The title of my blog makes me think about the infiltration of English words into German. For example, the sentence "I am blogging" could be written as "Ich schreibe ein Online-Tagebuch". However, it is much more common, even for the native German, to use the English word with German conjugation and just write "Ich blogge." Although this makes it easier and quicker to say what you want, it sounds goofy to me.
So, if we accept "bloggen" as a German verb, to say "Yesterday, I blogged about rainbows" becomes "Gestern habe ich über Regenbogen gebloggt."
And that just sounds ridiculous.
Ich habe keine Ahnung was du gesagt hast in deinem letzten Satz.
ReplyDeleteBut regardless, I like your point about English being absorbed into German. My German friend who lives in Stuttgart commonly writes in English on his Facebook, and he's German! Often times when someone would write in German on his wall, he will reply in English! Is it possible that through improvements in technology and communication, that languages other then English are becoming less commonly used????
I enjoy your blog and your view on the infiltration of English into other the German language. I would have to wonder with Kyle if indeed other languages are slowly being changed due to technology? I experienced a lot of the same things when I lived abroad. I found that there were quite a number of words in the Indonesian language. Mostly "newer" words, such as "facebook" "or "OMG". I found it odd that many Indonesians would incorporate these English words into their sentences or writings. Also, many of my friends who spoke only Indonesian would post in English on Facebook. It appeared as if using English on the internet was the "cool thing to do". Hmm??
ReplyDeleteWell, I originally did not intend for this post to be my first reflection on class, but now that I've been thinking about it more, I feel that what I said is actually very applicable for our first day of class.
ReplyDeleteYou both have good points about languages being changed with technology. Due to the popularity of so many American techy products and websites (like Facebook), I think it's inevitable for languages (like people) to mingle online and to change. I'm not sure if using English on the internet is so much the "cool thing to do", like you said, Charlotte, but that it might just be the convenient thing to do.
This for me, as a future foreign language teacher, however, is really interesting and pretty cool. Technology makes it a lot easier and lot more convenient to expose kids to new languages, new cultures, and new ideas. I can't even imagine trying to teach someone now about another culture without using pictures, videos, and social networking tools on the internet. Also, it occurred to me that a lot of the technologies we'll be working with in this class can be used in any context and language. Technology isn't constrained by linguistic limits, but can transcend and even break down such limits. And that, to me, is very exciting, not to mention, useful.
Kyle- Did you use google translate for that sentence? Lol.
I was impressed by Kyle's facility with German, too...clearly, this a talented group.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right in your observation that the web is a great friend to the second language teacher...just wait until we get to podcasting.
In the meantime, check out what your fellow MACer Joanna Porvin has created with the Foreign language teacher in mind