By the way:

[comeshootwithme]

I'm reading Momo by Michael Ende in the original German. And I'm understanding it.

Yes, some appropriate words of admiration and applause may be inserted *here*.

Best Find of a German Word of the day: Irrgarten, which, by deduction, I took to mean "labyrinth . Brilliant word

Comments

[fenjer]

*applause*

and *soothing* over the big bad boss that is D...for whatever they did to you....

*hugs* cos I feel like it. :)

[comeshootwithme]

My boss is just not caring about anybody's work but her own. Being a manager, I think that's called...
thanks for the hugs!

[fenjer]

hmmm... *tops up your Grouse*

[comeshootwithme]

I did that, too (topping up the Grouse, I mean). Which was lovely last night. It was slightly less lovely at 6 am this morning, though...
*fail*

[eers]

Ooh, that's good. It's been a long time since I read anything German. Should do it again. "Irrgarten" is a brilliant word indeed. I would've needed a dictionary, though. xD

Also, that song is good. Very good.

[comeshootwithme]

I found it was such a waste that my German was slipping away, unused and unloved...
Irrgarten -> vergis-tuin, that's just perfect, isn't it?

I'm going to see Florence and the Machine live in February. She kicks arse.

[eers]

Everything always slips away when you don't use it anymore. Sometimes there's German costumers or so at Hoogvliet, and I find myself struggling for some of the simplest words. My French has diminished strongly as well. And a little while back I couldn't even remember the Spanish word for forty. Losing secondary school skillz is fail. :P

Ooh, more concerts. :D

[comeshootwithme]

I worked for a German company for nearly 4 years and that really helped to keep it up. However, you can't maintain everything...
Reading favourite childhood books is a good way, though. Yay!

[whiskeylover]

Momo is a fantastic book!

[comeshootwithme]

It is, I've always loved it. And I'm newly appreciating the beauty of the original language, too. I'm reliving my childhood!

[comeshootwithme]

There are quite some similarities between Dutch and German indeed. The vocab is not the hardest thing to learn, so understanding the language is ok - up to a point, of course. Speaking it is harder because the grammar is considerably different to Dutch grammar. I took six years of German in secondary school and I used to work for a German company for 4 or 5 years, so I had a bit of practice ;-)

Once you get the accent down, it becomes easier. I once spent a week in Norway with a Norwegian family and once I was used to the pronunciation, I could understand that to probably the same approximate level as Dutch and German are mutually understandable. I just love languages - I speak a bit of French, and I did Latin and Greek too. Next goal: Italian.

[london_fan]

Momo. ♥

Irrgarten is a lovely word. Germans love to create those expressive combined words, but I've seen similar word creations in Dutch (wish I could actually remember what it was). ;)

[comeshootwithme]

I never used to like German much while I was in secondary school, because there was so much emphasis on the grammar. However, I'm naturally good at languages, so it was still a subject I was good at and once a bit of literature came into the equation I started liking it more. But my real appreciation of the language really came much later. The word order is slightly different from Dutch - but not so much that it is completely alien - just enough to make it sound a little old-fashioned, in a good, story-telling lyrical kind of way, if you know what I mean. I'm enjoying reading Momo in the original!