Comments on Like, Taking My Imperfect German to the Big Leagues*

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Re: counting to ten in Spanish

Yes,me and Spanish are on about the same footing. For me, German was always a fascination, though. My father's parents came from Hamburg, but I never heard any German at home, except for the occasional phrase or two. The sound of it was musical in a strange kind of way. Then, along came Sid Caesar, and I was hooked.Weird but true, like so many of our obsessions.

posted by 2902 on March 8, 2010 at 1:11 PM | link to this | reply

GO FOR IT, I FIND ENGLISH HARD ENOUGH, THANKS, SEVERAL YEARS OF SPANISH AND ALL I CAN DO IS COUNT TO TEN

posted by Riversidepoet on March 8, 2010 at 8:58 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Languages unfamiliar, like some Somali dialect between the women

Yes, I always find that kind of thing pretty musical, too. Like hearing a song without the words. Like Louie Armstrong sang (him I understood) "What a wonderful world!..."

posted by 2902 on March 8, 2010 at 5:21 AM | link to this | reply

Languages unfamiliar, like some Somali dialect between the women

on the #60 bus after work, or quick Spanish across the aisle, fell into my English hearing ears like the bubbling of water over the rocks of a freshwater creek. I could deduce some from body language, laughter, the tone, but mostly it was just cadence and rhythm.

posted by Pat_B on March 8, 2010 at 4:55 AM | link to this | reply

Re: Grammer

You're amazing. Your written English sings! But language is a mystery. On the one hand, my mother never went beyond 8th grade in her schooling, yet worked for many years as a hospital secretary, spelling names of Indian doctors, medications, and illnesses with no problem. Tough grammar tests that I'd bring home she'd answer while doing the dishes. On the other hand, my friend of forty years, was a very successful English Co-ordinator K-12 for a school district north of here, but his spelling is so bad that he refuses to play Scrabble.
As for German, if I learned anything from my time at Middlebury, it was that ANY language you didn't grow up speaking is very hard unless you spend a lot of time "over there".

posted by 2902 on March 8, 2010 at 4:30 AM | link to this | reply

Grammer

Believe me Bob I had a problem learning English, a little chap who was in the same school as I was, told me that he had a job which entailed a little bit of writing and it was pointed out to him that Wednesday was not spelled Wensday. I also have a kind of word blindness and cannot spell the simplest words at times. German is a pretty hard language to assimilate so I have been told by he who knows all. It does'nt answer your question, but I don't know the answer.