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Hallo zusammen!

Auf Holländisch gibt es einen Ausdruck, der, wenn wörtlich übersetzt, auf Deutsch "Unter einem Stein leben" (onder een steen leven) wäre. Das bedeutet so ungefähr, dass man etwas ganz Bekanntes vermisst hat. Also, würde ich nicht wissen, dass Obama Präsident der USA ist, hätte ich unter einem Stein gelebt. Gibt es einen solchen Ausdruck auch auf Deutsch? Danke im Voraus!

(Es wäre sehr nett, wenn jemand diesen kurzen Text nachprüfen könnte! Danke)

Can anyone tell me what "traumhapert" means?

Hello! I've had this idea for some time of a site where you can practice ALL languages in the form of short (~150-200 words) random posts in that language (about your day, intro about you, whatever you like) and others either more fluent in the language could correct any mistakes or point out any ways to improve, or that are learning that same language can comment and practice further. This is NOT supposed to be homework help, and it's also not meant to be for asking questions about the language (like in a forum or on this comm), but just for open practice outside of school/etc. SO~ I'm looking for two types of people: a) those that are studying German and want to improve it through writing practice, and, b) those who know German quite well. Right now, it's only me writing there, but I invite people to take a look and see if it's something that interests you (and also, feel free to correct my German... it's really horrific x__x) here. Thank you! :)

Hallo! Ich habe diese Idee für eine ganz lange Zeit gehabt, wo man kann ALLE Sprachen in Form von kurzen (~150-200 Wörter), beiläufigen Nachrichten in dieser Sprache (über sein Tag, eine kleine Einführung, usw.) üben, und andere Leute, die fließend in der Sprache, könnte alle Fehler korrigieren oder Wege andeuten, in der man verbessern kann. Andere Student können auch kommentieren und zusammen die Sprache üben. Dies soll NICHT eine Hilfe für die Hausaufgaben oder eine Website fuer grammatischen Frage sein -- es ist nur eine freie Übung außerhalb der Schule. ALSO~ Ich suche nach zwei Arte der Leute: a) die Deutsch lernen und will es durch schriftliche Übung verbessern, und b) die Deutsch ganz gut und fließend sprechen. Jetzt bin ich die einzige Person, die da schreibt, aber ich will alle auffordern, einen Blick darauf zu werfen und zu sehen, ob dies ist etwas, das interessant scheint (und auch können alle mein Deutsch gerne korrigieren... es ist schrecklich x__x): hier. Danke schön! :)

Basic Info
Name: Eric
Mother tongue: English
Language(s) I'm learning: Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin)
Skill level: Japanese: Intermediate (I've been learning for about two years); Chinese: Beginner (I've been learning for one semester)
Can people contact you if they want to practice your mother tongue?: Sure!

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Skype: ericmleone (Please send an attached message if you add me on Skype, otherwise I'll think it's a random person and deny the request.)
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Email address: 727807@gmail.com (Again, please tell me that you found me on this community, otherwise I won't know who you are!)
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Anything else about yourself you'd like to add: I can also speak Korean, although I'm not a native speaker. If you need any help with it, let me know and I'd be more than willing to teach you!

Extraordinariat (context: doch die Laufbahn in der Psychologie schlug fehl, trotz eines Extraordinariats)

sein Handwerkszeug beherrschen--maybe "master someone's trade"? (context: das galt Rickert als weiterer Beweis dafür, dass der Junge sein Handwerszeug nicht beherrschte)

Als Sohn ging er zum Vater [he followed his father?], der das Mesneramt [I really have no clue] innehatte, und als Ministrant versah er den Altardienst [altar service/duty?].

thank you.

Basic Info
Name: Lisa
Mother tongue: Danish
Language(s) I'm learning: English, Italian, and maybe German.
Skill level:
English - Intermediate
Italian - Beginner
German - Beginner
Can people contact you if they want to practice your mother tongue? of cause ^^

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AIM: o(≧∀≦)o
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Pen pals
Email address: wannabe.penguin@gmail.com
Home address: o(≧∀≦)o

Anything else about yourself you'd like to add:
I am a girl (15 years old) and I like to draw, write, read, watching a good movie and listen to music. I'm often told that I'm kinda 'mature' (on some points!) of someone at my age, I'm not afraid of making mistakes and i do take learning seriously. (of cause it can be fun too, don't misunderstand me)
In English i would like someone to learn me about the grammar and mostly correcting me in everyday conversations. (trust me, that's gonna be often at first) >_<''.
Italian; i want to learn this language, not only because i think it sounds beautiful but also because I'm half Italian myself (fathers part) but my dad have absolute no interest in learning me the language (which is fun since he's trying to learn my little brother the language >>') I'm really sad because i can't communicate with the half part of my family, and i want to so bad, and I'm definitely NOT gonna give up on this!
German; I want to learn this not only because it's a language many people talks, but also because my German teacher has given up on learning me XD and i need it for my exams.... not that serious about it again to be honest... ^^'

I was just reading about Germans borrowing computer-related words from English and adding an -en to the verbs, like downloaden and browsen. And then I just had to ask something I've been wondering about for a long time, at the risk of being vulgar. Again.

Separable verbs seemed mysterious to me until I realized that English has them, too. Like fuck up. "He fucked it up" means something different from "He fucked it." And so I've wondered for a long time whether Germans would know what I mean if I use the verb upfucken. As in "Er hat es upgefuckt."

Why do people say "Mir ist kalt" instead of "Ich bin kalt"?

Basic Info
Name: Chris
Mother tongue: English, Mandarin
Language(s) I'm learning: Vietnamese
Skill level: Novice, but have at least a bit of a basis
Can people contact you if they want to practice your mother tongue? Possibly

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AIM: LaoTzu02
MSN: LaoTzu02@hotmail.com

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Email address:
Home address:

Anything else about yourself you'd like to add:
There is really a lack of resources out there for learning Vietnamese, so I mean even some infrequent practice with a native speaker would be immensely helpful. I'd be happy to throw some English or Chinese back your way at the same time.

Hi everybody!

I'm trying to apply to a scholarship offered by the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) and I'm having trouble with the second page of this document (http://ic.daad.de/rom/pdf/antrag_intensivsprachkurs.pdf). Could you please help me translate it?
Thanks a lot!

I'm not even positive this question is going to come out ...understandable XD

I've just been wondering about the differences between mir/mich/ich/mein (is there more?) and du/dein/dir/dich/Sie/ihr (that's all, right?)

I know that

ich = I
mir/mich = Me ...what's the difference there, and why do you use one instead of the other?
mein = mine, correct?

du/dich/ihr = you (informal) ...why would you use one instead of the other?
Sie = you (formal) .. this is used to address someone properly right? Like a professor or someone you're not on familiar terms with?
dir/dein = your? ...I'm still kind of confused on this one.


What would 'you are' be? ..oh, I guess du bist. Is there a joined version like 'you're'?

My teacher is...well she's not the greatest. She's not a native speaker and her teaching methods are kind of...lax. I'm sure she's doing her best, but her best doesn't seem to be that great :-/

If someone could help me out with this I'd appreciate it loads! :D

-- Jax

Okay, I know I asked you all nine questions only a few hours ago, but now I'm having doubts about some other sentences... Could I ask just a few more questions? I hate to be annoying, but I really want to get this right.
1. How would one say "sex-based" as in a sex-based relationship. I have Sex-gegründetes Verhältnis... but I'm not sure if that works.
2. Would I say "Also Sex verliert Bedeutung" for "So, sex loses it's meaning"?
3. If I wanted to say "A young, bulimic girl and her controlling, sexist husband move to a rainy country/country area," would I write "Eine junge, bulimische Frau und ihre Kontrolle, sexistische Ehemann bewegung zu einer regnerischen Landschaft"?
4. How would one say "the house breaks"? I have "brecht" but I think that doesn't work. IN the book, the house sort of comes apart because it is water-logged... I don't know if I should just try not to say this because it's too weird or not.
5. And here's for my really weird sentences: So sättigt sich sie, auf Essen aber wird nie erfüllt. Sie hat nie Kraft. Leon behandelt sie wie ein kleiner Hund oder eine Puppe. Dann erbricht sich sie alles.
--> What I want to say is "She fills herself with food but she is never satisfied. She has no power. Leon treats her like a little dog or a doll. Then, she throws up everything." (She's bulemic.)
6. Hermann muss nicht viele Wörter schreiben, weil, was nicht gesagt wird, so wichtig ist, wie alles Hermann schreiben könnte.
(Does this make sense?)
7. I'm afraid these next sentences might be fraught with errors:
Er/Sie hat Angst, ein ruhiges und beständiges Leben zu ruinieren, also versucht er/sie überhaupt nie. Stein gibt auf auch und im Ende, er schickt ihm/ihr einen Zeitungsartikel, der sagt, dass das Traumhaus gebrannt hat.
(Does this make sense? Am I missing something?)

Phew! I'm sorry this turned out so lengthy! Again, *any* help would be much appreciated. I'm sorry for plaguing you all with so many questions!

Danke im voraus!

Is there a difference between schauen and sehen when talking about tv? We're doing a section on tv at school and our teacher tends to use sehen but the German language assistant uses schauen. Is this just a regional difference or personal preference, or is there a slight difference in meaning?

Not an urgent question or anything but it's got me wondering, so I'm sort of curious now. :)

Dear German speakers,

Thank you so much for your help with my intro paragraph to my Fräuleinwunder essay. It was the most grammatically correct out of all of my paragraphs. :)
I turned in the rough draft of my essay, and I received an A for Inhalt, a B for Vokabeln, and a C- for Grammatik!! As you can see, it's the grammar that kills me. I was wondering if you could help me with a few particularly troublesome sentences in my essay? I've fixed most of them, but there are a few that I just can't figure out. I'll list them below.
1. Blah, blah, blah (interessant hat der weibliche Protagonist keinen Namen)
Here, my professor said something is missing after "interessant" and she underlined "weibliche Protagonist" Would it be "weibliche Protagonistin?"
2. ...aber es gibt ein tiefer eigentlich Gemeinte. (I think she might not like the word endings?)
3. I thought "er kann irgendwo gehen" would mean "he can go anywhere" but she underlined it. Am I using "irgendwo" incorrectly?
4. Der kritische Leser sieht, dass Mann "Relax" abnehmen zum Sex und Drogen kann. (I meant to say that the critical reader sees that one can't reduce "Relax" to sex and drugs.) Is the "zum" the incorrect word?
5. "Sie veranschaulicht die flachen Taetigkeiten, die Teenager sich innen engagiert, damit man verstehen kann warum" Here I wanted to say that She portrays the shallow/superficial activities that teenagers engage in to show why they do. I think the "engage in" is the problem- but isn't it reflexive?
6. This is weird, but I want to say "he drowned in a see of mud" and I thought it could be translated: "Er ertinkt in einem Meer des Schlammes." Is the "des" incorrect?
7. Manchmal mochte der Erzaehler nicht denken an... Would this be "nicht andenken" instead?
8. Keine der Buecher haben glueckliche Abschlussen. Jedoch koennte man ueber The Portrait of Dorian Gray schreiben... (My professor did not like "Abschlussen" and she wanted something to come after "man" Doesn't "Abschlussen" mean endings?
9. Anstatt auf die Sexualitaet, das Geschlecht oder das Alter einer Autorin zu konzentrieren, muessen wir auf Talent und Art konzentrieren. (Here, I wanted to say: Instead of focusing on the sexuality, gender, or age of authors, we need to focus on their talent and style. My professor said something is missing after "anstatt" and "wir" though, and I can't think of what. It looks complete to me...

ANY help would be so much appreciated! I do not expect you all to help me with every single question, but even just one tip would be great. I would really, really, appreciate it. Grammatik is the bain of my existence...

Danke sehr!

Basic Info
Name: Lisa
Mother tongue: English (American)
Language(s) I'm learning: Spanish, Malay, French, Italian, and Japanese.
Skill level: Spanish - Intermediate, French/Italian/Malay - Beginner/Intermediate, Japanese - Beginner. I have a little knowledge of German and Chinese too and I plan on working on those two in 2010.
Can people contact you if they want to practice your mother tongue? Yes! ¡Claro!

IM programs
AIM: --
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MSN: ask me/pregunta me
Yahoo: --
Jabber: --

Voice chat
Skype: ask me/pregunta me
Google Talk: --
Phone number: ask me/pregunta me - I only like to text with my phone. You can talk with me on skype though. Me gusta solo mandar/recibir mensajes de texto con mi célula. Ud. puede hablar en skype conmigo.

Pen pals
Email address: ask me/pregunta me
Home address: --

Anything else about yourself you'd like to add: I am 19 years old and I like to draw, paint, read, write fanfics, and listen to music. Tengo 19 años y me gusta dibujar, pintar, leer, escribir fanfics, y escuchar música.

Feel free to add me to LJ too!

Basic Info
Name: Evgenia
Mother tongue: Russian
Language(1) I'm learning: Hebrew
Skill level: bet (I hope)
Language(2) I'm learning: English
Skill level: intermediate (forgetting:()

Can people contact you if they want to practice your mother tongue?
Sure!

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AIM: ---
ICQ: in my profile
MSN: ---
Yahoo: ---
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Voice chat
Skype: jennykor
Google Talk: ---
Phone number:---

Pen pals
Email address: jenny4kor[at]gmail.com
Home address: RF, Samara

Anything else about yourself you'd like to add:
I'm in a great need of someone so kindhearted to help me with my hebrew! Now I have some grammar skills, but no speaking practise at all (scince in sept my teacher left country). Please! I need you!
Also eager to help with russian to any hebrew or eanglish speaker!

My boyfriend was doing a music appreciation assignment yesterday, and one of the questions dealt with the composer Schönberg.

As he read the question aloud, he said, "...The composer Schlappenberger..."

He knows no German; my question is such:

What about the name Schönberg made him approximate the pronunciation Schlappenberger? Even after I told him that there's no L or P and only one G in the name, he still was at a loss for trying a different pronunciation.

Is it the sch?

Is it the ö?

Are Americans just more inclined to see a German-looking word or name and instantly fill it with tons of non-sensical (read: non-existent) consonants and syllables?

I'm having trouble with the last panel of this "Ozy and Millie" cartoon. I get that Millie is saying something about conquering England, and Ozy wants to play with the sprinkler, but I can't really translate it. Could someone please help me with it?

http://www.glasswings.com/comics/ozyandmillie.de/om_comic_1/om980114.html

I'm reading a children's story and have trouble making sense of the last sentence of the following passage:

Es wurde Frühling, aber Rosie war immer noch krank. "Sie ist sehr traurig," sagte der Doktor zu den Eltern. "Sie müßen ihr weiter Hoffnung machen und ihr sagen, daß sie mit der Zeit wieder gesund werden wird."

I'd appreciate it if someone could translate the last sentence for me. Thanks in advance!

Also, what is the difference between "noch" and "immer noch"? They both seem to mean "still".

ETA: I've written up my current findings here, for anyone who's interested.

I have a question about the lyrics to "O Tannenbaum," specifically the third line of the second stanza. Both Wikipedia US and Wikipedia DE give it as (with the fourth line):
a. "Wie oft hat schon zur Winterszeit / Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!"
However, the modern versions I've found have it as:
b. "Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit / Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!"

Wikipedia mentions that Hitler tried to get Christian symbols out of the holiday, and hence pushed "O Tannenbaum" (with "Winter[s]zeit," there are no mentions of Christmas in the song), and at first I thought that maybe he'd changed the lyrics and "Weihnachtszeit" is the original, but I wasn't sure why Wikipedia.de would make that mistake. Then I found this, which has a copyright of 1917 and uses "Winterzeit."

Also, would b. translate to "How often has a tree like you not cheered me up at Christmastime!"? If so, that strikes me as a post-war sentiment (i.e., there have been years we haven't had a tree, so I'm happy we have one), as opposed to "How often already has a tree like you cheered me up in the wintertime!".

So... does anyone know the history here, and which is the original version?