Comments on "Must...learn...German!" - Faerye Net

Re: Dane to the rescue

2005-10-18T11:23:03+00:00

An expert, no less. My ego feels appropriately inflated and, of course, very appreciative. But no luck on the fart thing, then?

Re: Dane to the rescue

2005-10-18T09:49:09+00:00

I’d say the right to be a German expert on the internet. I know, I know, EVERYONE is an expert on the internet! But YOU have the right to be a German expert and still feel like a good person afterwards…that’s rare!

Re: Dane to the rescue

2005-10-18T00:50:50+00:00

I reckon you’re right. So what rights does kinda-sorta-knowing-German-but-to-Hell-with-the-grammar give? The right to make fart noises with one’s armpit without people murmuring amongst themselves with expressions of disgust? :p

Re: Dane to the rescue

2005-10-17T12:34:51+00:00

That makes FAR more sense (lichtdurchflutete, I mean). However, these translatey people are definitely messing with me.

And the one thing you fail to realize here is that the horror that is German grammar provides two things: if one fails to learn German to any degree, it is an EXCUSE; and if one succeeds to some extent, it adds to the BRAGGING RIGHTS :)

Dane to the rescue

2005-10-14T11:25:51+00:00

flugzeug: aircraft
lichtdurchflutete: well-lighted (literally “flowed through by light”

And you’re right about what’s involved in learning German. First of all, there’s three possible sexes for each noun, and you have to remember the right one for each and every one of them. Then they have a truckload of words for simple concepts like “the” and plural “s” depending on the grammatical context. German grammar = pain. Pain, I tell you. English grammar is so much easier, although the vocabulary is also much larger. I guess, with German, you get fewer words, but many, many more grammatical rules. And PAIN.