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'Line of Separation' and learning German
If you want a recommendation for a really good German-language (with subtitles) TV programme, then try this recommendation by londonkds.
The drama is called 'Line of Separation' and is on channel 4 iplayer.
It's set just at the end of WW2 and it's pretty harrowing. Definitely not for children. Well acted.
My grandparents lived through being bombed, but they never had to live through occupation - for which I am very grateful.
I'm teaching myself a little German at the moment, partly because I'm not too well at present (costochondritis). I tire easily and can only do a limited amount of computer work before my ribs start hurting.
There's only so much TV one can watch before brain rot sets in - sitting down with board game rules in German, and a dictionary and grammar to hand, at least ensures that the brain is engaged.
There's nothing quite like trying to work out the correct ending for an adjective when used before a feminine noun in the accusative case to force you to have to think...
And if anyone can tell me why it's "keinen Dank" - Ah, just got it. Dank is spelt the same whether it's singlar or plural (half the online dictionaries don't tell you what the plural is, which is a right pain). Thus, "no thanks" and keinen with 'en' is correct for mixed declension plural before a masculine noun. (I wanted something to distract me from stress, there's nothing like tables of endings...)
Why, why, why do languages have genders?
What's the point?
English is good in that regard, but has its own quirks. eg. "I hit him" - is that present or past tense? I never noticed before, until I was looking for simple sentences to translate and realised that I didn't know what tense to use in German.
The drama is called 'Line of Separation' and is on channel 4 iplayer.
It's set just at the end of WW2 and it's pretty harrowing. Definitely not for children. Well acted.
My grandparents lived through being bombed, but they never had to live through occupation - for which I am very grateful.
I'm teaching myself a little German at the moment, partly because I'm not too well at present (costochondritis). I tire easily and can only do a limited amount of computer work before my ribs start hurting.
There's only so much TV one can watch before brain rot sets in - sitting down with board game rules in German, and a dictionary and grammar to hand, at least ensures that the brain is engaged.
There's nothing quite like trying to work out the correct ending for an adjective when used before a feminine noun in the accusative case to force you to have to think...
And if anyone can tell me why it's "keinen Dank" - Ah, just got it. Dank is spelt the same whether it's singlar or plural (half the online dictionaries don't tell you what the plural is, which is a right pain). Thus, "no thanks" and keinen with 'en' is correct for mixed declension plural before a masculine noun. (I wanted something to distract me from stress, there's nothing like tables of endings...)
Why, why, why do languages have genders?
What's the point?
English is good in that regard, but has its own quirks. eg. "I hit him" - is that present or past tense? I never noticed before, until I was looking for simple sentences to translate and realised that I didn't know what tense to use in German.
no subject
Then we still have some hangups about things that are one and things that are many, unlike Japanese. Mostly we can get away with adding "s" on the end, until you have to remember it's cows, but not sheeps or deers. And it's mice and men and geese and dice, also wives and loaves, not wifes.
We can at least be grateful English has ditched different words to use in the vicinity of things that are feminine like a table, and things that are masculine like a board. And the special form of plural for exactly two and no more, except in very rare examples that I can't think of right now.