[Da Coyote]

Will this matter when Germany becomes Germanistan?

[HartleyMBaldwin]

It’s hard to improve on Mark Twain’s writings concerning the German language.

[Leaning Right]

Old joke: The Germans invented their language just so they could spit at foreigners under the guise of polite conversation.

[IronJack]

My father spoke German as his first language. I took a year of it in college. And I still don’t get it.

[P.O.E.]

No more Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz

Germany drops longest word after EU law change

[A_perfect_lady]

A hideous language that will eventually be obsolete anyway, replaced by Arabic, or whatever their replacement population speaks.

[PROCON]

When I was there in the Army in ‘76, you went through a week of conversational German classes. I learned more on my own and became quite proficient.

[going hot]

So.. mit der shlange ist die shlonged?

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Polish your Polish furniture with Polish polish only.

[alexander_busek]

For one, there’s the dieresis, which turn the vowels a, o, and u into ä, ö and ü.

I believe that it is incorrect to refer to the Umlaut as a dieresis - although they have the same appearance.

I believe that, properly speaking, a dieresis is the term for the diacritical symbol used in English (and, e.g., French) to indicate that a vowel is spoken separately from the preceding adjacent vowel (e.g., coöperation, naïve, or Noël).

Regards,

[null and void]

When the i and the e go walking,
the last one does the talking

[KarlInOhio]

, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Scandal in Bohemia: "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the peculiar construction of the sentence—‘This account of you we have from all quarters received.’ A Frenchman or Russian could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncourteous to his verbs."

Mark Twain, The Awful German Language

Mark Twain's Notebook: A dog is "der Hund"; a woman is "die Frau"; a horse is "das Pferd"; now you put that dog in the genitive case, and is he the same dog he was before? No, sir; he is "des Hundes"; put him in the dative case and what is he? Why, he is "dem Hund." Now you snatch him into the accusative case and how is it with him? Why, he is "den Hunden." But suppose he happens to be twins and you have to pluralize him- what then? Why, they'll swat that twin dog around through the 4 cases until he'll think he's an entire international dog-show all in is own person. I don't like dogs, but I wouldn't treat a dog like that- I wouldn't even treat a borrowed dog that way. Well, it's just the same with a cat. They start her in at the nominative singular in good health and fair to look upon, and they sweat her through all the 4 cases and the 16 the's and when she limps out through the accusative plural you wouldn't recognize her for the same being. Yes, sir, once the German language gets hold of a cat, it's goodbye cat. That's about the amount of it.

[Hotlanta Mike]

It is made even more complicated as a non-speaker to move to a German speaking region of Switzerland where their mother tongue and common language is SWISS GERMAN.

[KarlInOhio]

For example, “Auf der Straße lag eine Schlange,” (“There was a snake on the street”) may be easy to figure out, just like “An der Kasse war eine Schlange” (“There was a line at the cash register”).

However, “Vor dem Eingang der Bank ist eine Schlange” could mean that there is either a line or a snake at the entrance to the bank, and it may be wise to ask for clarification.

I'm sorry, I just don't see the difference in the three sentences. All are equally likely to have a line rather than a snake. In fact, the only one I haven't seen a snake at was the bank entrance. I've seen them on the street and I even saw one at the cash register - but that was at a pet store when someone was buying it.

[King_Corey]

Zum Teufel

[BlessedBeGod]

Thank you! I've been learning prayers in German. This is great!

[dfwgator]

I know a little German.....he's sitting over there....

[windsorknot]

I know Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.