the english Laberthread (the fine british way!)

[Morasain]

(09.11.2014)Atomicorn schrieb:  I think, english is much easier than the most of the other languages. It's practical, it says what to say with less words.

Unfortunately, that's not true. The English language has by far more words than the German language, or any other Germanic language.

Concerning the pronunciation, the English language is pretty inconsistent, due to the different influences from other languages. You can't practice that, you have to remember most words by heart.

[Jira]

(10.11.2014)Phantom Heart schrieb:  Well,english..i must say,my english is not the yellow from the egg <.< .But with this,i hope i can train my english xD

Spoiler (Öffnen)

I really hope this wasn't on purpose. >_>

[Morasain]

(10.11.2014)Jira schrieb:  

(10.11.2014)Phantom Heart schrieb:  Well,english..i must say,my english is not the yellow from the egg <.< .But with this,i hope i can train my english xD

Spoiler (Öffnen)

I really hope this wasn't on purpose. >_>

I think you meant to say that you hope it was on purpose. Otherwise it would be pretty sad.

[Jira]

Oh crap, yes. xD To say it in German: "Eigentor"
'Cause I don't know how to say it in English. >.>

Btw, if I make a mistake, please tell me! I want to improve my English!

[Morasain]

Will do.

[LuminFlare]

(10.11.2014)Morasain schrieb:  

(09.11.2014)Atomicorn schrieb:  I think, english is much easier than the most of the other languages. It's practical, it says what to say with less words.

Unfortunately, that's not true. The English language has by far more words than the German language, or any other Germanic language.

Concerning the pronunciation, the English language is pretty inconsistent, due to the different influences from other languages. You can't practice that, you have to remember most words by heart.

Now this is what I wanted to say!

[Adr1anG]

(10.11.2014)Morasain schrieb:  Concerning the pronunciation, the English language is pretty inconsistent, due to the different influences from other languages. You can't practice that, you have to remember most words by heart.

Isn't practice the best way to learn pronunciations? Or do you take a sheet of paper with all the English words and their pronunciations and learn them by heart? What I meant was that English pronunciation must be learned and is not as intuitive as the German one.

[Morasain]

Well, you can't actually "learn" the English pronunciation. Just a few examples:
Beat, head, great, heard, heart.
They're spelt exactly the same, and yet you can't guess the sound you have to make in each case. You have to know that, there is no other way. Practice may help, but not for a word you've never heard before.

I should actually do my homework for wednesday... but... translating sentences is so fucking boring...

[Adr1anG]

(10.11.2014)Morasain schrieb:  Well, you can't actually "learn" the English pronunciation. Just a few examples:
Beat, head, great, heard, heart.
They're spelt exactly the same, and yet you can't guess the sound you have to make in each case. You have to know that, there is no other way. Practice may help, but not for a word you've never heard before.

I should actually do my homework for wednesday... but... translating sentences is so fucking boring...

For me listening to native speakers to get to know the pronunciations is learning after all. And to be able to actually pronounce you have to practice. So you have to learn how to pronounce and then practice how to pronounce. Reading phonetic transcriptions is not what I think is the most practical solution.

And I know what you mean...

[Morasain]

Well, I think the IPA is pretty good to learn how to pronounce a word. At least you can understand how it has to sound.

[Adr1anG]

I stick to my "native speakers are the best way to learn how to pronounce".
I don't say that it's bad to learn via phonetic transcriptions such as IPA, but I still think that this would not have been the best solution for me to learn pronunciations.

[Morasain]

In that case I do partially agree with you... Native speakers have a few hundred dialects or sociodialects... so you can't really learn from them if you want to use Standard English, but that's most likely not the case, so your solution is pretty good. As long as you aren't talking to any Scottish or Irish people

[LuminFlare]

(10.11.2014)Morasain schrieb:  In that case I do partially agree with you... Native speakers have a few hundred dialects or sociodialects... so you can't really learn from them if you want to use Standard English, but that's most likely not the case, so your solution is pretty good. As long as you aren't talking to any Scottish or Irish people

Sounds like learning German from Plattdeutsch speaking people DX

But still, IPA are also, in most cases, in standard pronunciation and also helped me getting used to other languages too, so I guess this type of learning was really something mine.

Speaking of Wednesday, it doesn't even sound like wet-nes-dey

[Morasain]

The thing is, most (younger) German people talk the standard variant. Or are at least able to do so... If you don't count in teenagers from Neukölln etc ^^ If you find someone who can't talk Hochdeutsch (what's the English term for that?), chances are pretty good that he's somewhat old. There are still a few significant features for different regions (e.g. dat instead of das --> most likely from NRW/ Ruhrpott), but that's not really a majority in our language anymore.

[Sheena]

Nice thread! I just now discovered it. (Someone should correct the title, though)

I like English better than German so whenever it's possible, I choose English versions of books, movies, games etc. over German versions. I speak (American) English at home as well.

Are there any native English speakers around?

[Ken-Oh]

Well at least I ain't one of them. I am actually more of a turkish speaking guy.*laugh* I still love the english (british as well as american) language though. (: I also prefer english dubs over german dubs once in a while .

So you actually really are american? Nice! How was life in the US for u? I always wish to be in Miami or San Francisco for example.

[Morasain]

I usually watch both versions, English and German, and decide which I like best. In the case of Game of Thrones it's English, for Supernatural I... okay, let's be honest, I watched every single episode at least three times in both languages...

When I am reading it heavily depends on the author. It would be silly to read a book by Markus Heitz or Walter Moers in English. If the author isn't German, I usually pick the English version as long as I can find it as an E-Book from Thalia.

[LuminFlare]

(11.11.2014)Morasain schrieb:  If you find someone who can't talk Hochdeutsch (what's the English term for that?), chances are pretty good...

(Modern) High German

[Adr1anG]

(11.11.2014)LuminFlare schrieb:  

(11.11.2014)Morasain schrieb:  If you find someone who can't talk Hochdeutsch (what's the English term for that?), chances are pretty good...

(Modern) High German

I think it's just Standard German, because historically seen we don't talk Hochdeutsch or Niederdeutsch anymore.

[Mudkipz]

I would like to buy a hamburger.