Ask me about germany.

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

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Come to #deutschgoons everybody

AlecEiffel posted:

What I initially wanted to ask in my first response to this topic was...

What's something neat or cool that is from the United States but you don't see often in Germany? Something that could be a gift especially.

A dish wand.

AlecEiffel posted:

Und ist Freiburg eine gute Stadt? Ich planne da zu studieren / an Austauschprogramm teilnehmen.

Yes. Freiburg is the best city in Germany. I studied there for a year. Feel free to PM me or e-mail me if you have specific questions: liamrosen@gmail.com

ruehrfisch posted:

I'm German and often visit my boyfriend in the US (lols LDR), and everytime I really miss the small snacks and cakes from the bakery. Also, to me it seems that there's a LOT of additives in everyday food - toast is "soft" for weeks after opening, there's EDTA in noodle salad, stabilizers in chocolate milk, artificial flavours and colouring almost everywhere. And why are deli meats always super-processed and why are pastries/cakes technicolourful instead of fresh and simple? I have no idea.

I felt that there were just as many food additives in Germany as there were in the US. Look at the ingredients of your Br�tchen at the chain bakeries sometime. Small shops are dying out and being swallowed by Aldi, Rewe, Treff, and the like. It sucks

----------------
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Liface fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Sep 24, 2009

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 09:31

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 15:31

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

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.

There was a study done where they made up German-sounding words, then asked native speakers to identify whether the word was der, die, or das. The respondents agreed with a staggering level of accuracy.

The ability to assign genders to German words is learned through growing up listening to and speaking the language. No one who has ever learned German as an adult will ever have this ability. They may develop their skills over time, but they will never be 100% on nouns which they have not learned through rote memorization.

Liface fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Sep 24, 2009

# ¿ Sep 24, 2009 21:42

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

I posted this in the German thread as well.

If you want to get a good idea of some German culture peculiarities, as well as some old Brits that complain more than everyone else in the world, look no further:
http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20048&st=0

# ¿ Sep 26, 2009 11:38

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ringo R posted:

What did you think about the german spoken in Br�no?

It's bad. Probably about 75% of it makes sense. The worst part is that the actor who plays his assistant isn't even German, he's Swedish. So he speaks just as poorly as Sacha does.

Liface posted:

There was a study done where they made up German-sounding words, then asked native speakers to identify whether the word was der, die, or das. The respondents agreed with a staggering level of accuracy.

The ability to assign genders to German words is learned through growing up listening to and speaking the language. No one who has ever learned German as an adult will ever have this ability. They may develop their skills over time, but they will never be 100% on nouns which they have not learned through rote memorization.

I found the study I mentioned above.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...Ux0TJNziwu_9SOA

# ¿ Sep 28, 2009 06:16

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

German dubs are abysmal and I would recommend never watching them if you value your brain. The government needs to abolish the synchronisation industry. People's English level would improve immensely.

The sad thing is that most Germans grew up watching the dubs so they don't know anything else.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2009 18:33

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Is it such a boring city that I'm going to hate the next 2 years of my life if I live there? .

Nope. In Germany, no big city is a boring city. Anywhere you can party, you'll have a great time.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2010 17:48

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Does anyone know what the best way for me to transfer money from an American bank account into a German bank account is? With minimal fee rapeage? I'm a student so I'd qualify for any student bank accounts I think. The only thing I absolutely need is that the account itself is free, ATM, and online banking would be a plus (but not required).

Get a Bank of America account. They are part of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_ATM_Alliance

Which includes Deutsche Bank. You can use your BoA card at any Deutsche Bank ATM for free.

It's surprising how many people don't even know that. Kids that I studied abroad with had like $150 dollars in fees over the course of a year.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2010 22:31

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Is it completely free? My current bank lets me use my ATM/check card at any ATM with a PLUS logo but if I remember right I still had to pay �5 per transaction because I was using someone else's ATM, so I just ended up pulling the maximum �300 or day that I could to limit the fees.

Edit: Plus I was more looking to open a German bank account and transfer my funds over (and change into EUR) since I'll be living in Germany for at least two years. I figure with the way the exchange rate between EUR and USD is going, my money would be worth more when I converted it back to USD years on down the road.

Completely free. I used it for a year and didn't pay a single fee. If you want to open up a German bank account the best way to do it is use your card, pull out 500� in cash, then deposit the cash to the account to start it. Wire transfers are going to cost money so just do everything through the Bank of America card.

Germany is a cash based economy. It is always good to carry lots of cash because people do not use cards that much.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2010 03:45

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

schoenfelder posted:

Take the normal prices for BahnCard (they are per year), slash them in half, voil�: price for students (BahnCard 50 is something like 116 EUR for students)

Train travel is generally very expensive in Germany, but there are many discounts available.

BahnCard 50 is an incredible deal. I think mine paid for itself within the first two months. However if you really want to travel cheap, http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.com is your friend.

If you do get a BahnCard, make sure to send a cancellation letter at the end of the year, or two years, or whatever. They don't really make it clear that it's a recurring charge:
http://bahnblog.agentur-65.com/2007/05/05/bahncard-kuendigen-leicht-gemacht-update/

Liface fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Apr 12, 2010

# ¿ Apr 12, 2010 19:30

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Are there any other banks that have some kind of alliance with a German bank that lets me use ATMs over there for free? Specifically some kind of online bank with a higher interest rate?

Not that I know of.

Why are you worried about interest rate on your checking? Just open up a high-interest savings account that you can manage online. I use SmartyPig because they have the best rates. Then get a throwaway Bank of America account that you keep about $1000 in. Link the two accounts and you can transfer back and forth.

German Sparkasse accounts generally have really low interest rates. I would just use the BoA trick to transfer the money for free and invest it back in the US.

As far as I can tell there's basically no personal investing culture in Germany, which is kind of sad.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2010 20:20

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

I'm just going to do this. Does it cost anything to transfer money between your BoA and online savings account? I think I'll still open a Sparkasse account with �500 or something though because I'm probably going to be playing poker while I'm out there.

Edit: With SmartyPig, it says there needs to be a monthly contribution of $10 unless my savings goal has been met. So can I dump say $9500 into an account and set up a savings goal of $10,000 within 1 month, and next month dump another $500 to meet it and then stop paying the monthly contributions and instead just rack up interest?

Yep, that's the best way to do it. It doesn't cost anything to transfer between Bank of America and Smartypig.

Hummer Driving human being posted:

I was in Stuttgart last week and noticed something I had noticed late last year in Kaiserslautern.

German women are incredibly attractive.

And not just some of them, but most of them. If I was in any public place I would see at least one stunning woman every five minutes or so. The kind of woman you see maybe one of a day in the USA.

Also, they were either by themselves or with one other woman (as a friend). They were rarely walking with a guy or boyfriend.

Third, they looked really sad or depressed. They didn't look around much and weren't smiling.

The only conclusion I've come up with is that because the Nazis killed all the undesirables all that's left is super hot women.

Can you shed some light on why the women are so gorgeous?

I didn't see much difference in attractiveness between German and American women. I think it's more of the fact that European women are just more attractive in general because of their outlook.

Ziir posted:

Might as well ask, what's Oktoberfest like? I just realized that Oktoberfest starts sometime in September, and I'll have moved to Germany by then. I might head on over to Munich to experience it for a few day cause why the gently caress not?

Oktoberfest is basically a great place if you're looking to pay out the rear end for beer, food, and housing and get drunk with a bunch of Australians. I recommend going to Cannstatter Wasen, which is like Oktoberfest, but a bit smaller, and it's in Stuttgart, so there's barely any tourists.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2010 01:50

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

owDAWG posted:

This is my first time to Germany and I will be spending a couple months in Heidelberg working. I was wondering what kind of non-touristy things I can do to keep me busy while I am here. Also I wouldn't mind if you know of a good crash course in German, pointing at things and waving my arms around has only gotten me so far.

For a crash course I'd start working through LiveMocha, inputting all learned vocabulary words into Anki and trying to keep your Anki queue under 30. Then try to read or watch a couple Deutsche Welle videos every day (http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2547,00.html), also inputting all unknown vocabulary words into Anki and studying them.

# ¿ May 3, 2010 17:54

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Rosetta Stone is the worst. If you can still return it, I would do so immediately and replace with LiveMocha. But if you can't you might as well use it, just supplement with as many additional materials as possible.

# ¿ May 5, 2010 18:18

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Sereri posted:

Oh hey, another Germany thread. Didn't see this one.

To address the dubbing stuff that was mentioned on the first few pages - it's ... difficult.

Most tv-shows produced here are garbage and because of that we import stuff from other countries. However people want to watch TV in their native language. So we sometimes get adaptations where it makes sense like "Wer wird Million�r" (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) or "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (American Idol).
The drama stuff though gets dubbed like 99% of the time. There are a few reasons for that. For example it's cheaper to pay a few people to dub the voices than to pay for actual actors, equipment and a studio. Also, as we are a smaller nation, (good) actors will be harder to find. You'll notice this in the other 1% where foreign shows get re-shot/copied, usually with terrible results. This can happen when the budget of the copied show was low to begin with.
The dubbing is normally not that bad if you haven't seen the original. Sure, one or two jokes get lost but hey, language still isn't universal.

The thing is though, most countries do it. The only ones not doing this are either so small that it wouldn't be economically viable to find decent voice actors, or English speaking countries and again there is reason behind it. Few of the stuff made in other countries is good enough to compete with your programs, usually because your budgets are higher. Of course a few things do actually reach you but those are so few that they get either subbed (Der Untergang,Pan's Labyrinth, etc) or remade. And you remake a lot of stuff. Hell, you even remake English stuff because your citizens could be startled by those disgusting accents.

So I guess there isn't a reason we have them but rather a reason you don't. It's because you throw more money at it. So don't give us poo poo about it but be glad about your situation.

_{I guess we really need a :germany: emot, maybe we can have a crying autobahn in front of our flag}

That's actually not true that most countries dub. The only ones I can think of offhand are France, Spain, and possibly Italy. Every other country I can think of shows things in O-Ton with subtitles. In my experience, English proficiency among the general populations suffers in countries that dub television shows compared to those that don't.

If, as of today, all shows/movies in Germany were switched to subtitles only, I'm sure there would be complaining for a while, but then people would get used to it and the next generation would definitely prefer it. But it won't happen. The synchronization industry seems to have some sort of a lobby and people are unwilling to change.

# ¿ May 9, 2010 08:11

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

elbkaida posted:

So? Maybe people would rather watch movies and TV in German and easily understand all the subtilities instead of becoming a bit more proficient in English.

In Russia I have seen some hilarious dubbing, where one or two persons do an entire film. When Jodie Foster speaks in a deep man voice, I suddenly start to like the idea of subtitles, though.

That's the problem, though - with dubbing the subtleties are lost anyway. With original language and subtitles, you can at least match the two up (even if you don't know the original language very well) and sort of figure out what the original joke or meaning was. For example, one that I remember from Total Recall was a dude saying "I have a lock" (like he was locked onto the target). It was dubbed as "Ich habe ein Schlo�"... literally "I have a lock (for my bike).

And I also find it kind of annoying that the same voice actors are used over and over so they all end up sounding the same.

Now, on the other hand, there are some really good German sychronizations. MST3000 and Wayne's World come to mind. Well, also almost any animated film as well, but then you don't have the problem with the lips not matching to what they're saying.

I suppose it just comes down to personal preference. I can follow subtitles as well as what is said just fine. And the average German can't speak English well enough to 100% follow an O-ton film, so I think subtitles are a good compromise between dubbing and original language.

# ¿ May 9, 2010 18:00

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

brylcreem posted:

LiveMocha is a piece of poo poo. They lure you in by writing "free" all over, and then they want money anyway. gently caress'em.

I'm pretty sure every service exists to make money.

Ziir posted:

Can you tell me more about Cannstatter Wasen? I'd like to go to Oktoberfest just to experience it, even if it is full of tourists, but there's always next year too. It might work out better that I go to Cannstatter Wasen after living in Germany for a year though, since I should be nearly fluent with the language then.

It's basically just Oktoberfest but smaller, almost no tourists, and it's in Stuttgart. Takes place a couple weeks before Oktoberfest if I remember correctly.

# ¿ May 10, 2010 22:05

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Berlin is the biggest city in Germany. There is a subculture there for anything you can imagine. You'll love it.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2010 00:31

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

elwood posted:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white%20goods

drat, I just got schooled in English by a German. :/

# ¿ Jun 23, 2010 08:44

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Default Settings posted:

This summer I'm doing a road trip around Germany and will be visiting every federal state. My question is, what are three things I HAVE to see?

Panorama view of the city from the Schlossbergturm in Freiburg.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2010 19:27

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Default Settings posted:

That sounds like a great place, is it possible to se Neuf-Brisach from up there?

No, it's not all that high up. Neuf-Brisach is about 35km away from Freiburg. Although there are some awesome mountains all around the city in the Black Forest that afford even better views. And the trails are all marked as well!

# ¿ Jun 30, 2010 01:29

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Rums posted:

Cal State system lets me transfer all my units as resident units, and as I understand it they only transfer the courses I turn in paperwork for, so maybe I can just take some courses and if I don't do well I just won't turn in the paperwork and its like it never happened.

If you're going through an American university system, I'd assume they have some sort of arrangement where they enroll you directly at Uni Heidelberg. That's what my program did for us. I was technically a German student and could take whatever classes I wanted. You just have to get the Schein from the professor and then you submit that back to your university and they have to decide whether to accept it or not.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2010 17:03

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Arwarker posted:

By the way, if you spent most of your time in the Universit�tsstra�e, I take it you did not have to be around those soul-crushing towers that are home to English students and the like. Lucky you. I'm wondering - did you expect German universities to be so.. desolate (is it much worse than in the US, not considering Ivy League for a moment)?

I wasn't in Marburg, but I really missed the "campus" feel when I studied in Germany. That's something that's just uniquely American. You eat on campus, you go to class, your sports fields are on campus, and you live on campus. There's always something going on all the time.

The German university system has some great advantages, like autonomy, independence, and less busy work, but the American university system is just awesome. I think everyone should study abroad in the US, no matter what country you're from. It's a shitshow.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2010 03:13

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Edit: I also have questions about what type of clothes to bring. I'm not sure if I should bring a suit (or at least a sportcoat). Will I need one?

I brought a suit and I'm glad I did because I used it multiple times. Once was because my roommates thought I looked like Agent 47 from Hitman and made me dress up like him for the premiere. Then two of my flatmates ended up getting married.

As for wg-gesucht, I can understand why someone wouldn't let a random person move in without meeting him or her first. Maybe you can live in a hostel for the first two weeks and go around touring different WGs?

# ¿ Aug 8, 2010 21:45

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

I finally opened up a checking account with Bank of America today because I think it was Liface who recommended that, because they're part of the Global ATM Alliance. I was led to believe that this meant free debit card pulls from the ATM at any Deutsche Bank, but what this really means is that they get rid of the $5 non-BoA charge. The 1% currency/transaction fee is still there (added on top of the US dollar amount).

Interesting. I never even noticed that they were levying a 1% fee. I think that's the best you're going to be able to do, though. Just get a German bank account as soon as possible.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2010 18:55

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Gold and a Pager posted:

I'm jealous of your NRW train ticket. I have a fake one that I made in Photoshop, but the colors are off (hard to find a decent printer without looking too suspicious). I currently take the tram without paying (oh god I'm going to get caught one day) and Deutsch Bahn is ridiculously expensive.

Get a Bahncard 50 if you're going to be doing a lot of travel. All you need is a German address to ship it too. 50% off all tickets. It pays for itself pretty fast.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2010 21:19

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Why is everything in Germany so slow? Opened a bank account last week, still waiting for the bank card to be sent to me. Until I get it, I can't do anything and I'm running out of money (I have all of my other money in an online account in America, but I'm waiting for the German one to open to transfer it over). Bought insurance too, and I'm also waiting for the card in the mail. Bought a bus pass the other day, and they told me to come back the next day to pick things up.

Meh. I'm used to getting things when I pay for it. I want it now drat it.

(Not really ranting, it's probably the biggest difference in culture I've noticed)

Man, never go to Latin America. Or pretty much any other country... Germany is probably the fastest non-anglophone country.

Liface fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Sep 10, 2010

# ¿ Sep 10, 2010 18:13

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Little Treasure posted:

I am interested in the different clothing styles of university students (or that demographic in general) in Germany.

Do they tend to dress more casual or formal, for the most part?
Are there any "scenes" that are unique to Germany?
What attitudes and/or lifestyles are associated with German fashion styles?
Are there equivalents to fashion styles to ones in the US?

FLX posted:

From what I gathered on my last trip to the States, it's exactly the same as in Germany

I would say American university students dress a lot more casually than German university students. For example, at American universities you often get 10% of people in a lecture showing up in sweatpants, trainers, and a T-shirt, or the classic sorority girl with the JUICY sweatpants and Ugg boots. That just doesn't happen in Germany.

To answer your question more generally, there is definitely a German style. So much that I was able to accurately pick out German students in university towns in The Netherlands. For example, the following picture is just so quintessentially German:

Apart from Germans specifically, the general Western Europe style is just so fundamentally different. Lots more plimsoles, scarfs, tighter clothes, and normal people off the street are so much more fashionable than their counterparts in the United States.

I can't think of any scenes that are unique to Germany, except for the "Krocha" picture I posted above, but that's in Austria. You get all the standard western stuff: hippies, rockabillies, skaters, fraternity members, goths (Gruftis) etc.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2010 21:09

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

System Metternich posted:

This is in Freiburg, right? I think I know one of the girls in the picture, do you have it any larger? small world, really...

I just grabbed a random picture from my StudiVZ friends, but yeah, it appears to be the Erstih�tte for Sprachwissenschaft at Uni Freiburg. Unfortunately that's the only size of the picture.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2010 23:54

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

unixbeard posted:

this is a good one too, its more typical berliners http://piecesofberlin.blogspot.com/

quote:

nicky; 20; angehende studentin;
berlin schl�ft nie, das findet sie super + die vielen parks;
gar nicht mag sie die sp�rbare arroganz in den schicken bezirken.
"...diese hipsters...die gehen gar nicht!"
eine ihrer lieblingsecken ist die warschauerstra�e

Are hipsters known in Germany? I tried to explain the subculture to one of my buddies and he didn't understand. He's from Mannheim.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2010 09:05

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Why do Germans think it's totally cool and normal to just stand in the way of everything? They stand in front of doors obstructing the way in/out, they stand on the middle of aisles, they stand in the middle of crowded stairs when they see someone and start playing catch up instead of moving to the side and making everyone trying to squeeze around.

Think of the other people .

I notice this much more in America than I did in Germany. I was actually just thinking about it yesterday when I walked into the supermarket in Seattle behind a couple who decided to halt a couple meters in front of the entrance and figure out where they wanted to go in the store.

By the way, these two perennial favorites on Toytowngermany, an Anglophone expat forum, are good to read:
Strange German habits
Thoughts on what German people are like

They are both filled with grumpy expatriates claiming about how "All Germans do this and that and it's so irritating!" It's a perfect example for the psychological phenomenon of ascribing certain negative traits to a foreign culture, especially if it's the first time you've lived an extended time abroad. It's just how your brain deals with the culture shock.

There are certainly some quintessentially German traits, but if one takes a step back, these can be found more or less in the same quantities as every other major city.

Liface fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Sep 19, 2010

# ¿ Sep 19, 2010 17:59

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

My Lovely Horse posted:

Since we seem to be linking blogs about How Things Are In Germany, this one's not bad: http://www.ichwerdeeinberliner.com. I particularly recommend the entries about soft drinks and supermarkets.

Excellent blog. I'm so glad I don't live in Berlin.

Liface fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Sep 19, 2010

# ¿ Sep 19, 2010 19:25

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Default Settings posted:

What really irks me about this blog is how he writes "Germans" every time he means "German hipsters". Makes me want to force this guy to spend some significant time in a Bavarian village, but aside of that it's hilarious.

In one of the interviews he did he mentions he specifically doesn't mention the word hipster because "writing about hipsters was pass� in 2006". However, why not just say "Berliner" or "scenester"? I don't get it.

Now what I don't get is that in the same interview, he mentions he doesn't speak German. I wonder if that's an exaggeration, because I can't imagine picking up all these nuances of the Berlin culture without speaking the language.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2010 20:43

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

flavor posted:

Mustaches are accepted to the point of being a must (get it? what a pun!) for some tiers of society (blue collar workers and police must have somewhat thin mustaches while intellectuals must have bushy ones). Off the top of my head, two particularly instructive examples of how droopy or pointless mustaches can round out German intellectuals' appearances are G�nther Grass and Thilo Sarrazin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO3QBSAlaWc#t=2m20s

# ¿ Sep 23, 2010 01:04

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Autism Sundae posted:

Is the unreliable cars and you losing a war somehow not true, or do you folks just get upset very easily on a comedy website forum? Maybe contact tech support about a forum called "The Gas Chamber".

Thanks for the helpful replies though.

Post Count -9898

das sagt ziemlich alles

# ¿ Sep 24, 2010 07:41

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

I say this every year but:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannstatter_Wasen

Do it.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2010 16:20

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

I asked in the general Europe megatread but I guess I'll ask here too.

Is there any type of packaged food from the US that you guys wish you could buy here? Or if you could ask an American to send you something edible, what would it be? My mom is sending me my glasses that I forgot to bring with me this week and there's some extra room in the box to throw in something small, but I can't think of what to ask her to send. Something that's "American" but isn't available in Germany is what I was thinking. For example a Russian friend of mine is having his mom send some caviar, and a Spanish guy I know had some jam�n sent to him.

American pancake mix.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2010 17:56

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Ziir posted:

Pr�teritum gegen Perfekt

Ich lernte, dass ich mit dem Pr�teritum schreiben soll, aber ich soll mit dem Perfekt sprechen. Ist das immer so? Warum? It's much "easier" to say "ich war in ..." than "ich bin in ... gegangen." or something like that.

Das war f�r mich auch ein bisschen verwirrend. Alle haben gemeint, das Pr�teritum sei etwas schriftliches. Darum habe ich gedacht, man muss das immer gebrauchen, wenn man schreibt. Allerdings habe ich schnell herausgefunden, "Schrift" in dem Sinne bedeutet eigentlich nur Romane/Erz�hlungen.

Hier eine Liste von Verben, die h�ufig im Pr�teritum in der (gesprochenen) Sprache verwendet werden. H�ufiger im Perfekt verwendete Verben sind oben auf der Liste.

sein
gelten
wollen
kennen
stehen
denken
finden
sagen
geben
sehen/aussehen
gehen
meinen
dauern
anfangen

Allen anderen Verben wirst du wahrscheinlich nur im Perfekt begegnen.

Liface fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Oct 6, 2010

# ¿ Oct 5, 2010 16:21

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Allia posted:

I'm too chicken to go to a "real" gym

Why not? Real gyms are awesome!

Read this, it should dispell the fears a bit.

Ziir posted:

Another German language question: does anyone know of a website that explains flavoring particles with examples, when to use them, how to interpret them? Because right now it's all voodoo magic to me. In my German courses back in the US my German teacher just skipped over them when the book mentioned them because "they were too hard and not important." The book said something similar I think cause it only had maybe just one or two pages covering them.

If I'm reading it right, you're talking about modal particles (Abt�nungspartikeln)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_modal_particle

Liface fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Oct 10, 2010

# ¿ Oct 10, 2010 18:36

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Allia posted:

Thanks for the site!

It's true that I don't want to spend a ton. I don't know what my finances will be like this coming semester, because my BAF�G is up in the air and I lost my job. But I dunno, gyms are just full of equipment I know next to nothing about, and people always talk about gym memberships and how you have to go so often and stuff. While getting in a routine is actually good for me (and something I do want to start), going to a real gym where people are really into it seems intimidating. Especially since I am a weak little thing. I've been trying to do push-ups on my own, and I can get maybe three full push-ups -- and I am pretty sure I'm not going down far enough. I also can't run (though I walk a ton), and I'm extremely hyperactive and prone to situational depression...and exercising helps a TON to combat those. If I have something I can focus on, something that makes me feel good, I'm hoping that it will help me a lot.

That said, I'm wary of just going to some random gym, because I want something that's low key and willing to work with a complete newbie. If I can find the Hochschulsport program, that'd be awesome.

Again, just read this:
http://www.stumptuous.com

and this:
http://brainoverbrawn.com/

It's basically an intro to fitness for beginners.

No one cares what anyone else does in the gym. 80% of people at gyms have no idea what you're doing. If you even read both of those links, you will actually know more than they do. If you have questions, you can ask them in the girls lifting thread in Watch and Weight, where people are really supportive:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3268290

flavor posted:

Interessant, da habe ich ja noch nie drueber nachgedacht. Das scheint wohl doch eine spezielle Eigenschaft der Deutschen Sprache zu sein. Jedenfalls koennen diese Woerter sehr wohl die Bedeutung eines Satzes in ihren Nuancen veraendern. Sollte man schon festhalten und sich als Deutsch lernende Person mal mit beschaeftigen.

This seems to be one of the more advanced subjects about the German language and you can probably get by without actively using these words, but it'll generally be good to understand what they mean when other people talk to you so as not to misread them.

Knowing about those articles was like opening a door for advanced fluency to me. German sounds so much more natural with lots of modal particles. Before I found the page about them on Wikipedia, I had no idea they even existed. I would recommend that every person learning German use them early and often.

Liface fucked around with this message at 01:25 on Oct 11, 2010

# ¿ Oct 11, 2010 01:22

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 15:31

Liface: Jun 17, 2001; by T. Finn

Zwille posted:

But yeah, just today I tried a self-checkout lane at Real because I thought it'd be as fast as at Ikea, but I accidentally picked up my groceries, putting them in my satchel before having scanned all of my items - apparently you have to keep them in place so they can weigh and compare what you've bought. Probably so you won't change up the barcode or something. Still, you could probably buy similarly weighed items if you just switched the barcode to a cheaper one...

Wow, those have finally come to Germany? I love those things. In the U.S. there's usually an attendant that watches over the 4-6 machines to help people out and make sure no funny business is happening.

Liface fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Nov 19, 2010

# ¿ Nov 19, 2010 06:37

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

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