There's something about german language that just makes it hard to learn I guess. I only took a few months of lessons myself, but I know many people that studied it for years (4 primary + 4 high school) but still can't speak much, so don't beat youself up too much about it ;-) A few months back I tried to explain some lost tourists how to get to Austria, but I almost broke my tongue. I have no idea if they ever got home or got even more lost :-) After some 6 months you'd think I could at least give directions, LOL.
He, he, imagine trying to give directions and not knowing the word for crossroad. It all came to me (Kreuzung), after they were gone, but for a million dollars I couldn't remember it at the time.
I rran into the same tap water phobia in germany when I was going to highschool there. Only thing my host family would let me drink was carbonated mineral water. tapwater would 'make me sick' if I drank it. I actually got pretty used to the carbonated stuff by the time I left.
Anyway, I think I saw some other posts referring to this, but un-carbonated water is referred to as 'stilles' in german.
Anand, ich denke "stilles Wasser" ist das beste Wort für diesen Gebrauch. Mineralwasser ist natürlich völlig falsch, obwohl es in die richtige Richtung geht. Wieviel Deutsch sprichst du denn wirklich? Ich war überrascht, als ich las, dass du Deutsch kannst. Schreib doch mal ein paar Sätze die überzeugen!
I am German myself, but live so long time in China that I forgot my own language almost completely... but Chinese rocks :D
4 years of German in High School and 3 semesters more at college and I've never really picked it up either. I've been to Austria once for 3 weeks and Germany twice for much shorter periods and I think asking for and then understanding directions to a subway once was just about the only use I ever got out of my German. If we're going to half-ass it this badly with foriegn languages I really don't see why we bother at all in America. I think actual bilingualism and multilingualism are very good things, I just don't see any connection between our system of foriegn language education and actually learning other languages.
When are we going to get another Apple product review? They have released so many new products that some of them should be worthy of some type of review. iPod Nano? iPod w/ video capabilities? Quad Core G5? Etc. Etc.
Ich möchte gern stilles Mineralwasser.
Ich möchte gern stilles Wasser.
Ich möchte gern Wasser ohne Kohlensäure.
I lived in Berlin from 1988 until 1991, witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall first-hand. I began my formal study of the language in 1994, took AP German, and made German my minor at Georgia Tech. I now work for the German government, coordinating a program designed to give educators throughout the United States a picture of modern-day Germany.
As I wrote in my response to your last post, feel free to PM me if you ever need professional guides to lead you through Germany or need any other travel recommendations. It's part of my job to work with the German government's Federal Visitors Service (Besucherdienst) to organize trips to Germany.
I feel lucky to work in an office where I can continue to practice my foreign language skills. I work according to German employment law and have strong connections to the German community in Atlanta. As you well know, if you don't practice your language, you lose it, and I wasn't quite ready to do that after 8 years of study.
Exactly, everything GTAudiophile said above.... and there are three things Germans don't understand: flat water, free water, ice in their cola, and deodorant. Okay, that was four. If you don't want to pay for your water you have to say "Leitungswasser bitte" because they're really not accustomed to drinking out of the tap. "Wasser ohne Gas" also works if you need flat water, and it's easier to remember...
I think your experience parallels that of many travelling abroad. Let's say you were from Bangladesh travelling in, say Estonia, you would probably still communicate in English with the locals since it's really an international thing. In order to practice a language I find I have to pretend I don't speak English. :)
One bad side effect of having spent time in Germany - I've really developed a liking for mineral water, believe it or not. In case anyone didn't know, mineral water is naturally fizzy water with a nutritious mineral content.... as such, you can't chug it hehe. Kind of defeats the purpose of water for some.
Well, here in Slovakia you can trust tap water. I believe in germany it should be on par.
However one of the positive aspect of socializm here was they didn't look at price when it came to public services.
Means it wasn't so important how much it cost to build something as in west these times. Thus things like water distribution as well as mass transit systems were ways more advanced back then.
Anyway here in Europe are pretty high standards for services like public water supply. It is common that water supply system is closed if something happens to polute it and drinking water is distributed by tanks(at the expense of the water company) until the issue is resolved.
Also until recently there was no bottled pure water available except for babies(because of chlorine in pot water). Even now the main reason some paranoic people buy bottled water is the believe commercials.
You buy bottled water here only if you want soda or mineral water. Otherwise the quality of pot water is pretty much on par with bottled table water, sometimes even better because pot water is fresh and kept cool during transport, unlike bottled one...
Well some info for americans:
Slovakia is about 300 miles eastward from Dresden and was part of Czechoslovakia some 10 yrs ago.
(Czech Republic is about 50 miles from Dresden)
I'm in a similar situation, German in high school and collage and I still can't speak it worth a damn. What are "experiences to the contrary" though? Did you end up drinking some unpotable water or something like that?
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AtaStrumf - Saturday, October 29, 2005 - link
There's something about german language that just makes it hard to learn I guess. I only took a few months of lessons myself, but I know many people that studied it for years (4 primary + 4 high school) but still can't speak much, so don't beat youself up too much about it ;-) A few months back I tried to explain some lost tourists how to get to Austria, but I almost broke my tongue. I have no idea if they ever got home or got even more lost :-) After some 6 months you'd think I could at least give directions, LOL.AtaStrumf - Saturday, October 29, 2005 - link
He, he, imagine trying to give directions and not knowing the word for crossroad. It all came to me (Kreuzung), after they were gone, but for a million dollars I couldn't remember it at the time.elvisizer - Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - link
I rran into the same tap water phobia in germany when I was going to highschool there. Only thing my host family would let me drink was carbonated mineral water. tapwater would 'make me sick' if I drank it. I actually got pretty used to the carbonated stuff by the time I left.Anyway, I think I saw some other posts referring to this, but un-carbonated water is referred to as 'stilles' in german.
ProphetCHRIS - Monday, October 24, 2005 - link
Guys, very funny comments about water here.Anand, ich denke "stilles Wasser" ist das beste Wort für diesen Gebrauch. Mineralwasser ist natürlich völlig falsch, obwohl es in die richtige Richtung geht. Wieviel Deutsch sprichst du denn wirklich? Ich war überrascht, als ich las, dass du Deutsch kannst. Schreib doch mal ein paar Sätze die überzeugen!
I am German myself, but live so long time in China that I forgot my own language almost completely... but Chinese rocks :D
xtknight - Sunday, October 23, 2005 - link
I can't stand sparkling water either. I tried some once and I felt like vomiting, literally. It's disgusting.obeseotron - Thursday, October 20, 2005 - link
4 years of German in High School and 3 semesters more at college and I've never really picked it up either. I've been to Austria once for 3 weeks and Germany twice for much shorter periods and I think asking for and then understanding directions to a subway once was just about the only use I ever got out of my German. If we're going to half-ass it this badly with foriegn languages I really don't see why we bother at all in America. I think actual bilingualism and multilingualism are very good things, I just don't see any connection between our system of foriegn language education and actually learning other languages.mlittl3 - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
When are we going to get another Apple product review? They have released so many new products that some of them should be worthy of some type of review. iPod Nano? iPod w/ video capabilities? Quad Core G5? Etc. Etc.Anything would be nice! :)
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
Both iPods are being worked on and I'm waiting for Apple to update me on review schedules for the new G5s :)Take care,
Anand
GTaudiophile - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Ich möchte gern stilles Mineralwasser.Ich möchte gern stilles Wasser.
Ich möchte gern Wasser ohne Kohlensäure.
I lived in Berlin from 1988 until 1991, witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall first-hand. I began my formal study of the language in 1994, took AP German, and made German my minor at Georgia Tech. I now work for the German government, coordinating a program designed to give educators throughout the United States a picture of modern-day Germany.
As I wrote in my response to your last post, feel free to PM me if you ever need professional guides to lead you through Germany or need any other travel recommendations. It's part of my job to work with the German government's Federal Visitors Service (Besucherdienst) to organize trips to Germany.
I feel lucky to work in an office where I can continue to practice my foreign language skills. I work according to German employment law and have strong connections to the German community in Atlanta. As you well know, if you don't practice your language, you lose it, and I wasn't quite ready to do that after 8 years of study.
OvErHeAtInG - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
Exactly, everything GTAudiophile said above.... and there are three things Germans don't understand: flat water, free water, ice in their cola, and deodorant. Okay, that was four. If you don't want to pay for your water you have to say "Leitungswasser bitte" because they're really not accustomed to drinking out of the tap. "Wasser ohne Gas" also works if you need flat water, and it's easier to remember...I think your experience parallels that of many travelling abroad. Let's say you were from Bangladesh travelling in, say Estonia, you would probably still communicate in English with the locals since it's really an international thing. In order to practice a language I find I have to pretend I don't speak English. :)
One bad side effect of having spent time in Germany - I've really developed a liking for mineral water, believe it or not. In case anyone didn't know, mineral water is naturally fizzy water with a nutritious mineral content.... as such, you can't chug it hehe. Kind of defeats the purpose of water for some.
Kuroyama - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
"Leitungswasser" (tap water) works as well, if you trust what comes out of the tap.mino - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
Well, here in Slovakia you can trust tap water. I believe in germany it should be on par.However one of the positive aspect of socializm here was they didn't look at price when it came to public services.
Means it wasn't so important how much it cost to build something as in west these times. Thus things like water distribution as well as mass transit systems were ways more advanced back then.
Anyway here in Europe are pretty high standards for services like public water supply. It is common that water supply system is closed if something happens to polute it and drinking water is distributed by tanks(at the expense of the water company) until the issue is resolved.
Also until recently there was no bottled pure water available except for babies(because of chlorine in pot water). Even now the main reason some paranoic people buy bottled water is the believe commercials.
You buy bottled water here only if you want soda or mineral water. Otherwise the quality of pot water is pretty much on par with bottled table water, sometimes even better because pot water is fresh and kept cool during transport, unlike bottled one...
So much about water :)
mino - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
Well some info for americans:Slovakia is about 300 miles eastward from Dresden and was part of Czechoslovakia some 10 yrs ago.
(Czech Republic is about 50 miles from Dresden)
BTW Dresden is in Europe :)
OvErHeAtInG - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
"BTW Dresden is in Europe :)" LOL, but where's Europe? Is it in France? Or, was that a reference to the former DDR... either way, lol.ViRGE - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
I'm in a similar situation, German in high school and collage and I still can't speak it worth a damn. What are "experiences to the contrary" though? Did you end up drinking some unpotable water or something like that?appu - Thursday, October 20, 2005 - link
Tap water in Germany is actually very clean and potable. I survived on tap water for the 2-odd months I had to spend there back in 2001.