They're Breaking Up That Old DONAUDAMPFSCHIFFAHRTGESELLSCHAFT Of Mine
This week, the German government will begin enforcing new grammar rules designed to simplify what many consider to be one of the world's more confusing languages (English being the most perplexing, naturally).
Being a sprecher of Deutsch myself, a lot of these reforms rub me the wrong way, particularly the one that calls for breaking up egregiously long German compound words like RECHTSSCHUTZVERSICHERUNGSGESELLSCHAFTEN (insurance companies which provide legal protection) and the whopping great classic DONAUDAMPFSCHIFFAHRTSELEKTRIZITAETEN
HAUPTBETRIEBSWERKBAUUNTERBEAMTENGESELLSCHAFT (club for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services). They're also apparently getting rid of my favorite character...the Esszett...Scheiße!
What I can't understand is why they didn't streamline the bewildering array of male, female, and neutral articles along with simplifying the conjugation of verbs and the insanely confusing rules that surround the declension of adjectives.
"I'd rather decline two drinks than decline a German adjective" - Mark Twain
via LinkFilter
Comments
Getting the case and number of adjectives (and their accompanying articles) right was, for me, one of the worst aspects of learning German. Not that I know it now... it's been thirteen years since I took it.
Shouldn't your expletive be "scheisse?" "Schiesse," insofar as I remember, means "shoot."
Posted by: Jonathan K. Cohen | August 3, 2005 5:38 PM
My German friends, school teachers they, all assured me that this attempted reform/regulation was going to fail. Weird that Bayern and Nordrhein-Westfalen are strange bedfellows in resistence, I see from the article. Were you going for a bilingual word play with you shoot for shit?
Posted by: jim | August 3, 2005 6:25 PM
I was going for 'shit' not 'shoot', but I guess it sort of works either way. I've always had trouble keeping that 'ei' and 'ie' thing straight.
Jim, that is weird that the Bavarians are up in arms over this considering that many of them don't speak German as a their first language.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | August 3, 2005 7:13 PM
DIE DATIVE PREPOSITIONEN!!! SCHNELL!!!
Nein? Sie kennen die nicht?
OK. Schreiben Sie das tausend Mal fuer Morgen.
(aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, gegenueber)
Posted by: xf | August 3, 2005 9:05 PM
Jawohl, mein Lehrer!
Actually, I've been drilling my son (a 2nd-year German student) in a similar fashion.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | August 3, 2005 9:11 PM
At Middlebury, we learned the list of prepositions (aus, ausser... zu) to the tune of the Blue Danube. Gegenueber didn't fit the music, so we had to memorize it separately.
Posted by: jkcohen | August 4, 2005 2:18 PM
MISTER BALIHAI!
Another insult about die wunderbaren Bayern and we have to declare war to you and your Tiki Bar!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochdeutsch
Or zeee origineeeelll:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochdeutsch
Posted by: orangeguru | August 4, 2005 5:34 PM
Haderlump.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | August 4, 2005 7:05 PM
Verstehe ich nicht. Ist doch alles ganz einfach.
Posted by: The Cartoonist | August 5, 2005 5:27 AM
Die deutsche Sprache ist für die Deutschen, natürlich ziemlich einfach..;-)
Posted by: MrBaliHai | August 5, 2005 8:24 AM