deutsch anyone??

Jack, is that a Bable Fish translation? I understand the words - of course - but not the meaning, unfortunately.

Did you start to learn German now? How are you planning to do it? How can we help you?

It IS confusing!
urs53, yes I see what you mean! Please excuse me. I typed my post in English, put it into Babel-Fish for translation into German. After reading your post I took my post (the one in German that you read) put it back into Babel-Fish and it came out altogether different than my original post! I can see why you did not understand it!

My original intent was something like this: I have registered with "About" for a basic on-line German language course. I have also been attempting to discover the meaning of posts on this thread that you folks are writing in German. I jot down what I think you mean in a phrase or paragraph. Then I put your writing into the translator. Sometimes I am lucky, I get a very very rough, approximate of what you write. Other times I miss the mark completely but I am having fun and I have the time to fool with it.

I also do this but to a far lesser extent with an on-line, weekly news letter I receive from the German Embassy in Washington. Plus I starting to do similar with der Spiegel and Stern.

I may have mentioned before that I have attempted to learn Spanish with dismal results. Age probably has a good deal to do with it, lack of patience, attempt to run before I crawl, frustration etc. I know I no longer would have the patience to learn German in the classic sense of memorizing words and all the fundamental techniques normally required in order to learn any language. I am going to start with "About's" basic on-line program. They send one lesson a week. I plan on mainly immersing myself in written German. This (for me) is a better approach to learning as I certainly enjoy it more and I believe I will be more inclined to be able to read, understand German long before I can speak it.

I do not wish to insult anyone but I am approaching this as a hobby. No way do I plan on getting into this exercise with any sort of forced regimen. I am doing it for personal enjoyment, satisfaction. Nothing more. So if I appear to be stupid? Well so be it. I don't care, ignore it if it is bad. I am taking this lightly so, you already know. No offense intended to the speakers of German. :wink:

I love the Babel-Fish translations. :-) I think I will do that, too - have it translated back into English.

Just let me know if you have any questions about translations you don't understand - or anything else. I'd be happy to help you. Ich helfe Dir gerne!

Guten morgen!
Guten morgen! Ich gehen nach fruhstuck.

Guten Morgen, Jack. Guten Appetit! What - breakfast???? It's four thirty in the afternoon here! ;-)

Jack, I had it translated... Funny! The word 'Pfosten' that they are using in German for 'post' means post as in (wooden) pole... :-)

post vs. pfosten
urs53, ich am jetzt danke. i.e. mannlich vs. post? Heute fahre ich mein altes auto zu Coco's zum fruhstuck jetzt.

fehler
Nein zweite post "jetzt."

Gee, that sounds like an interesting way to learn German, Jack... scrap all the hard-to-pronounce German sounds and start with the written way

Btw, an approximation for "post" would be "Nachricht" or something... but actually, people in message boards use the very German word "Post" :-) (or Posting, depends)

pssssssssssst, neoHihp, if you see hamburger here - he's my dad

oh, okay :-) I haven't read the full thread yet - no time. Actually, I will go make dinner now... Hähnchen süß-sauer, wenn es jemanden interessiert. That measn chicken in a strange sauce that, among other things, contains pineapple (which in German has the funny name Ananas, btw - so much for your vocable lessons for the day)

Erbaame! Zu spät! Die Hesse komme!

Ich bin aba net wirklisch en Hesse...

sweet and sour chicken

popular in many languages

Ich weiß: ein Vertriebener aus NRW, wenn ich mich richtig erinnere

Sorry to say it - and not be disrespectful - but it sounds so ... dirty in German

In Dutch: zoetzure kip. Much better!

Hähnchen süß-sauer definately sounds Chines and not dirty .... like e.g. kerrie Hawai :wink:

Hmmm. Not convinced :wink:

Oh, I know what you call it in English, but I wanted to get the word for pineapple in there somehow

Lazy!
hihp, can't fool you. The real way to learn German, any language or anything of value is to begin by suffering. I can see right now there is just no other way to do it. I have danced around it. I have fooled myself. I'll just kick back and read myself into German.

I am certain this approach is not original. It may have even been a success for people. My guess is that more people have attempted it and the gradually gave up than those that were successful. I myself was not very enthusiastic about the approach to begin with. We'll see.