English Thread

[Floriana]

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.

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... 

Sorry for the OT. 

Floriana

[Anoka]

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. 

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.    But at least Americans do not jump to conclusions.

Ratlady, have you always been living in the deep south? 

[boehm22]

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.

[Anoka]

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."

[boehm22]

fine

Thanks

[KurtHans]

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......

[dacapo78]

Hi, 

this thread is great. Especially for me, because in may i `ll go to the USA. 

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

[ratlady]

And i also hope, that i will find the right words in the right moments.

Welcome! 

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...  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"... 

Oh, and always keep the following in mind (got that in an e-mail quite a while back )   

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... 

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  )... 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...  )

[DocHoliday]

Oh, and always keep the following in mind (got that in an e-mail quite a while back )   

"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) ...

..."

 

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.

[Elmo]

@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  , 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.

[SanFrancisco]

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!

[Smartmatze]

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...

[dschlei]

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?

[ratlady]

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")? 

But anyway, I think it does matter where exactly you are (talking about) "in the US"... One good (or bad?  ) thing about living in the South... nobody cares about unimportant things like grammar and such (famous quote  - "...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"  ), 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  . 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"...

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"... 

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"... 

Other than that, the usual suspects - English books/papers/movies/news/correspondence...

[Smartmatze]

"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