Another update from Deutschland

[Uesugi Kenshin]

So I'm sure those of you who haven't forgotten me think I'm dead. But I'm not, well not yet. When you read this I might be, who knows.

So I am now working on something like my tenth week in Germany out of somewhere in the neighborhood of 48 or 50. Everything is going pretty well. The people here are all very nice, except the nazis, but I only was near a bunch of those once at a concert in town and they weren't bothering me. I'm light years ahead of where I was before when it comes to understanding and speaking German. I've been told I have a fairly strong accent, which is unfortunate, but as long as I get the words and grammar right I don't care too much. Not that I get those right all that much, but my German isn't too horrible and I can understand a lot.

Hmmm no idea what else to say. If anyone has any questions about living in Germany, Germans, living abroad, my experience here, or whatever, please ask.

Oh and I know I had another thread earlier, but I don't have time to search it up at the moment, which is really a horrible excuse, but if a mod wants to merge them I don't mind, you don't have to though, it's really fine with me either way and I don't think this causes too much clutter.

Who wants to bet someone spam posts about this being clutter, especially after this...

[Craterus]

Good to see you're still posting and good to hear you're enjoying it.

[Vladimir]

The language: How are you or what is the best way to learn it? Immersion?

[Csargo]

Good to know your doing good Kenshin.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

The language is the hardest part for me. I didn't really have any trouble getting used to the culture or anything because though it is different it is not so different that I wanted to curl up in a ball all day, though some other Americans did. It's also cool living with two families. Anyway what I did was immerse myself fully, I listened to Germans speak all day at school, I listened to my family speak when I got home, I listened to Rammstein and Madsen when I wasn't busy doing something else, or was working around the house. But I also got my Mutti to make me lists of random words and studied them. When I first got here I was doing almost a page of words a day. Attempting to speak when you have a vague idea of what you want to say is good to. Even if you say something like "Go in a new class" it's better than switching to English and you can ask the German you're talking to how to actually say it afterwards. Finding a friend or two who doesn't mind correcting your German too much is also good. They might get annoyed from time to time, but it is far better than having people let mistakes slide if they can understand you. Also never ever ever pass up a chance to go out and do something if you're away from your family on an exchange. The language is really hard at times, and at times I can practically not speak at all, but when I say my German is horrible and someone replies "Es geht" it's well worth it and it feels really good to be able to communicate somewhat in their language after not being able to for quite some time.

[Ice]

Finding a friend or two who doesn't mind correcting your German too much is also good. They might get annoyed from time to time, but it is far better than having people let mistakes slide if they can understand you.

This is very true. I was friends with a student who moved from Japan the year before. He would sit with us at lunch and I would help him with his English, slang English, and any words/phrases he didn't understand.

[Husar]

Gut zu wissen, dass es dir hier gefällt.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Ja Husar es ist sehr net hier in Sachsen-Anhalt.
Yeah Husar it is very nice here in Saxony-Anhalt.

Sure my grammar and spelling may be a little bit off, but I understood you with no help from my Würterbuch or Familie!

EDIT: Ice: friends are definately crucial for slang. "Geil" is not for people people.

[edyzmedieval]

Have fun my arch rival. May you come back healthy so we can duel ourselves again in the Kawanakajima!

[Kongamato]

Do they use shelf toilets where you are located?

[Csargo]

I envy you Kenshin. I want to visit Germany before I die really all of Europe. Maybe someday.

[Ice]

Gut zu wissen, dass es dir hier gefällt.

Good you are learning (?), because it is good to?

My German is horrible. I'm going off what I took in high school 2 years ago.

[Husar]

Do they use shelf toilets where you are located?

Since when do you know toilets in the US?

@Ice: I said: "Good to know that you like it here."

[Stig]

I come from the German border. I sometimes almost have to consider German my second language, since I used to speak it loads ... Jerry normally doesn't speak Dutch.
My grammar is shite really, and therefore writing can be a problem, but I can speak it, and words I don't know I take from the local dialect, which is part German part Dutch (mind you I could speak that too, but I tend to avoid speaking it as I hate it).
German is only difficult in grammar imo, you almost write words as you speak them, which can make things easy.

Deutsch ist nicht sehr schwer, aber Nominativ und Accusativ sind (I bet one of those words is in wrong grammer, or I forgot an umlaut)

meh German can sound damned good tho

and I tend to forget to say Sie to all Germans, we Dutch aren't really used to it

[Ice]

Since when do you know toilets in the US?

@Ice: I said: "Good to know that you like it here."

hahahaha, not even close.

[Stig]

hahahaha, not even close.

Nah you could do well as the average internet translator

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Aber ich habe verstehen.

What in the name of god are shelf toilets? They sound horrifyingly communal, and showering is one thing, but laying pipe in public...No thanks.

Some German pronunciation can be tough, and the grammar can occasionally be a pain in the but, the main thing that gets me is Dativ, Nominativ, and Akusitiv (Woot I probably spelled those wrong), and the gender of things.

[Fragony]

You can find them in Germany and the Netherlands, prevents splash and allows you to inspect your work!

[drone]

You can also find them in Austria. Had my first experience with them when I went skiing in St. Anton. I was told it has something to do with checking for worms (due to the high content of pig in the diet). Not sure if that's true though. Not the best toilets for morning dumps when you drink heavily the night before, you get the smell full force.

[Husar]

You can find them in Germany and the Netherlands, prevents splash[...]

And I avtually prefer them because of that, in those others I always put loads of toilet paper in to prevent the splash.
And concerning grammar, we have:
Nominativ
Genitiv
Dativ
Akkusativ
And it's quite interesting noone mentioned genitive since there is some saying here: "Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod" which basically translates to "dative is the death of the genitive" while it should be "Der Dativ ist des Genitivs Tod" which translates into "dative is the genitive's death".
The point of that little pun is that Germans replace the genitive with the dative although that is grammatically wrong but to make fun of it, they did it in the pun as well.

[GoreBag]

Aber ich habe verstehen.

Verstanden.

It does certainly seem that you're picking things up, but what's wrong with ,,geil"?

[Dutch_guy]

The people here are all very nice, except the nazis, but I only was near a bunch of those once at a concert in town and they weren't bothering me.

Wow, what kind of party/concert where you at then ?

Glad to hear from you again Kenshin, and good to know you're having a good time !

[King Henry V]

Ah yes, there's nothing quite so Germanic as being able to inspect one's own pooh before flushing it down. My grandparent's flat in Vienna has one. Ghastly things.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Verstanden.

It does certainly seem that you're picking things up, but what's wrong with ,,geil"?

Geil is for events or objects and not people apparently, cool is better than geil for people. Based on the burst of laughter I triggered from one of my friends when I said "Bernie Sanders ist geil" this has to be correct.

I have used a shelf toilet, but mine isn't one of them. Can't say I really cared for it.

The concert was your usual metal/rock concert of local bands.

[Mithrandir]

I believe that 'geil' means both cool and aroused.

[Csargo]

How come your invisible Kenshin?

[Ice]

You can find them in Germany and the Netherlands, prevents splash and allows you to inspect your work!

I was staying in a Dutch youth hostel and I saw one of these. Looked rather odd.

[Husar]

I believe that 'geil' means both cool and aroused.

Pretty much, originally it was only aroused I think, but somewhen in the 90ies it came up as a slang word partly replacing cool.

[alpaca]

It's also used to describe that a woman is highly attractive... Which is probably why you got a burst of laughter when talking about Bernie Sanders.
In my environment "geil" as a replacement for "toll" or "cool" is mostly used in conjunction with things, not persons.
The original sense is actually not used very often anymore in everyday speech, except in the phrase "Ich bin geil" or "... geil auf" when you could best translate it as horny.

[Husar]

It's also used to describe that a woman is highly attractive...

One could say that this is viewing women as things.