5 Mistakes Germans Make in English | Feli from Germany
Вставка
- Опубліковано 4 тра 2024
- ++Reason for blurs/muted audio: This channel was renamed in Oct 2021. All references to the old name have been removed.++
Sign up for the Lingoda Sprint here▸referral.lingoda.com/6sCHz8 and get a $25/20€ discount!
It's normal to make mistakes when speaking a second language but there are some things that you can avoid if you just know about them, so I put together a list of 5 common mistakes that German speakers make when speaking English. This includes English pronunciation and how to perfect an American accent, as well as common grammar mistakes. Many of these mistakes are things that even advanced English speakers make and that many Germans simply aren't even aware of. I've made these mistakes before too and wish someone would have told me about them. So I hope you find this helpful!
Mistakes to Avoid while Speaking German🇩🇪: • 6 mistakes YOU should ...
Check out my SHOP! Get your Bavarian beer mug or Servus t-shirt ▸felifromgermany.com/
Check out my PODCAST (with Josh)▸ / understandingtrainstation or linktr.ee/Understandingtrains...
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Facebook▸ / felifromgermany (Feli from Germany) Support me on Patreon▸ / felifromgermany Instagram▸@felifromgermany▸ / felifromgermany
Buy me a coffee▸www.buymeacoffee.com/felifrom...
▸Mailing address:
PO Box 19521
Cincinnati, OH 45219
USA
Check out LINGODA on Instagram▸ / lingoda_official
Learn more about the LINGODA SPRINT▸ blog.lingoda.com/en/how-we-co...
-------------------------
ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 26, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
-------------------------
0:00 Intro
1:54 English V-sound
3:35 Voiced vs. voiceless consonants
7:56 Dark L vs. light L
9:14 Since vs. for
11:28 Collective & uncountable nouns
-------------------------
MY FILMING EQUIPMENT
AMAZON:
Camera: amzn.to/2LYJ0JV*
Lens: amzn.to/2AT9R3J*
Tripod: amzn.to/2LXpb5t*
Remote: amzn.to/2oe3Hsd*
Lighting: amzn.to/2oZWg82*
H1 Zoom Recorder (audio): amzn.to/33gKWDf*
Lav Microphone: amzn.to/2VobCPP*
GoPro Vlogging Setup:
GoPro: amzn.to/2OycAav*
Case: amzn.to/2IzIzmY*
Tripod: amzn.to/2os3DoB*
Microphone: amzn.to/31ZR6Y5*
Mic Adapter: amzn.to/2AUq1K3*
Mount: amzn.to/33oDciL*
*These links are Affiliate links. If you buy the product through that link, I'll receive a small provision while the price for you stays the same! Thanks for your support! :)
-------------------------
Music by ARTMAN MUSIC www.artman-music.de/ based on a theme by www.twinmusicom.org/ (CC BY 4.0)
Let's be clear: I really don't care if a non-English speaker makes mistakes. I know lots of non- English speakers, even someone from Munich. They are doing me the biggest favor by speaking English because I'm not fluent in any other language. Accents are awesome! And I Love to meet people from abroad 😊
Yeah that's the spirit
I always TRY German. If I’m speaking to some random person and make a mistake they’ll usually have mercy on me and switch to English.
We were visiting a friend’s widow. He was my age but died of a heart condition several years ago. So my wife and I decided to visit his widow and see how their kids were doing.
I ended up talking to a guy on a train platform and he asked why we were visiting. I explained and ended up using the word Freundin instead of Freunden. His eyes suddenly got wide and he asked if my wife spoke any German. I said no. He said lucky you and Switched to English for me. Grin.
Hey! It's good to know that other people from other country's think so too. I'm from Germany and I have no problem if non-German speakers make mistakes too, because they try to speak German and if I can understand them it is totally fine. I even think it's really cute😁❤️ I think I should thin of that when I'm speaking English, because I'm always afraid that maybe other people don't have the same opinion. Because my English is not really good🙈 Good to know that you haven't a problem with that too😊
Prinzessin Caramellbonbon If you typed all of that ^^ dein Englisch ist super!! 👍🏻
Omg, that's so cute! And makes me feel comfortable to speak English even if it's not my mother tongue 😂
"Did you get a haircut?"
"Yes, actually I got them all cut!"
😂
🤣🤣🤣
Oh my gosh that’s so funny❤️❤️🇦🇺
Totally legit for us in UK - it refers to the ocassion/event
Keep it up Germans 😉
My wife is German but speaks English very well. She does say "feets" instead of "feet" sometimes tho lol. "Babe, are your feets cold?" Haha
I am German and sheeps instead of sheep is very often used in Germany, too.😅
Also we say peoples instead of people. Two total different meanings.
I find this kind of mistake very charming. It’s not cringy at all so keep doing that :)
Thanks to cat memes and the whole LOLcats thing, half the English speaking internet says "feets", at least when they are talking about cute animals.
Same for my German husband. It is kind of endearing. Never want him to stop saying feets. It's raining, my feets got wet 😍
Funny enough, folks in the South do that all the time. My mom is a Georgian and she adds “s” to everything! I can’t even remember if any of the words actually have “s” in them 😅
"Since" is sometimes used as a conjunction meaning "because," or "given that." In that sense it may be applied in a present tense. "Since you're here now, we'll eat."
I'll add to that comment. Feli said she can't think of a context where the present tense is used with since or for. But if they introduce a reason for something the present tense is correct. I travel for work. I go to this bar since it's the best way to meet girls. My cat eats for ten minutes then takes a nap. (That one combined a reason and the concept of time). My dog barks since he's alone too much.
And if that doesn’t make the whole topic of since usage tiresome enough, you’ll find that if you’re in Britain, they don’t use since in that way as much. But that’s not a hard and fast rule, more a tendency.
Examples:
American: since I’m here, I’ll buy some eggs.
British: as I’m here, I’ll drop off the brolly I borrowed.
@@alexrafe2590
Brolly. Also called an umbrella or a bumbershoot.
I'm a native English (American) speaker and your English is better than many native English speakers. Impressive.
...How? What's the impressive thing, her use of grammar or her wide vocabulary? It's a genuine question that I might find useful.
@@fernandoestmoi I believe it is both. Most native American English speakers mix proper grammar with local slang and colloquialism. In addition, someone that is learning multiple languages, with the intention to use them, is more likely to be more dedicated to learning each properly.
Feli: "I'm going to go to the store. Do you need anything?"
American: "I'm gonna go tuh th'store. Need anythin'?"
I want Feli to be my German teacher!
@@fernandoestmoi Feli enunciates very well which is much easier to listen to.
To the native German speakers watching this channel, thank you for trying to learn our difficult language. From the lazy American who only speaks English.
English is actually fairly easy to learn. The grammar isn't too wild and the words are usually based on either Germanic or Latin languages. So if you speak a Germanic or Latin language you'll already able to understand many English words. It's a much easier language than German or French. But what makes English really easy to learn is the constant exposure. English is the third most popular language in the world and definitively the most spread out. So the chances that you'll find someone to speak English with are very high. There are 54 countries that have English as their official language (USA not included, BTW). English is simply everywhere and many people are confronted with it on a daily basis.
As a native Swiss-German speaker, the thing I find most difficult is to pronounce English words that I hadn't heard before. It seems like you just have to know how to pronounce it. In German, every word is pronounced the way its written.
@@m97120 One thing I would say is that English does not have 3 articles or even gender. so English is more Easyer to learn then German . But I am German but I mean German is easy for meß but I think our Grammar is difficult
but english is sooooo much easier than german 😳😳
@@graciegold007 it depends on what your native language is
English is pretty easy to learn, actually
Since you asked what speaking errors do or do not bother us I have to honestly say that no speaking error really bothers me. I am in awe of anybody who can speak additional languages, especially a confusing monster like English. I will try to help where I can, but as long as i can understand what you need to convey then I don't really care how you say it. :D
I think it is not difficult for German and English speakers to understand each other even when they make mistakes, because both languages have the same roots - Low German and Latin. For example German: "er", Low German: "he", English: "he", English: "you - thy" German "Du - Sie", English: "Window", German literally : "Windauge" - "windy eye" "Fenster", Latin "fenestra".
Low German: "oie" (Baltic sea), "oog" (North Sea), "oya" (Norwegian), "...ay" (scottish Islands)
and a lot of more...
same, so long as you get all the right nouns in there i’ll probably understand.
Same
@@michasn9291 This might sound a bit weird, but the old English 'thou' was actually the informal version of the second person, and 'you' was the formal. As a native English speaker, I would have thought the opposite, but go figure.
One I used to hear a lot in Germany was "Do you want to make party with us?" In German you have Party machen, where in English we just convert the party to a verb "Let's Party!" I always thought "making party" was super cute though!
Party on, dude...
Native German speaker: "In English, there are two types of 'L' pronunciations."
Me, a native English speaker: *Testing out all the L words I know*
I'm not a native english speaker, but I didn't pronounce it incorrectly even though I didn't know/notice the difference. Well, I think I did, I can't hear myself after all...😂
@@yoghurt_is_a_fruit good job! When I lived in Germany for a few months, I once got "entschuldigung" mixed up with "danke schön" and ended up apologizing to the cashier when I left instead of thanking them. XD My friend was like "you know you just . . . " and I was like "Yup." Languages are hard, haha.
@@booklover4731 haha, stuff like that happens. I, for example, sometimes mix two words with the same meaning because I already started saying one but my brain is like: wait, you could also say that word, it means the same
And then i just say the first half of one and the second half of the other. Sometimes I mix german and english.
These 'L' pronunciations are interchangeable.
*laughs in my name
I have a good number of L's in my name
As a native English speaker, I never knew about the term "Dark L" or "Light L", even though I've used them correctly my whole life.
I am Brazilian and "dark L" or light L" are struggles we have. Now I know we are not alone. Lol
funnily enough, i just learned about it in university (studying english and linguistics/phonetics), but have used them correctly my whole life without knowing about them (native german, learned english). its because i come from a region in which the "dark l" is used in the dialect :D (cologne area)
Maybe it's German
Technical terms to describe language sounds isn't something you really need to know unless you're learning a foreign language or you're studying linguistics. Children usually acquire all the right sounds for the language(s) they're exposed to as they learn to speak.
You also learn to distinguish between all the sounds you need in that language and lose the ability to distinguish sounds that don't make a difference as you get older. That's one of the reasons it's harder to learn a language when you're older! So for example, in English you need to be able to distinguish between /r/ and /l/ because it changes the word you're saying - pray and play for example. But some people learning English will struggle with that distinction because it's not one they make in their native language, and so pronounce both words the same way. A classic one for French speakers is ship vs sheep. French doesn't distinguish between those two vowels, so French speakers will often pronounce both words as ship. On the other hand, English speakers often struggle to distinguish between the French words dessus and dessous for the same reason (which is unfortunate, as these words are antonyms!)
[apologies for the essay]
Same but I m german xD
From your videos, I am learning that there are things I don't even know about my own language (American English). I lived in your country for over a decade and was so nervous about trying to speak German. However, I had an absolutely wonderful German neighbor who really helped me in three ways: 1) she spent months and months helping me to speak without my Texas drawl (no easy feat, I assure you!), then she helped me learn proper pronunciation of umlauts; 2) after I started learning how to put sentences together, but couldn't remember everything, she told me to ask "Wie heisst das auf deutch?" when I got stuck; 3) she told me that the most important thing is to make an effort and not to worry about mistakes. So I can honestly tell you, if someone makes fun of a mistake you might make in English, they are the idiot, not you. I don't know if you've made a video about the genders in the German language, as I've only recently joined your delightful channel, but I would like to know how in God's name a fork, a knife, and a spoon have three different genders! My aforementioned neighbor just laughed and said to pick one, that it didn't really matter and Germans would know what I meant.
double-love-like
Hi there, to answer your question, it's really easy. Yes there are simple rules like das for things (das Messer), der for male (der Hund) and die for female or plural (die Hündin/ die Hunde). But there are also exceptions, when the word would sound terible with the normaly correct der die das. So das Tankstelle would hurt my ears as a native speaker. The same way if I would say do you have a Apple or can I get an Banana. Hope it may help you, but don't panic a lot of Germans can't speak proper German either.^^'
@@tsuukimarunakayama9055 dear Tsuukimaro, I am sorry, but there are many exceptions to those 'rules'. I am also a native german speaker, but I don't know if there are many rules at all.
Sometimes it helps to put a word apart.
Tank- Stelle ( Gas station), a place ( eine Stelle) where you can 'tanken' (= verb for getting gas).
Now, since it is 'die Stelle' (like die Helle,die Quelle, die Hölle... don't ask me why)
It must be 'die Tankstelle' because of the ending 'die Stelle'. ...
'Das' for things. Ok.
Das Messer (the knife)
Das Auto (the car).
But aren't ...
der Löffel (the spoon)
die Gabel (the fork)
... things, too?
'die' being used for Plural is always correct!
Hurray!
Please, linguists, come up with some grammar rules!
I am out of school for more than 50 years!
@@riekebusch2293 Most linguists are descriptivists, and for good reason. Try and impose new rules onto a language, and a lot of people won't like it and will keep saying things the way they always have, meanwhile others will pick up the new rules or at least try to, leading to more confusion. Also there are so many words, and language is constantly evolving, so it ends up pretty futile. English has infamous spelling, among foreign and native speakers alike, despite several spelling reforms in history. Look what good they did!
All this being said, how is a spoon masculine haha?! That makes no sense, spoons seem like the most feminine cooking/eating utensils out there haha! Like, forks, knives, fish-slices, skewers, whisks... all more masculine than spoons!
We're not worried about perfect fluency. We're quite forgiving. Just the fact that they try to speak a second language is great
There's a difference between fluency and correctness, illustrated by something an Irishman once told me: "I speak bad French fluently". Fluency is the ability to keep talking, to understand and be understood. If someone is fluent, I don't mind if there are a few mistakes.
I’ve noticed my German study abroad friends often say “that was a funny night” instead of “fun night”. This is itself kind of funny because these are two completely different words in English
Lmao. True
Ever heard German spoken by English speakers ? Well you know the war movie scenes were the English speakers use German to confuse the German soldier ? Well he may as well painted a bullseye on his forehead and scream I am British.
Jan Tschierschky no, but I speak german as an English speaker and Im pretty sure I sound horrible 😂😭
I love it when Germans (and a lot of Europeans) say funny night. It always makes me smile
@@jantschierschky3461 In Sweden they Pit text on the movie so we hear the originallanguage they talk in The movie.
In an English/ USA movie we heard english/english american
In an french film they talk french a s o
My father in law was German and he did every single example you portrayed. Lol The kids loved teasing Opa about his accent. Lol
I find the plural 'informations' delightful, it's like each time you learn something new you add another little information to your collection
My German colleagues always say things like: “We see us tomorrow”. When they describe a computer interface they also refer to this as the “surface” (literal translation of Oberflache). Very charming.
Better than saying Zwischengesicht, which would be a literal translation. Oberfläche (surface) is the German word for interface :)
I am German and I had 9 years English lessens in school. After my school years I was in England for a placement. And when talking to a native speaker there, he said to me: "You have a problem with your Vs, you pronounce them like Ws!" This was when I learned that there is a difference between these two sounds! And I was shocked that I had been using the wrong pronouncement for so many years! This is long ago but I am still grateful to that guy for making me aware of that mistake! 👍
Yeah I agree, some of these mistakes I wish people pointed out sooner!
From that Text above the V vs. W isn't the worst of it! 😂
It’s pronunciation, not pronouncement. I think you made up a new word :))
@@robinbirdj743 Hehehe, yes you are right! I looked it up in the dictionary. "Pronouncement" does exist - but with a different meaning.
Thank you! 😊
If that is the only issue noticed your English is spectacular.
My childhood friend's mother was a German immigrant. Her accent was heavy, but never misspoke. She would yell at her kids in German. That was always fun.
Cool. Usually anglophones don't like it very much when German is being yelled...^^
@@BlackAdder665 She was cool mom and very nice
@@brianrad68 -My Grandparents were all German born. Though my Mother didn't remember it, when I was quite young, my Great grandmother insisted I answer her in German.I don't really remember what words or phrases but I'm guessing please and thank you, or may I?.
Well, not everybody speaks English as good as this person ;-) ua-cam.com/video/QxzGDk2Vbsg/v-deo.html
@@sanctanox Absolutely
I’m a native English speaker, but I love your explanation of the different between since and for! It’s something I never even thought about before, and even though I would instinctively know which one to use in each context, I wouldn’t have been able to explain what the difference was. Your explanation made so much sense and taught be a grammar rule of my own language I wasn’t even aware of!
I love that you tell people not to be discouraged. Your English is amazing.
A mistake I have noticed from German speakers is using the word "This" for objects that are far away.
"This ball is on the other side of the room." instead of "That ball is on the other side of the room."
My english teacher tought that well enough! At least I hope she did but probably I strugle with it ever now and then! 😅
But nobody is perfect!
Here I can only comment: "THAT may be the case" - "but THIS is well said" !?!😊🙄
Actually we have both in German as well: this = diese(r), that = jene(r) but while diese(r) = this/these still is absolutely common in German jene(r) = that sounds completely outdated, somewhat like "yonder" in English. So we would use diese(r) / this for something closer, last mentioned or pointed to like in English but not jene(r) / that for the opposite. For something "not-this" we use the plain article instead of the pronoun and maybe add a preposition, like "the ball over there". Funny that we Germans with our mathematically precise language got so sloppy about such a simple thing like this/that - not only English but Italian, French, Spanish etc. all have that! Thanks for pointing this out, I never thought about that (and in German we would say "I never thought about das" with the article "das" [= the] substituting the pronoun "that").
@@hp585 interesting...! The "precision" and "exactness"attributes of the traditional German language seem to level off nowadays. The 'Alltagssprache' of the younger generation trend towards a smaller vocabulary - with less gramatical precision and simpler overall syntax use. In today's " Der Dativ ist dem Genetiv sein Tod" - talk, I find it puzzling, that common people adapt so eagerly to the use foreign terminology everywhere.
(I myself, grown up and subsequently living in multiligual societies for years, can live with it...).
Regarding the deterioration of the complexity of German, it reminds me of a collection of (Abitur) High School exam essays, written by 17/18 year old girls in 1914. In the commentary to this re-edition it says, that today's scholars wouldn't even been capable to grasp the full meaning of their perspective argumentations.
I know, in Britain only an exclusive few can still comprehend 16th century terms & language - but it is generally not frowned upon!
" Fuck You Shakespeare" would not become as popular as "Fuck you Goethe"!!
Still, English (with its rather simple grammar) somehow does thrive on the richness and multiplexity of its vast vocabulary. Amazing!
@@owl_of_minerva9675, I couldn't have put this any better and I feel exacly the same. Having studied German language and literature I'm aware that the complexity of German grammar and vocabulary tends to get somewhat reduced in today's "everyday speech" but it has always been like that - even the writings of Goethe and the classics appear kind of streamlined when compared to the overflowing fabulations of the baroque era. Language is a living thing - it structures the way we think and vice versa readily adapts evolution in society and communication in a very fluid and natural manner. So I wouldn't call that "deterioration" but I don't think you meant that in a negative way. Language is the tool for understanding and describing the world and for communicating with others, so it must naturally change in synchronicity with how the things we perceive and want do describe evolve. There's nothing "good" or "bad" about that, it's just how language works. I liked your comment about the richness of English vocabulary vs. its somehow reduced grammar - Shakespeare's vast vocabulary is complety unparalelled but that might be a historical singularity and I'm not sure if the vocabulary of an average contemporary English speaker or even "(wo)man of letters" is much bigger now than his/her continental European counterpart. Fodder for thinking anyway!
I am studying in Germany and I speak pretty good English. I often tend to translate German to English directly but it turns out to be funny sometimes. But I've noticed even Germans do the same.
Like for example when my professors greet the class, they say 'hello together' which is a direct translation of hallo zusammen. But in Englisch it's hello everyone / hello everybody.
I am fluent in three different languages. I do mistakes in all of them, including my own :)
I think "that makes nothing".
@@fredythielmann1067 Für diesen Spruch: Raus!
I’ve been learning German lately, and it is pretty difficult for me as a native English speaker. I cannot grasp gender nouns and how it can change the ending to many other words in a sentence just depending on what the gender of one noun is lol. Also, how word placements get switched around in certain parts of a sentence, but in other parts it stays the same. I suppose learning any language is tricky for anybody, because we’re simply not accustomed to it.
if you think that's hard, try Dutch, it's like if German got knocked on the head and lost all of its logical structure.
@Daniel J Klopfer You call that a "Fun Fact?" lol
@@Lancastrian501 If I think of the cases where words are switched, then this usually happens in subclauses. They start with some keywords like "dass", "weil" ... Usually a comma is a good sign that the order will change. But there are exceptions, where sentences with the same structure as in main clauses is used like "aber", "deswegen"... That are words one has to just learn. The other instance where this happens, which comes to my mind is when the verb consists of 2 parts. Then the second part of the verb will always be at the end of the sentence.
But in general some words are swappable without making an error. This can give sentences a different emphasis to clear up points youre making
Here's a really helpful tip my teacher gave us when we learned the difference between *since* and *for* :
(I'm gonna say it in German because it's easier to understand)
Wenn du hinter dem Zeitpunkt das Wort "lang" einsetzten kannst, benutzt man "for". Wenn es nicht geht, benutzt man "since"
Beispiel: I've been living in Berlin for 5 years
5 Jahre *lang* -> ergibt Sinn -> also "for"
I've been living in Berlin since 2015
2015 *lang* -> ergibt keinen Sinn -> also "since"
Anderes Beispiel:
I've been dating this guy for several months
Einige Monate *lang* - ergibt Sinn -> also "for*
I've been dating this guy since may
Mai *lang* - ergibt keinen Sinn -> also "since"
Ich hoffe es ist verständlich und konnte damit etwas helfen! ☺️
May != März ;-)
However, the "lang" - trick is perfect!!!
May ist Mai. March ist März.
meine Lehrerin hat immer gesagt:
Das o in for ist ein Zeitraum
Der i-Punkt in since steht für einen Zeitpunkt 😁😁
Totally brilliant!
A good grammar lesson, Lunaa, except for the confusing word "also" which has different meanings in English and German. Germans use the word "damit" a lot and foreigners think the Germans use too much profanity in normal speech.
All those Germans who prefer to use "since" should try to make a pilgrimage to Since-innati.
I see what you did there!😏
Lol 😂
Good one.
that was a good one haha
Now I need to know... What's a Pilgrimage
And what's a Since-innati lol
Your explanations and examples also work well for native English speakers learning German! I was a German teacher for 30 years, had German exchange students in school, and routinely took my students for a month to Germany to visit our 'sister Gymnasium' in NRW. In that time, I discovered how hard it is for Germans to learn and correctly use the present perfect progressive verb tense. Then, add time prepositions like since and for, and most German students' heads simply 'tilt' in confusion. It takes time for most to fully understand that verb tense and how time prepositions are used with it.
But using only a present tense verb with a time preposition to indicate something that started in the past and continues now is also really hard for English speaking students who are learning German! Most of my students always wanted to say 'Ich habe Deutsch für drei Jahre gelernt' (they meant: I've been studying German for three years), instead of 'Ich lerne seit drei Jahren Deutsch'. So, the problem goes both ways for Germans learning English and Americans learning German.
As for the hard and soft L, conversely, American students have a serious problem in trying to make a 'soft L' sound in the middle or at the end of a word, as much as German students have trouble with the English hard L.
Immigrants get major, major points from me just by learning the language enough to communicate. I know it's hard, so I do not expect anything close to perfection. Just making the sincere attempt to learn English shows a level of respect for our country that I absolutely appreciate.
I’ve struggled with German, so I totally empathize with the challenges German people face with English. Love this channel!
You have forgotten if and when. I'm a German native speaker and it took me a long time actually to say the right 'wenn'. 😉
Honestly I have been using the phrase "When I get around to it, if I get around to it" as a synonym for "When Hell freezes over"
Until some clever bastard came by and handed me a round beer coaster labeled "A Round Tuit", I didn't have any excuse ever since.
As a hint I get it by translating "if" with "falls..." and "when" with "wenn". If you're little bit used to coding this comparison makes it more clear.
To me this is a mistake I often make in spoken English. Not because I don't know when to use which but because I speak fluently and often lack the time to think which to pick and ofc take the wrong one. But I guess that's a common thing, you simply have more time to reflect your choices while writing.
This was really fun! PLEASE do more videos on grammatical differences between German and English colloquialisms.
Wirklich gutes Video, ist sehr hilfreich!👏🏼
I’m an ESL teacher for adults and am always interested in what people find difficult when learning AmericanEnglish. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Nothing also an option?
Im from Arizona. I say fishes all the time.
Thank you for being a teacher. The German program was cut in our area.
Excellent! Me, too!
It usually depends on the range of sounds in a student's first language.
I worked with a German woman for like 10 years and she had a way of pronouncing certain words... I just smiled and nodded because I understood it. What drove her crazy is I started to unconsciously pronounce words like she did.
I do that a LOT. I'll start speaking or thinking in an accent I've heard and it's hard to stop myself xD.
As a german, i speak decent, way above average level, of english. Besides the basics at school, i got it mostly from discovering, i was able to understand a South Park episode in english, which is already pretty fast, way better than i imagined. Like 95% of it. Since then, i watched more and more in english and almost my entire subscription list on YT is in english and replaced the TV for me entirely.
At some point, when actual americans were around one day at a party i attended, i discovered (with increasing amount of beer), that it pretty much doesn't matter, how much i butcher, what i want to bring across, they mostly understood quite well.
Now at work i have to write stuff in german and an english translation on the regular and get to speak english a couple of times a year. I like to believe my accent for a german is extremely good and avoid 99% of the typical german mistakes. I believe, if i had daily speaking practice, it would be very close to Felis level and accent (meaning indistinguishable/irrelevant).
One funny thing i have noticed (and why i actually wrote all of the above), i tend to slightly mimic the accent of the person i am speakng to, or when another non-native english speaker talks to me one-on-one i try to mimic their level of english (which is sometimes, poorer than mine), which sometimes results me speaking with a slight, pretend and over time growing middle eastern or chinese accent. (Just as random examples.). Over time, I have become better at it already.
I always wonder if they would consider it rude, if they would hear me, speaking a different accent, depending on the person i talk to :)
So i can relate a bit :) Just from another pespective.
Al-loo-minny-um foil?
Always love your videos Feli!
Great! This is very helpful. - Danke, das hilft mir auf jeden Fall weiter.
I love how happy you are in your videos. It makes me happy. Thank you for your uplifting attitude.
I always think the same when I see her videos!!!!!
In the beginning, there was the Light L, bringing life and levity to every creature. Then came the Dark L, bringing its cruel rule to every fool. Today, the L's are locked in an eternal struggle for dominance, but the Germans, in their shining innocence, are familiar only with the Light and may not know one from the other.
Sean Irby klever!
🤣
Meanwhile, the Americans, seeing the Germans' lamentable limitation, and being familiar with both the Dark and the Light, remain free to either "live, laugh, love", or else to feel ill will toward their unknowledgeable rivals. Luckily, the Americans choose to quell the urge to revel in their perceived superior linguistic skill, and instead, fashion a response which utilizes _both_ the Dark _and_ the Light, as equal instruments for _good,_ rather than evil. Namely, the offering of a lightly toasted bagel, accompanied by a lovely boxful of U.S. flag lapel pins (made locally). The End.
@akrinah And not forgetting that we Americans mess up the word loch and pronounce it the same as lock.
Also innocent are the Irish who don't speak Irish.
Making mistakes is part of speaking a first language as well. I appreciate your skill, dedication and the sharing of your experience.
You sound super knowledgeable on the subject so I'd love to see more videos on linguistics! Tell us all about voiced/voiceless, plosive/fricative consonants, dipthongs tripthongs, dark and light Ls and everything in between!
I'm a native English speaker and I'm impressed by anyone learning English as a second language. English is weird! And, we Americans regularly make it weirder. Even native speakers often don't get things right. It confuses and bothers me to no end when people say "hot water heater". It's a water heater. If the water is hot, you don't need one. Anyway, great vid as always.
Lol! I always say “hot water heater”! That is what I learned in my family and I think people in my area say this. You are correct though-it should just be water heater. I mean.. the name says it all.
But as Americans we seem to love added adjectives onto nouns when they don’t need them. My English friends go crazy (I used to live in England), whenever I said “horseback riding”. For them it was like nails in a chalkboard. They would say, “What other kind of riding is there?!” Uh.. bicycle riding, motorcycle riding...
No no, that's to distinguish from the other device that heats water until it's cold. No wait....
Another redundancy like "PIN number".
@@notvalidcharacters pin number sorta makes sense because not all pins are numbers
malrofo except that PIN literally means “personal identification number”
I think that is an Americanism , similarly Americans say eye glasses, we Brits say glasses and water heater.
I love listening to people who speak broken English, sometimes they come up with interesting phases that I might even use as an american!!!
I would do every single grammar mistake you could imagine and some more, because I used to be a very lazy student
Mir geht es manchmal genauso, wenn ich Leute Deutsch sprechen hören.
Sometimes I feel the same way when I hear people speak German.
@@jantschierschky3461 ok habs geändert
@@annathevideoviewer good
"Old Swede, your English isn't from bad parents!"
What an exceptional and delightful communicator. Amazing to hear the mastery of two languages against all the trip ups and exceptions.
The words This, That, Then, & Their are also words that tend to be difficult to do. But you nailed them every time you said those.
I had a German instructor who always reminded us not to forget the auxiliary "werb".
Verb 😁
Lol
I had a German teacher who asked me if I could roll my arse.
My grandfather was a German immigrant to the US and we remember him making these mistakes his whole life. He not only pronounced V like English W, he also pronounced W like English V (like German W). Such as "a wery cold cup of vater from the walve to the vell" for example. And he also swapped the sounds between J and Y. He'd say things like "yacket" (as jacket would be pronounced in German), but then also talk about "jacking on the phone". Most Y words he got right, such as yesterday, yellow, and yard. But yack, yank, and yet came out jack, jank, and jet for some reason.
I also had an uncle who was a German immigrant and a part time farmer. He would talk about "all of his equipments"... (Equipment is one of those words which is always singular even when referring to multiple pieces.)
Well, that's funny that he used equipment in plural because in German there's also no plural for Equipment...
@@sentimapathill3756 hahaha stimmt
@@sentimapathill3756 well, i would say the plural is embedded in the "-ment" ending...
Thanks for these tipps. Danke für die Tipps
Danke für das hilfreiche Video :D
Just a silly story.... I have Hoch Deutsch auf Gymnasium 35 jahr vor gelehrnt..... So my wife and I were visiting friends in Mekenbreuen (am Boden see). Our friend was asking the gasthaus owner Frau Monika about some local activities for us. I was listening to the conversation and following quite nicely. Oh there’s a word I don’t know. And another... and suddenly I don’t know 100% of the words.... My friend’s wife and Frau Monika looked at me standing there slack jawed and apologized... they’d switched to Swabian.
Do they do Swabian classes?
Bruce Parr not that I know of. Nur hoch Deutsch.
😂
Ich sage immer "informations" und ärgere mich immer wieder, dass ich es einfach nicht abtrainiert bekomme :D
I love your positive vibe! And you have a wonderful smile!
I just came across your channel recently, and if it wasn't for your content, I'd never know that English was a second language to you, you speak so well!
"My dogs become dog food." - My mistake I made for 2 years straight using the word "become" as "bekommen".
Let's hope they'll never become food, though.
Hahahahah
Cannibal Hunde hahaha
Me in 8th grade: Teacher when do we become the test back?
Now I finally learned it🤣
😄
My English teacher's favourite joke:
Man in restaurant asks the waiter: When do I become a steak?
Waiter: I hope never, Sir...
Great points!
You've hit a nerve with your statement "we don't even hear about these pronunciation mistakes in English classes in Germany".
I assume Germany and Switzerland are comparable here. What bugs me is that schools value diplomas more than native speaking. Meaning they'd much rather hire a German person who attended all the necessary courses and passed certified exams to be an English teacher at their school than a British oder American person who actually lives and breathes the language.
So what happens is that kids naturally adopt the teacher's pronunciation.
Thank God children learn English from native speaking UA-camrs these days though ;-)
And it depends on what your teacher prefers, british or american English. My first English teacher was anglophil. He spoke with a perfect british accent. The others were a mix between the two and most couldn't tell us the difference. What I like about having English as my 2nd language is I understand both Brits and Americans while they often have difficulties to understand the other ;)
sadly very true..., i am german and most of my english teachers, except one, only cared about remembering their phrases, not common sense at all
RealBubbleBabs we do, we have difficulties understanding each other. I think there may have been a family fight, about 1740 or so
Hay honey where are you from
Love you ❤️
I am from India
There is a certain logic to that, though, since Germans probably need English more often as a lingua franca between non-native speakers than anything else, although it is true that fluency does not come from diplomas or degrees, and fluency definitely makes teachers better.
I learned something today. When you showed that the British and American were also slightly different. I looked at both sentences and realized that i use both of them in that way all the time. It must have come about from having a very diverse amount of people teaching me throughout the years. Great video. I love that you place the german words on the screen as well as the english words. Keep up the great work.
My husband is a Swede and makes most of these mistakes too when speaking English, but like others said it doesn't matter much and I don't even notice it anymore. I'm just so grateful that non-native English speakers are so good. 😊
i used to chuckle at my Swedish ex bf's pronunciation of "jumping" as "yumping". :)
I chuckle when I hear ABBA in “Fernando” sing: “SINCE many years I haven’t seen a rifle in your hand”. I find it cute and endearing. ❤
"I'm going to get you little fishies!!!"
- Cat
You know more about the English language than I do and I'm a native. LOL. I wasn't aware of the "light and dark L sounds".
I think, as native language speaker, you do not care about these things, because everyone understands you very good.
Really good! I had no idea about the consonant differences in English and those collective nouns are a problem for English speakers too! Tschuss Alles Gute!
I've been here for 60 years and never have I learned more about the English language that I have from you! Thanks again... 😊
The company I work for is based out of Stuttgart, and I recall my former boss who was German adding a 't' sound to the end of words which end with a D. I haven't noticed the other ones yet, but I may have to keep my ears open the next time I speak with any of my German colleagues! Great video!
Though most English speakers don't use it, "fishes" actually can be used in English if you're talking about multiple different species of fish. It's more often used in scientific contexts.
You can use fishies if your under 6
The same is true of the term "peoples" which usually refers to different ethnic groups of people across an area.
Or in the the song "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night (joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea). Hairs can be used when referring to multiple individual hairs, rather than as a collective. For instance, I counted the hairs on the insect leg.
>Fun with English plurals and determiners:
this/that one person -> these/those two people (persons)
this/that one people -> these/those two peoples
this/that one sheep/shrimp/fish -> these/those two sheep/shrimp/fish(es)
this/that one goose -> these/those two geese
this/that one tomato/potato/tornado -> these/those two tomatoes/potatoes/tornadoes
>More fun with English quantifiers:
many/few people/sheep/geese/tomatoes (countable)
much/less enthusiasm/clarity/love/beef (uncountable)
Neil deGrasse Tyson explains his use of "fishes" is correct in this Joe Rogen interview: ua-cam.com/video/s4GYZvs1aKo/v-deo.html
That was a great video. It brings me back to German class in the mid-90s. We helped our German teacher with her English as much as she taught us, German. I don't mind mispronunciations or slightly off grammar as long as I can understand what it is you are trying to say. I'm happy to try and help them with their grammar and pronunciation. I know my German isn't the greatest. It's the effort that counts.
I think your English is quite good! I would honestly assess your usage at greater then 99% flawless. I only rarely hear any sort of grammar mistake, and almost never hear pronunciation issues. Nice job! :)
English is my second language, and I'm trying to make German my third one. The grammar differences between English and German always confuse me. Tks for pointing some of them out!
You claim to make many German native speaker mistakes, and while I'm sure you have made them in the past, you are not making them very much now, if at all. Your English is amazingly fluent, the BEST I have ever heard from someone who is speaking a 2nd language. Not a trace of an accent! You sound exactly like a native English speaker. Your skills are ultra-impressive, Girlfriend! Own it!
To me, Felicia sounds like she has an American accent, when she speaks German. Am I correct, anyone?
Richtig tolles Video! 🙌🏻 maybe for a „Part 2“ you could explain the using of: many/much/a lot of. I do this mistake until today 🤷🏻♀️
It's so neat reading through all of these comments... bouncing the differing native norms back and forth! Your last sentence touches a couple of the themes. I would say it, "I make this mistake even today." The "even" in this case, has a connotation of, "remarkably", or "surprisingly". Just neat :)
Thanks for the hint! I am a Brazilian guy watching your channel and even for us, portuguese speakers, is very informative!
The "since/for" thing is the most common one I hear and read when communicating with my German and Swiss colleagues. And I never heard of the light and dark L sound but it makes sense and is one of the biggest give-away's of a German speaker. The fish/fishes thing is done by native English speakers all the time so everyone gets a pass. In any case, I have nothing but the greatest respect for anyone who learns and speaks this crazy language. And nobody cares if you have an accent or don't speak or pronounce everything perfectly.
So interesting (as an English person struggling with German!).
With since/for, try heading to Yorkshire in England, where you can say that a store opens from "9 while 5" 😜
X
I love your videos my father was stationed in germany for 6 years of my life I loved it there .
The etymology of the Latin letter V is fascinating. The classical Roman pronunciation of the letter V is akin to the U or W of English, making "veni, vidi, vici" "wenni, widi, wikki" (including the hard C of classical Latin as well). W and U were basically medieval Latin creations accounting for significant Germanic language influence, especially in the early middle ages. Pretty cool stuff, and awesome video as always!
In my youth 30 years ago, I have dated two different German girls here in the states. (ironically both share the same first name by shear coincidence - Maike)
They also had something else in common -
One had an accent from Australia where she learned and practiced English. The other spent a lot of time in London. Both had very unique English/German accents with Australia and London dialects.
🎶"Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!"🎶 🙂
Feli, How are ya? I like all of your videos because they are informative and interesting . You are way cool and sweet for doing them. I, for one thank you most sincerely for doing them.
Mindblowing! Ich dachte, ich bin ziemlich flüssig im englischen, aber ich lerne so viel aus deinen Videos :-)
Deine gute Laune ist ansteckend und deine Videos machen einfach Spaß und sind super informativ. Vielen Dank für deine Mühe und liebe Grüße from the middle of nowhere in Germany.
One I often heard when I lived in Germany was the use of the word “possibilities” when the correct English word is “options”. In the English sentence’ “there’s are three options” I always heard Germans say, “there are three possibilities.”
Back in the days of traverller's checks, I went to a German bank to cash one in. The teller had never seen one before, so he had to call his supervisor. He then came to me and said in English, "Yes, this is possible!" What he meant was, that it was doable.
@Sebastian Stark options are like a list of choices, possibilities tend to be more up to chance, more akin to "Eventualitäten". If something is possible, then it might happen, and it even could happen. If something is doable, then one can make it happen. Hope that helps you!
To be fair though although I am English and options is clearly the correct word, saying possibilities is simply another way of saying that "there are three outcomes"
But to us English what comes first is what we say... You have three options is basically stating that you must choose an option before you reach an outcome
Speaking as a native English speaker living in England, I can see nothing wrong with saying "there are three possibilities". I would probably use this instead of "there are three options". Maybe this is just an American thing?
This reminds me of the old movie "The Big Lift" where Paul Douglas's character gives a German "friend", an ex prison camp guard, an English lesson.
I can't get over how cute you are! You're so we'll spoken and educated, so cheery and full of light, and have so much wonderment to share, and I absolutely love it! Thank you, for being you!
You have the most amazing English I've ever heard from someone raised in another country. I have to really listen closely to find the slightest thing that sounds off. And even those things I would have just assumed were the result of a native English accent from a different place than I live if I didn't know your story.
As someone that has worked with people from everywhere for over 30 years none of those things would make me have a difficulty in understanding them. On the other hand I'm glad you are providing details into the understanding of language differences. Germans have never been problematic to me but the Egyptian that worked across the isle from me, that first moved to Germany then move to Michigan was very hard to understand. He had a thick Egyptian accent layered on top of a German accent. The only other person in my life that I had that much difficulty understanding was my cousin's south Boston wife. I could only understand every third word she said and she is from the USA!!
I saw "rural" on that list and was not expecting you you nail it. Half the people in the US can't say rural.
Many have said your English is excellent, but that's not what I notice about you. I love the sound of your voice! Always so joyful.
Musste so lachen als du "people und school" gesagt, weil es sich wirklich Deutsch anhört 😂
Tolles Video, wieder was dazu gelernt. 👍
"point in time" -> Zeitpunkt -> Punkt auf dem i in "since" Die Eselsbrücke haben wir im Unterricht gelernt.
Wir haben das ähnlich gelernt: since = zeitPUNKT (Punkt über dem i ), fooooor (die Lehrerin malte ein ganz langes oval statt des o an die Tafel) ist für eine Zeitspanne. Hat mir super geholfen, rufe ich mir auch heute, 20 Jahre später, manchmal noch ins Gedächtnis 😂
Before quarantine, learning german culture wasnt even on my radar. Now, it's like I cant get enough! It's really cool seeing the similarities with french too between english and german
Yay! That makes me really happy to hear :)
@@FelifromGermany all thanks to you! Now when I am able to go back to France i'll have to spend some time in germany!
@xellossaxon I was thinking more about the way certain words are used, like german and french having one word when they mean since or for, in french it's depuis. J'habitais à Paris depuis mon enfance ou qqch comme ça
I could listen to you all day! Bright and upbeat, with virtually no trace of a German accent when speaking English, your spoken German has an enviable clarity. Occasionally you speak a bit fast in German for these dusty old ears (I haven't lived in Germany since 1972), but I guess listening as much as I can will get me used to that...
Your videos are fun and you are so young & perky it makes them fun. Your English is so cold perfect, you must have been over here for a while.. no accent, perfect. And you're even pitching your show like an American. Enjoyed your show even though I don't speak German.
The funniest thing I've ever experienced as a linguist was phonology 101 where we all tried to pronounce the different phones... voiced, voiceless, aspirated and so on... My favorite was R which has 5-6 different pronunciations ^^
I definitely applaud you for your fantastic command of the English language, Felicia. The voiced and unvoiced "f" is one sound many Germans struggle with, often pronouncing "of" and "off" the same way. Numbers can also be tricky, with Germans meaning to say, "thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," etc., but pronouncing them like "thirty, fourty, fifty".
Most of my students struggle with sentnece structure (Satzgliedstellung) and tenses, tending to use present progressive where they ought to use simple present, or past progressive instead of simple past, for example: "I am thinking, you were drinking at Jenny's party last night too much beer." Sure, we native speakers understand what the person is saying, but it sounds profoundly German.
I teach Germans to pronounce the English "r" by saying the letter "ö" and relaxing their lips. I teach the correct pronunciation of the English "th" by telling them to show "bunny teeth", then stick out the tip of their tongue while blowing air out of their mouths. Once they have that down, we practice the voiced and unvoiced "th".
I love my job! It's so much fun!
I've often noticed foreigners struggling with English's two present tenses, but I was confused about your transliteration "I am thinking, you were drinking at Jenny's party last night too much beer"; surely in German the time would come before the place? (In English obviously the beer comes first and foremost!)
@@NeilRashbrook Ich denke, du hast auf Jennys Party gestern Abend zu viel Bier getrunken. Though German offers you a lot of options when it comes to adverbials.
Thanks for being so lovely and kind! I’m a native Portuguese speaker, trying to learn English and German! Great videos!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Damn you're good!
As a 55 year old guy from Loganville, Georgia and a pretty good native American language wordsmith / writer, I gotta hat tip you for being better at English than I am.
Keep doing what you do. It is highly appreciated. I'm learning a lot from you - and I really can't say that for many people.
"My English makes me nobody so fast after"
(advertisement for an English language school years ago in the Munich U-Bahn)
What the hell does that mean??
@@hansbrix2495 The American tourists who sat below that sign in the subway car had the same problem.
It's a word-by-word translation of "Mein Englisch macht mir keiner so schnell nach" which means something along the lines of "Nobody can easily match my English skills"
Again what learned
My english is not the yellow from the egg, but it goes 😉
@@HansMaurer. is that the opposite to "Mein Deutsch ist unter alle Saue?" (or whatever the proper expression is). 😁
Living six years in Germany, most common English mistakes I hear are somewhen(irgendwann) instead of sometime. And remember me instead of remind me.
As a native English speaker, somewhen is fine to define a point in time in the past (also backalong) whereas sometime has a hint of ongoing duration about it. So somewhen = at some time in the past.
Amazingly fabulous.👍
Great video! I wish you did more videos on language differences! This is actually also a good video for English speakers learning German. In learning the mistakes Germans make when speaking English, we can figure out why Germans pronounce certain sounds the way they do. For example, I never really understood that the German D sound in "Brand" is unvoiced. I mean, I kinda knew it, but I didn't really "know" it, if you get my meaning. Now I know, it will help my German pronunciation.
You CAN use “since” + present tense but it changes the meaning of the word itself: “Since I work in the city I never get home before 6”
Better yet, "Since I work in the city, I'll do your errand for you, but next time, do it yourself!" Of course here, "since" is a synonym for "because".
I say "better yet" because one could rephrase your example as "Since I've been working in the city, I never get home before 6". With my example, it seems pretty accurate the way it is.
this is y English is so odd--wen the same word means 2 diff things. How did that even hapoen? I guess that is a homonym. Do other languages hav those?
About “the police are on their way,”...this is because it means, “the policeMEN are on their way.” Or, (people from) the police (force) are on their way. The words in parentheses being understood but not spoken. A shortened English. Men are on their way. Hopefully this makes some sense!
yeah that's a good way to explain it. But i don't get y in German they say: the police is on its way??
@@juliebraden German here. While I do not know the correct reasoning for this, I think I can make an educated guess based on how we refer to the police. When someone from Germany refers to the police, they usually do not refer to the men and women that make up the police but the institution police as a whole. If you consider the police being one entity (consisting of many entities carrying out the duties the police has), it makes sense to refer to them in singular.
this helps so much - thank you!
Right. The only time it'd be singular is if it was "the police officer is on the way"
@@juliebraden the police (force) is on its way
Your video helped me with the following two issues:
When I attended college in Chicago as an exchange student, it annoyed the hell out of me that some american students did not believe that I was born and raised in Germany. Only now, after 13 years, I do understand why, thanks to your video. I did not make any of these common mistakes, so I did not sound "German enough". My thanks go out to my former advanced English teacher (Englisch Leistungskurs), who, being Irish, was very stern stamping those mistakes out. Seems like some of his teachings stuck. ;-)
And second, my son is currently learning English in 6th grade, and you gave me some really valuable clues about how I can help him improve.
Thank you very much and keep up the good work!
I’ve been binge watching your videos, they’re fun to watch as I’m familiar with both the German and American cultures and the level of insight you have and the ability to detect nuances is amazing! Regarding this particular video, I’ve also noticed the difficulty for Germans to pronounce “G”, sounds more like “Tsch”, for example Tschermany. Interchanging “z” and “s” sounds, as in “ekSample”, but then “Zamzung”, but I guess this one has to do with German pronounciation of the letter “S” at the beginning if a word, except also transferred onto foreign words as well. Also always using present tense and saying instead of “I will go shopping” “I go shopping”.