#language probs

Later on our walk back to campus we were discussing all the ways to imply you need to use a bathroom without actually saying “I need to go to the bathroom” and that led to me teaching her “I need to see a man about a horse” and other ridiculous phrases.

Whenever I’m reading fancomics and/or fanfiction (my own included), and I come across CHAT NOIR...

I know it’s pronounced “shaa noaa” but my stupid English tells me it’s “chat” as in “chatting” and I’m so internally conflicted about what to read that I just kind of go “___ Noir” in my head. Or like, ‘“Purrfect,”  said ____.’ and it’s driving me crazy. 

For a second, I thought the guy sitting next to me at Starbucks was speaking Spanish, and I had a moment of panic.

“What is this accent I’ve never heard before??? What Spanish speaking countries are left??”

I don’t have to go to the concert in Graz for another 15 minutes or so, I think, so I thought I would have some time to write this post.

Now German and English are, to my luck, EXTREMELY similar languages. at least 40% of the time you ask what something is in German, it will be the same word as in English, just with an accent. 

1) Conformation-Konformation Tractor-Traktor Paper-Papier....see?

2) Everyone is a “the”. For example, I would not say “Theresia and I went to the store”, I would say “The Theresia and I went to the store.” It was a difficult thing to get used to at first, but now it’s super simple, and also really fun to do. 

3) Another thing that I learned the other day is something that I can kinda only explain with an example. I asked my host brother “Was soll ich zu Mama am Samstag schenken?” and he responded in a response saying “Actually, it would be ‘was soll ich der Mama am Samstag schenken?” The first one in english sounds like “what should I gift to Mama on Saturday?” and the second one sounds like “what should I gift the Mama on Saturday?” So the only way it makes sense in German is “I give Mama something” not “I give something to Mama”...Mama gotta be an indirect object. 

4) Any verb other than the 2nd verb goes to the end of the sentence. It doesn’t matter how many verbs you got, all of them but one are getting stapled onto the end of stuff. Unless you use the words because or that, in which case all of those babies are going to the end. And the first verb you want to use will go literally at the end. For example, “I bought a bike because I did’t want to walk to school” is “ich habe ein Fahrrad gekauft, weil ich nicht in die Schule zu füß gehen wollte. I’m not even 100% sure that that’s right, just because this is really difficult. Literally translated, that guy is “I have a bike bought, because I don’t to school by foot go want.”...or something..yeah

5) Here in Steiermark, the people have an accent where all of the a sounds are replaced by o sounds. so mag is mog, tag is tog, it’s fun to listen to. 

6) Everything has genders just because the language hates me. Das Zimmer, der Hund, die Katze. And they change depending on where in the sentence or how in the sentence the words are. Die Schule, or ich bin in der Schule..der Raum, or ich bin im Raum, or ich gehe in den Raum...mhm

7) Perfect German and Dialect are super duper different things. For example, “I don’t like that” is “dass mag ich nicht”, and here in my town it is “dess mog i net”. 

8) A greeting in Austria that is only used here is “Grüß Gott”, or “Grüß dich!” 

That’s probably enough for now, just because thinking about it sometimes gives me headache, and I also should go downstairs and socialize now.