azhong wrote:Q: What sound do you pronounce when you are pronouncing the German long e, [e:], "gehen" for example, and have fixed the required month shape? Is your pronunciation closer to the English /i/ such as "ea" in "eat", or is it closer to a lengthened e in "egg"? Vielen Dank im Voraus fur Ihre Hilfe.
"egg" isn't a good word to use here because its pronunciation varies considerably in English; some people say /ɛɡ/ and others say /eːɡ/.
For me personally, my German /eː/ is closer to [ɛː], but that's somewhat unusual (although it is found in German dialects, particularly in the Southwest). German-speakers have sometimes teased me a little for this feature but they all understand my pronunciation just fine.
azhong wrote:(I practiced translating the
beginningfirst sentence of
The Great Gatsby, with the help of google translate and the dictionary as usual.
Vielen Dank im Voraus für Ihre Hilfe.)
¶
in meinen jüngeren und verletzlicher Jahren / als ich jüngeren und verletzlicher war(in my younger and more vulnerable years.N.PL.DAT / as I was younger and more vulnerable)
► Show Spoiler
verletzlich: [fɛɐˈlɛtslɪç] vulnerable
¶
Mein Vater hat mir einige Ratschläge gegeben.(My father gave me some advice.M.PL.)
► Show Spoiler
geben: gab.PST; gegeben.PP
Ratschlag: advice.M.
einige: a few (+ noun) vs
etwas: a bit (+ adj, adv)
¶
Seitdem überlege ich es mir in Gedanken. (I've been turning it over in my
mindthought.M.
PL.DAT ever since.)
► Show Spoiler
überlegen: überlegt.PST
Gedanke: Gedanken pl
Seitdem: ever since
¶
In meinen jüngeren und verletzlicher Jahren gab mein Vater mir einige Ratschläge, die Seitdem ich mir seitdem in Gedanken überlege.( In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.)
The next sentence is: "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." So really, it's only one piece of advice. As a consequence, I would translate "some advice" as "einen Rat" rather than "einige Ratschläge".
"in Gedanken überlegen" sounds odd to me; wie sonst kann man sich etwas überlegen? You could use a different verb with
in Gedanken (like
durchkauen) or use a different verbal complement altogether (like
durchdenken or
überdenken). Or you could do what German translators of Fitzgerald have done and use a completely different expression:
In meinen jüngeren und verletzlicheren Jahren hat mein Vater mir einen Rat gegeben, der mir seither nicht mehr aus dem Kopf geht.
azhong wrote:Q: The positions of "mir" are different in the two sentences; the first is before the (direct) object "Ratschläge" but the second is after the object "es". Are there any errors?
¶ Mein Vater hat mir einige Ratschläge gegeben.
¶ Seitdem überlege ich es mir in Gedanken.
It's difficult to answer this without getting into the details of German word order. There are several rules operating here in tandem, but the two most relevant are:
1. Pronominal objects before noun phrases.
2. When you have two pronouns, the accusative object comes first.
In the first case, you have an dative pronominal object and an accusative noun phrase, so the pronominal object comes first. In the second case, both objects are pronominal, so the accusative one comes first.
(The first rule is actual a specific instance of a more general tendency, which is that in German--as in most languages--new information is introduced later in the sentence. Since pronouns generally stand for elements which are already known to the listener, they naturally come before noun phrases which introduce new elements.)
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons