German

[Anentropic IxTx]

No, Klingon is the best.

Agreed - except what about Vulcan?

 

[GargoylesLegacy]

So that thing is a Eszet, and is more like a stressed Ess. All this time I kept imagining it as a bee, because I thought it looked like one.

Actually I was pretty confused too, when I first saw this thing. Because in Switzerland and also Austria it doesn't exist.

Edit: Oh, I just found a link to the spelling reform, it is starting to make sense now.

Yeah I told you were are f'd up, didn't I.

 

[RiderOnTheStorm]

LINKED!

Danke, GL. I am passed basics, for the most part. I spent 3 months in Austria this year. I didn't know much German before that. I learn best when thrown into something, ja.

 

[GargoylesLegacy]

Danke, GL. I am passed basics, for the most part. I spent 3 months in Austria this year. I didn't know much German before that. I learn best when thrown into something, ja.

Well, this seems to be something like a German Teaching Thread anyways. I mean we could do that; like some German lessons or so.

Anyways. So you were in Austria, huh? Hm, can we actually talk about this in here? If so I would want to know if you liked it.

 

[wildcat]

Can anyone here teach me the German language? Just some words_

Teach yourself.
An outside teacher is only a burden.

If you have a favourite book, read it again.
And again and again.

Then read it in German.
You do not understand?
Read it again. And again.

Use is abuse.
The brain is not abused.
It functions by itself.

When abused, it does not function.
Leave it alone.

 

[Dali]

Is it weird that the primary reason I want to learn German is in order to increase my enjoyment of Wagner & Strauss?

Tis an incredibly beautiful language and the Eszet is the coolest looking letter out of any of the 5 languages I speak!

 

[entropie]

I think if Wagner and Strauss are hot chicks it is perfectly fine

 

[Blackmail!]

Tis an incredibly beautiful language and the Eszet is the coolest looking letter out of any of the 5 languages I speak!

I would not exactly agree on this. This language is rather husky and guttural, and it's no wonder it is used to tame dangerous animals. And even Friedrich der Große thought the same. Let me quote him in the language he admired and spoke the most:

"Je trouve une langue à demi-barbare, qui se divise en autant de dialectes différents que l'Allemagne contient de provinces. Chaque cercle se persuade que son patois est le meilleur. Il n'existe point encore de recueil muni de la sanction nationale, où l'on trouve un choix de mots et de phrases qui constitue la pureté du langage… Il est donc physiquement impossible qu'un auteur doué du plus beau génie puisse supérieurement bien manier cette langue brute… J'entends parler un jargon dépourvu d'agrément que chacun manie selon son caprice, des termes employés sans choix; les mots propres les plus expressifs négligés… Il faut commencer par perfectionner la langue ; elle a besoin d'être limée et rabotée."

---

There's also a joke telling Heinrich Heine was the greatest poet of all times. Why? Because being able to compose genuine poetry in German deserves respect!

 

[ragashree]

Is it weird that the primary reason I want to learn German is in order to increase my enjoyment of Wagner & Strauss?

That seems pretty cool, actually, at least with me It's generally the sort of reason why I bother with such things!

I don't know much about German or opera, actually, but there are a few worthy exceptions -and there just popped into my head as I was responding *have to look up for some of the spelling, phooey*

Chorus Mysticus:

Alles Vergangliche
ist nur ein Gleichnis;
das Unzulangliche
hier wird's eireignis,
das unbeschreibliche
heir ist's getan
das Ewig-Weibliche
zieht uns hinan.

Something like: All that is transitory is but a symbol/ all inadequacy here is fulfilled/the indescribable here comes to pass/the eternal feminine leads us upwards.

Conclusion of Mahler's 8th, and also Goethe's Faust

 

[entropie]

very kinky poem

 

[ragashree]

very kinky poem

very, if you read it that way!

 

[entropie]

 

[Dali]

Sorry for the late reply but my current access to the internet is only sporadic at best.

I think if Wagner and Strauss are hot chicks it is perfectly fine

Oh, they're sizzling all right.

I would not exactly agree on this. This language is rather husky and guttural, and it's no wonder it is used to tame dangerous animals.

I had no idea it was used as such but have you looked at it from a different viewpoint? That it's a calming influence on berserk creatures due to it's inherent beauty and the way it rolls off the tongue.

That seems pretty cool, actually, at least with me It's generally the sort of reason why I bother with such things!

I don't know much about German or opera, actually, but there are a few worthy exceptions -and there just popped into my head as I was responding *have to look up for some of the spelling, phooey*

Chorus Mysticus:

Alles Vergangliche
ist nur ein Gleichnis;
das Unzulangliche
hier wird's eireignis,
das unbeschreibliche
heir ist's getan
das Ewig-Weibliche
zieht uns hinan.

Something like: All that is transitory is but a symbol/ all inadequacy here is fulfilled/the indescribable here comes to pass/the eternal feminine leads us upwards.

Conclusion of Mahler's 8th, and also Goethe's Faust

Aaah, Mahler.

To paraphrase St Thomas Aquinas, "After you have heard Mahler, everything else is but mere straw."