium (looooong time ago :lol: )
We produced as a project for one whole semester a calendar with drawn pictures of special, famous places of our region, (landscapes, architectures), printed that calendar 600 times with the help of a newspaper printer's, sold them very successful and could use the money for our train tickets to Paris!
That was such a great experience for us 17 students and our teacher!
I'll never forget that trip AND that semester!
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a very interesting experience with a French stewardess in our plane who tried to speak English! :cry: :oops:
At least they tried to speak English. In 2002, when I was flying with Air France to Boston, they weren´t able to speak English and also the I94 form and other forms were in French. And no one could translate it into English. Around me were a lot of Americans, who didn´t know what to fill in. The first thing I did at the Immigration while waiting for my turn, I took an English form and filled it out. That really sucked!!
At the Charles De Gaulle Airport Paris they couldn't speak English too which was not very helpful, because that chaos you can have there, forces you to ask a lot of questions.
That´s what I also experienced, when I had the "luck" of flying via Paris in 2002. But it was the one and only flight I had via Paris, since then I was marked forever. :evil: And it was so chaotic and confusing, no signs, nearly no time. And if you weren´t fit enough to hurry to your connecting flight, you had bad luck and the plane was gone.
So my result: never ever again Paris and a French Airline.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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So finaly i do have some time to write in english as well.
Unfortunately I do not have anything to say what airline I fly. Unless I am on vacation of course. But I did like Air France because the food was good. The service was better than Lufthansa (sorry I have to say that).
Paris is unorganized – true .But Frankfurt isn’t any better.
Air France has right now probably with Singapore airlines together the best food of all the airlines I have flown so far.
With the luggage:
We believe there is a black hole in Paris and Amsterdam. Because they loose the stuff almost every time. Last week I got my bags. So not to bad I guess.
On my trip to Sturgis I fly Stuttgart – Paris- Chicago with Air France. I booked them because I really liked them the last times. But I am not checking any luggage this time – so they cant loose it….
Not taking any chances :wink:
Redwingfan
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Paris is unorganized – true .But Frankfurt isn’t any better.
Air France has right now probably with Singapore airlines together the best food of all the airlines I have flown so far.
With the luggage:
We believe there is a black hole in Paris and Amsterdam. Because they loose the stuff almost every time. Last week I got my bags. So not to bad I guess.
. But I am not checking any luggage this time – so they cant loose it….
Not taking any chances :wink:
Redwingfan
Hi,Redwingfan!
:lol: :lol: That is the smartest idea I've ever heard, that is really the best chance not to loose luggage in Paris! :P
And you are right- the food is good, in Air France as well as in Delta airplanes, and when we have to fly via Paris, we always put the most important stuff into our hand luggage! :wink:
And some of the airports should celebrate a contest, like, which is the most chaotical international Airport! I'm not sure which of them would be the award winner, Frankfurt or Paris! :wink:
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I think Frankfurt is a little bit worse than Paris. But not by much.
Well I can’t take any chances of loosing my bag in August. I will arrive Thursday in the late afternoon. Friday morning at 10a I will be at the rental place and plan on be on the road at 11a. It is at least 1000 Miles to Sturgis.
And I will meet a friend from Cincinnati, OH somewhere on the Interstate 80. And we plan to arrive no later than Saturday late in the afternoon in Sturgis. Otherwise it will be too much chaos.
Think about 350000 to 500000 Bikes arriving in a small country town where normally only 6000 people live…
Redwingfan
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I think Frankfurt is a little bit worse than Paris. But not by much.
Well I can’t take any chances of loosing my bag in August. I will arrive Thursday in the late afternoon. Friday morning at 10a I will be at the rental place and plan on be on the road at 11a. It is at least 1000 Miles to Sturgis.
And I will meet a friend from Cincinnati, OH somewhere on the Interstate 80. And we plan to arrive no later than Saturday late in the afternoon in Sturgis. Otherwise it will be too much chaos.
Think about 350000 to 500000 Bikes arriving in a small country town where normally only 6000 people live…
Redwingfan
Wow!
I just looked in some of the websites because of that event!
That must be wonderful! Is it the first time you go to that meeting, do you drive yourself a Harley, or will you just watch them as a tourist?
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I am not planning on flying with Air France again. The simple reason is not the airline itself but the airport in Paris. I remember that when we were flying back into Paris coming in from New York in March 2004 the plane was taxing around for 20 minutes until we finally reached our gate. There was no bus service available and we had to run like crazy to get our connection flight just to find out 45 minutes later that we missed our plane. At least we got something to drink and to eat at the airport for free which included a beer but of course it was not nice having to stay for 5 more hours at the airport. It´s been a walking situation each time we flew into and from Charles de Gaulle. I remember us having to walk like crazy couple of times. I will try to avoid that in the future.
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Yes it will be the first time.
I wanted to go last year but i had to go to south carolina for work. :evil:
I will ride from Chicago to Sturgis on a Electra glide classic. Last year my girlfriend and i went to the last ride of the year: Tomahawk,WI. There we went without a bike. It was allright, but i was missing a bike. I dont know, i would not go to a rally without a bike again.
A friend asked me if i wanna take his bike to tomahawk, but the extra 250 miles from tomahawk to Milwaukee was too much. So we decided to drive the car and go direkt to Minneapolis after the rally. :(
redwingfan
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Hi, Y'all!
It's time to resume or to take up the English thread again!
I'm soooo excited!
The first round of severe Spring thunderstorms will pass through our state tomorrow!
I have already loaded my camera but also I have prepared my emergency box with our Passports and other important papers.
The reason to take the weather pretty seriously is not only the warm, nearly hot stream from the Gulf of Mexico, or the cold air from the North,(which comes over the warm air as the producer of strong thunderstorms,hail, wind and tornadoes), or the jetstream,or the huge low from the West,(everything fits together!), but also I don't trust our wooden houses! :wink:
What, if really happens something bad....
That is sometimes our concern here! :roll:
But my love of weather phenomenoms is always sronger than my fear, so I hope again for great pictures from a rotation of a cloud. These strong Thunderstom-Supercells are sometimes just beautiful!
(Of course, without a touchdown and the following destruction, that is really NOT necessary! :oops: )
However, the weather is going to demonstrate again, how little the human beings are!
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Hi CrimsonTide,
I'm looking forward to your pictures. I'm very curious how your pictures of thunderstorm will look. I think it might be difficult to get good pictures, but let's see :-)
stephan
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great, an English thread!
Just wanted to say Hi - great forum you have here! I haven't been to the States yet - but we're going in October, so this forum is great to gather information on what to do and where to go! ;-) We're flying into LA, and out of St Louis - and have two weeks inbetween - I'm truly excited at this stage!
Keep up the good work, talk to you guys later!
galah
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great, an English thread!
Just wanted to say Hi - great forum you have here! I haven't been to the States yet - but we're going in October, so this forum is great to gather information on what to do and where to go! ;-) We're flying into LA, and out of St Louis - and have two weeks inbetween - I'm truly excited at this stage!
Keep up the good work, talk to you guys later!
galah
Hi, Galah!
Welcome to our forum, and, especially, to our English Thread! :wink:
Have fun with the planning of your first trip to the USA!
I also think, you have found the right place for finding help and getting tips for your route!
And you are living in Irland! Wow! That is, for example, one country, I haven't seen yet and it is at the top of a wish list where we want to go first for vacation after returning to Germany in August!
See ya!
Monika
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Hey guys,
you mind if I join you?
Let me introduce myself, I´m Marcel, a 23-year-old US-fanatic, though I haven´t been there yet. Here (http://www.usa-reise.net/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16572) you can see my yet unrealized plans for the summer and you might want to throw in your two cents worth. Besides, anybody here who is looking for a travel mate? :wink:
@Crimson Tide: I´d rather have one thunderstorm a week than this "disgusting" weather here. Every day it´s cold, it rains or snows. Ugh! If I finally get to come to one of the Carolina´s, I think I´ll stay there. :)
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Hey guys,
you mind if I join you?
Let me introduce myself, I´m Marcel, a 23-year-old US-fanatic, though I haven´t been there yet. Here (http://www.usa-reise.net/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16572) you can see my yet unrealized plans for the summer and you might want to throw in your two cents worth. Besides, anybody here who is looking for a travel mate? :wink:
@Crimson Tide: I´d rather have one thunderstorm a week than this "disgusting" weather here. Every day it´s cold, it rains or snows. Ugh! If I finally get to come to one of the Carolina´s, I think I´ll stay there. :)
Hi, Elmo!
Welcome to our thread, too!
We have power yet! :lol: Nothing got destroyed, but the wind and the rain was hurricanelike! :shock: ...and no tornadoe around us...just in the North (about 100miles away) was a lot of damage, some roofs are gone and a few mobile homes!
And the lightening, wow, Elmo, I don't know if it would be really better to have a thunderstorm like this every week! :?
Especially when you have a wooden house with thin walls, and not such a stonehouse like in Germany. :oops: That is always a little thrilling!
The next round of severe weather will come at Monday!
And the Carolinas are beautiful, you gonna like them! It's a little bit like Black Forest there! Just with an Ocean! :wink:
I've seen your trip before! That is a great trip! I can imagine that you are very excited! The first trip to the USA!
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hey you guys!
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Crimson Tide - so, what are you doing in the States? It says in your profile you're on "a 3 years' vacation" - nice! Why are you moving back to Germany?
I must say, the weather here has been rather nice lately - fairly cold, but mostly sunny, and blue skies to go with it...Unusual for the West of Ireland, I can tell ya!
Righto - better get going - have a nice weekend, catch ya on Monday!
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hey you guys!
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Crimson Tide - so, what are you doing in the States? It says in your profile you're on "a 3 years' vacation" - nice! Why are you moving back to Germany?
!
Hi, Galah!
That sounds nice,at the first moment-- 3years vacation--but it is not always nice-it can be boring in between "real" vacation with my family together! :cry: For Example, I will never be a good housewife, not in this life! There are some women who like to clean their houses day by day, oh my God! :shock: :oops: That's really not my thing! :lol: So I felt sometimes superfluous, or considerd myself useless, unnecessary! :cry: My two Girls are nearly grown up, they don't need me really! But now it's enough with wining and complaining! :lol:
Altogether I had a really wonderful time. Finally, the three years will be the most exciting time in my entire life!
I used the time as an opportunity to improve my 25 year old school- English, especially my grammar was pretty bad! :? (I hated my English teacher, and I took Latin and canceled English. That was crazy, I know it today! :x
Here you can see the reason why we have been in the USA for 2 1/2 years now: http://www.usa-reise.net/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=964&start=135
The contract will be over at the end of August, so we come back to Germany, whether we want to go, or not, we have to go!
But it is ok!
Our house and my garden are waiting for me to get renovated :shock: :wink.
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We have power yet! :lol: Nothing got destroyed, but the wind and the rain was hurricanelike! :shock: ...and no tornadoe around us...just in the North (about 100miles away) was a lot of damage, some roofs are gone and a few mobile homes!
And the lightening, wow, Elmo, I don't know if it would be really better to have a thunderstorm like this every week! :?
Especially when you have a wooden house with thin walls, and not such a stonehouse like in Germany. :oops: That is always a little thrilling!
The next round of severe weather will come at Monday!
Okay, okay, you convinced me. I realize you can´t really compare European thunderstorms to the American one´s.
But one thing is a little strange. Why don´t they build stabler houses when they know about this severe weather? Is it a tradition or is it just the lack of money (maybe wooden houses are cheaper?)?
And the Carolinas are beautiful, you gonna like them! It's a little bit like Black Forest there! Just with an Ocean! :wink:
Have you been there before? I don´t know about the inland, I was rather thinking about the shoreline with pine groves, countless creeks, beaches and picturesque small towns and palm trees in the south. Okay, I´m dreaming again... :wink:
And yes, I´m excited, but I don´t know if I will take the trip, ´cause I´m not the kind of person who likes doing things alone. And besides, a trip alone is a lot more expensive.
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Hi everyone,
After calming down for a while due to a lot of work, I´m back here again.
And I´m enjoying my weekend off my job, that sounds really great. Here in Kiel we have again a heavy snowstorm with new snow up to 7 inches. The old snow was also there and so we have at the moment about 10 to 11 inches of snow, maybe more within the snowdrifts. That´s awful, I want springtime and sun and springflowers. I´m really pissed off that f... weather.
@ Crimson Tide: Maybe you can bring some of your thunderstorm pics with you to our meeting in Las Vegas? I´m really interested in them. I´m looking forward to our vacation an dour meeting, only two months and two weeks, so far.
@ elmo and @ galah:
nice, you both joined our English thread to keep it alive.
@ all:
Hm, I need some luck tomorrow, ´cause there is our meeting of that board in Celle. And I´m not sure how much it will snow tonite. I will go by train and very often there are delays due to bad weather conditions or the connections are cancelled. I hope they won`t .
So after the weekend I can tell you more about it.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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@ Crimson Tide: Maybe you can bring some of your thunderstorm pics with you to our meeting in Las Vegas? I´m really interested in them. I´m looking forward to our vacation an dour meeting, only two months and two weeks, so far.
. I will go by train and very often there are delays due to bad weather conditions or the connections are cancelled. I hope they won`t .
So after the weekend I can tell you more about it.
Greetz,
Yvonne
Hi, Yvonne!
Nice to see you again, writing in our English thread!
Yesterday I created a film report about the whole story of an afternoon with "Severe Thunderstorm Warning"----before and after! :lol:
And then, with the Warning, came my favorite meteorologist, James Spam. :wink:
He is always so excited when the squallline of the thunderstorms approaches and he is looking for any rotation in that line, he lives up with that weather, his eyes are rolling! At first, he opens his jackett, then he take it off, and you can see his beautiful suspenders, he always wears!
He can tell you exactly, what time the rotation is over which town, county, even which road!
I filmed him, too! :wink:
Then the rain came, very heavy rain, and strong wind ! I don't like,when I don't hear any loud thunder, like it was yesterday! :?
I have the feeling, the bigger is the chance of a tornadoe after the rain, when it is so silent, and you see only lightening without an end! :shock: But we were lucky, nothing happened this time!
And thunderstorm pics, yes, I can bring you some, from my garden, changed to a see, and a pic of hail, 2cm thick! And then I have a wonderful pic of a thunderstorm cell in colors of the sunset behind our house!
Oooh, and I'm ´really jealous, I would like to come to Celle,too! :cry:
Celle is very near to my fathers town (and my town from my 9th to my 19th year of living). Have you ever been in Celle? It's a beautiful City!
The castle, the horses, the old historical downtown, wonderful!
Have a nice time there!
And the train should not have problems :wink: : because.....
"DIE BAHN FÄHRT---- BEI JEDEM WETTER!"
Wasn't that a slogan of their advertisement once??? :lol:
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Hey @all :D
Haven't been "around" here for a couple-three days, and now find the English-thread thriving again - that's great! And even "bigger and better" -
welcome "on board" Elmo & galah! Hope to "hear" more from you here in the future! :)
But one thing is a little strange. Why don´t they build stabler houses when they know about this severe weather? Is it a tradition or is it just the lack of money (maybe wooden houses are cheaper?)
Hm, good question... I've sometimes been wondering about that myself but never really took any "action" researching the matter... It may be cheaper, or it may just be easier and faster to built - or it may just be the availability of materials and expertise to "do the job". We do have other houses in the area though - stone mansions in the old Southern style... needless to say they're not really what I'd call "affordable"... :lol: My gut-feeling is, it's probably indeed mainly a question of money... Most of the "wealthier" neighborhoods really don't look like they were "wooden" (even though it might be deceiving, I don't know).
However, at least down along the immediate coast (where you have to factor in flooding), there's another aspect to the matter - building on pilings... and there's actually a "building-code" for that, too.
Last not least, just because a house is "wooden", doesn't necessarily mean it's "unstable"... even a wooden house, if built right, can withstand hurricane-force winds of more than 120-130mph!
@Crimson Tide -
whow, that does sound really "exciting" (or maybe rather "scary"....?)! Down here, we didn't even see a drop of rain all day Thursday (in spite of all the "warnings"), and only this morning had several hours of rather mild Thunderstorms... mainly rain. I guess the major part of the system stayed well to the north of us... Same for Monday, forecast doesn't say anything at all...
@Elmo -
nothing wrong with "dreaming" :wink: - but I think you should go ahead and "do it" anyway. I've always travelled alone (as a girl!), and actually preferred it that way... you don't have to make any "compromise" when it comes to where to go and what to do, and I also found it was better for me personally 'cause I was "forced" to go and "communicate" myself... that helped me a lot, not only with the language, but also with "socializing with strangers". Plus, sometimes you'll find it's easier to get to make new "friends" on the way, too... But of course, everyone is different. My brother, for example, has done as much or more travelling as myself, but hardly EVER alone... some, yes, but I think he still prefers going with friends. I myself, now, the little travel I do isn't alone any more - and sometimes I miss it, sometimes I don't. I don't think either way is "better" - just give it a try, be open-minded and excited, and I'm pretty sure it'll work out :)
Financially - well, depends... I found that I actually spent less money if I was by myself than travelling in a group but I don't think you could "generalize" that... Especially if you rent a car or share hotel rooms it'll probably save more money than otherwise. I hope you'll be able to realize your plans!!
@americanhero:
My fingers are crossed!! Good luck! :)
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@ratlady: Do you live in the States, too? Your English seems pretty fluent.
As for the wooden houses: Maybe they are just easier to rebuild after a hurricane hit the land? But those are just assumptions, what we need is an expert at this subject.
Stable or not - those houses are highly combustible (forest fire..).
And yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to travelling alone. As you said, you are out there alone, forced to do all the communication with natives alone. I guess it´s after all a good life experience when you coped all the little problems facing you in a foreign country. And of course, you are never going to forget all these impressions of a wonderful country.
When travelling in a group, you don´t need to do all the communication (unless you´re the only English speaking person) and your skills will not be improved that much. BUT, a really important point to me, you have another person you can share your experiences and memories with.
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The guest was me. I don´t get it. I should have been logged in because I switched on (is that right?) the button "automatically log in".
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@ratlady: Do you live in the States, too? Your English seems pretty fluent.
As for the wooden houses: Maybe they are just easier to rebuild after a hurricane hit the land? But those are just assumptions, what we need is an expert at this subject.
Stable or not - those houses are highly combustible (forest fire..).
And yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to travelling alone. As you said, you are out there alone, forced to do all the communication with natives alone. I guess it´s after all a good life experience when you coped all the little problems facing you in a foreign country. And of course, you are never going to forget all these impressions of a wonderful country.
When travelling in a group, you don´t need to do all the communication (unless you´re the only English speaking person) and your skills will not be improved that much. BUT, a really important point to me, you have another person you can share your experiences and memories with.
Hi Elmo,
yes, I live in the US (for several years now) - actually, in Alabama, just as Crimson Tide! We're down at the coast though, which sometimes seems almost like "a world away" *lol*...
"Asking an expert" - well, I don't really know about "expert" but I just asked my hubby 8) ... he says, it's basically the "most economically viable way" to build. Materials are cheap and plentiful ("millions of acres of planted pine"), and building is easy and fast. So, I guess, we were about right with our "speculations"... :) By the way, I don't think that the danger of fire is that much higher with a wooden house around here... even if you have a "non-flammable" house you'd still have plenty that could catch fire inside once the windows melt, or burst. I don't know about people living in areas prone to wildfires and close to forests - they may take certain "precautions", just as we do against hurricanes, when building a house...
The travelling - yes, you're absolutely right, having someone to "share" can be really important... I just never missed it b/c I never really had that "experience" before. I've always loved to be "my own woman" :lol: and as independent as possible... The only "group travel" I've ever known is school trips for a week or two... well, mostly fun, but after about a week or little more, I found I was rather "ready for a break", so to speak. Of course, that's different than travelling with only a small group of close friends - unfortunately (or fortunately), my travel plans could never "accommodate" anyone else's "schedule"... Now - if I get to travel at all - I travel with my husband (and sometimes other friends too)... which means, I don't always get to do all that I'd do if I were on my own, but there's other things that kind of "make up" for it. The "sharing it" is a major one!! :)
By the way, I think there was a thread somewhere (in the "technical" section?) discussing the "automatically login" issue... you're not alone in that, at least. :wink:
...edit: that's the one I was referring to - maybe it'll help you:
http://www.usa-reise.net/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9374
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hey you guys!
just to let you know - I'm off for two weeks - but I will come back and continue chatting with you guys in English once I'm better (off sick with tendonitis, not allowed near a computer...;-))
Take care!
galah
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yes, I live in the US (for several years now) - actually, in Alabama, just as Crimson Tide! We're down at the coast though, which sometimes seems almost like "a world away" *lol*...
And have the two of you been affected by one of the many hurricanes last year?
I don't know about people living in areas prone to wildfires and close to forests
I guess California is rather prone to these fires and maybe Texas (don´t know?!).
The worst disadvantage about a group travel is the compromises. My plan for the route is practically finished, leaving hardly room for changes. The more people you travel with the more opinions screwing up your plan. :lol: That´s what I don´t want to do.
Most of the people that I know just go on vacation around Europe or have their partner or family to travel with. It´s really bad luck when you don´t have a girlfriend who you can force to come along. :wink:
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Unfortunately, this topic seems to be sleeping tightly again.
I thought I´d give it a try and wake it up.
I know it´s a problem here to find a good subject to talk about. I mean, you could tell anything or you just make a few suggestions and then we would discuss this subject?!
However, let´s get it started again!
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Unfortunately, this topic seems to be sleeping tightly again.
I thought I´d give it a try and wake it up.
I know it´s a problem here to find a good subject to talk about. I mean, you could tell anything or you just make a few suggestions and then we would discuss this subject?!
However, let´s get it started again!
I agree! :)
Sorry I didn't post in this thread earlier... but I'll try to do better in the future! *...oh well...* :wink:
Lacking a "subject" to talk about right now, I guess I just get back to the "obligatory" weather-talk here... :oops: We're currently experiencing a dry-spell down here, after the driest March on record so far and daytime high temperatures "missing" the 1908 record high for this time of year by just 1 degree Fahrenheit (which is basically nothing)... So, everybody is hoping for rain 'cause we desperately need it, yet at the same time it's quite clear that ANY decent amount of rain will just bring out mosquitoes (and other bugs) big time... can't have it all, as usual. :?
We've also been seeing several wildfires around the area (meaning within about 50-70 miles or so) but luckily no "great" damage to human habitations so far... however, the threat is still there, especially since there's plenty of dead trees around after all the past hurricanes... we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed on that.
Well, :oops: , that's my little bit of input for now... hope someone else will "pick it up" again...
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My parents are visiting Alabama right now (Huntsville). My Aunt and Uncle live there. My mother wrote: "They are having tornado warnings, but IT'S WARM! She loves it. :lol: " She is ALWAYS freezing.
She has also been able to visit her "favorite" uncle: "Uncle Wally" :wink:
Just checked on their weather via internet: Looks like they are in for a little "severe weather" right now, but since it is midnight, they'll probably sleep right through it... :wink:
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I have lived right in an area known as 'Tornado Alley',to be exact in Northern Texas right on the border to Oklahoma.
http://www.tornadochaser.net/tornadoalley.jpg
During Spring we had a tornado warning almost every week and I can not count the times I have been locked in,no matter where I was...the grocery store,the mall,the hospital....
The storms I have experienced were the worst ones I had ever seen and I will never ever forget how powerful and destructive those winds were...we often had wind speeds around 120 mph....scary.
I can only emphasize not to take tornado warnings lightly.
I also had the 'pleasure' of living through hurricane 'Isabel" back in 2003,I lived in Washington DC during that time, it took well over 3 weeks to remove the uprooted big trees that crashed into the houses in my neighborhood.
I was without power and clean water for about a week.
Not funny.
Regards,
Missy
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Hi, yall!
That's great! The English thread awakes!
And Ratlady is right, :wink: !
Immediately we all are talking about severe weather! :D
But I can understand why it always happens!
When you used to live with the "normal" weather in Germany, and then you are living suddenly with the extreme weather here in the US, then you are so fascinated, scared and thrilled from the experience you had never before!
Last night, for example, my husband and me suddenly got such a shock because of a very loud thunder, that we couldn't sleep a long time after that thunderstorm was already gone! :lol:
@ Josie, I can imagine how your parents are enjoying the hot weather in Huntsville, Alabama, although, they had again bad thunderstorms this morning in that region! We'll get our round of severe weather this aftenoon! :roll:
My guests didn't want to fly back to Germany at Monday, after having spent three weeks in our "early Summer"! 8). We all sat once together in our bathroom-shelter because of tornadoe warnings, but it is normal in April and May in this region and everyone should be aware of the weather channel, weather radio and, like Missy told us, always not forget to keep the respect. The nature is very powerful.
Have a nice day,
Monika
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I have lived right in an area known as 'Tornado Alley',to be exact in Northern Texas right on the border to Oklahoma.
My Dad is from northwest Missouri. My mother and I lived there for seven years. I remember having "tornado drills" (basically exactly like "fire drills" - only the complete opposite - if that makes any sense :lol: )
I also remember spending time in the hallway of basement floor of the 8-appartment building we lived in during tornado warnings. One of my (many) embarassing moments that I remember (usually stories like this get told at various opportunities by parents...): The women and children were down in the hallway (I remember it being big); the guys were up at the door looking to see if there was anything to see. Well, I was purty young then - I convinced my mother to let me go up to the men. I went to the door looked out and saw the moon - it was bright red. I started yelling: "Get down stairs, get down stairs - there's the tomato :oops: :lol: :oops: " It took the guys a little while to figure out what the heck I was saying, and then even longer to stop laughing...
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What´s going on here? I had already given up on this thread again, just to see it awakening again now.
I like it, can´t get enough of English. :lol:
So, in order to stick with the weather topic, let me tell you a bit about the German spring. We had a long, not to say a very long period of bad weather - it was cold and rainy.
But now, the spring finally seems to be coming. Friday we had beautiful sunshine and 23°C. What´s that in Fahrenheit? I guess about 65°, might that be right?
Now I can tell you something about severe German weather. Yesterday I was sitting in my car and suddenly a very dark cloud was moving over me. It started thundering, then raining and then hailing. It sounded like my car was being shot by little lead pellets. :shock:
15 minutes later it was all over and the sun was shining again.
I love spring and summer, but this period is just too short. 1 month winter, one fall, 3 months spring and 5 summer. Wouldn´t that be nice? :wink:
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Let's see...this is how my seasons here in KY look like:
2 months of winter
1 month of spring
6-8 months of summer
1 month of fall
....whatever is left over gets added on to whatever season....sometimes we have 'T-Shirt weather' for a while in December...sometimes spring starts a little late.
I know....once it is spring time you better get your summer clothes ready,because the temperature can easily jump 30 degrees up from one day to another.
Right now I am trying to be outdoors every day...because I have discovered a new hobby....fishing.
Even though I am still a beginner,I must be doing something right,because I catch lots of fish :D .
Usually I catch small fish like striped bass,crappies,blue gills etc...but the past couple of days I caught 3 huge catfish...with half a worm...so I am really proud of this.
And even though I have days where my fishies won't bite,I still enjoy sitting in the sun,watching the bald eagle pair, and trying to spot water turtles and water mocassins.
I love my country life :D
Regards,
Missy
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Missy, you´re making me jealous, you know that? :wink:
Last week they said on AFN Radio that Texas experienced a record high temperature of 100°F...in April!
Let´s face the reality here: 3 months per season. It´s very balanced, but not very satisfying.
I often went fishing with a friend (I was just "spectating") in my teenage years.
The most adventurous and most thrilling experience was night fishing. 14-15 year old boys sitting by the river at midnight and made their first experiences with cigarettes and alcohol (but I´m still a non-smoker, though) :lol: . I remember us catching fishes like catfishes, perches or eels. The good old times..
My favorite spring/summer pastime is barbecueing :wink: or cycling. I managed to ride barely over 1000km last year. We´ll see if an increase is possible this season. Unfortunately we just have a 8 month long cycling season. Anything below 15°C is too cold for me to cycle.
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Yeah...I actually just got back from Texas....I was in Fort Hood and they have a big lake right there...the Belton lake.....and there you can do some great night fishing at the fishing pier...at any time of the night you meet other fishermen and women...always ready to share their knowledge.
So I was sitting there on the dock at 2 am,T-shirt and shorts,nice gentle breeze,good conversations....it was just great.
Kentucky is a little colder and the fish are just not that big.
But ...well...I won't complain.
Regards,
Missy
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Wow, Iam astonished. That English Thread is getting back to live and I never thought it will be.
And hey, there are some newbies here around, really cool.
@Missy:
That sounds really great with your country live there in Kentucky. I sometimes miss it here in the city. I moved to Kiel some years ago and before that I lived in a really small backcountry village in the middle of nowhere.
@ all:
What´s up? I was very busy the last few weeks, that´s one reason I wasn´t writing something in this board. And actually, at the moment I´m planning a lot, `cause my vacation to the Southwest is coming very close. And I´m really looking forward to it, especially to the premature summer I will expecting there. Actually, our weather here in Kiel really sucks, I´m totally fed up with the cold temperatures.
It´s the first time for years that I´m starting so late in the season with having BBQs. Unbelievable. I hope, in the next few days there will be a slight chance of having it at least a little bit warmer.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Well...I am actually a city girl.....and when I said that I love my country life,I was a bit on the sarcastic side. (but you guys couldn't know this of course.)
I spent the last years in Washington DC (which is not really a great city to live in) and when I changed careers I started moving around,down to Columbia,SC,Wichita Falls,Tx,San Antonio,Tx back to DC and then I finally ended up in Fort Campbell,Ky...right on the border to Tennessee.
This place is not neccesary my first choice...but the employer says I need to stay at least a couple more years.
Hopefully after that I will be able to relocate to Tx....my favorite State :D .
Until then I try to make the best out of it.
Regards,
Missy
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Hi, Y'all!
Let me tell ya something about the seasons in Alabama, I heard last
year from an Alabamien:
"We have four seasons here in Alabama: Nearly Summer, Summer, Hot Summer and Christmas"... :arrow: and I think he was absolutely right! :lol: :D :P
I'm very sad because I have to leave Alabama on August forever!
I would like to take the blue sky with me to Germany, so that everyone can take profit of it! Really, after a hurricane, or a thunderstorm, you can't see one single cloud in the sky the next morning! All the bad weather is gone!
I have to go back to the very north of Germany, and when there arrives a low, and the next low, and the next low,....etc...etc...I will always gonna get remembered the nice weather the last three years! :cry:
8) 8) 8) Monika
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Hi missy!
I didn't notice that you are here!
I tried always to answer you in the shoutbox!
Hi! Whazzup? How are you? And you are living in Kentucky right now!
That is a beautiful state! I mean, the landscape is really nice!
I can't know anything about how it is to live there! :wink:
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I spent the last years in Washington DC (which is not really a great city to live in)
Hi Missy,
where in DC have you been?? I like this city and have spent a lot oft time there. :lol:
So I´m really interested to hear about your expereiences there.
What are you working? You`re really moving around a lot, wow. But for how long you are always at one place?
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Wow.....so many questions.
I will try to answer them all...but I maybe have to take breaks...I have a long working day ahead of me.
There was a question about how living in DC is....and I can sum it up into two words....expensive and dangerous.
(before I lived in DC,I lived in Northern Virginia....also expensive,not that dangerous)
Well....I lived in Southeast DC for about 4 years..'east of the river 'as we say,and with river we don't mean the Potomac but the Anacostia.
(If you ever get lost in DC and you find yourself crossing one of the Anacostia bridges...make sure you make a U-turn as soon as possible to head back towards downtown.)
So basically I lived in the Ghetto :D .
In those years I don't remember one white person living anywhere near me,but that is really no suprise,Washington DC has its nickname 'Chocolate City' for a reason....about 70% of its population is african-american.
I thought it would be fun to post the jobs I had while I lived in VA and DC.
When I first got here it took about 4 weeksto get my working permit.
I think I started working the day after I had that permit in my hand.
1.Sales Associate at Marshalls Megastore in Potomac Mills.
2.Paperroute for the Washington Post
3.Usher at the Kennedy Center of the performing Arts in DC
4.Check in agent for Swiss Air,Sabena and Korean Air at Dulles Airport
5.Toll Road Officer at Dulles Greenway
6.Fares/Rules Analyst for an Airline Tarif Company
7.Emergency Coordinator for a travel insurance agency
That sounds a lot in 5 years,but some of those jobs I did only part time in combination with my full time job.
For my current job I will have to start another posting....cause it is a bit more involved :D .
See you later....
Missy
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Hi Missy,
WOW....that sounds very interesting....and I'm very curious about your next chapter of your jobs :wink: ! That sounds very exciting, and I'm sure it was not boring..none of your jobs!
:winke: See ya,
Monika
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Am I the only guy writing in this thread living in Germany?
You are well off over there ´cause you are able to listen to American radio stations.
I was until last week, but American Forces Network has changed its program today and now it´s just one mind-numbing show. Before it, they aired a morning show directly from the States, which was really hilarious.
And now it´s all over after I´ve been listening for more than 3 years!
I´m very sad now...I need that bit of American culture... :cry:
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Am I the only guy writing in this thread living in Germany?
You are well off over there ´cause you are able to listen to American radio stations.
I was until last week, but American Forces Network has changed its program today and now it´s just one mind-numbing show. Before it, they aired a morning show directly from the States, which was really hilarious.
And now it´s all over after I´ve been listening for more than 3 years!
I´m very sad now...I need that bit of American culture... :cry:
Well, I'm not a guy, but I do live in Germany :wink:
Yesterday, by accident, we noticed that AFN was coming in somewhere around 105.something.
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Am I the only guy writing in this thread living in Germany?
You are well off over there ´cause you are able to listen to American radio stations.
I was until last week, but American Forces Network has changed its program today and now it´s just one mind-numbing show. Before it, they aired a morning show directly from the States, which was really hilarious.
And now it´s all over after I´ve been listening for more than 3 years!
I´m very sad now...I need that bit of American culture... :cry:
Hi, Elmo!
Bess your heart...I can understand so good what you mean! You need a little piece of "Home"! :roll:
Is it not possible to hear some other channels via Internet?
Like we do here, for example, with NDR 2, our favourite Northern German Radio-Station, or we are watching "Tagessschau" , our daily news- via Internet, or "Fußballbundesliga" Saturday morning , that is so funny- we can listen to the soccer games while we are having breakfast! :P
That should be possible also with some American Programs !?
Monika
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Well, I'm not a guy, but I do live in Germany :wink:
Yeah, but I rather meant guy(s) as persons/people. I think it also can be used for females, at least in the plural. ("you guys..").
Yesterday, by accident, we noticed that AFN was coming in somewhere around 105.something.
So this was the first time you listened to AFN? Believe me, the "original" American shows are much better than the military shows with the annoying community news.
As a pacifist, I wouldn´t listen to AFN except for the good music, the language and the shows from the States.
@Crimson Tide: Yeah, it is possible to hear some live streams via Internet, I found a good link site on the page of
Howie Day (http://www.howieday.com/) (very good musician by the way). Some of the stations do broadcast live on the Internet, but I haven´t found a funny morning show yet. Haven´t given it much of an effort, though.
But I want my Jonathan & Mary!!
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Am I the only guy writing in this thread living in Germany?
You are well off over there ´cause you are able to listen to American radio stations.
Hi Elmo,
I´m also living here in Germany, just for you to notice. :lol:
Why don´t you listen to US radio stations broadcasting with a livestream via the internet? Her is an interesting link:http://www.live-radio.net/us.shtml
While I´m online, I am listening to my favorite radio station in Utah and it`s something, I´m really looking forward every day. Sometimes I´m browsing around to the Washington DC area stations and you can choose between the kind of music you like. Listening to that live streams is like a little bit of being in the US and it also helps me dealing with my home sickness back to the US Iam suffering after a wonderful vacation.
@ missy:
what the hell have you done in the Anacostia area? Why not moving to a friendlier area nearby? Well, Dc is a really expencive city, that´s true. I think it´s the capitol city bonus or something like that and all the government stuff.
And I`ve been a lot of times around in DC, so I know this city really well. Okay, it`s not the same, if you´re living there or being there only for some time during vacation. But I enjoyed all my stays there.
And I agree with you, Northern Virginia is really okay and not that dangerous than some areas in DC. Where have you been in NOrthern Virginia? I also know several areas there, `cause I was travelling around there a lot. :lol:
@ all:
Well, I really enjoy it writing again into this board and get some practice with my English. I miss the chit chat and the small talk in English, the only chance is during my vacation once a year. That really sucks, but actually there ist no chance of being longer therei n the US than two weeks a year. What about Y`All?
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Hi, Yvonne!
I'm really thinking about founding a "Conversation Group" ,having been returned to Germany. I will look for People who would like to join an English Conversation Lesson once a week, or so!
Perhaps a "Volkshochschule" would be interested in such kind of Group, I don't know, but I'm going to do something to improve my English skills, or just trying to keep what I learned! It was hard enough for an old lady like me to learn all that grammar, structure and the other stuff! :shock:
I'm far away from being perfect, so it is very important for me to get some practice, too, back in Germany!
I hope I can really create such a Conversation Thing! :wink:
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@ Elmo:
No, I didn't find AFN for the first time, I didn't know that they also broadcast via 105.whatever. I'm used to 98.7. (I found out on their site, it was because we were driving through the Eifel and had the frequency from Spangdalem)
I went to the AFN website: looks like they've changed completely. It's ashame. I liked "Jonathan and Mary", too. We're also going to miss the "Country Countdown".
I'm a former military dependent, so I've been listening to AFN for decades :roll:
You didn't used to get the "morning shows" on AFN. It took me a while to get used to listening to "such & such"-morning show - all day. Just like it took some getting used to listening to radio in the States, and the announcers didn't have ranks :wink:
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@Josie: I also listen to 98.7. Today I first listened to the AM frequency, 860 khz or something like that, I think it´s called "The Power Network". It wasn´t successful in terms of J&M.
I´m not exaggerating when I say they had been a part of my life and I´m really gonna have a hard time now that they are no longer on AFN.
@Crimson: After working a few years, I went to school again and one year later, I graduated from "Fachoberschule" and from then on, I´ve been very eager to improve my English skills. I started reading English books, watching DVD´s and Jay Leno or Conan on CNBC Europe and so on. It´s not easy when you can´t use the language in everyday life, but it´s really fun for me. :)
@americanhero: Great link! I already tried some stations. Maybe I´ll find an interesting station.
And as for the vacation: As I said before somewhere in the thread, I´ve never been to the US, unfortunately. Usually I go on vacation once a year, mostly for two weeks.
My planned trip to New York-Florida is supposed to be a little longer than 2 weeks. I would rather do at least 3 weeks, but you know, the lack of money and everything...
And still I don´t know yet if I´m going to take the trip. It´s been a dream of mine for many years now, but going alone...lonely and expensive...I dunno..
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Hey @all -
wwweeeeellll... FINALLY online again and I see that English-Thread is thriving again!! That is GREAT!! Wish I could contribute more but our internet-service is less than crappy at this time, been going on for over a month like this now and not too much hope of great improvement, I'm afraid... (unfortunately we're stuck with our current provider since there's only one cable company serving this area and we don't have a phone line...)
Anyway, right now it's been working for quite a while so this might be a good opportunity to "chime in" again 8)
@missy -
first, of course, good to see more people "joining" this thread - welcome! What "got" me most with your posts was the fishing part - I LOVE to fish, too!! Actually, just a few hours ago got back from a fishing trip - went for some brim in somebody's pond but unfortunately thunderstorms moved in before we even got a chance to really get started... Nevertheless, we need the rain, and the trip was worth it just for the really nice people we met up there, so we'll be back before long! And I agree with you - even though catching fish is a lot of fun (and most of the time makes a nice meal too :wink: ), for me, above all, it's FISHING that matters - just being out there regardless of whether or not you actually catch anything (and to be honest, most of the times we'd come home empty-handed... but "happy" anyway! 8) )
@Crimson Tide:
A "Conversation Group" sounds like a good idea - hope you find some interested people! Is there a university somewhere in the vicinity of where you live in Germany? Back when I was at university (in Germany), there was a group there that met once a week at the Irish Pub ( :wink: ) to just chat in English - they had a note up on one of the main message boards that had the day, time, and location on it inviting anyone interested in joining to just "come on over"... Maybe you could look for something like that, or put a note out yourself to see if anyone would be interested? (..."old gal" or not, I don't think age would be a factor so no excuses there... :wink: )
And I know exactly what you're talking about - I have the same problem with my Spanish... I never came up to as fluent a level as with my English (no wonder, I started English at age 11 and Spanish at age 26 or so :? ) but could communicate fairly well during my time in Latin America (over a year in total)... now, I can still understand most of it - and nowadays even get considerable "practice" in this regard :wink: - but speaking myself is a completely different issue... :( It's just so much easier to "remember" a word when you hear it than when you're "looking for" it... :?
@americanhero -
but actually there ist no chance of being longer therei n the US than two weeks a year. What about Y`All?
Well, for me, it's almost the other way around... :wink: I hardly ever get a chance to see Germany (and all my family) for more than 1-2 weeks a year... which leaves about no time (or money :lol: ) at all to travel WITHIN the US... :( Reminds me of the time I when I was still living in Germany - never got around too much of that country either... it's just now that I'm NOT there anymore that I've come to really like travelling to and around Germany! Nevertheless, I still do, sometimes at least, miss "home" (which for me at this time is the AL Gulf Coast) when I'm over there... while I don't really miss Germany when I'm NOT there... :oops:
@Elmo & Josie -
that's kinda funny... 98.7 is one of my favorite stations, too - but of course, over here (Mobile - Pensacola area) it's not AFN but "Cat Country"... and no really good shows on there either. Which is OK with me since I'm not that much into that anyway (the more music, the better), and actually only ever listen to the radio when driving. There's just one little "game" that I always like to "catch" on the way to work (if possible), but that's only a part of a show...
...and, @Elmo - well, it's just me, but I'd say - JUST DO IT! You'd probably forever regret it if you don't... unless you can be sure you'll have that chance again in the foreseeable future (and you never know what could happen). And, since I recommended it, I take the blame if it doesn't work out... :wink: 8)
But seriously... no risk, no fun - and it doesn't have to be that expensive either... Are you planning on taking a rental car all the way down, or flying, or would you consider Greyhound or something like that an option? (wouldn't actually "recommend" it but I've done it myself, all the way across the country, apparently survived :lol: , and would also do it again if it wasn't for my husband :wink: ...) Also, there ought to be some (youth) hostels or YMCA's on the way, which is not only cheap accommodation but also a great way to meet people... sometimes even "hook up" for the next destination... but I better not try to "talk you into" anything, I guess... :oops:
Well, seems almost like I'm trying to lead about five or so conversations at once... AND "yadeyadeyade" too much at that, too... :oops: (Must be the "excitement" about being able to do ANYTHING online at all, I guess) Hope y'all don't mind... :wink:
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@ratlady: Wasn´t it you recommending me to take this trip a few pages before? I know I talked about that vacation here. I think I even posted a link to a topic.
Well, anyways..the plan is to stay a few days in the Big Apple, fly down to Wilmington and take the rental down towards Miami. It´s cheaper than picking it up in New York.
Adding the flights, the rental car, gas, one way rental, hotel & motel stays and about 300€ for food and beverage, entrance fees and souvenirs, I get to a price of 3000-3200€, just for 17 days! And I guess that won´t be enough, considering you have to pay parking charges and most likely even more for food.
With 2 persons, I get to a total of just 2100-2400€. That´s a hell of a difference!
I´d love to save money in any way, but I don´t know how.
Amtrak or Greyhound would be a cheap alternative, but you are quite limited. With a rental you can go anywhere, a major advantage particularly in small towns, which I´m planning on visiting.
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@ratlady: Wasn´t it you recommending me to take this trip a few pages before?
yes, you're exactly right... that's why I said I really shouldn't be "talking you into it" too much... :wink: It's your decision and you'll have to live with it, after all.
You're right, taking Greyhound/Amtrak or similar (there are other "coaches" that operate in certain areas, for example) cuts back on your "freedom"; but you could take Greyhound or else when "available", and then just rent a car while spending a few days at a certain "spot"... disadvantage, you can't just "pull over" whenever you like, but on the other hand, staying a little longer in one place may give you the opportunity to get to know it a little better/more "intensive", and maybe even meet some people you can "hook up" with for a while, who knows (especially when staying in hostels/backpacker style accommodation for a few days that's really not that unlikely - but I think I mentioned something like that before, too :wink: ). That's moreless the way I did it several years ago, never regretted it... although I admit back then it was less about the "cost" (even though I was a little shocked at the "chunk" the car rental took out of my budget even back then...) but more about the "horrifying idea" of having to drive hundreds of miles across unknown terrain all by myself... :oops: :lol:
By the way, talking about cost - if you put this trip up until some time in the future when you can "share" some of the cost, there's no guarantee it's going to be any cheaper - looking at rising gas prices etc... Also, the dollar/Euro exchange rate may be a factor (but I admit I have no idea about the current trend or predictions there).
I myself hate to spend that kind of money over a short period of time, but I'm planning on going to Germany in late May for our "Abitreffen" (first in 16 years...!) which will likely cost me well over $1000 for just 6 days or so... And even though I haven't booked anything yet, it's basically a question of time rather than money (even though, if I REALLY thought about it, I'd probably realize it's not quite in our budget... :? ) - I just think certain things are worth more than their "monetary value". Do it while you can, you never know if you get a second chance... but again, that's just me :wink: You may as well end up just "throwing a lot of money away for nothing" and regret it forever after... you just never know.
Good luck with your decision!!
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@ratlady: Wasn´t it you recommending me to take this trip a few pages before?
yes, you're exactly right... that's why I said I really shouldn't be "talking you into it" too much... :wink: It's your decision and you'll have to live with it, after all.
You're right, taking Greyhound/Amtrak or similar (there are other "coaches" that operate in certain areas, for example) cuts back on your "freedom"; but you could take Greyhound or else when "available", and then just rent a car while spending a few days at a certain "spot"... disadvantage, you can't just "pull over along the way" whenever you like, but on the other hand, staying a little longer in one place may give you the opportunity to get to know it a little better/more "intensive", and maybe even meet some people you can "hook up" with for a while, who knows (especially when staying in hostels/backpacker style accommodation for a few days that's really not that unlikely - but I think I mentioned something like that before, too :wink: ). And, you may still get to explore the further surroundings, including smaller towns, from your "home base" at that time... might also save you one-way fees on the rental car. That's moreless the way I did it several years ago, never regretted it... although I admit back then it was less about the "cost" (even though I was a little shocked at the "chunk" the car rental took out of my budget even back then...) but more about the "horrifying idea" of having to drive hundreds of miles across unknown terrain all by myself... :oops: :lol:
By the way, talking about cost - if you put this trip up until some time in the future when you can "share" some of the cost, there's no guarantee it's going to be any cheaper - looking at rising gas prices etc... Also, the dollar/Euro exchange rate may be a factor (but I admit I have no idea about the current trend or predictions there).
I myself hate to spend that kind of money over a short period of time, but I'm planning on going to Germany in late May for our "Abitreffen" (first in 16 years...!) which will likely cost me well over $1000 for just 6 days or so... And even though I haven't booked anything yet, it's basically a question of time rather than money (even though, if I REALLY thought about it, I'd probably realize it's not quite in our budget... :? ) - I just think certain things are worth more than their "monetary value". Do it while you can, you never know if you get a second chance... but again, that's just me :wink: You may as well end up just "throwing a lot of money away for nothing" and regret it forever after... you just never know.
Good luck with your decision!!
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...oops, sorry... :oops: :oops: That "guest" was me, trying to edit my previous post... :oops: sh** happens when you're in a hurry 'cause hubby's already called out with "hrrr-hrrrmmmm"... after announcing that dinner was ready... :oops:
Anyway, that's what I had wanted to add:
disadvantage, you can't just "pull over along the way" whenever you like, but on the other hand, staying a little longer in one place may give you the opportunity to get to know it a little better/more "intensive", and maybe even meet some people you can "hook up" with for a while, who knows (especially when staying in hostels/backpacker style accommodation for a few days that's really not that unlikely - but I think I mentioned something like that before, too ). And, you may still get to explore the further surroundings, including smaller towns, from your "home base" at that time... might also save you one-way fees on the rental car.
...never mind... I guess for now, I better go hide myself, my "embarrassment", AND my bad manners... :? :engel2:
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You´re definitely right in most points.
I do have the money to realize my dream, hell, I could even make it longer. But with me, it´s the same as you, I hate seeing such a great amount of money just evaporating. Plus, my financial situation is not yet secured, so I can´t really tell you the next time money is going to be transferred to my bank account and not FROM it.
I shouldn´t be postponing this trip..that´s what I basically keep doing. I´ve always wanted to visit America, but this dream has gotten really concrete (don´t know how to put it better) about 1,5 years ago. So I planned on going in 2005, it didn´t work out as you can imagine. Maybe I can go next year, but that´s not the point. What if I won´t do it next year? And the year after that?
As you can see, I´m a very reflective person. :wink:
The Greyhound/Amtrak way of traveling I still kinda like. It has something adventurous and independent to it. Some American musicians used to do this..traveling around the country all by themselves..just with their clothes and their guitar. 8) Isn´t that an American dream?
I´d love to do this, but I think it´s hardly realizable. Just imagine the train station is a few miles away from your motel or the beach or something else you want to visit. You´d need a taxi which would amortize your savings..
I had another idea to cover the distance. Get my bicylce into the airplane and just ride 1200km down to Miami..piece of cake. :lol:
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Hey everybody!
Interesting discussion about the money that has to be spend going on a nice vacation.
As longer I 'dg' myself through the postings here,as more fascinated I get ,with what people do to have a USA dream-vacation once or twice a year.What also amazes me is that the majority of the vacationing crowd ,once back in Germany, save every cent to do it all over again.
Wow!
I couldn' do it....I guess I am too cheap. :shock:
I have lived in the US now for over seven years....and I have not seen half of the places in the US that most people in this forum have seen.(I am assuming that most american people don't get around like that as well.)
Well ,first...as you all know....we don't get a lot of time off.
10-14 days a year would be average. :roll: I am now fortunate enough to have 30 days of paid leave,but going to see the Grand Canyon for example has never really crossed my mind.
I usually end up spending my leave in the same old spot in Texas where I have friends.
well...you know the old sayin'...to each his own....I guess I am just not a big traveller.
In fact I must admit that I have tried to avoid tourists,especially when I lived in DC,just too many of them over there.
:wink:
Anyways....I will try to go over to Germany this year...I have been saying this each year for the past 4 years ....let's see if it will work out this time. :D
I already know that after 2-3 weeks in Germany I will be very eager to return back to the states....I doubt that I can really adjust to the 'german way of living' anymore.
Regards,
Missy
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Hi, missy! (and special greetings to Elmo, please read this, too!)
We've spent so much money for vacation the last three years (since we arrived in the USA), like we did never before in our entire live! :lol: And we don't regret one cent.
We saw already so many places in 30 months, we visited 26 states right now, and in four weeks we go to California and Nevada (16 days), then, three weeks later, we gonna go to Naples, Everglades, Key West, Miami Beach,(12 Days), four weeks later we have to fill our container :shock: :cry: .We have to move, back to Germany! :oops:
And....we didn't save yet one Dollar for the move! :lol:
We needed the money for vacations! :D
We didn't think about it, we just did it, and nobody can take our memories away from wonderful trips to New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Toronto, Charleston, Savannah, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Hot Springs, Little Rock, Atlanta, Santa Fe, the four corner region, vincinities of Kentucky, the Carolinas,Tennessee, Mississippi, Michigan, etc...,and Florida, of course (about 8 times), every longer weekend we used for short trips, and now we are broken, nearly bankrupt :D , we don't care! :wink:
Instead of having saved thousands of dollars, we have collected thousands of memories and thousands of pictures from our wonderful time in the USA, which was, I think, one of the best time and experience in our life.
Now a new chapter begins! Me and my family are very excited about the "new "beginning in our "old" home. It is pretty hard to leave! :cry: :roll:
Regards,
Monika
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@Crimson Tide -
you're really exceptionally lucky to be able to do all this (and no, I'm not the least bit envious *mostinnocentlookIcanmuster* :wink: ) - and I'm not referring to the financial side of it; as far as that goes, I see it just the same - what good is a stack of money that's just sitting there? Nothing but a pile of paper... better use it while you can... ;) Nevertheless, I still HATE to spend thousands of dollars in just a week or two (I used to live on about 500 DM a month!... I admit, that was quite a while ago, though :oops: :wink: but it still "sticks" with me)... but most of the time, I do it nevertheless if I can, and try not to think too much about it... :lol:
For me, the major problem now is time - I just can't "break away" from work and/or other obligations for more than a week or so... and I don't even care about not getting any paid vacation but it's just that apparently I care too much about my work to just go off and not give a damn about what happens to my "project" during that time... :oops: :? :wink:
And, I know leaving "for good" will be hard, very hard... (I've been "heartbroken" in that regard quite a few times myself... :( ) but at least, you have something to go back to other than unemployment and an uncertain future... :wink: And, as you say, you have your memories and I'm sure also a lot of friends to correspond with and, of course, visit as much as you can! And maybe someday they will visit you, and you will not only show them around Germany, but also maybe kind of "see Germany through their eyes"... I've made that experience with my hubby; he just gets SO excited about everything that I appreciate things that I hardly ever noticed before so much more now when visiting Germany...
@missy -
same here as far as "not getting around the States too much" goes... in fact, the only "real" travel in the US that I did was in conjunction with my first time as a J1-research-scholar, which I back then thought to be a "one-time-thing" so better get the most out of it... :wink: Well, now I've been here several years and it's still mostly a dream to go on a major trip and see and explore the rest of the country... but we're holding on to it, even though it may never happen :)
I´d love to do this, but I think it´s hardly realizable. Just imagine the train station is a few miles away from your motel or the beach or something else you want to visit. You´d need a taxi which would amortize your savings..
I had another idea to cover the distance. Get my bicylce into the airplane and just ride 1200km down to Miami..piece of cake. :lol:
In that case (cycling), you should get the media involved - I bet there'd be at least some TV or radio stations/magazines/newspapers that could be "talked into" sponsoring the trip in exchange for the story... 8)
But seriously, yes, I know from my own experience that at least Greyhound stations are oftentimes somewhere way out of the way of anything...and also not really in the "best" part of town... but not necessarily always so; and I don't know about Amtrak at all. What you could do, figure out your "route", then compare it to Greyhound/Amtrak schedule and route map, check where exactly the stations at your "selected stops" are located (mapquest), see where (youth) hostels are available and located, and go from there... If a "preferred stop" also has a (youth) hostel somewhere near, you could contact them ahead of time and check if they have any "pick-up" service available (some do, some don't). Then, stay for a few nights and either "hook up" with fellow travellers, or use public transport if available, or rent a car on your own to explore the "further surroundings"... it may be a little more miles on your total travel, but saves you the constant "packing-and-unpacking" and worrying about the next place to stay at... and still at least somewhat cheaper than doing it all by one-way rental.
Again, you will miss a lot (in terms of just "seeing things") that way, but you will also "gain" in a way most other visitors won't...
And yes, I can see that you're really pondering about this quite a bit - "what if" is one of my "favorite questions/arguments", too... :wink: "What if" you don't do it this time, or next time... what if you end up NEVER doing it after all? That's actually meant as a serious question, not irony or anything... sometimes, with some "dreams", it's just that it's the dreaming and planning more than the actual "realization" that matters most... while unconsciously there might be concerns that if you put it into reality, you might end up disappointed (and you very well may, you never know unless you try!) Think about it... if it's really ONLY the "financial concerns" that hold you back, just forget about them - remember, "there's some things money CAN'T buy..." Do it while you can!
("What if" tomorrow you slip on a piece of banana peel and break you neck? That's one of my "most convincing" ones whenever I'm REALLY hesitant to blow all that money out the window... 8) )
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Hi, Ratlady!
I was really very thankful for the opportunity to do all the trips, and I'm not sure if we can do something similar ever again like we could do the last time.
Before we came to the USA, weren't be able to do such kind of vacations, and, perhaps we can never do it again later. The more I appreciated the chance we got here! We all know that it was really an exceptionally time in our life. I'm also not sure how easy or how difficult it will be, coming back, having not so much money like the last three years, (I, for example, have given up my job, and I'm 43 years old, who wants to hire such an old woman in Germany! :cry: I was "old fashioned", was most of the time "Mother" instead having a career!
So we really don't know what the future will bring us!
And that is the reason why I told about all the trips, because Elmo, for example, doesn't know if he should do that trip, or not. I think, he should do it right now, because you don't know what will be tomorrow! You know, what I mean?
Perhaps the economy goes down more and more, like we noticed in Germany! Nobody wants to have the "Experts" back from Tuscaloosa at Mercedes in Sindelfingen or in Bremen, so a lot of collegs really don't know, what kind of job they will get! Hallo, reality, welcome back in
Germany! :shock: :cry: We can be very lucky that we already have our house in Germany, and that my husband just two days before got a message that they found a good job for him in Bremen in September! That is a very important message! :shock: :P I'm very happy for him!
Other people had to save money all the time to build a house in Schwaben, and the ground there is very expensive!
We really don't know if it was good to do all the trips, (other people would have saved more money, but we all agreed, before we came to the USA, we wanted to make as much trips as possible, and we would do it again!)
We could do it, because our company paid for a car, the rental of the house,(although we have to pay for our house in Germany too), AND the most important thing was: We paid less tax here than in Germany!
And whatever will happen------- we regret nothing from the last three years! :lol:
See ya, Monika
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@Crimson Tide
...ooooooppssss.... seems I've kinda "misunderstood" something there, or jumped to conclusions a little too fast... I was for some reason under the impression that your husband got "sent" here by his employer, and would still have the same job (safe & secure) upon returning to Germany... :oops: :oops: All the "more good" to hear that there IS actually a job waiting for him in Germany...!! :)
...unfortunately, I do know just too well about "job opportunities" over there... I wouldn't be living in the US now if I only had been able to find a decent job in my profession back in Germany (i.e., one that didn't require a PhD and 10 years of experience while only considering applicants 30 years of age or younger). On the other hand, I've never really had any "major" problems finding a job while living there, only that those were "odd jobs" that had nothing to do with my (ah, so-called :lol: ) "career"... and I was kinda "picky" even with those... But, on a long-term perspective, that's really more like "surviving" vs. actually "living"... :?
I don't have any kids (would make just an AWFUL mother... :oops: :? ) but I still think that "just being a mother" might be more worthwhile/valuable/meaningful than having a great career... guess that depends on your own individual priorities as well. But, as with money, a "career" may not matter that much in the end... I admire everyone who went through pregnancy, birth, and raising the kids 'cause I know I could never do that... I've had times when I was working 100 - 120h a week on a regular base (not that I HAD to, but I WANTED to...) but still, that seems like NOTHING compared to that...
Well, I'm getting carried away here... but I still agree with you in just about every regard! Had I been in your place, I would've done just the same!! And - quite obviously - I also think Elmo should take this trip, especially since he says he "can afford" it...
(by the way, NO ONE really ever knows what the future is going to bring... in fact, ours is more than uncertain at this time, too... so why worry about it too much? Most of the time, that don't help either... :wink: )
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@ratlady & Crimson Tide: It´s very nice of you, I really appreciate your trying to convince me!
I think it´s mainly the fear of the unexpected (and to maybe end up disappointed). If I had done this before, I probably wouldn´t have problems with that.
And I know you´re right...why waste any time? I mean, I have so much other plans to carry out..I want to see other parts of the US as well, such as the West; and there are still so many parts of the world I haven´t seen yet. I told myself I wanted to use my time and see as much as possible, expanding my horizons and exploring the world. Our time on earth is limited and (almost) everyone has the goal to be or to become happy, and this happiness is necessarily connected to one´s life dreams - and one of mine is traveling around.
And you never know what comes next. Maybe you could have an accident, a job that cuts down on your leisure time, "family duties"... Okay, I don´t have an own family and I don´t know when and if I´m ever going to have one, but there are still those other uncertain issues. But we don´t want to "paint the devil on the wall" as we would say in Germany.
I see, we´re getting philosophically here.. :wink:
And ratlady, 100-120 hours a week? One week just consists of 168 hours! :shock: Wow, that´s just astonishing! 50 hours a week was the most I´ve ever worked in my entire life and that was already too much for me. I guess I´m more the leisure-loving kind of person. :lol:
On the other hand, I didn´t like the job and so it´s no wonder that time was only passing by so slowly.
And in terms of the economic situation here I was always thinking it´s not that bad as the media wants to make us believe it is. However, I experienced it myself, but that might be due to other reasons.
So, here´s my little story. As I told you, I didn´t like my first job and since my company didn´t renew my contract I was forced to search something else to do for a living. I went to school again for one year, did my alternative civilian service and then planned on applying to an university. Unfortunately it didn´t work out and again, I had to look for something else. After my first apprenticeship I was always saying a second apprenticeship was completely out of question, but it seemed there was no other option left for me. And so I mailed 30 applications - there are still 2 responses left, but the other 28 all rejected me.
I guess nobody wants to hire me for an appreticeship at almost 24 and with my bad resume.
And that´s why I said "my financial situation was not yet secured".
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Hi Elmo!
...geez, that could almost be me talking - sounds like we think very much alike!
I still remember the first time I did some travel on my own, even though that was just 3.5 weeks all around Scandinavia between Abitur and university - the thought also was, I want to SEE things and GO places while I can, and if not now, I'm not sure if I ever get another chance... but boy was I nervous and afraid!! I mean, it was a lot of fun studying travel guides (at the local library, to save money :lol: ), maps, youth hostel locations, collect all the brochures I could get at the nearest train station that had a "travel center", compare option & prices of different train-tickets etc...
All that was still at a time when the internet as it is now was basically "unknown", so to pre-book a hostel you had to send them those international payment coupons (or whatever they were called), and they'd either accept or tell you they were fully booked at that time. Which made it a lot easier for me, you know - well, I'll just send that off and see what happens, it's still way in the future etc... Then, when the first room-confirmations got back, it was more like - "oh-oh, now I REALLY have to do this...?!" :lol: And of course, the closer the day of departure got, the more desperately I wanted to bail out - "I don't want to do this!! This is going to be a catastrophy! I'll be SO lost!! I won't be able to communicate!!" etc. Well, when I finally sat in the train and saw my parents disappear in the distance, I was devastated and just wanted to get out and go back... when I arrived at my first "destination" in Denmark, however, I realized it wasn't half as bad - I just had to take things in my own hands and DO IT - and it turned out not only fairly easy to do, but also felt GREAT to do it! :) My greatest fears (not knowing what to do, where to go, how to communicate, getting "stuck" or lost somewhere...) diappeared just like that, and making new contacts came almost naturally...
Up to that point, I had never really been "on my own", especially in "unknown terrain" - always safe & secure among my friends (or family) I'd let them do all the talking and making contact when it came to that... and the idea of having to go to university soon, where I knew no one and didn't even know my way around was just HORRIFYING :? Well, after I returned from that trip, I couldn't WAIT to start studying, meet new people, "explore" a new environment and all that. In a way, that trip was more than just a great vacation or adventure - it helped me to become more outgoing and self-secure among strangers, to be less afraid of the unknown or changes in "normal routine", to take the lead instead of hiding behind others, etc.
Needless to say, after that, it was also quite clear for me that the next chance I'd get, I'd do it again!! And I did, many times... NEVER without some anxiety, nervousness, and whatever other concerns, but that's actually - for me, at least - somehow an "important" part of it - sounds a little weird, but you may still know what I mean :wink:
Oh, concerning the "work week" - well, that was at a time when I was still young & ambitious :lol: ... OK, actually it was only a couple of years ago but I got married in the meantime... :engel2: But honestly, there's plenty of people over here who have a "40h"-job but work at least 60h on a regular base... with a lot of jobs (especially the "better" ones), you're actually EXPECTED to put at least 60-80h or more into it (even though that's not "on paper"). Competition rules, and good and hard work is highly acknowledged - often it also (or only 8) ) pays off in other than "monetary" terms... Like in my case, for example - back then, I "put in" more than twice the hours that I got paid for, but I enjoyed doing it (would sometimes look at it as "fun" rather than "work") - and at some point, I realized I had also built up a certain reputation, in my field of work as well as within the "community"... I got to know some of the "more influential" people in my field that I know would "put in for me" if I needed it... I made most of my friends through my voluntary work, too... So even though I didn't make a lot of money (and I couldn't care less about that), I "gained" something that I think is a lot more valuable :wink:
On the other hand, of course, there's plenty of people out there that HAVE to count every penny - and oftentimes work even harder with less "return", monetary or otherwise... Working two full-time jobs is not all that uncommon over here, after all - sometimes even more than that... you do the math :? The difference (to Germany) of course is, at least you will almost always be able to find a job somewhere - only that you may not be able to live off of that alone...
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...one more thing @Elmo - didn't want to have that get "lost" in that monster-text above... :oops:
Have you ever considered an internship in the US? It sounds like you MAY be qualified as a "young professional"... (I'm not absolutely sure there though)
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Like I said, the fear of the unexpected. It´s never easy to get over yourself and actually do something for the first time. And that´s not only just traveling, it´s almost everything in life. Some people don´t care about that, they just do it. I don´t know if they are happier in life without having to worry that much, but I do know that I would.
I totally agree with you...it´s more than a mere trip. It would be the first time to overcome fears, an adventure to become more self-dependent and self-secure. If you have survived in a foreign country all by yourself, you will probably survive anywhere else (wasn´t it Frank Sinatra singing something alike that? :lol: "If I´m gonna make it there..." bla bla). And I also have to get away from my everyday life for awhile.
I haven´t come around much yet. Just around Europe and then I was once in Turkey and Morocco. So, I haven´t been more than about 3000km away from home yet. But Morocco is very exotic, though.
So, there´s still my first long-distance flight to come and guess where it´s headed. :wink:
But I´d also like to visit Mexico, Asia, Australia, Africa...basically the entire world to sum it up. :lol:
I wonder why I´m still worried about making myself clear in the US. I know I can speak language quite well, but still there is this uncertainty not to understand a single word and having to ask again. I don´t want to reveal myself as non-American, so I´m gonna try to imitate the American accent. We will see what happens, but I doubt I can hide my roots even if I try very hard. :wink: Although I can sound out this terrible German accent.
But isn´t it ridiculous? I have visited countries where I can´t speak one word of their language (but I wasn´t alone) and I worry about that...
Yeah, I´ve considered living there for awhile. I wouldn´t want to move away forever, ´cause I clearly have my roots here. But for a few months..sounds interesting. Maybe it´s just what I need to do.
But you know, my fears are even greater there..
For starters, would you like to explain me what a "young professional" is? I haven´t got a clue..
PS: It seems that we´re deterring others from writing here. :roll: Guys, you are also invited to join us.
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PS: It seems that we´re deterring others from writing here. :roll: Guys, you are also invited to join us.
Well, maybe you're right... almost a week now and nobody "daring" enough to "interrupt"... :oops: :? :lol: Anyway, if you want to, you can also pm/pn me (English or German, doesn't matter), especially if you have questions about a possible internship ("young professional" was just the best I could come up with from the top of my head for "Berufsanfaenger" but maybe "trainee" would be better... ) I've had several J1-visa myself and I think I still know a little bit about it... 8)
Back to something more "general"...
I know I can speak language quite well, but still there is this uncertainty not to understand a single word and having to ask again. I don´t want to reveal myself as non-American, so I´m gonna try to imitate the American accent. We will see what happens, but I doubt I can hide my roots even if I try very hard. Although I can sound out this terrible German accent.
First, nothing wrong with asking if you didn't understand it the first time - I do it all the time down here, even with my own husband (but I seriously suspect he does that on purpose sometimes... not opening his mouth while speaking, which seems to be a common habit in the Deep South :lol: )
Second, why do you want to appear like an American? It's being different that makes you "interesting"... and as for "imitating the American accent" - forget it :wink: . "The American Accent", I believe, only "exists" outside of the US - within the States, there's a multitude of different accents... especially on a journey from New York to Miami you'll notice. And, I also believe that there's only very few exceptionally talented people that would actually speak a second language perfectly like a native unless they've learned it from early childhood on... at least a slight accent will always remain - which may just be "slight" enough for your American friends to confirm you in your belief of being "accent-free". I remember several years ago, when I went home to Germany for the first time in a year or so... at some point we all went to a "family event", and all of a sudden someone was saying something about my "American accent" :? ...which I myself wasn't aware of, and none of my "closer" family had ever brought up to me either... :wink:
In spite of that, AND almost a quarter-century of "practice" (if you count school & university), over here one of the first things I get asked when talking to "strangers" is - "what's that accent...?" :lol: However, I really don't mind, on the contrary - have started some great conversations that way... :D (Even though I'm also - like you - kind of "proud" of myself that I don't have that "typical" German accent... at least I can "master" the "th" almost automatically so it's neither "s" nor "d"... but there's lots of other things, like v and w, or just where the emphasis goes on a particular word, etc.... I think we even talked about something like that at the very beginning of this thread, too :wink: )
So, don't try to "imitate" anything - instead, be yourself and just do it as you go along and it comes out of your mouth... you'll get plenty of compliments for your "really good English" anyway, regardless of just how "perfect" it actually is :wink: And, the rest comes automatically, i.e. your English will "sound" more like theirs over time without your even noticing... 8)
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and as for "imitating the American accent" - forget it :wink: . "The American Accent", I believe, only "exists" outside of the US - within the States, there's a multitude of different accents... especially on a journey from New York to Miami you'll notice.
I grew up as a "military brat" (of sorts). My father was a High School teacher for military dependents here in Germany. My father is from Missouri. I went to school with kids from all over the States. I still have fun when I am back in the States and people ask me "Where are you from?" I answer "Germany" in obviously not very "foreign" accented English. They look at me bewildered, so I say "... but I am an American." Then they ask "Where in the States are you from? I can't tell from your accent." I let them guess :lol: Nobody ever says "Missouri" - I talk to fast for that.
Another "trait" of a military brat (or a bad habit) is that they tend to pick up the accent of the person that they are talking to during the conversation. If you are talking to "non-brats", they notice that sometimes and think you are trying to mimick them and get upset...
BTW, a lot of people accuse me of having a German accent, too. It is sorta along the line of - if you can't place the accent (in Germany), then they are from Berlin :wink:
My "German accent" is most notable nowadays in my writing - I put commas everywhere :lol:
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Hi,
It sounds so familiar to me, the question,"Where are you come from?" :lol: , or,"Your accent is so cute!" :roll: After one sentence the person I'm talking to begins to smile and I can hear always the same! :wink:
I had not only the problem of speaking very bad English when I arrived
in the US, ( it is much more easier to learn s.th. as a young student), :oops: but also I have now, after nearly three years, the problem, not to know immediately the German word for something! I really forgot vocabularies, or I need some time to remember!
I think It will be better after a few weeks, having been returned to Germany!
Then I have to find people like me, to meet them one time a week or so, to keep (and to improve) my learned English language skills!
Regards,
Monika
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@ratlady: Uhm, I don´t necessarily want to appear American, but I don´t want to appear German either, just because I don´t like the extreme German accent. When you are used to listening to Americans talking and then you hear a German speaking English it´s kinda funny. :lol:
It´s just that I have put so much effort into improving my skills that I´d like to start getting compliments for it. And a native not noticing you´re foreign would be the best of all compliments , wouldn´t it?
But probably you´re right, it is VERY difficult to overcome your accent. Compare it to foreigners talking German, you´ll hear it instantly - even the slightest difference. But I´d say a foreigner always tries harder, so you would understand them better than someone from Lower Bavaria or Saxony. :wink:
But I´d happy if it worked out somewhat. I remember a job interview I had to speak English at. Despite my skills, there´s always the nervousness to consider and back then I had some sort of a blackout - almost all words were gone and there was it again - the German accent. :oops:
And as for the different American accents: I´ve always been wondering about that question, but haven´t got an answer. The only accents that I know are the "normal" one and the southern accent. I figured there were several accents, but I´ve never heard of them?!
And by the way, it can´t be that difficult to appear like an American. Just put some chewing gum into your mouth and start babbling. :lol: :wink:
@Josie: I always find it very bad that Americans are so "embedded" in their barracks. The brother of my brother-in-law has an American girlfriend. I think she was born here, plus she has a German mother, and her German is very bad. Now she´s experiencing the disadvantages of that, now that her parents are back in the states and she is still here living with her boyfriend.
The next barracks is only 10km away from my home and I have no contact to Americans - I just see the big SUVs driving around. :wink:
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OK, since I "promised"... :wink: Trying to keep "it" alive even though I've gotta get up again in less than 5h.. :? :wink:
@ratlady: Uhm, I don´t necessarily want to appear American, but I don´t want to appear German either, just because I don´t like the extreme German accent. When you are used to listening to Americans talking and then you hear a German speaking English it´s kinda funny. :lol:
I know what you mean - but then again, I don't think you for yourself really "hear" your own accent ... :wink: Don't you think that all those Germans with that "horrible" accent are in fact trying hard to "eliminate" that - and maybe even think they "succeeded"? I'm really not so sure... for example, I know I have certain "problems" with English but yet, I can't really "hear" my accent as that... however, when listening to my brother, who's also fluent in English, I can hear it immediately... so, I THINK my English sounds different than his (especially regarding "th") but in the end, who knows... :?
A few years ago, I met a German who'd been living in the US for more than a quarter century, and his German was all but rudimentary... yet, he STILL had that "awful" accent when speaking English... :wink:
And, as Josie said - if you try to "imitate" anything, it may just go down the wrong way... :?
It´s just that I have put so much effort into improving my skills that I´d like to start getting compliments for it. And a native not noticing you´re foreign would be the best of all compliments , wouldn´t it?
Well, as I said before - you WILL get complimented on your language skills, for sure... provided you do go over there and give it a try :wink: And, a "native" will always notice you're from "somewhere else" - nothing wrong or bad about that, so just don't worry too much. :)
The one thing I think about "English skills" - once you stop "translating" and really start "speaking", that's when you "got it"... and that's also when you're gonna run into the "reverse" problem, just as Crimson Tide said:
but also I have now, after nearly three years, the problem, not to know immediately the German word for something! I really forgot vocabularies, or I need some time to remember!
I can also testify to that! Luckily, nowadays I have the "luxury" of visiting German internet discussion boards fairly regularly, which helps a lot... but I remember several years ago, sometimes I'd call home and just felt like an idiot, stuttering and scrambling for words... :oops:
@Josie:
My "German accent" is most notable nowadays in my writing - I put commas everywhere
*lol* - I may be wrong but my impression is, whereever there would be a comma in German there's none in English, and vice versa... :lol:
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So, if nobody wants to write something then I´ll do it. I can entertain myself. :wink:
@ratlady:
but I remember several years ago, sometimes I'd call home and just felt like an idiot, stuttering and scrambling for words...
It´s very strange and even though I don´t use English in my everyday life, that happened to me, too!
And sometimes it´s even easier to use English to describe a particular situation. There are some words you would at least need 5 words in German to describe it. I don´t know if you know what I mean..I can´t think of an example for you right now..
The one thing I think about "English skills" - once you stop "translating" and really start "speaking", that's when you "got it"...
Yeah, you´re right. I noticed that oftentimes it works fine for me, I don´t have to translate when wanting to say something in English and vice versa. But when it comes to difficult terms or some particular words I don´t know the translation of, the German language catches up with me. :wink:
@all: Maybe we could talk about traveling again? I know we had that topic before, but there´s something I noticed the other day.
It seems that almost everything gets cheaper the later you book it - rental car, flights.. I´m not sure with accommodations, though.
And flights are a lot cheaper when booked with one airline. I saw an offer from KLM to New York and from Miami for less than 500€. But who wants to have two stops anyways? It´d take almost 17 hours to get home!
And there´s another thing about traveling: I´ve never taken an individual vacation before. A package holiday is so comfortable; you just pay the charge and then you can relax at the beach. :lol:
But if you have to care about everything for yourself...oh my gosh...there are so many things to take into consideration. You discover one problem and after solving this one, 10 others pop up. :lol:
How do you do that? It must be easier for America-experienced travelers since they have a certain overview of all issues.
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Well, even though I've heard some "hints" at reviving this thread, I guess it still takes a woman to make it happen... 8) :lol:
Anyway, looking at all the people in the other (German) "English-Thread" claiming their abilities and interest in the English language, and/or wishing for more practice outside of their US-vacations, maybe we can also get some more people involved here this time... :)
I probably would've done this earlier but really didn't want to start off with the weather again (which happens to be nice, warm, and sunny over here :whistle:...) :lol: So, last night I heard something on the news that reminded me of the "how to determine baggage weight on the way home"-discussion, or rather, the "off-topic" part of it. Even though this is not for travellers to US/Canada (yet?), i.e. a little "outside" of the actual "concern" of this board, I found it interesting for it is exactly about the airlines trying to reduce weight in order to save fuel (of course, their concern is purely financial; any environmental benefit would be a nice side effect though 8) ). Maybe we can start a little "pro/con" discussion or something...for a start, at least - after all, there's really no topic in this thread so no danger of going "off-topic" at all 8)
(since I'm not sure whether or not the link's going to "expire" eventually, I've copied the passages that I find most interesting below:)
British Airways will begin limiting some of its long haul passengers to a single bag per passenger — and charging them 120 pounds ($236) per flight for every extra piece of luggage each way, the company said Thursday.
The change applies to passengers flying economy class to destinations outside North America, the Caribbean, Nigeria and Brazil. While passengers to destinations such as Europe and Asia were previously allowed as many bags as they wished, they would now be limited to one bag — and charged for the excess.
Domestic passengers would be charged 30 pounds ($59) for every bag beyond the first, while the price for extra bags taken to Europe would rise to 60 pounds ($118).
[...]
Club World, World Traveller, and first class passengers would still be allowed to check in more than one bag. BA said it would offer a 30 percent discount to customers who prepay online.
The changes don't come as a total surprise to industry experts.
Last August, Tripso columnist and MSNBC.com contributor Charlie Leocha wrote a story predicting a similar change.
Mr. Leocha wrote:
Some industry analysts say that domestic airlines handle as much in luggage weight as they do in passenger weight, and the Transportation Security Administration reports that more than 50 percent of its $6-something billion budget goes to baggage screening.
Clearly, there’s money to be saved — and made — if the airlines can reduce checked baggage and charge extra for it at the same time. As “debundlings” go, luggage may prove more profitable than the late lamented in-flight meal.
Change is coming. The discussions are well along; in fact, luggage changes have been bandied about in boardrooms and revenue maximization meetings since the mid-1990s. The airline world is just waiting for the major airline with the most courage to take the first step. My guess is that all the legacy carriers will follow suit almost immediately, at least for domestic flights.
Air Canada, which moved more than 400,000 tons of checked baggage last year, is already testing online “Go Discount” fares, which offer added discounts to passengers who promise not to check their luggage or change their travel dates. Ryanair, in Europe, has been charging for checked luggage for years, and some passengers pay as much to bring their luggage as they do for their airline ticket.
Let’s face it, fuel costs are skyrocketing. Airlines are looking to save weight in every possible way, including using plastic forks and spoons, removing seatback phones and eliminating magazines. Lightening the luggage load would make a much bigger difference.
The airlines have already debundled food from most flights. They have debundled telephone ticketing from the sales process. Some have debundled exit-row seats, now charging extra for them. Others have reduced the luggage weight allowance from 70 pounds to 50 pounds. Some have eliminated blankets and pillows, and seats are squeezed closer together than at any time in history. The list of cost-cutting and fee-generating measures goes on and on.
Now the legacy airlines are seriously looking at the bare-bones Ryanair model, which is to strip the purchase of passage from point A to point B to the bare minimum: a seat on the airplane. Everything else becomes extra: luggage, food, drinks, pillows, blankets and occasional extra legroom. Even the barf bags may be on the debundling track (rumor has it that the airlines are exploring the sale of advertisements on the plastic-lined bags).
On a recent Air Traffic World Web cast, one speaker joked that the airlines should offer free passage for each passenger who ships two 50-pound bags to Chicago from Boston on the same flight. Charge freight rates for the luggage and let the passenger fly free.
If you check out the FedEx Web site, you’ll see what he means. The estimated cost of shipping two 50-pound suitcases is $358 for delivery the next morning and $341 for delivery the next afternoon. Even second-day delivery is priced at $213. And these quotes are for just one way.
Now look at the airfares. According to Orbitz, the fares from Boston to Chicago for flights a month in the future start at $212 round trip and max out at $432. When shipping two 50-pound suitcases to Chicago and back costs more than flying a passenger and the same two suitcases, something is clearly out of whack.
The current bottom line is undeniable: Airlines can extract huge cost savings by providing incentives for passengers to carry less luggage. The first steps have already been taken with the reduction of the free-luggage limit to 50 pounds. The next step, more than likely, will be to limit passengers to just one bag or to charge for extra bags.
My feeling is that a one-bag limit is the farthest the legacy airlines will go in the near future. But I predict that all checked luggage will incur fees in the slightly more distant future.
The Associated Press and Tripso.com's Charlie Leocha contributed to this story.
Full story on msnbc (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17046459/)
What do you think? What kind of changes would you support, which ones seem like a not-so-good idea? Personally, looking at all the above "options", I think that maybe they should also at least consider charging for "total weight", i.e. passenger plus luggage has to be below a certain limit - but of course, everybody would probably scream "discrimination" in that case... I don't think they'd risk that. :?
What do you think would happen if you really had to pay more for the luggage than for the seat/for the luggage instead of the seat? Would people really take less or just pay for it? Or maybe even just cut back on flying altogether? What would you do?
Also note that while you can still check your two bags for free if you fly to North America, you'll get charged if you fly to Asia or Australia... (anyone doing so on BA this year, be advised!)
OK, let's see how long this "survives" this time... 8)
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Well, even though I've heard some "hints" at reviving this thread, I guess it still takes a woman to make it happen... 8) :lol:
Well, well. 8) :wink: I could have done it, but the last time I tried nobody answered. So I was kind of deterred.
Before I´ll start with your suggested subject, let me say that I´m not really sure this is going to work out. Especially this topic is not so easy to talk about, even in German, so how is the mean English speaker supposed to do it? You´d have to stick to the small talk if you wanted to attract more people.
I haven´t read the entire article. However, last year I just checked in one suitcase weighing the maximum of 23 kg. I didn´t need more and I can´t hardly imagine why people would need more than that (except a few kilos). Bringing only one suitcase seems a little too much sometime. Everyday you have to do the same procedure - unload the car in the evening, reload the car in the morning. In New York it was even more difficult to take it with you in the subway and the bus.
In my opinion, a second bag might become necessary when going abroad more than just for a 3-week vacation. But even then, it is just ridiculous to charge passengers at those steep prices.
I´ll say we will just have to wait how the market reacts. If it´s just British Airways and a few other airlines initiating those charges, the customers needing more than one case will book their flights with other offerers and BA will eventually lose some customers.
BA will do the math and see if they can keep up these fees without losing money.
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I would like to jump back a little in this thread and make some comments about the ability to speak English.
It is always interesting to hear non native speakers reflecting on their ability in speaking the language of their new or host country. Specifically the accent area is of interest! As I mentioned in other threats, my wife is a specialist in language acquisition (other than the mother tongue) methods (she teaches at an university’s Grad School of Education to further the language teaching abilities of school teachers that want to get their masters degree).
Even though I live now almost 30 years in the states, people can still detect a slight accent in my speech, sometimes in the ways I pronounce or emphasize words, and sometimes in a different, albeit not wrong, way of sentence structure. I sound totally American for some person who is not a native speaker (even for people from Britain), but locals know immediately that I am not from here, they can’t place my different way of talking to any specific location, but nevertheless, they can hear that it is different. I do not hear any difference at all.
Language acquisition research seem to point out that people, that achieve fluency or near fluent command of a foreign language prior to puberty will be able to use this language without any accent, even if they leave the language area for a while and come back to again it after several years. They might be missing a certain number of colloquial words, but they still do not have an accent. This phenomena seems to be due to a “rewiring” of certain neuron patterns of the brain at the time of puberty. After the “rewiring is finished, accent free language reproduction seems not to be possible, unless one undergoes accent reduction training (like a lot of actors do for their different roles). However, the accent reduction training can remove most of the pronunciation accents, but is not able to remove the different sentence patterns of a freely formulated conversational communication.
I for myself find it much easier by now to communicate in English than in German! However, I still have that slight foreignness in my English speech, but I am totally accent free (if one oversees the rhinenish coloration in my language) when I speak German!
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That´s an interesting subject, dschlei. Seems like you are referring to our accent discussion.
6 months ago, I´ve been to the US the first time ever. Everyone said they will refer to my foreign accent. I don´t know the percentage of people noticing your accent, but it was relatively low with me. No idea what that says about the American people or my German accent. It happened sometime, though.
I´ve not been wondering about foreign accents in general, but to different accents in America. If I recall correctly, ratlady said something like "There are hundreds of different accents around the country. The only one I can differ is the strong southern tongue.
I assume you just need to live over there to get to know all the little nuances and figure out who is a non-native speaker, just as you would be able to do in German. If you live in Germany as I do, I´d say it is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to find out about all the differences, because it´s just Americans for me which I hear or see on radio/television and it sounds pretty much the same to me.
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That´s an interesting subject, dschlei. Seems like you are referring to our accent discussion.
6 months ago, I´ve been to the US the first time ever. Everyone said they will refer to my foreign accent. I don´t know the percentage of people noticing your accent, but it was relatively low with me. No idea what that says about the American people or my German accent. It happened sometime, though.
I´ve not been wondering about foreign accents in general, but to different accents in America. If I recall correctly, ratlady said something like "There are hundreds of different accents around the country. The only one I can differ is the strong southern tongue.
I assume you just need to live over there to get to know all the little nuances and figure out who is a non-native speaker, just as you would be able to do in German. If you live in Germany as I do, I´d say it is very difficult, if not almost impossible, to find out about all the differences, because it´s just Americans for me which I hear or see on radio/television and it sounds pretty much the same to me.
You are correct, I am referring to the accent discussion. And you are also correct, you need to live in an area to hear the subtle differences in the speech of persons not just right from that very area (like the differences I can hear in Rhineland German, which some person from Bavaria may not hear). The same, of course applies to the USA, too! The type of language one mostly hears on radio or TV in the states is more or less the way, English is spoken in the upper Mid West. One could probably call this Hoch-Englisch (American). However, even in this mid west version of English you have differences. If one goes, for example, in Minnesota to the north west, towards the North Dakota border, a lot of Scandinavian concerning intonation and verbiage is used in the speech there. Here and more to the south, as well as to the east, you can find German influences in the daily language. Things like Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Gesundheit, Grenzstein, Angst, etc. belong to the everyday language of the people here. Big differences of course are between the spoken language here and that of the “Deep South” the former Dixie states. Sometimes we have a hard time to understand their language, specifically if it is Cajun or Bayou type English.
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Well, even though I've heard some "hints" at reviving this thread, I guess it still takes a woman to make it happen... 8) :lol:
Well, well. 8) :wink: I could have done it, but the last time I tried nobody answered. So I was kind of deterred.
oops :oops: :wink: OK, I'll give you that much... :lol: I guess it was just a little too much talking about the same things over and again, with everybody pretty much in agreement... thus, running out of things to say... :whistle:
Before I´ll start with your suggested subject, let me say that I´m not really sure this is going to work out. Especially this topic is not so easy to talk about, even in German, so how is the mean English speaker supposed to do it? You´d have to stick to the small talk if you wanted to attract more people.
Well, it was a try :wink:... at least it brought the thread back to page one, if nothing else... as I said, it was just kind of a "coincidence", following the discussion about how we all could pack a little less and reduce fuel consumption/carbon dioxide output... some of the arguments were along the lines of "relation", i.e. how little a few pounds mattered when you look at the "big picture" - therefore, I found it interesting that (some) airlines are (or are thinking of) cutting back on "little things" like cutlery, magazines, blankets/pillows, or even those "barf bags" in order to save on fuel... But hey, I'm flexible - and if we get back to an "old" topic, maybe we can get some "new voices" to weigh in on it... Thanks @dschlei, by the way! :)
And you are also correct, you need to live in an area to hear the subtle differences in the speech of persons not just right from that very area
...more than that, you gotta somehow have at least some sort of "ear" for it (or so I believe...:whistle:)... me, even if I could tell "subtle" differences in speech, I'd never be able to pinpoint a "geographic origin"... not only true for English, but also for German (and even more so, Spanish). Of course, if it's REAL obvious, that's a different thing... but it'll always be a mystery to me how some folks can practically tell you your home town as soon as you open your mouth - and, at least my impression, even more so here in the US than back home in Germany... (?)
Oh, by the way - while they don't really speak "English" Down South - "Bratwurst" and "Sauerkraut" are well-known around here (well, at least in our area)... :lol:
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Nice to see this thread come alive again (even though I haven't been avctive here before).
I think dschlei brought up an interesting topic. Just recently I read an article about people, who were brought up bilingualy (if that is an english word). It said, that if you learn another language in your early childhood (in that article it was in preschool age), there is only one language-area in your brain. Meaning no matter which of those early aquired languages you are communicating in, you will allways use the same neurons in your brain. Whereas if you learn a foreign language in adolescense or as an adult, you will use a totally distinct area of the brain for this language. In consequence your brain will somehow always have to translate between your mother tongue and the foreign language, even if you aren't aware of that . Meaning that no matter how long you have been living in the USA (for example) an native speaker with a "good ear" will always be able to tell that you are not a native speaker. Just like dschlei said, it's not only the accent but also slight differences in sentence structure or different use of metaphores or other subtle differences.
What this article didn't talk about was the fact, that people sometimes aquire a foreign accent in their native language if they live abroad for a longer time. I find that quite fascinating. For example there are some german immigrants to the US, who still have a german accent allthough they have been living there for 30 or more years and at the same time have an american accent if they spek German. I noticed that, when I saw a tv-documentary in which people were interviewed, who came to the US fleeing Nazi-Germany in the 1930ies and 40ties. Another example is a German football coach (Sepp Piontek) who became Denmarks national coach in the 80ies and after only three or four years started to spek German with a little Danish accent.
It's hard to concentrate enough this late but I hope my English can be understood. I'll definetely be back here, to practice my English.
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Will Dschlei ever stop mentioning that he has been living in the states for more then 30 years and his wife...blablabla.....sorry...I just couldn't help myself...in just about every thread you post dschlei ,you put an emphasis on this...congrats...you won the immigration medal of honor. :teufel: :schlafend:
I also believe that reviving this thread with a discussion about excess luggage/weight is the wrong approach to attract members into this thread.
It is just to dry and complicated to even consider it...sorry...my opinion.
My accent is killing me. :lol:
At most times I don't even have one...and I can go through my day without being detected.But don't let me get nervous ,it is all over then...I just have to say 'hi',and people ask me if I am from Germany.
I have aquired a Texas accent,even though I don't live there....I guess I just have been around Texas folks for too long.
What I truly don't understand is the fact that some germans here in this corner have been around for 30 years but still speak a very very broken english.I just find it hard to believe that after such a long time in the US, they didn't master this language.They usually have american spouses,their children don't even speak german anymore and their grandchildren only have heard of Germany...but never been there.
It will always be a mystery to me.
I have a hard time communicating in german,I must admit.
My writing is okay...I have no problems expressing myself on message boards etc,but my spoken german sucks....when I listen to myself ,I always think I sound weird in some strange way...I always that my german sentence constellations are somewhat wrong...it just doesn't sound right.
That is besides the fact that I am always searching for the right german word...my poor mother has to figure my denglisch out each time we are on the phone.
:bahnhof:
I think one day my german speaking ability will be lost all together.
Anyways...this was just a glimpse in my blablabla......
I am watching the Grammys right now....and I love it...anybody else watching???
Missy
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Grammy Awards ... cool. I just switched it on that moment. :D Thnx.
Greetz,
Yvonne
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Nice to see this thread is flourishing again - at least for now. I think we´re missing one old member here. :wink:
There must be about hundreds of different accents in Germany, too. You just can´t relate one accents to one state. I´m from Hessen and there´s not only one "Hessian". It changes more and more the further away you go from your hometown. And it is also impossible for Germans to have an ear for every existing accent. Probably one knows a few from their area and those commonly known.
The American accent thing is still a mystery to me and yet it is fascinating. As I said, I am not able to figure out the home town my conversational partner was born in, but I DO want to know. The way I see it, the language differences seem to be not quite as extreme as they are in German (except southern blabbing, of course :lol:). I always imagine a non-native listening to a Bavarian or a Saxonian. :lol: Even if they understand quite a bit a German, they probably wouldn´t be able to understand THEM.
@DocHoliday: I knew there must be a solution to this kids-are-fast-language-learners thing (really, Americans absolutely love those wordplays, don´t they? :P). Back in my childhood, we started learning English from the fith class on. Now, they start in third class. It seems like this generation is going to have to big plus in terms of English, but if you want them to be fluent, you will have to raise them bilingually from birth on. But therefore, you need to live in a suitable environment, so they are able to speak English outside the house and German inside, for instance. Otherwise it´s hard not to confuse your kid.
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What I truly don't understand is the fact that some germans here in this corner have been around for 30 years but still speak a very very broken english.I just find it hard to believe that after such a long time in the US, they didn't master this language.They usually have american spouses,their children don't even speak german anymore and their grandchildren only have heard of Germany...but never been there.
It will always be a mystery to me.
Missy
This phenomena is not limited to Germans living in the US, but can be found everywhere. I know a well-educated Norwegian lady who is married to a German, has been living in Germany for more than 40 years now, brought up her two children in "German" and still does not speak proper German. Actually, her German is awful and seems to be getting worse. Sometimes I find it difficult to understand her at all. Also, I know a Mexican woman, same situation but "only" 20 years in Germany. A decent conversation with her is almost impossible, it is more like a guessing game. Rather embarrassing, because I keep asking "sorry, could you repeat this please, I didn't quite get it".
I always wonder how people can be so ignorant, but probably I am over-sensitive because language acquisition has always played an important role in my life.
There must be about hundreds of different accents in Germany, too. You just can´t relate one accents to one state. I´m from Hessen and there´s not only one "Hessian". It changes more and more the further away you go from your hometown. And it is also impossible for Germans to have an ear for every existing accent. Probably one knows a few from their area and those commonly known.
Well, even though in Germany you cannot relate one accent to one state you can relate an accent to an area. The spread of accents took place naturally over hundreds of years, but the boundaries of the German states were somehow forced on people. Thus, when you meet a person who speaks with that broad Manheim accent, this person could live just north of the border, i.e. in Hessia. However, you will be able to place that person almost correctly. What always troubles me, is when a person does not have an accent at all, which is the case in the area of Hanover, where we live. Because in the past, when we lived in Hessia and Bavaria, when I first met a person I had always been able to place this person in a certain "social bracket" (no discrimination intended) as soon as the other person had spoken a few sentences. Just by the way of speaking and whether somebody speaks with the local accent I got an idea of the social status of that other person. When we moved to the Hanover area this suddenly was not true anymore. Everybody speaks accent-free and you cannot tell anymore whether the person opposite you is a craftsman or a lawyer and I had some nice surprises. Please, don't get me wrong, this is not meant to be discriminatory in any way, it is just my personal observation about accents.
I knew there must be a solution to this kids-are-fast-language-learners thing (really, Americans absolutely love those wordplays, don´t they? :P). Back in my childhood, we started learning English from the fith class on. Now, they start in third class. It seems like this generation is going to have to big plus in terms of English, but if you want them to be fluent, you will have to raise them bilingually from birth on. But therefore, you need to live in a suitable environment, so they are able to speak English outside the house and German inside, for instance. Otherwise it´s hard not to confuse your kid.
There are quite a few German families who raise their kids bilingually, even though both parents are German. In most cases, if the parents are persistent over the year and don't let themselves get deterred by their children's refusal to actively speak the language with them, that works quite well.
Katrin
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What always troubles me, is when a person does not have an accent at all, which is the case in the area of Hanover, where we live. Because in the past, when we lived in Hessia and Bavaria, when I first met a person I had always been able to place this person in a certain "social bracket" (no discrimination intended) as soon as the other person had spoken a few sentences. Just by the way of speaking and whether somebody speaks with the local accent I got an idea of the social status of that other person.
If I were you, I wouldn't rely on that "ability" too much, because as I see it it's just a prejudice and your results will be wrong in a lot of cases. I know quite a lot of people that certainly belong to the upper "social brackets" (doctors, lawyers, university professors, politicians, etc.), who have quite a noticeable accent. Of course they are not speaking in a real dialect but allthough they speak grammatically correct "Hochdeutsch" you can tell at once which part of germany they are coming from. Take Helmut Kohl, Franz Josef Strauss or Konrad Adenauer, just to name a few prominent examples.
I think, it would be a shame, if it would become necessary to loose your local accent completely to be socially accepted. I prefer dialects with all their unique metaphores, images, wit, their own grammar, etc. over the sometimes sterile written german.
An by the way, the so called hochdeutsch is nothing more than the local accent of the Hannover region, which was by "chance" chosen to become the high language.
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This phenomena is not limited to Germans living in the US, but can be found everywhere.
So true... I've seen it both inside and outside the US, too... sometimes I've been wondering if it might really be "too hard" for them to get beyond a certain level, or if they're really just too "lazy" to try improving their skills after reaching a basic level that at least allows them to get around more or less... Or does it even have something to do with not wanting to "give up" their "heritage"...? I've heard of some families (both here in the US as well as in Germany) where certain members of the family (mostly older generations) literally refused to speak anything but their native tongue, having their kids translate for them if needed...
Of course, taken to the "extreme" (will say, people not learning the language at all), this is a real "hot topic" in the US these days... in our area, for example, they're offering classes and special dictionaries in Spanish for police officers in order for them to be able to "properly" do law enforcement... on the other hand, there's that "steakhouse" (wherever it is) that's all over the news these days for putting up a sign (and may be getting sued over it): "This is America: Please order in English"...
Well, even though in Germany you cannot relate one accent to one state you can relate an accent to an area. The spread of accents took place naturally over hundreds of years, but the boundaries of the German states were somehow forced on people. Thus, when you meet a person who speaks with that broad Manheim accent, this person could live just north of the border, i.e. in Hessia. However, you will be able to place that person almost correctly. What always troubles me, is when a person does not have an accent at all, which is the case in the area of Hanover, where we live.
Funny... I'm originally from the "Greater Hanover Area"; and at one point someone actually told me I had an accent typical for my home town... :shock: Never heard of any such thing ever before or after... :lol:
There are quite a few German families who raise their kids bilingually, even though both parents are German. In most cases, if the parents are persistent over the year and don't let themselves get deterred by their children's refusal to actively speak the language with them, that works quite well.
When I was little, my mom actually started to take English classes in order to "freshen up old skills & improve her resume"... I wanted to learn, too, so for a little while we tried to "talk English" at home... well, not surprisingly, that didn't really last long... :oops: :lol:
However, even if both parents are pretty much fluent in English and really adamant about "enforcing the rules" around the house, if they're not native speakers and do have a noticeable "foreign" accent, I cannot imagine the child(ren) being accent-free... (fluent, yes, of course). On the other hand, children that are "transferred" into an environment with all native speakers (of a foreign language) at a fairly young age (few years old) will more often than not grow up to be accent-free (or have the same accent as "native speakers" in the area)... so it's not really "mandatory" to do while they're still babies. At least, as far as I know... but I'm not really an expert here - it's been a while since I was really "into" this... :oops:
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However, even if both parents are pretty much fluent in English and really adamant about "enforcing the rules" around the house, if they're not native speakers and do have a noticeable "foreign" accent, I cannot imagine the child(ren) being accent-free... (fluent, yes, of course).
I am always amazed by the fact that people are so worried about their accents. I have met many Germans who speak a terrible English but like to discuss their accent at length. To me accent is not that very important. I am German and I am entitled to a German accent. I don't pretend to be American / English etc. But I try hard to work on my grammar and my vocabulary, as these things are really important to me. What purpose serves a good American accent, when the speaker forms a sentence like this: My daughter goes to the ground school in the third class? Even with the best American accent your counterpart will notice that you are not a native speaker of the English language.
By the way, when I speak with native speakers I always get asked whether I am from South Africa. For some reason I seem to have a South African accent, even though I have no idea why. However, as I said, I don't think it really matters, though I understand it is quite flattering to be told that you sound like a native speaker.
Katrin
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I still speak with a german accent and I never will lose it but I dont care. My husband (who is american) corrects my pronunciation when it is really bad. But usually he doesnt say anything and thinks that it is cute. But the same goes the other way round. I have a lot of american friends who speak german and are fluent but their is still something not quite right. There are of course others that even speak german with dialect and you really think they are from bavaria.
The thing with the south african I heard before too, but I have a south african friend and it is true that a german accent sounds a bit like south africans (if they are africaans and not british).
I think it is possible to raise kids billingual even when both parents are native speaker of one language. I had a student last semester and her german was really good and she spoke german with her 2 year old son (mostly at nigth, reading stories and things like that) and he started talking in german from time to time.
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@Wilder Löwe: As ratlady said, you have to provide a proper environment in order to let your child apply their language skills to the outside world. Otherwise it might be possible to become fluent, but it´s only meaningful to do it in a foreign country. But on the other hand, wouldn´t it be great for the kid? Always have an A in English. :wink:
I know of a case where a someone tried to raise his or her kid bilingually. Just that this person wasn´t a good English speaker at all. As far as I know, the kid ended up with a language development disorder (does this word even exist?) and it couldn´t speak accurate German nor English.
I´ve always wanted to hear all the little differences in pronunciation. After quite a bit of research, I have finally found a WEBSITE (http://accent.gmu.edu/browse.php) offering exactly this. They recorded people from different areas, even foreign countries, reading a text and give the additional information of their place of birth. So you are able to figure out the dialect commonly spoken in that area.
I find this very interesting, but still, I´m not really capable of hearing those differences. The only accent I could differ was..you guessed it..the southern tongue. :P
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@Wilder Loewe:
I hope my remark didn't lead you to believe I was "concerned" about my accent... :lol:
I still speak with a german accent and I never will lose it but I dont care. My husband (who is american) corrects my pronunciation when it is really bad.
Same here - almost everyone I talk to for a little while asks me about my accent... sometimes I just let them guess; it's pretty interesting how some folks can immediately "nail it", while others can guess several times and still be way off... :lol: Oh, and my husband usually gets a kick out of "teasing" me with it ("if you mean XXX, why don't you say XXX...") - in return, I usually claim he's just going deaf and trying to cover it up... :lol:
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This is an interesting topic and a great discussion.
I was brought up bilingual, but this is not really unusual in Switzerland. Typically at least one parent of bilingual families is a native speaker of the second language.
Nowadays more and more Swiss parents speak English to their children. Some sure do a great job but most just do not have an adequate knowledge of the English language beyond school English. They lack vocabulary, do not use phrases or know how to use them and the speech patterns sound often odd. I am not sure how this could help their children to achieve good English.
On the other side as long as they do not neglect German probably no harm will be done.
In the USA people often thought that I must be Canadian. But that’s because it is not easy to figure out the Swiss accent. :lol:
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Will Dschlei ever stop mentioning that he has been living in the states for more then 30 years and his wife...blablabla.....sorry...I just couldn't help myself...in just about every thread you post dschlei ,you put an emphasis on this...congrats...you won the immigration medal of honor. :teufel: :schlafend:
Excuse me please, and your problem is?
Or are you just yellows that neither you German or your English is as good as mine? Because I don’t know your German, but your English is somewhat sloppy! If your German is as bad, you are one of the poor souls that can neither speak properly German nor English! I feel really sorry for you!
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Nowadays more and more Swiss parents speak English to their children. Some sure do a great job but most just do not have an adequate knowledge of the English language beyond school English. They lack vocabulary, do not use phrases or know how to use them and the speech patterns sound often odd. I am not sure how this could help their children to achieve good English.
On the other side as long as they do not neglect German probably no harm will be done.
Well, I'm actually not so sure about that... I rather imagine as with most everything else, if you've already learned it "incorrectly" before, it's going to be harder to learn it "properly" afterwards than it would've been if you hadn't had any experience at all... For me, that sounds more like a classic case of good intentions having the opposite effect (or in other words, sometimes less is more)... :(
In the USA people often thought that I must be Canadian. But that’s because it is not easy to figure out the Swiss accent. :lol:
Well, what exactly IS a "Swiss accent"? :wink: I mean, usually it's your "native language" that influences your accent quite a bit... now, if you have two "native languages"... no wonder that's going to be confusing for those who are trying to figure it out... :lol: (By the way... if I may make an uneducated guess here - assuming German to be one of your "native tongues", could it be French is the other...? Pardon my curiosity... :oops:)
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Well, what exactly IS a "Swiss accent"? I mean, usually it's your "native language" that influences your accent quite a bit... now, if you have two "native languages"... no wonder that's going to be confusing for those who are trying to figure it out... (By the way... if I may make an uneducated guess here - assuming German to be one of your "native tongues", could it be French is the other...? Pardon my curiosity... )
Our every day language is not German but one of the several Swiss German dialects. In order to write and read we have to learn Standard German because our dialects are only oral.
We actually do not speak German at all until we start school. German is almost considered a foreign language. :wink:
Swiss German is softer than German and has some deep throat sounds unknown to Germans. Some dialects even sing song. That is why we don’t sound German to American ears and they just don’t know where to put us.
But considering we have to learn French and English at the same time it is possible that our English has also a slight French accent.
Well, you guessed wrong. :lol:
My second mother tongue is actually Italian. To my surprise my knowledge of Italian came in handy in the US. All the medical vocabulary is in Latin just like in Italian and it was easy for me to understand a doctor and read medical pamphlets or fill out forms. This is just not something we learn in school. I was very lucky particularly seeing other fellow expat struggling to overcome this obstacle.
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I am at a point of language recognition that I can hear from the English annunciation of a person from the different German language areas from which general are the person originates. I can recognize, for example, whether the person comes from Austria, from the general Bavaria area, or from the southern Swabian - northern Swiss areas. Rhineish language colorations are easy to recognize as are the general Hamburg/Bremen accents. I have not met enough people from the eastern States of the German language area to be able to identify their variation of German accent influence in their English.
Anoka, did you have similar experiences?
My wife has difficulties to identify theses slight differences, for her ears we all have a German accent. She says she has never met any German who cannot be identified by the accent, no matter whether the person believes that he/she does not have an accent, or whether I feel that there is no accent. She can easily point the slight differences in annunciation, sentence structure or word selection out to me. These differences are most obvious to her when a non mother tongue speaker tries to speak slang or some kind of street language. I fell that one has to grow up in a specific environment to be able to use these versions of verbal communication properly (no matter what the individual speaker believes). It may be that somebody with an untrained ear could be fooled into believing that such a speaker could be a native, however, a person that is trained in linguistics, and is a native of the target language area, has not problem with such identifications.
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Our every day language is not German but one of the several Swiss German dialects. In order to write and read we have to learn Standard German because our dialects are only oral.
:oops: ooh-ooh... my bad; of course I should've written "Swiss German" - I guess I'd already sent my brains to bed when I wrote that... :lol: You're right about "foreign language" - for me, Swiss German sounds like one, too... :wink: Funny though - to me, Swiss sounds somewhat "harder" than "Standard German"... but then again, I'm just not good with all that... :(
Well, you guessed wrong. :lol:
...I knew it... as I said, I'm hopeless in that regard... :? :lol:
Actually, your mentioning of being able to understand medical terms a lot better just made me think of some other "phenomenon" - latin names... funny how completely different they sound "in English"; I've had times when I was completely at a loss as for what someone was talking about until I asked them to spell it - and then knew exactly what it was... 8)
@dschlei - if it was possible, and you didn't already know the "solution", I'd almost be tempted to put you to the test... :oops: :lol:
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I always wonder how people can be so ignorant, but probably I am over-sensitive because language acquisition has always played an important role in my life.
[/quote]
They are not ignorant just lazy. It takes some work to learn a language
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I am at a point of language recognition that I can hear from the English annunciation of a person from the different German language areas from which general are the person originates. I can recognize, for example, whether the person comes from Austria, from the general Bavaria area, or from the southern Swabian - northern Swiss areas. Rhineish language colorations are easy to recognize as are the general Hamburg/Bremen accents. I have not met enough people from the eastern States of the German language area to be able to identify their variation of German accent influence in their English.
Oh ja I can make these differences too. Also the other way round I usually can tell what country a person is from when they speak german. I got some practice with this when I worked at the goethe institute - back than I even could tell if british, american or australian just by the german they spoke.
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Will Dschlei ever stop mentioning that he has been living in the states for more then 30 years and his wife...blablabla.....sorry...I just couldn't help myself...in just about every thread you post dschlei ,you put an emphasis on this...congrats...you won the immigration medal of honor. :teufel: :schlafend:
Excuse me please, and your problem is?
Or are you just yellows that neither you German or your English is as good as mine? Because I don’t know your German, but your English is somewhat sloppy! If your German is as bad, you are one of the poor souls that can neither speak properly German nor English! I feel really sorry for you!
Well, if this isn't the pot calling the kettle black, then I don't know... :roll:
Sorry for the OT. :oops:
Floriana
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Anoka, did you have similar experiences?
I am able to tell some of them apart just by listening to their English. But only the obvious accents like Swabian, Bavarian, Northern Germany (here more lack of) and Austrian from Vienna. Well, sometimes it’s not easy. I once confused a Tyrolian with a Bavarian. Some dialects are very close. As for the Swiss dialects I can pretty much point to the right region and often just after hearing one english sentence.
These differences are most obvious to her when a non mother tongue speaker tries to speak slang or some kind of street language.
That is something I have never understood. Why would someone want to talk like he was born in the streets pretending to be someone else. And even to me as a non native speaker are the differences obvious.
But sometime I teased my friends by talking Norwegian American like in the movie Fargo. I am pretty good at imitating the accent. :lol:
Actually, your mentioning of being able to understand medical terms a lot better just made me think of some other "phenomenon" - latin names... funny how completely different they sound "in English"; I've had times when I was completely at a loss as for what someone was talking about until I asked them to spell it - and then knew exactly what it was...
Oh yeah, that I had to get used to. I remember the word pronounced “Zsuss”. I really had to ask what they were talking about. Well, that’s Zeus in American. These were moments I just wished I could air my brain. :kloppen: But at least Americans do not jump to conclusions.
Ratlady, have you always been living in the deep south?
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I hope its not off topic in this threat:
How can I say for: "Bitte bezahlen Sie an der anderen Kasse?" - I need a good word for "Kasse" - my collegue wants to use "point-of-sale", but I think this is not the correct phrase.
Thanks for your help.
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I hope its not off topic in this threat:
How can I say for: "Bitte bezahlen Sie an der anderen Kasse?" - I need a good word for "Kasse" - my collegue wants to use "point-of-sale", but I think this is not the correct phrase.
Thanks for your help.
Hi
Kasse heisst in den USA " (cash) register".
"Please pay at the register."
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fine :)
Thanks
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Hi,
I was reminded of this thread when I saw the beginning of the movie 'commando' last night (of course, I only watched that movie for language learning purposes).
Anyhow, I thought it was very funny when Arnold (the Gubernator), using his strong "alpine" accent, talked to his daughter about his upbringing in, of all places, East Germany......
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Hi, :lol:
this thread is great. Especially for me, because in may i `ll go to the USA. :wink:
So, i can train my english und maybe i will have a better speaking-start in my vacation.
My last shool-lesson certainly isn`t so long ago, but i need a little bit practise.
In some threads you wrote, that the american have no problems with the english-noobs, but i hope that i will
understand them in the first days. And i also hope, that i will find the right words in the right moments. ;-). (no lycos translation will help me :?).
OK, enough english for today.
Greetz,
Jörg
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And i also hope, that i will find the right words in the right moments. ;-)
Welcome! :D
Well, the best thing to do is just to relax and not worry too much about it - from my experience, that just makes matters worse... :wink: By the way, I've "survived" in the US for several years now, and I never seem to "find the right words at the right time"... :oops: :lol:
Oh, and always keep the following in mind (got that in an e-mail quite a while back 8))
If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to speak
fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on the lovely
language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your leisure, English
lovers.
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.
8 ) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house
can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out
and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the
creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights
are out, they are invisible.
P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?
@Anoka -
Ratlady, have you always been living in the deep south?
Not "always", for sure... :wink: :pfeifen:
But seriously - even though I've never really "been to" any part of the Northern US I actually "started out" with several months in Florida (i.e., "just outside" the Deep South, so to speak :lol: )... that's as far as "The US-Experience" goes. However, first time I ever spent several months instead of just a few weeks in an English-speaking environment was Down Under... and even now, I regularly get people who claim to "recognize" an Australian accent when I'm talking... but then again, I've (occasionally) also had others put me into France or Michigan (don't know which one's "the least flattering" there... :lol: :oops: :wink:)
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Oh, and always keep the following in mind (got that in an e-mail quite a while back 8))
"If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to speak
fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on the lovely
language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your leisure, English
lovers.
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) ...
..."
:hilfe: :hilfe: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Great list!
Reminds me of a nice anecdote:
In a conversation about languages and pronounciation someone said to G.B. Shaw (at least I think it was him), that the english pronounciation was very easy. Everything, he said, was pronounced just as it was written.
Shaw said nothing, he just wrote down the word "ghoti" and asked the other man to pronounce it.
When he couldn't, Shaw told him, that it was pronounced "fish" an he explained: It's the "f" as in enough, the "e" as in women and the "sh" as in nation. ;)
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@DocHoliday: Check it with the LEO dictionary, there you'll find help. Nice little story, by the way!
@ratlady: Funny list. I am surprised by the majority of points that I actually understand. If you put a bit of thought into it and use your dictionary :wink:, it´s not that difficult.
I'm experiencing it myself that it's a huge gap between (very) good English and fluent English. But still, this language seems to be one of the easiest languages to learn. Just compare it with German.
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Hi everybody,
I just wanted to test if there are still some people interested in writing in english... It´s been a long time since someone last wrote, but I think there are still some of us out there who would like to keep on practicing!
By the way, how do you, if you´re not living in the US, "practice"? Do you read english books, watch movies in the original tongue, or what else?
Would be great to hear from you all again!
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This thread is probably a good preparation for our trip starting in 2 weeks ;)
The funny thing is: I was very bad in english while I was in school. Probably that's the reason I still have problem using the right tenses while speaking, especially simple past, present perfect and the belonging progressive forms... but however, I learnt to speak quite fluently while using it for my job, especially phoning with American suppliers. This is probably the reason I have a much more American than German accent ;)
Also, my wife and me sometimes watch movies in english...
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By the way, how do you, if you´re not living in the US, "practice"?
This sentence shows a typical German sentence structure that would give you away immediately as a German speaker.
You write:
By the way, how do you, if you´re not living in the US, "practice"? What shall I practice? English of course. Thus you should tell me what you want to know from me!
The proper structure would be:
By the way, how do you practice English if you do not live in the US?
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Probably that's the reason I still have problem using the right tenses while speaking, especially simple past, present perfect and the belonging progressive forms...
"belonging progressive forms?" Could it be you mean "respective" (or "corresponding")? :wink:
But anyway, I think it does matter where exactly you are (talking about) "in the US"... One good (or bad? :lol: ) thing about living in the South... nobody cares about unimportant things like grammar and such (famous quote :engel2: - "...she loves him in spite of his ways she don't understand..."). After all, it's all one big family down here (a.k.a. "they said they were married but they're really brother and sister" :mrgreen:), so everybody knows what you mean regardless of how you say it - and most of the time, they wouldn't even know there's anything wrong with it anyway... rather the contrary - speak "overly correct", and you'll most certainly give yourself away :lol:. On the other hand, I don't doubt that in parts of the heavily German-influenced North you might want to take a little more effort regarding these matters if you don't want to "raise some eyebrows"... :dozent: :wink:
This is probably the reason I have a much more American than German accent ;)
Sorry, but there's no such thing as an "American accent"... :wink:
Back to the question of "how do you practice"...
When I was at university, they had a thing called an "English Roundtable" - open to everyone interested, a group of people consisting of native and non-native speakers getting together one night a week at a local pub to talk about "God and the World", so to speak. That, to me, would be the absolute best way to "practice" at home - you can read, watch, and listen all that you want, but speaking (other than the "repeat after me"-exercise) is totally different thing. Although I gotta admit I myself always happened to find an excuse to "maybe go the next time"... :oops:
Other than that, the usual suspects - English books/papers/movies/news/correspondence...
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"Corresponding" would have been the right word for the ;);)
Is "belonging" more used for material things?
btw: The missing "n" in "an" in this case was more a "mistype" than an unknowingness. Usually I use that correct ;)
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Is "belonging" more used for material things?
ooh-ooh... now, how to explain? :oops: I suspect there's some detailed grammatical explanation involving the use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives as well as their respective role in a sentence etc... Let's just say that as a general rule, there's (almost) always a "to" belonging to "[to] belong to" (sorry, couldn't resist :wink: )... if you said "and the progressive forms belonging to those verbs", that should be OK (at least in everyday life)
btw: The missing "n" in "an" in this case was more a "mistype" than an unknowingness. Usually I use that correct ;)
Actually, you did! :lol: Classic case of cyberspace-misunderstanding - I used the bold print to put a "virtual acoustic emphasis" on "an"... your "a" didn't miss a thing, really. :wink: Sorry, but I really didn't know how else to do it... :oops:
(...your last word should be "correctly", though... :wink: :nixwieweg: )
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Thanks for your explanation... this means I only can have "American accent" but not "an American accent"? Did I understand that right this time?
For the adverbs... I fear I will never really learn the reasons when to use them ;)
Good night ;)
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Hi,
Thanks for your explanation... this means I only can have "American accent" but not "an American accent"? Did I understand that right this time?
no, you didn't. You have "an American accent". I think ratlady wanted to point out that the indefinite article "a" needs an "n" added when it precedes words starting with a vowel.
For the adverbs... I fear I will never really learn the reasons when to use them ;)
It really is quite simple. Adverbs modify verbs, and they tell you how something is done.
Floriana
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For the adverbs... I fear I will never really learn the reasons when to use them ;)
A nice song by Tom Lehrer about adverbs: :lol:
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Thanks for your explanation... this means I only can have "American accent" but not "an American accent"? Did I understand that right this time?
:oops: I guess I'm really having difficulties expressing myself correctly (no pun intended)...
Of course you can have "an American accent"... when you're talking in your native language (in this case, German). When it comes to English, there's about half a gazillion "accents" out there... thus, no such thing as an "American accent". The emphasis on "an" was meant to indicate that "the American accent" is a generalization that doesn't really exist within the country itself (Wish I had known this was going to turn out that complicated... :lol: But hey, sometimes these things do come back to you - my fault, I apologize. 8) )
By the way, it's hard (or impossible?) for one to "hear" one's own "accent" anyway... :wink:
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Hi,
:oops: I guess I'm really having difficulties expressing myself correctly (no pun intended)...
no, not really. I just completely misunderstood you. Sorry about that. :oops:
Floriana
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By the way, it's hard (or impossible?) for one to "hear" one's own "accent" anyway... :wink:
That is absolutely correct! After living here for about 30 years, I feel that I have no German accent left. However, my son and my wife tell me all the time that i really have a heavy German accent! Other people can detect an accent, but it is so watered down but now that they cannot pinpoint it to a specific country. For them. I just sound "foreign".
My wife, a linguist, says that she can always hear, whether one was raised in the US or not. Unless one underwent real rigorous accent reduction training, one will always have some kind of accent that does not sound native!
It could be that the above poster has less of a British sounding accent if he talks to an American, but as you said, an American accent as such is not existing, it is rather a more typical general American way to pronounce certain words and letters (the r comes to mind here).
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Ah, okay, now I understood. ;)
You meant, I cannot say there is ONE "American accent"... as I wrote this, I just meant: I can pronounce the "th" as a "th" (and not as a "s"), the "r" with the tongue up in roof of the mouth and so on... of course for an American, I will easily be recognized as a foreign speaker, but I don't make the "typical German pronounciation mistakes"...
That's all I wanted to say in my first posting... didn't expect that would get such a big thing ;)
Good night
Matze (have you ever tried to tell this name to an American? ;);)).
P.S.: I remember I saw a German family on the TV who named their child "Kenneth". But they weren't able to pronounce the child's name correctly (btw: correct use of adverb?!?), they always called him "Kennes"... (ouch!)
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Hi,
P.S.: I remember I saw a German family on the TV who named their child "Kenneth". But they weren't able to pronounce the child's name correctly (btw: correct use of adverb?!?), they always called him "Kennes"... (ouch!)
yes, correct. You catch on quickly! :daumen:
"Kennes"? This somehow reminds me of "Schakke-line" and "Schan-talle" and "Bädd-rigg" (Southern Germany). :platsch:
Floriana
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I can pronounce the "th" as a "th" (and not as a "s")
You can - or you think you can? :wink: - there's apparently a lot more to a "th" than just "not an s"... just ask wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_English_th)... :lol:
(don't take it personally, I'm in there with you... every day... :wink: )
Some other "typical" mistakes, by the way - "v" and "w" (among my personal "favorites" :? ), and where to put the emphasis in words with more than one syllable... Sometimes, you can end up focusing so much on one or two "typical mistakes" that most of the countless others get totally out of control... :oops: :lol:
Typical conversation at home:
I: "could you please get me [*such-and-such*]?"
Hubby: "Huh?"
I: "[*such-and-such*]
Hubby: "What???"
I: "that thing, you know, [*detailed explanation*]"
Hubby: "Oh, you mean [*such-and-such*], why didn't you say so?"
I: "THAT IS!!!! EXACTLY WHAT I SAID!"
Hubby: "No, you said..." (AAARRGHHH!!!)
That's all I wanted to say in my first posting... didn't expect that would get such a big thing ;)
I know exactly how you feel... :lol:
(BTW - a "typical spelling mistake"... pronunciation... pronounced just like that, too :wink: )
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Seems this topic is immortal. :wink:
I can pronounce the "th" as a "th" (and not as a "s"),
Well, as I figure, there are many different pronunciations for "th".
something: sounds more like an "f"
this: sometimes sounds like an "d"
etc.
But maybe we should give this topic a rest since we must be discussing it for the millionth time right now..
Anyway, SanFrancisco asked how we practice. Fortunately, my employer finances a Business English Certificate (Cambridge) and that´s where I get my training from besides my learning the "regular" English.
Business English is often considered another language and I can agree insofar as you have typical phrases that are commonly used in commercial correspondence. But that is also what I hate about this kind of language. You are quite limited in choosing your words and phrases and you are not free to write more creatively.
I always get a little bit upset when I write a letter and my trainer says that those terms are not necessarily wrong, but are not entirely right in terms of business language either.
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@dschlei: See? That is why we have to practise English :oops: I´m always very happy to have someone who tells me what mistakes I make - because I don´t often realize it myself!
@elmo: That´s great! I would also love to take Business English lessons - some people in my company do even get them - but not me! So the only thing I can do is to watch movies, read books, and write e-Mails with a friend in Minnesota. She is very nice and keeps on telling me that my english is pretty good :D
I also have an american friend who lives in the same town as I do, but unfortunately, she seems to think I´m a bit stupid and that I´m not able to understand, read or write english at all. That´s actually a bit disturbing. She never talks english to me - and when she shows me pictures of her little niece or nephew, she keeps on translating the underlines of the pictures for me, which are as difficult as "Little XXX, age 3, on Christmas Eve 2006". Thanks a lot for that!
The last book I read in english, by the way, was "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".
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@elmo: That´s great! I would also love to take Business English lessons - some people in my company do even get them - but not me! So the only thing I can do is to watch movies, read books, and write e-Mails with a friend in Minnesota.
...or, make friends with those who do get to enjoy classes in Business English and ask them to practice with you... 8) :nixwieweg:
I also have an american friend who lives in the same town as I do, but unfortunately, she seems to think I´m a bit stupid and that I´m not able to understand, read or write english at all. That´s actually a bit disturbing. She never talks english to me - and when she shows me pictures of her little niece or nephew, she keeps on translating the underlines of the pictures for me, which are as difficult as "Little XXX, age 3, on Christmas Eve 2006". Thanks a lot for that!
Don't take it personally :wink: Here, I've occasionally been approached by people who had taken up German at one point in their lives and now were interested in some "practice". Well, for me, that's always kind of a "strange" situation... it's hard to explain, but somehow I have difficulties talking German in an English-speaking environment, especially to someone who speaks English better than German. Kind of a similar feeling as I had back in school during English classes, when I just couldn't get myself to "talk English" in a room full of Germans... :oops: Confusing, I know... :?
Anyway, your friend's "unwillingness" to talk English with you may have other reasons that are completely unrelated to yourself and your English skills (as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with those :wink: ). Maybe she just likes to talk German better than English; and maybe she isn't actually "translating" but just "talking" about those pictures (I've had that quite often, and also done it myself - tell people what's on the pictures even though it's right there on the paper). Maybe there's still some other reason... 8)
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Hey, this idea is really good! I think I´ll go and try that, let´s see if it works :) It´s pretty funny, the reason I´m not allowed to take this english classes is that they think my english is good enough already, and the don´t want to spent money on me getting even better... First, when those lessons started, they were talking about letting me take spanish lessons, which wouldn´t have been too bad either, but unfortunately, the seem to have forgotten about that completely...
The problem is, if she would only talk about the pictures, like you described, I would be perfectly ok with it! But she also keeps on saying stuff like "Ich weiß nicht, ob Du weißt, was das heißt", even if the word is as easy as "Christmas" or "Age XXX". Also, when she shows an e-Mail (jokes or something), she says: "Ich weiß nicht, ob Du so gut Englisch lesen kannst". But she knows that I read a lot of english books, she even borrowed some from me already! That really annoys me a bit. Maybe you are right and I´m getting it completely wrong, but sometimes I feel like a complete idiot because of that!
I know what you mean with "talking english in a non-english environment". It´s the same with me, if I have to talk english on the phone in the office, I´m really doing a pretty poor job, because I feel so strange speaking english when everybody else around me is speaking german! On vacation in USA e.g., I don´t have any problems with that!
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@elmo: That´s great! I would also love to take Business English lessons - some people in my company do even get them - but not me! So the only thing I can do is to watch movies, read books, and write e-Mails with a friend in Minnesota. She is very nice and keeps on telling me that my english is pretty good :D
She might be just acting "Minnesota nice" as we call it around here! Next time when you write to her, tell her to drop the "Minnesota nice" attitude and tell you the things the way they are! She’ll know exactly what you mean with Minnesota nice, but she might not want to let go of it if you don’t know her that close!
People around here are very sensitive about other people feelings and don’t want to hurt them (their feelings that is)!
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First, when those lessons started, they were talking about letting me take spanish lessons, which wouldn´t have been too bad either, but unfortunately, the seem to have forgotten about that completely...
well, maybe it's time to remind them... :wink:
The problem is, if she would only talk about the pictures, like you described, I would be perfectly ok with it! But she also keeps on saying stuff like "Ich weiß nicht, ob Du weißt, was das heißt", even if the word is as easy as "Christmas" or "Age XXX". Also, when she shows an e-Mail (jokes or something), she says: "Ich weiß nicht, ob Du so gut Englisch lesen kannst". But she knows that I read a lot of english books, she even borrowed some from me already! That really annoys me a bit. Maybe you are right and I´m getting it completely wrong, but sometimes I feel like a complete idiot because of that!
OK, that's different, then... but convinces me even more that the problem lies with her, not you. I take it you already told her that, yes, you do know English "that well"... hm.
Did she learn German as a "foreign language" or did she grow up bilingual?
Maybe the next time, you could just "answer" her in English: "Thanks, I really appreciate - but, in fact, I do know what that means... [and if you really want to do me a favor, please help me improve my English instead of just translating everything into German for me... that just makes me feel like an idiot]"... :zuck:
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@dschlei: I will certainly do that when I write to her the next time! I´d like to know what she really thinks about my English...
@ratlady: Yeah, I should remind them once more... But I don´t think that this will be of any use...
She did learn German as a foreign language - she came to Germany 10 years ago. She comes from a small town in Kentucky (around 300 people are living there), and she came here because of her "Now-husband". He was there for a Highschool-Exchange - Programme. They were both very young (18), and saw now other possibility for their relationship then her coming here with him.
I think I will try what you suggested - maybe this will finally work!
Thanks a lot for your help!