tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post1340637717430880573..comments2023-09-27T07:44:19.769-04:00Comments on Sabine Hossenfelder: Backreaction: GermenglishSabine Hossenfelderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-65287489202933252482014-02-08T19:40:00.073-05:002014-02-08T19:40:00.073-05:00These are all excellent points that you make! Ther...These are all excellent points that you make! There is a 'th' in my name. When I lived in Germany, I got used to the fact that no one could pronounce my name which is Cathy. Interesting about the word 'Schild.' Since I speak German, I hadn't realized that native English speakers think 'child' when they see it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17456608516000222001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-39484314762094308432008-05-09T14:05:00.000-04:002008-05-09T14:05:00.000-04:00FWIW, I heard Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, talking ...FWIW, I heard Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, talking about the German newspaper "Die Welt" - he pronounced it like English "Dye" or "Die" not "Dee" as in proper German. And this guy is supposed to be a broadcast great, the "Excellence in Broadcasting Network" (I have another word in mind that sounds like "excellence" but is a bit different ...) etc.<BR/><BR/>Limbaugh was talking about <I>Die Welt</INeil Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04564859009749481136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-48808321587400103802008-01-26T21:27:00.000-05:002008-01-26T21:27:00.000-05:00Wow, it's been far too long since I read Wittgenst...Wow, it's been far too long since I read Wittgenstein to comment on how well the Finnish language is applicable to his ideas... and off-hand I'm not certain what this Finnish philosopher might have meant by Finnish not having a subject in the common sense.<BR/><BR/><...thinking...><BR/><BR/>The only thing that comes to mind is that the word for "I" while existing in Finnish, can be dropped and jhihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16856931864559649595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-46557121753470580112008-01-25T13:43:00.000-05:002008-01-25T13:43:00.000-05:00jhi, I should have asked you earlier (and I'll pos...jhi, I should have asked you earlier (and I'll post to your blog also) but I heard an interesting comment about Finnish from a philosopher who spoke it natively: something IIRC about not having a subject in the ordinary sense, making it more amenable to expressing or finding credible, Wittgenstein's idea that "the mind" is tied up with other people and language etc. Does this make sense to you?<Neil Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04564859009749481136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-15307144222200141112008-01-22T10:34:00.000-05:002008-01-22T10:34:00.000-05:00> The German language is pronounced the way it is ...> The German language is pronounced the way it is written.<BR/><BR/>Well, yes and no.<BR/><BR/>What you meant is something along the lines "in German the spelling and pronunciation are tightly coupled and regular, and there are only few N:1 or 1:N grapheme<->phoneme mappings".<BR/><BR/>I know this because in Finnish we make the same claim of "pronounced the same way it is written" :-) With jhihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16856931864559649595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-792179909385753622008-01-21T08:04:00.000-05:002008-01-21T08:04:00.000-05:00There are at least two e's in German: sometimes re...There are at least two e's in German: sometimes referred to as open and closed.<BR/><BR/>'Essen' has one of each. The first one is like English 'best', the second like 'beaten' - basically a 'schwa' or neutral syllable. 'Bethe' has a long open (?) e and a short closed one. Though to add to the confusion, Bethe's first 'e' is not a longer version of either of the ones in 'Essen'.<BR/><BR/>So no, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-13448834604772383592008-01-20T14:46:00.000-05:002008-01-20T14:46:00.000-05:00German was pretty easy for my father. As far as he...German was pretty easy for my father. As far as he was concerned it was just Yiddish written in a Latin alphabet. (Then again, he thought the same thing about Dutch, but he could get directions, order food, shop in stores, and even argue politics).<BR/><BR/>Also, what happens in languages like German and Spanish when pronunciation changes? Do they change the spelling of the word. I remember in Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-30746510627177327372008-01-19T16:30:00.000-05:002008-01-19T16:30:00.000-05:00Concerning the logic of languages, just came acros...Concerning the logic of languages, just came across this one:<BR/><BR/>We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;<BR/>But the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.<BR/>One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,<BR/>Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.<BR/>You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;<BR/>Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.<BR/>If the plural of man isFrédéric Balmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00019182465044947196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-60065576384310557482008-01-19T08:54:00.000-05:002008-01-19T08:54:00.000-05:00Hi Bee,“The German word Schild like in Schwarzschi...Hi Bee,<BR/><BR/>“The German word Schild like in Schwarzschild, has nothing to do with the English word 'child'. Instead Schild means 'shield', and Schwarzschild means 'Black Shield' - I would guess it goes back to some kind of family crest. The German sch is pronounced close to the English 'sh' (for the following vowel i, see first point.)”<BR/><BR/>Boy I'm slow, for I just picked up on what youPhil Warnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15671311338712852659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-4683270317166047832008-01-19T05:11:00.000-05:002008-01-19T05:11:00.000-05:00A peculiarity is that momentum is called Bewegungs...A peculiarity is that momentum is called Bewegungsgrösse (eigentlich mit Scharf-S, which looks like a beta), whereas Moment means torque. But what is Moment der Bewegungsgrösse?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-78591617618203977492008-01-19T02:56:00.000-05:002008-01-19T02:56:00.000-05:00"Vee haff vays of makink you talk!""Vee haff vays of makink you talk!"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-21079081409602023682008-01-18T15:42:00.000-05:002008-01-18T15:42:00.000-05:00reply to neil',Some German writing is kind of hard...reply to neil',<BR/><BR/>Some German writing is kind of hard to read and seems like it's not exactly written in a logical structure.<BR/><BR/>A perfect example of this is "Mein Kampf" by Hitler. That book reads like it was written by somebody who was uneducated, and who didn't know how to write coherent sentences very well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-815186673706604422008-01-18T15:19:00.000-05:002008-01-18T15:19:00.000-05:00rillian, "nein" is pronounced like "nay" in Palati...rillian, "nein" is pronounced like "nay" in Palatinate dialect, which may be similar to "nie" but I don't know what phonetic standard you imply.Neil Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04564859009749481136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-37602446876203869512008-01-18T15:16:00.000-05:002008-01-18T15:16:00.000-05:00When I said German was logical, I did mean in the ...When I said German was logical, I did mean in the sense of "it is pronounced just as it is spelled", once you learn the pattern (i.e., not irregular, like the grotesque English language!) Someone please tell me about the new spelling reform, which albeit "highly discussed" I didn't learn anything about (of course something like that will not be highly discussed in the US...) I wonder if it is Neil Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04564859009749481136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-32814581287228674192008-01-18T15:14:00.000-05:002008-01-18T15:14:00.000-05:00Hi you two Anonymouses above:yes, the ending 'ig' ...Hi you two Anonymouses above:<BR/><BR/>yes, the ending 'ig' sometimes sounds like 'ich' or even 'isch' in some regions (e.g. the numbers: fifty = fünfzig), but it's not really a standard way to pronounce it. Best,<BR/><BR/>B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-80354149825339300742008-01-18T14:13:00.000-05:002008-01-18T14:13:00.000-05:00I've always found the german "ch" to be the hardes...I've always found the german "ch" to be the hardest to pronounce properly. The sound doesn't appear to exist in American english.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-55999152991491201682008-01-18T13:53:00.000-05:002008-01-18T13:53:00.000-05:00What's the proper way of saying the suffix "-ig"? ...What's the proper way of saying the suffix "-ig"? I've noticed some folks pronounced it like a softer version of "-isch".<BR/><BR/>(Such as words like könig, Leipzig, honig, etc ...)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-53557700597298035272008-01-18T13:44:00.000-05:002008-01-18T13:44:00.000-05:00Nein, Nee, Ney, Nie, Nö, Nah, Nischtgibbs - I...Nein, Nee, Ney, Nie, Nö, Nah, Nischtgibbs - I know people who pronounce 'Nein' as 'Yes' ;-)<BR/><BR/>B.Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-13655401459431005192008-01-18T13:42:00.000-05:002008-01-18T13:42:00.000-05:00Re alternate pronunciations for 'nein', I'm pretty...Re alternate pronunciations for 'nein', I'm pretty sure I've heard a friend of mine say 'nie' instead. Could that be? She's from Saarland.<BR/><BR/>Assuming I heard correctly, is that a dialect difference, or the equivalent of "Nah" in English?<BR/><BR/>Fun thread.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-46914106698374994742008-01-18T13:04:00.000-05:002008-01-18T13:04:00.000-05:00Hi suomynona, Hi rgb:Yes, the German 'r' is pronou...Hi suomynona, Hi rgb:<BR/><BR/>Yes, the German 'r' is pronounced a bit differently depending on the local accent. <BR/><BR/><I>So it should read "fearbein" and "fealbein", or "feelbein" and "feerbein"</I><BR/><BR/>At least the way I pronounce it, the 'r' in 'vier' is indeed introduced with an 'a', i.e. it is not feer, but rather fear. The 'l' in 'viel' doesn't come with that, that's why I wrote 'Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-89783139441488690302008-01-18T12:50:00.000-05:002008-01-18T12:50:00.000-05:00Hi Gordon:Yeah, sure, language develops with its o...Hi Gordon:<BR/><BR/>Yeah, sure, language develops with its own dynamics. I just thought I'd let people know. The reason why the plural doesn't get incorporated is probably because most people just have never heard it. <BR/><BR/>Hi Anonymous:<BR/><BR/><I>I was taught that it was EYE-gen-value, but I've heard other Americans say EE-gen-value.</I><BR/><BR/>You are right, they are wrong.<BR/><BR/>Hi Sabine Hossenfelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06151209308084588985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-63121533540786677472008-01-18T12:01:00.000-05:002008-01-18T12:01:00.000-05:00When foreign words get incorporated into common us...When foreign words get incorporated into common usage in the English language, it is not always the case that the plural <BR/>gets incorporated from the foreign language. In many cases it is recreated according to the usual rules of English for forming plurals. Worse, since it takes time for words to get incorporated, there can be periods of "transition" where there is no wide agreement on how toAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-89405559566679419442008-01-18T10:55:00.001-05:002008-01-18T10:55:00.001-05:00rgb: that's what I mean. Bee used "fear" and "feel...rgb: that's what I mean. Bee used "fear" and "feel" to distinguish the "r" and the "l". The difference between "ea" and "ee" is a bit harder to spot for a German. So it should read "fearbein" and "fealbein", or "feelbein" and "feerbein"(I'm not quit sure).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-72809539467516362872008-01-18T10:55:00.000-05:002008-01-18T10:55:00.000-05:00So how do you pronounce 'eigenvalue'?I was taught ...So how do you pronounce 'eigenvalue'?<BR/><BR/>I was taught that it was EYE-gen-value, but I've heard other Americans say EE-gen-value.<BR/><BR/>As for Sophus Lie, y'all should count yourselves lucky we don't call them 'Lye' Groups.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22973357.post-88265327638495623222008-01-18T10:39:00.000-05:002008-01-18T10:39:00.000-05:00felipe: in German pronounciation, "v" and "w" are ...felipe: in German pronounciation, "v" and "w" are often very close and it doesn't do much if you interchange them. You might sound somewhat funny to some people, but these letters do not carry much acoustic weight. In your housemate's case, she might be aware of this and just got into the habit of some overpronounciation. Germans seem to have a large tolerance span for such things, which might beAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com