Ask me about germany.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Ask me about germany.

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

Nasenbiber posted:

German goon living in Berlin chiming in. I did not serve in the Bundeswehr but did civil service instead if someone has a question about that.

'sup Berlin and civil service buddy? :haw:

Can I chime in too? Darf ich auch mitmachen?

I'm studying at the Berlin University of Technology, which is one of the universities with the largest group of foreign students in Germany, if someone has questions about stuff like that.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2009 21:23

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 00:48

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

Contingency Plan posted:

When a German girl turns fifteen, does her family celebrate with a quincea�era or similar?

Not exactly, but there is Confirmation (if you're Protestant), Communion (if you're Catholic) and the so-called "Jugendweihe" in eastern Germany, if you're Atheist.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 08:33

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

Nasenbiber posted:

Hey, I study at the Freie Universit�t, nice avatar btw. did you see Zappa plays Zappa back in may?

Thanks! Also, I hate that your campus is much more beautiful than ours. :saddowns:

I wanted to go see ZpZ in May, but it was expensive. I kind of regret it now.

quazi posted:

How much truth is there to the stereotype that German products and artwork have a desire for maximum technological precision?

Carl Zeiss and Hasselblad make better optics than Canon and Nikon.

An automobile from BMW has higher tolerances than, say Lexus.

and the music of Kraftwerk reflects on this.

There's also the two most German words in German language: "Ordnungsamt" (Literally: Office of Order) and "verboten" :haw:

Well, I guess it's true to an extent. We are proud of our "deutsche Wertarbeit" (German quality workmanship).

I'm an Engineering student, so I'm a bit biased about this, but you see signs of that strife for precision everywhere. In Germany, you don't get a traffic sign just saying "slow" as in Britain, for example. I don't think that there's a lot of countries in the world with more traffic signs than here.

Krakened posted:

Do a lot of people speak English as a second language there?

Most people around the age of 20 and younger had had English as their first foreign language in elementary school at around 10 years of age.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 21:28

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

Abel Wingnut posted:

4 - How the hell do you guys remember all of the genders and conjugations of German? Further, which books would you recommend for learning German? I know that might be a hard question for you native speakers, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

I think that the assignment of genders is the feature of the German language that makes the least sense to people learning it as an adult. Like Liface said, it's something you learn listening and speaking the language. Words just don't "feel right" in the wrong gender, even if the genders themselves are pretty confusing. An example: It's "die T�r" and "das M�dchen", "the door" and "the girl". Why is "door" feminine and "girl" is neutral? :iiam:

Maybe a Linguistics or German Studies goon can clear this up.

roomforthetuna posted:

If one were in Germany, speaking otherwise competent German but using the neuter form of everything, are there any (or many!) instances where this would make you hard to understand, or offensive, or would it just make you sound funny, like someone visiting England would sound a bit funny but perfectly comprehensible if they were to say "the table, she is wobbly"?

Exactly. People won't have any difficulties understanding you, but you are going to sound rather strange and get some funny looks.

Sheik Yerbouti fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Sep 24, 2009

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 22:01

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

Nasenbiber posted:

@ Sheik Yerbouti: Yeah, your main building is one ugly motherfucker but at least you don't have to haul your rear end all the way to Dahlem every day.

I'm living in Buckow, so Dahlem isn't far from here, but it's about one hour to Ernst-Reuter-Platz

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 22:13

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

Christoff posted:

How do you feel about the illegal immigration? Lots of Turkish there.

Berlin has the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey in the world. (D�ner Kebap in a pita bread was invented here :haw:

) It varies. Usually, the first generation of Turks that came here in the 60es is the most integrated, but there are a lot of younger Turks rejecting German culture and living in closed communities. In some parts of Berlin, there is some resentment against Turks and immigrants in general. Those usually are the boroughs the right-wing extremists are active in as well.

I like the fact that Berlin is so multicultural, and it contributes to what makes the city unique, but I don't really know first-hand how it is in other parts of Germany.

Sheik Yerbouti fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Sep 24, 2009

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 22:46

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

I never stayed in an English-speaking country, but I want to sometime.

Like, as I believe, a lot of other nerds around my age, I started learning the language when I was about 6 years old by playing computer games in English. Officially, I began learning the language in 4th grade and continued to do so all the way to the Abitur, when I took English as my first "Leistungskurs" (intensive course), which led to me having to write a 2000-5000 word essay about the relationships of female characters to the protagonists in Hamlet, Oliver Twist and other books we had to read in our course during the two years before. :haw:

This forum helped me a lot in improving my skills, although I would really like to get some speaking experience.

Feel free to correct me.

Sheik Yerbouti fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Sep 29, 2009

# ¿ Sep 29, 2009 20:50

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

I loved that you got a better grade if you sounded as smug as possible.

"In this essay, the author shall strive to convey to the reader the Freudian meaning of Hamlet and his mother's relationship." :smug:

I got 12 of 15 points, I think. Mostly just for style, not content. :haw:

# ¿ Sep 29, 2009 20:58

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

We dub EVERYTHING. Usually, the voices are much worse than the originals, too, which goes double for games, which sound loving retarded in German.

But that is just my opinion and I seem to be a member of the watch/play-everything-in-English minority.

We even change movies' titles! An example: "Alien" became "Alien - Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt" (Alien - The eerie creature from an foreign world)

Sheik Yerbouti fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Sep 30, 2009

# ¿ Sep 30, 2009 16:16

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 00:48

Sheik Yerbouti: Apr 14, 2009; You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream.

You can also try some (since the 70s) quintessential Berlin food and get yourself some D�ner Kebap :haw:

# ¿ Dec 29, 2009 23:51

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > Ask me about germany.