You guys...

[highlyeccentric]

This language is going to drive me mad¹. I think modern German may have been designed to bamboozle whatever weird people learn Anglo-Saxon first.

Consider the matter of first person pronouns:

1. Anglo Saxon: Ic - pronounced "ick" or "ich", there might even be a rule to which one you use, but I've forgotten it (Sorry, Venerable Alex.)
2. Middle English: Ich - pronounched "ich" or "i-ch", depending on who you're listening to.
3. German: Ich - prounounced some way I can't possibly reproduce, but which is most definitely not "ich" or "i-ch".

And then tonight, because I'm weird, I was reading the grammar at the back of my dictionary, and discovered that the past participle is formed by whacking 'ge-' onto the present tense. I HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO IGNORE RANDOM GE- prefixes, people!
... although, glod, what wouldn't I give to know what this wandering ge- thing did in Proto-Germanic...

~

1. For those new to the world of Me Learning New Languages, this is my battle-cry and expression of glee.

Comments

[sjazzmreow.livejournal.com]

The ge- is confusing even without having learned anything else first, trust me. I never got the hang of German tenses.

Also, how are you saying "ich"? Are you getting the roof of your mouth involved enough?

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

I don't KNOW. The class is too big and full of people pronouncing things badly. I need to sit down and have someone repeat it at me repeatedly.

[sjazzmreow.livejournal.com]

If we were in the same city, I'd offer (I sucked at grammar but oh was I proud of my pronounciation - and I always leap on the chance to do pretty much anything involving German. Have I mentioned my weird crush on Germany before? It's... odd. Anyway), and if the handy dandy CD that came with my textbook hadn't snapped in half sometime during the mishigos of first year, I'd ship it down to you, but as it is... have you tried the internet?

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

No, I have not yet tried the internet. Must do that at some point.

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

Can this lot (the Canberra German Speakers' Network) maybe help?

[sea-of-tethys.livejournal.com]

I think it varies by region, but one of my German teachers said it should be almost a hissing sound -- sort of like the noise people make to imitate an angry cat.

That probably isn't very helpful.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

No, that sounds about right, actually. I just can't make it on command yet ;)