Speaking the language

[stegosaurus]

I was looking at the Alpina E30 catalog which is in German, and it just struck me that I picked a good language to learn. I'm curious if anyone else knows German, or picked some stuff up over time, or learned some because of their car. I've only spoken to the car in German like... twice. Don't hate.

[der affe]

i always wanted to learn it (my grand father was from Hamburg). then i started dating a girl that spoke it (air force brat) so i started by picking up some translation books/instructional books and Cd's and kind of taught myself.

after the girl and i broke up i started working at a shop as a Porsche mechanic with 2 Germans and i would go to them for help with grammar and diction. my German is far from perfect, but i can get by most of the time. i need to brush up on it though, i have no one to speak it to everyday anymore.

this site can be a nice help to because it has the vocal pronunciations too

http://translation2.paralink.com/

[2Big4a3Series]

Having worked for a German-owned corporation a few years ago, I picked up a little bit of their language and culture just from hanging around them all of the time. Even though we were very efficient in how we did the work, the company would send a team of Germans out to our office every so often to keep an eye on us.

One thing that I learned about their language is that it's just as stupid, crazy and twisted as English. It's very easy to be offensive if you use babelfish or some other online translator to communicate with the guys who aren't bilingual because some of their phrases don't exactly make sense when translated word for word.

[der affe]

yea^ i should have warned you about that too.
English slang pretty much DOES NOT translate to German and neither does German to English.

until you get a good grasp of the language and you are trying to use an online translater, use proper English to start.

i have been stalking craig'slist for the Rosetta stone German disc set, but have had no luck yet.

[Asbradley21]

Yep. Ich spreche es.

[shiftbmw]

Ich kenne welche Deutsch, aber nich viel. Meine Grammatik ist nicht gut.

Wenn du willst Deutsch lernen, gehen Sie nach www.livemocha.com.


*Edit*Feel free to correct my German.

[daniel]

i am in my 5th semester of german in college, and i still feel like i don't know shit. all germans speak high german perfectly, so it is intimidating to speak to a native speaker when you know you are messing up every once in a while.

[E30_pilot]

i cant speak german. my buddie taught
me how to say high octane. but i forgot lol

[Rigmaster]

meine schlonge ist elefantaschien!




That's all I know- a good friend of mine taught me that, he said I should say it to every woman I met, it was some sort of formal respectful greeting. I tried using it when I was in Germany, but most of the women just looked at me funny- except that one older waitress in the Bier Garden who kept bringing me free beers and wanting to sit on my lap...... hmmmmm

[der affe]

stay away from my pants party then!

[daniel]

stay away from my pants party then!

speaking of that, the word "eine Partei" is more for political party. you should swap it out for "ein Party".

oh and it should say "du bist eingeladen" (for you singular non-formal are invited) or "Sie sind eingeladen" (for you singular formal are invited).

[der affe]

see, far from perfect, i need to actually take some formal classes!

while you are here, i sold a political dagger from my stash last year, and the inscription always confused me. "Mehr sein als scheinen" roughly "be greater than you seem" is that a syncopation of "seien Sie größer, als Sie scheinen"?

[325_e30]

I'm the 1st person in my entire family tree to ever be born outside Germany. It was my first language but they always tell me I speak with a dialect. They sell pretty good audio tapes to help you out if you want to learn it, or just dl them for free off the interwebs. rosetta stone is awesome for languages.

[mikeedler]

I speak german- well sorta- I live here in the dirty south where they speak some really hardcore slang/accent style (kinda like Alabama/Texas) in the states i guess. I try to speak hoch deutsch- but its hard when your around bauern(farmers) all day long

I went to school full time here for 6 months, married a german- have a 9 y/o daughter that speaks /goes to a german school, and have lived here since 1994- and my gramatik is crappy at best.-- I understand 98% of what I hear- but have a kinda hard time putting perfect sentances together-




"Mehr sein als scheinen"---- BTW-- the translation that I would give you on that is (theres more to it than what it seems)


"seien Sie größer, als Sie scheinen"?--- and that would translate to "are you bigger than you seem?"-- but the capital SIE- is in a very mannered way of saying sir/maam



I really started to learn German when I started school with BMW, and started at a dealer that NOONE speaks english!!!! a hard first month or so, but now I have most of the shop speaking english cuss words or slang stupid american sayings all day long!!!!

[T Verdier]

Bee-ehm-vee!