Help your fluency in a nifty way

[linguoboy]

Vor einigen Tagen bin ich ins Gespräch gekommen mit einem deutschsprachigen Bekannten. Auch sein Mann lernt Deutsch und sie üben es gemeinsam um Gelegenheit, also hab ich vorgeschlagen, einen Stammtisch anzufangen. Er hat das DANK-Haus als Trefflokal empfohlen, aber ich hab gezögert. Ein alter Bekannter, der die Nazizeit studierte, hat DANK den "Nationalsozialistenkongress" benannt von wegen seinem Revanchismus. Aber mein guter Freund der pensionierte Deutschprofessor hat mir erzählt, dass das Element zurückgegangen ist und die Organisation sich jetzt als etwas progressiver darstellen lässt.
A few days ago I got into a conversation with a German-speaking acquaintance. His husband is also learning German and they practice together sometimes so I suggested forming a language table. He recommended the DANK Haus as a meeting place but I hesitated. An old college friend who studied the Nazis called it the "National Socialist Congress" because of its revanchism. But my good friend the retired German professor told me that that element has diminished and the organisation is trying to present its as more progressive these days.

[jal]

Well, it says "Akaba of Aqaba", so both spellings seem to be acceptable?

Genau. Sogar die Sprachunion hat sie beide.
Indeed. Even the Language Union lists both of them.

hatte - past tense, hätte - subjunctive II

Kannst du erklären, wenn jeder zu verwenden?
Can you explain when to use each one?

Correct, but in German, simple aus dem Fenster etwas sehen is an admissible variant.

In Niederländisch, "kijken" hat "uit", aber "zien" hat "vanuit".
In Dutch, "kijken" has "uit", but "zien" has "vanuit".
"Ik kijk uit het raam naar buiten" ?"Ik kijk vanuit het raam naar buiten" vs. "Ik zie hem vanuit het raam" / ?"Ik zie hem uit het raam" (the latter expects a verb, e.g. "Ik zie hem uit het raam klimmen").


JAL

[Ziz]

.הערב נעשה מסיבת פרידה לאחת החברים שלי. אנחנו לא מתראים כל כך הרבה אבל גם ככה אני לא רוצה שהיא תעזוב אותי
Ha-‘erev na‘aśe mesibat p^ərida le-aḥat ha-ḥaverim šeli. Anaḥnu lo mitra’im kol kakh harbe aval gam kakha ani lo rotse šehi ta‘azov oti.
Tonight we're doing a going-away party for one of my friends. We don't see each other very often but even so I don't want her to leave me.

Enseño inglés en una escuela para adultos y por eso trabajo usualmente por la tarde, lo que significa que tengo mucho tiempo libre por la mañana, y me siento que debo utilizar este tiempo para hacer algo productivo. Me dicen que debo ir al gimnasio o al mercado o algo así, pero hace demasiado calor, y ya sé que no me divertiría. La gente que trabaja entre las 9 y las 5 de todas formas no hacen mucho después del trabajo salvo comer en restaurantes o ver películas al cine, y ese tipo de cosas yo también hago, así que no debo sentirme tan perezoso.
I teach English at a school for adults and so I usually work in the afternoon, which means that I have a lot of free time in the morning, and I feel like I have to use this time to do something productive. People tell me I should go to the gym or to the market or something like that, but it's too hot, and I already know I wouldn't enjoy myself. People who work 9-to-5 jobs don't really do much after work anyways besides eating at restaurants or going to the movies, and I do those things too, so I shouldn't feel so lazy.

.אבל אני אכן מרגיש נורא עצלני. למרבה המזל אני אתחיל עוד מעט לעשות קורסים כדי להיות מתכנן, ואעזוב את העולם של לימודי אנגלית
Aval ani akhen margiš nora ‘atslani. Le-marbe ha-mazal ani atḥil ‘od me‘at la‘aśoṭ ḳursim k^ədey lihyot metakhnen, ṿe-a‘azov et ha-‘olam šel limudey anglit.
But I do feel crazy lazy. Luckily, I'm soon gonna be doing courses to become a software developer, and I will be leaving behind the world of English teaching.

[Io]

Я на Мальте в языческой школе

lmfao

[Imralu]

Can you explain when to use each one?

Hatte is past and indicative, so it's for a real past situation. The German past subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) is irrealis.

Ich hatte eine Katze, die mir meine Mutter gekauft hatte.
I had a cat that my mother had bought for me.

Wenn ich eine Katze hätte, hätte sie bestimmt einen doofen Namen.
If I had a cat, it would definitely have a dumb name.

Was hätte ich denn machen sollen?
Well, what should I have done?

[Viktor77]

Quand j'étais toujours à l'université, j'avais de l'énergie pour apprendre des nouvelles langues, mais dernièrement j'en ai oublié presque toutes. Quand on vit dans un pays où il faut chaque jour utiliser chaque jour une langue allogène, il est assez difficile de trouver de l'énergie pour m'y mettre de nouveau*
When I was still at college, I had energy to learn new languages, but recently I've almost forgotten most of them. When you live in a country where you have to use a non-native language every day, it's quite difficult to find the energy to dedicate to a new one.

*This is how I would phrase it but it would be best to have a native speaker chime in here.

Heb ik jullie al gezagt dat ik luchthaven haat? Ik heb 6 keer in de volgende drie weken gevlogen en het is altijd een enorm gedoe....

Have I already told you all that I hate airports? I flew six times in the past three weeks and it's always a huge hassle....

[jal]

Hatte is past and indicative, so it's for a real past situation. The German past subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) is irrealis.

Danke! Niederländisch hat keine richtige Konjunktiv, und wendet "had" an, in beide Fälle.
Thanks! Dutch doesn't have a real subjunctive, and uses "had" in both cases.

Ik had een kat, die mijn moeder voor me gekocht had.
Als ik een kat had, dan had ie echt een domme naam gehad.
Wat had ik dan moeten doen?

Heb^ ik jullie al gezegd* dat ik luchthavens** haat***? Ik heb in de afgelopen drie weken zes keer gevlogen en het is altijd een enorm gedoe....

^Beter: "had"
*Beter: "verteld"
**Beter: "vliegvelden"
***Beter: gebruik "een (vreselijke/hartgrondige) hekel hebben aan", bijv. "Had ik jullie al verteld dat ik een vreselijke hekel heb aan vliegvelden?"


JAL

[Astraios]

(Hearing from is possible in "I haven't heard from her for two days" or "I heard a sound from far away" right? of is used when it's about the topic, not the source, of the hearing?)

Yes, you hear (word, news) from people, or hear (sounds) from somewhere. But you hear (tell) of (“about”) things which are new to you, that you haven’t heard (people talking) of before.

Me either, but i like checked on a map and stuff, so i could see it easily there.

Shouldn't that be neither?

In standard English, yes. But “X either” is a common colloquial replacement for “X neither” in some places.

been thinking perhaps i should go to canada...

Я раз побывала. Шёл там снег.
I went once. It snowed.

[Ziz]

Я раз побывала. Шёл там снег.
I went once. It snowed.

J'ai entendu dire que ça se passe des fois au Canada.
I've heard that sometimes happens in Canada.

J'aime bien la neige. La neige fraîche a une si brillante blancheur. À l'Alaska, la neige reste tout l'hiver sans fondre. À Wisconsin, il est un peu déprimant voir la neige fondre en décembre ou janvier. Sans neige, tout ce qu'on voit, c'est le brun de l'herbe morte et des arbres effeuillés.
I like snow. Fresh snow is so brilliantly white. In Alaska, the snow stays all winter without melting. In Wisconsin, it's a bit depressing to see the snow melt in December or January. Without snow, all you see is the brown of dead grass and leafless trees.

[finlay]

スキーが好き（親父ギャグwww）けど、全体として冬より夏の方がいいかな。そりゃ心配なことの１つなのね
sukii ga suki (oyaji gyagu lolol) kedo, zentai toshite fuyu yori natsu no hou ga ii kana. sorya shinpai na koto no hitotsu na no ne
i like skiing, but i probably prefer summer to winter overall. like that's one thing i'd be worried about...

[Viktor77]

J'ai entendu dire que ça se passe des fois au Canada.
J'aime bien la neige. La neige fraîche a une si brillante blancheur. Dans l'Alaska*, la neige reste tout l'hiver sans fondre. Dans le Wisconsin, il est un peu déprimant voir la neige fondre en décembre ou janvier. Sans la neige, tout ce qu'on voit, c'est le brun de l'herbe morte et des arbres effeuillés.

*It's not that you can't say "au Wisconsin"'--there appears to be no concrete rule--but I more often hear "dans le Wisconsin."

^Beter: "had"
*Beter: "verteld"
**Beter: "vliegvelden"
***Beter: gebruik "een (vreselijke/hartgrondige) hekel hebben aan", bijv. "Had ik jullie al verteld dat ik een vreselijke hekel heb aan vliegvelden?"

Wat is het verschil tussen luchthaven en vliegveld en vlieghaven?

What is the difference between luchthaven and vliegveld and vlieghaven?

[Ryusenshi]

*This is how I would phrase it but it would be best to have a native speaker chime in here.

Raises hand.

Quand j'étais toujours à l'université, j'avais de l'énergie pour apprendre des nouvelles langues, mais dernièrement j'en ai oublié presque toutes. Quand on vit dans un pays où il faut utiliser chaque jour une langue allogène, il est assez difficile de trouver de l'énergie pour s'y mettre de nouveau*

His original phrase was okay; maybe pour se consacrer would have been more idiomatic.

The position of chaque jour was perfectly correct, no need to change it.

J'en ai oublié presque toutes sounds a bit weird. Better: je les ai presque toutes oubliées. Or you could say j'en ai oublié presque tout: "I have forgotten almost everything about them".

I had never heard the word allogène before. In this non-technical context, I would've used étrangère.

J'aime bien la neige. La neige fraîche a une si brillante blancheur. En Alaska, la neige reste tout l'hiver sans fondre. Au/Dans le Wisconsin, il est un peu déprimant de voir la neige fondre en décembre ou janvier. Sans neige, tout ce qu'on voit, c'est le brun de l'herbe morte et des arbres effeuillés.

Generally, city names don't have an article, but country and region names do. There are exceptions, but the rule mostly works.

@Viktor: I could say either one. And sans neige is perfectly correct.

[Viktor77]

Generally, city names don't have an article, but country and region names do. There are exceptions, but the rule mostly works.

I get what you're doing here using "en" to achieve liaison, but "Dans l'Alaska" is perfectly attested to as well. I think it depends to an extent how much you want to emphasize that the activity is physically in the state. It's a bit like with city names. You can say "Hier soir, j'étais dans Paris avec mon ami" or "Hier soir, j'étais à Paris avec mon ami." To me the former implies an emphasis on physically being in Paris. It also just occurred to me that there is "J'étais sur Paris" as well which might be the most vague of all three prepositions meaning I was in Paris, somewhere in the Paris metro. Thoughts?

[xxx]

Dans l'Alaska hurts my french ears... I prefer En Alaska...
Dans Paris is said when you don't usually live in Paris intra muros but in suburbs...
A Paris is standard...
Sur Paris is rather uncorrect but said when it is only a stopover...

[Viktor77]

Dans l'Alaska hurts my french ears... I prefer En Alaska...
Dans Paris is said when you don't usually live in Paris intra muros but in suburbs...
A Paris is standard...
Sur Paris is rather uncorrect but said when it is only a stopover...

So would you so the same with other vowel initial masculine state names? En Illinois? En Iowa? En Ohio? En Arkansas? My French colleagues at the University of Illinois usually said Dans l'Illinois.

[jal]

Wat is het verschil tussen luchthaven en vliegveld en vlieghaven?

"Luchthaven" is afaik only used for large airports, in the Netherlands only Schiphol could be called a "luchthaven". But I'd say "vliegveld" is far more common, especially in colloquial speech. Of course, the Netherlands have only a handful of commercial airports, so Schiphol is just called Schiphol. "vlieghaven" does not exist.

Wikipedia informs that a "luchthaven" is exclusively for civilian travel.

Thoughts?

Vielleicht deine Französisch ist verderbt durch die Wallonen :).
Perhaps your French is spoiled by the Walloons :).


JAL

[xxx]

So would you so the same with other vowel initial masculine state names? En Illinois? En Iowa? En Ohio? En Arkansas? My French colleagues at the University of Illinois usually said Dans l'Illinois.

Agree with that...

[Viktor77]

So would you so the same with other vowel initial masculine state names? En Illinois? En Iowa? En Ohio? En Arkansas? My French colleagues at the University of Illinois usually said Dans l'Illinois.

Agree with that...

Ok, mais peux-tu m'expliquer pourquoi?

Ok but can you tell me why?

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

been thinking perhaps i should go to canada...

Я раз побывала. Шёл там снег.
I went once. It snowed.

Je me demande est-ce que il a jamais neigé à Malte, ce paraît intéressant pour moi. Connaissez-vous la réponse?
Я себя спрашиваю, снежило ли когда-либо на Мальте, мне это кажется интересным. Знаете ли вы ответ?
I wonder if whether has ever snowed on Malta, it seems interesting to me. Do you know the answer?

[Io]

In the past 200 years there were only few days when this miracle happened in Malta. Malta has experienced just seven snowfalls since 1858.

Apparently no snow there, but occasional hailstorms which look like snow on the ground. This January a lot of the Greek islands including Crete saw snow, after 20-something years but in Malta it's even rarer.

[jmcd]

Tha sneachd nas motha ann an seo!

There's more often snow here!

http://www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/reu ... 72662.html

[Imralu]

Baada ya kusoma thread hii, ninafurahi kwamba sijifunzi Kifaransa. Kwa Kiswahili majina ya mahali hayahitaji chochote. Hakuna matata Illinois.
After reading this thread, I'm glad I'm not learning French. In Swahili, names of places don't need anything. There are no problems in Illinois.

[hwhatting]

Мы должны учиться английскому языку (кроме того мне только пятнадцать лет и я не знаю причины, чтобы изучать мальтийский, я бы скорее изучал какой-либо скандинавский язык).
Русские сказали, что я очень хорошо говорю по-русски, поэтому я немножко смеялся. Они узнали, почему, когда я сказал «час» вместо «время» в предложении «У меня нет времени, чтобы…».
We should learn English (additionally I'm only fifteen and I don't know a reason for learning Maltese, I'd rather learn a Scandinavian language).
The Russians said I speak Russian very well so I laughed a bit. They learnt why when I said "час" (hour, related to Polish word for time) in lieu of "время" (time, no current cognate in Polish) in the sentence "У меня нет времени, чтобы…" (I don't have the time to…).

Vor einigen Tagen bin ich ins Gespräch gekommen mit einem deutschsprachigen Bekannten ins Gespräch gekommen. Auch sein Mann lernt Deutsch und sie praktizieren*1) es gelegentlich gemeinsam um Gelegenheit, also hab ich vorgeschlagen, einen Stammtisch anzufangen. Er hat das DANK-Haus als Treffpunkt empfohlen, aber ich hab gezögert. Ein alter Bekannter, der die Nazizeit studierte hat, hat DANK den "Nationalsozialistenkongress" benannt von wegen seines*2) Revanchismus. Aber mein guter Freund der pensionierte Deutschprofessor hat mir erzählt, dass das Element zurückgegangen ist und die Organisation sich jetzt versucht, sich als etwas progressiver zu präsentieren.
A few days ago I got into a conversation with a German-speaking acquaintance. His husband is also learning German and they practice together sometimes so I suggested forming a language table. He recommended the DANK Haus as a meeting place but I hesitated. An old college friend who studied the Nazis called it the "National Socialist Congress" because of its revanchism. But my good friend the retired German professor told me that that element has diminished and the organisation is trying to present its as more progressive these days.

*1) üben is more like doing exercises (e.g. from a taxt book), while "speak in order to practice" is praktizieren.
*2) Style - von wegen meaning simply wegen is quite colloquial.

hatte - past tense, hätte - subjunctive II

Kannst du erklären, wann beide zu verwenden sind?
Can you explain when to use each one?

Im Niederländischen, hat "kijken" hat "uit", aber "zien" hat "vanuit".
In Dutch, "kijken" has "uit", but "zien" has "vanuit".

Can you explain when to use each one?

Thanks to Imralu for handling that!

Danke! Niederländisch hat keinen richtigen Konjunktiv, und gebraucht "had" an, in beiden Fällen.
Thanks! Dutch doesn't have a real subjunctive, and uses "had" in both cases.

Vielleicht wurde deine Französisch ist verderbt durch die Wallonen verdorben .
Perhaps your French is spoiled by the Walloons .

Я себя спрашиваю, снежило*1) ли когда-либо на Мальте, мне это кажется интересным. Знаете ли вы ответ?[/b]
I wonder if whether has ever snowed on Malta, it seems interesting to me. Do you know the answer?

*1) A relatively rare word. I'd say выпал ли когда-либо на Мальте снег.

Ik had een kat, die mijn moeder voor me gekocht had.

Ten fałszywy przyjaciel rozśmieszył mię.
Cet faux frère m'a fait rire.
Deze valse vriend heeft me lachen gedaan.
This false friend made me laugh.

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

Hakuna matata

Это так старый фильм, что я забыл, что в нём происходит.
C'est un film tellement vieux que j'ai oublié que s'est passé/passait/se passe (?) dans lui.
It is such an old film that I had forgotten what is happening in it.

Мы должны учиться английскому языку

I don't quite understand your construction.

Я себя спрашиваю, снежило*1) ли когда-либо на Мальте, мне это кажется интересным. Знаете ли вы ответ?
I wonder if whether has ever snowed on Malta, it seems interesting to me. Do you know the answer?

*1) A relatively rare word. I'd say выпал ли когда-либо на Мальте снег.

Ik had een kat, die mijn moeder voor me gekocht had.

I just like this word as I use it relatively frequently in Polish.

Ten fałszywy przyjaciel rozśmieszył mię.
This false friend made me laugh.

I haven't heard this word but reading some stylistic or dated texts, actually everybody uses mnie; I wonder where you could get that from.

Интересно, что Наида (моя собеседница) сразу тогда меня исправила.
C'est intéressant que Naïda (mon interlocutrice) aussitôt a me corrigé.
It's interesting that Naïda (my interlocutor) corrected me immediately.

[Viktor77]

C'est un si vieux film tellement vieux que j'ai oublié ce qui s'est passé/passait/se passe dans lui*

It is such an old film that I had forgotten what was happening in it.

Il est intéressant que Naïda (mon interlocutrice) aussitôt m'a me corrigé immédiatement/tout de suite.
It's interesting that Naïda (my interlocutor) immediately corrected me immediately.

I'm going to continue to correct the French to the best of my abilities but if anyone wants to take over it's theirs.

*Depends on what you wanted to say. Is the action complete or not? I suppose you can also say ce qui s'y est passé but I find it unnecessary.

Jal, waarom heeft het Nederlands twee verschilen met betrekking tot vliegvelden?

Jal, why does Dutch maintain two distinctions with regards to airports?