German for Programmers

Re:German for Programmers by ImaCake on Friday February 08, 2019 @05:16AM (#19112915)

I have asked multiple germans about gendered nouns and other funky grammar points. I often end up getting different answers or confusion when I relate what I learnt from a reliable source elsewhere. Honestly, despite the confusion, I love how diverse the German language is despite the relatively small range and number of speakers, but also considering it came under many of the same forces for "flattening" the rules as English did.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by wirrbel on Friday February 08, 2019 @11:33AM (#19115833)

I have a weak spot with articles, i, a native speaker, have to think for long about "teller" is it "der Teller" or "das Teller". One is my local dialect the other standard German. I know which one to use by imagining how my old neighbor would talk.

Another gem is that in my local dialect the word for foot (Fuß) has an extended meaning and denotes the body part of foot and leg. There basically is not a separate word for leg (well there is but it's standard German not dialect). The standard German word for leg is "bein". Now Bein has a common ancestor with a similar word in English "bone", and indeed the dialectal version of Bein in my dialect is the word for bone. (To me that indicates that the word has made a meaning change in standard German).

Now if I don't think hard (or if I am tired) I will call my leg "foot" in English, which confuses everyone.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by fileeditview on Friday February 08, 2019 @12:20PM (#19116436)

There is also the German word "Gebein" which is the literal translation for bone and probably the origin of the dialect "Bein" you use.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by wirrbel on Friday February 08, 2019 @03:41PM (#19118442)

I think I looked it up in an etymological dictionary and the dialectal form is archaic, I.e standard German uses a "mutated" version of the word.

Probably in German both meanings were used alongside for a while and then folks started to attach a "ge-" in front of one meaning to avoid confusion.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by Tepix on Friday February 08, 2019 @08:46AM (#19114022)

From my experience you don't learn the grammar of your mother language the way you learn it when learning a language later. This appears to be universal. You just do what feels right and it works out but you can't cite the rule that applies.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by madez on Friday February 08, 2019 @07:21AM (#19113503)

Being a native speaker does not imply knowing the rules.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by klmr on Friday February 08, 2019 @09:31AM (#19114416)

It really isn’t as diverse as you seem to think. As suggested in another comment, these German speakers you talked to simply didn’t know the correct forms: The German language is generally quite prescriptive, there’s little room for variation outside dialects (which are not “correct/standard German”).

(And then there are Platt (= Low German) and Alemannisch/Schwyzerdütsch, both of which are distinct languages from High German.)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German for Programmers by anoncake on Saturday February 09, 2019 @05:38AM (#19121700)

> It really isn’t as diverse as you seem to think. As suggested in another comment, these German speakers you talked to simply didn’t know the correct forms: The German language is generally quite prescriptive, there’s little room for variation outside dialects (which are not “correct/standard German”).

Nonsense. If a native speaker uses a form and thinks it's correct, it by definition is.

[ Parent | on HN ]