Before my Mom and Dad and little brother (2 at the time) left Germany, I took a short elementary English course while we were still stationed there.
Additionally, I had my German-English dictionary my Dad brought home one afternoon and said, “We’re going to America, you need to learn to speak the language, so here.”
As many of you may know, I am in love with the English language and all its nuances, stupid grammar rules and syntax, so I wanted to share with you one of the problems I solved while still in Germany: When to use “well” and “good”.
My teacher always used to have to correct me, when she’d present me with this sentence:
“How do you feel?” (well or good?)
My answer: “I feel good”
Wrong: I should have said “well” (back then, anyway)
Next: “How does your food taste?”
Me: “It tastes good”
So on and on it went and I finally nailed it, but then one day while with my Dad in his camp, I heard him say…
“That’s all good and well Sergeant, but…”
Fuuuuuuuuuck!!!:eek::)
So you see, I’ve had to do a lot of figgerin’ to get this language right, and sometimes I still have problems, but I just love talkin’ Merkin!
To be semi-serious (can you stand it?) for a moment… these rememberances come to me just intermittently, so it’s always good to explore them right down to where they began.
I might also mention (since we’re on the subject), that I have a vertical scar in the center of my forehead which I got during that same English class on base because a cute little blonde by the name of Kathy was chasing me and I ran smack-dab into the corner of an open door. No stitches needed, just a butterfly, but the scar remains.
I later saw her again on the MATS plane we all were on to fly to Merka :), but never again. Still got the scar though!
To be fair, “food tastes good” is quite a tough one to get right unless you are really studying language (well, if you don’t have the same distinction in your own language, which German doesn’t, right?).
I love those personal milestones of learning a language! I remember my Italian friend who was learning English: she came to stay with me and had improved hugely. Then one night we were brushing teeth together and chatting. We both felt that being able to hold a conversation in a foreign language while brushing teeth was a Very Significant Moment. A step that might follow holding a conversation in a bar and understanding crying children. Do you remember any of those?
And the only thing I can tell you about your examples is that during a Rave once, the best I could do to answer my friend was to read her lips. I think I got most of it right, because she continued the conversation!
That’s right Senegoid. If you were to say “the food tastes well” you are effectively saying the food is good at tasting, ie food eats and has taste buds.
Quasi, in this context “well” & “good” are both “gut” in German, so no difference between the adverb and the adjective (I think they’re aways the same, but I haven’t spoken German in ages & it’s too early in the morning for my brain to work). Like in English with the words “early” or “low”, they are both the adverb and the adjective at the same time.
I still struggle to remember if Spanish uses “bien” or “bueno” to informally indicate stalling, as in “Well…it wasn’t like that, exactly.” I’m pretty sure it’s “bueno”, but that means “good”, not “well”. Except “very good” is “muy bien”…
In the third grade, we did timed math problems and were placed in honorary “clubs” for being under certain times. I completed the last problem, raised my hand and said “Done!”. The teacher didn’t come over until I said it for the fifth time and gave me this condescending, snotty remark about how I wasn’t a potato. She and her made-up rule made me miss the “mathlete club” qualifying time by 5 seconds.
A similar error is rather common in Québec, usually by francophones speaking English although some anglophones might quietly admit that they use it too, simply because they hear it often enough.
“Close/Open the TV/lights” as opposed to “turn on/off”.
My mother is guilty of this one when she’s tired or distracted!
So do I, RickJay, but boy, those and other words sure had “The German Boy” messed up for a very long time!
BaneSidhe, I don’t know what I did, but I’m glad it helped.
I am not affiliated in any way with him, but for those of you who love this language as much as I do, check out Richard Lederer’s book “Foxen In The Hen Hice”, for a hilarious look at the way we speak this language and how much sense it sometimes doesn’t make!
