russian / german translation needed.

[Egon]

not 'tense', it's gender

That sounds better.

[Soundguy]

Ok.. I can understand the gender thing.. I know a good bit of spanish.. and that is the same way.. una pluma .. an ink pen.. is female.... un lapiz a pencil.. is male.. etc.

I think 'Das' may be 'that'..

Soundguy

[jpr62902]

It is a both a pronoun (that) and an article (neuter "the"). Der is masculine "the" and die is the feminine version.

[czechsonofagun]

I was ready to help - but too late.


Bluecheck, it sounds very familiar what you say about russian in school- I studied russian for 12 years in my old country b/c it was mandatory

[Soundguy]

Great guys.. exactly what i needed to know.. especailly the gender parts.

Soundguy

[hilld]

Originally Posted by AlanB

German

Die Maschine

(Die is female don't ask me why, my wife says it is because Women do all the hardwork........ She is German, but that is the translation.)

For reference Cats are all girls, (Die) and dogs are all boys (Der)

If it was a Tractor, it would be Der Tractor.....

Dont ask why,,, but I promise that is correct.

Oh, and Die is pronounced DEEE.

Oh, women do all the work...hmm...is that why it is called "Das Mädchen" indicating a girl that has a neuter gender.....guess they are having an identity crisis.

[RobertN]

Would there be variation for high-German vs low-German? My great grandparents came from the old country, and settled in South Dakota. My grandmother was born in South Dakota and grew up with English, but knew German well because of my great-granparents. But... They spoke low-German. I remember my Grandmother talking of a Prussian background and Mennenite colonists, but am not sure if that all fits together.

A couple of my cousins took German in high school, and tried talking with Grandma in German. They couldn't understand each other very well, because the high school classes taught high-German.

[MikePA]

Originally Posted by hilld

Oh, women do all the work...hmm...is that why it is called "Das Mädchen" indicating a girl that has a neuter gender.....guess they are having an identity crisis.

A great German movie (1981) is "Das Boot" (The Boat) which is a very realistic portrayal of life on a WWII German U-Boat. It's not only a great war movie, it's a great movie. I thought I could make use of the 5 years of German I took in Jr and Sr High and not have to read the English subtitles. I gave up and read the subtitles after about 10 minutes.

[AlanB]

It is more, High German, (Hoch Deutsch) and what folks speak....

The dialects are ludicrous in Germany. You may have flapjacks in Texas and we have pancakes in TN but their dialects change from village to village, 2 to 3km from each other.

The one I usually use as an example.

Many towns end in HEIM (home)

as in Ergersheim, Windsheim, Uffenheim You get the point.

In my wifes town they would call it A instead of heim,,,, nobody know why but it is said

ErgeshAh,,, WindsAh etc

And in the next town over they say it EEEEE

as in Ergershee,,, Windseee

Takes a while to figure out they are talking about the same darn place.

After living there a year or so, I met back with some of the original folks that helped me in my motorcycle riding, me holding a translation book in my hand and got me started. I was very proud of my German at that point till he looked at me and ask that I speak English, because surely what I was speaking was not German......... Guess it was Southern German with a Redneck American Accent.