Language Practice (Help your fluency)

[azhong]

(Edit (after I read Travis's post): bedeutet impliziert)
1. Es scheint, das Wort Schlange hat bedeutet impliziert, dass die Form des Tier lang ist.
2. Allerdings ist das lang von Schlange verschieden vom Wort lang.
(It seems the word "Schlange" (snake) has implied that the shape of the animal is long.
The "lang" in "Schlange", however, is unrelated to the word "lang" (long).)

[Travis B.]

1. Es scheint, das Wort Schlange hat bedeutet, dass die Form des Tier lang ist.
2. Allerdings ist das lang von Schlange verschieden vom Wort lang.
(It seems the word "Schlange" (snake) has implied that the shape of the animal is long.
The "lang" in "Schlange", however, is unrelated to the word "lang" (long).)

Ich bin kein Deutschsprachler, aber ich hatte geglaubt, dass bedeuten eher to mean als to imply auf Englisch bedeutet.
I am not a German-speaker, but I had thought that bedeuten means to mean rather than to imply in English.

[hwhatting]

Isn't Lächeln grammatically a gerund here? That is, a more accurate translation would be "Smiling is free, but clothing isn't."

In any case, its usage is a bit different from other nouns, as this valuable note from the Wiktionary entry makes clear:

Lächeln is grammatically peculiar because it does not have a generally accepted plural form, although the word is clearly countable. One can say: ein Lächeln − “a smile”; or: sein erstes und sein zweites Lächeln – “his first and his second smile”. But actual plural usage occurs only seldom, chiefly in the vernacular: seine beiden Lächeln – “his two smiles”. This usage is awkward and may sound ungrammatical to many language users.

Generally the plural needs to be paraphrased (for example: die beiden Male, wo er gelächelt hat – “the two times that he smiled”). Apart from this, German often uses the singular where English would use the plural: das Lächeln der Leute – “the smiles of the people”.

You explained it all better than I did.

(Edit (after I read Travis's post): bedeutet impliziert)
1. Es scheint, das Wort Schlange hat bedeutet impliziert hat*1), dass die Form des Tier lang ist.
2. Allerdings ist das lang von Schlange nicht verwandt mit dem Wort lang.
(It seems the word "Schlange" (snake) has implied that the shape of the animal is long.
The "lang" in "Schlange", however, is unrelated to the word "lang" (long).)

*1) I don't get why you use the perfect here, neither in English, nor in German.

[hwhatting]

Ich bin kein Deutschsprachler*2), aber ich hatte geglaubt, dass bedeuten eher to mean als to imply auf Englisch bedeutet.
I am not a German-speaker, but I had thought that bedeuten means to mean rather than to imply in English.

*2) Sounds horribly wrong to me. Better: Ich bin kein deutscher Muttersprachler or Ich bin nicht deutschsprachig.

[azhong]

I don't get why you use the perfect here...

Oops, I missed this correction from Zompist when I copied all of them.
Thank you for your corrections, too, Hans.

Es scheint, das Wort "Schlange" impliziert, dass ...

[azhong]

1) Außer Spanien habe ich auch nach Frankreich gefahren.
2) Ich habe auch nach Frankreich gefahren, außer Spanien.
(Apart from Spain, I have also visited France.

[azhong]

How about the exercise based on the discussions in the "English Questions" thread?

Linguoboy is one of my language helpers on the internet.
I have been receiving his help from when/ since I learned in another language forum.
I still wear the same glass I had worn from when I first knew him.
But I don't use any longer the same laptop I used from then. (from I first knew him -> from then)
I really enjoy these days when I've beein learning languages. (these days + when)

[Linguoboy]

1) Außer Spanien habe ich auch nach Frankreich gefahren.
2) Ich habe auch nach Frankreich gefahren, außer Spanien.
(Apart from Spain, I have also visited France.

Remember that fahren belongs to that class of verbs which form the perfect with sein rather than haben.

1. Linguoboy is one of my language helpers on the internet.
2. I have been receiving his help from when/ since I learned in another language forum.
3. I still wear the same glasses I had worn from when I first knew him.
4. But I don't use any longer the same laptop I used from then. (from I first knew him -> from then)
5. I really enjoy these days when I've beein learning languages. (these days + when)

I've numbered these sentences in order to discuss them more easily. Most are malformed in some way. "From when" and "since" (which are not interchangeable) are not really compatible with a past perfect. They serve to link some past state of affairs to the present, but one use of the past perfect is to indicate a break between the past and present (since if you were describing a past state that were still valid today, you'd use the present/present perfect).

Let's start with (4). If you're no longer using the laptop, then it's not a laptop "from then". The "from" indicates that it has been brought forward from that time in the past to the present, but it hasn't; you left it somewhere in the past. Therefore, I would replace "from then" with "back then". (Also, I've underlined "don't use any longer" because, while I'm not sure it's actually ungrammatical, it's so awkward I don't recall hearing anyone say it. The usual phrasing is "I no longer use".)

Now for (3). Again, "had worn" indicates a break between past and present. But there's no break; you're still wearing the same glasses. You can dispense with a second clause entirely and just say "the glasses from when", but if you must have a verb here, I would use "I wore when" or "I was wearing when". (You don't need a "from" in this case.)

(2) is malformed with "from when". "Since" would work except that the use of "learn" here is off. Although "learn" can be used intransitively, it sounds odd to me to use it without an object except in very specific contexts (e.g. "I'm learning" to indicate to someone that you're still making a lot of mistakes in a particular area). Either "since I was learning languages in another forum" or "since I was in another language learning forum" would be better phrasings.

And (5) is just confused. If what you want to say is "I really enjoy learning languages these days", that's not how you'd express it.

[hwhatting]

1) Außer nach Spanien bin ich auch*1) nach Frankreich gefahren.
2) Ich bin auch nach Frankreich gefahren, nicht nur nach Spanien.*2)
(Apart from Spain, I have also visited France.

*1) Better noch or auch noch instead of auch.
*2) außer is restricting, and for me it doesn't work when you adding something after the main clause. Examples where it works after a main clause are:
Ich bin in viele Ländern gefahren außer Spanien.
Ich bin in kein Land gefahren außer Spanien.

While fahren is okay, I'd rather use reisen "travel".

You can also use besuchen "visit", as in English:
Außer / neben Spanien habe ich auch / noch / auch noch Frankreich besucht.
Ich habe auch Frankreich besucht, nicht nur Spanien.

[azhong]

1. Die Form eines Seils ist auch lang, sehr ähnlich der einer Schlange.
2. Ein Seil, das in hohem Gras liegt, sagt genauso aus wie eine Schlange.
3. Daher erschreckt ein Seil am Ufer auch mich manchmal.

(The shape of a rope is also long, very similar to that of a snake.
A rope lying in the tall grass looks exactly like a snake.
So at times I am also frightened by a rope on the riverbank.

[hwhatting]

1. Die Form eines Seils ist auch lang,*1) sehr ähnlich der einer Schlange.
2. Ein Seil, das in hohem Gras liegt, sieht genauso aus wie eine Schlange.
3. Daher erschreckt ein Seil am Ufer auch mich auch manchmal.*2)

(The shape of a rope is also long, very similar to that of a snake.
A rope lying in the tall grass looks exactly like a snake.
So at times I am also frightened by a rope on the riverbank.

*1) That sounds a bit unnatural, I'd either say ein Seil ist lang, sehr ähnlich wie eine Schlange or die Form eines Seils ist ähnlich der einer Schlange. What bugs me is the part Die Form von X ist lang; if the attribute were other adjectives like eckig or rund, it would sound much more natural to me. Maybe other native German speakers have different views on this.

*2) auch mich emphasises that it's you who are frightened, almost as if you wrote sogar mich "even me", or as if it had be stated before that someone else is frightened by ropes and you agree..

[azhong]

Q: How about sentence 5.1 and 5.2? Are they natural as well or even more natural in the context? Thank you.

▸5. Daher/Somit erschreckt ein Seil am Ufer auch mich mich auch manchmal.
▸5.1. Daher erschreckt mich auch ein Seil am Fluss manchmal.
▸5.2. Daher erschreckt mich manchmal auch ein Seil am Fluss.

[hwhatting]

Q: How about sentence 5.1 and 5.2? Are they natural as well or even more natural in the context? Thank you.

▸5. Daher/Somit erschreckt ein Seil am Ufer auch mich mich auch manchmal.
▸5.1. Daher erschreckt mich auch ein Seil am Fluss manchmal.
▸5.2. Daher erschreckt mich manchmal auch ein Seil am Fluss.

They're both okay, they just put the focus a little differently. But note that somit is quite literary and you wouldn't normally use it in colloquial German.

[azhong]

1. Der Wald, den du betrittst/ /den du betreten wirst, ist riesengroß und sehr gefährlich.
2. Auf deinem Weg gibt es viele Weggabelungen, deren einige dich in Lebensgefahr/ Lebensgefahren führen werden.
(The forest you will enter(=you are entering) is huge and very dangerous.
There'll be many forks on your way, some of which will lead you into mortal dangers.

Thank you for your comments.

[azhong]

Wenn man selb klar weiß, dass man schwiemmen will, braucht man dann nicht, sich darum zu kümmern, dass alle die anderen anziehen, wenn nur man alleine auszieht.
(If you yourself know clearly you want to swim, you don't need to care then about all the others getting dressed when only you alone are getting undressed.)

[hwhatting]

1. Der Wald, den du betrittst*1)/ /den du betreten wirst, ist riesengroß und sehr gefährlich.
2. Auf deinem Weg gibt es viele Weggabelungen, deren einige*2) dich in Lebensgefahr / Lebensgefahren*3) führen werden.
(The forest you will enter(=you are entering) is huge and very dangerous.
There'll be many forks on your way, some of which will lead you into mortal dangers.

*1) In general, the present tense can have future meaning in German when it's clear from the context; so whether you can use the present tense for the future here would depend on what comes before. In something like a scenario description, the simple past is also preferable.
*2) That is very literary - in colloquial and even in non-pretentious written German von denen einige is preferable.
*3) Lebesgefahr is always singular; if you want to render the English plural, use tödliche Gefahren / Gefahren für Leib und Leben / lebensgefährliche Situationen.

Wenn man selber / selbst klar weiß, dass man schwiemmen will, braucht man dann nicht, sich dann nicht darum zu kümmern, dass alle die anderen sich anziehen, während nur man selbst sich auszieht.
(If you yourself know clearly you want to swim, you don't need to care then about all the others getting dressed when*4) only you alone are getting undressed.)

*4) I'd rather use while in English as well, but I'm not a native speaker.

[Travis B.]

Wenn man selber / selbst klar weiß, dass man schwiemmen will, braucht man dann nicht, sich dann nicht darum zu kümmern, dass alle die anderen sich anziehen, während nur man selbst sich auszieht.
(If you yourself know clearly you want to swim, you don't need to care then about all the others getting dressed when*4) only you alone are getting undressed.)

*4) I'd rather use while in English as well, but I'm not a native speaker.

Actually to me, as a native English-speaker, both when and while work fine for me in this context.

[Travis B.]

1. Der Wald, den du betrittst*1)/ /den du betreten wirst, ist riesengroß und sehr gefährlich.
2. Auf deinem Weg gibt es viele Weggabelungen, deren einige*2) dich in Lebensgefahr / Lebensgefahren*3) führen werden.
(The forest you will enter(=you are entering) is huge and very dangerous.
There'll be many forks on your way, some of which will lead you into mortal dangers.

*1) In general, the present tense can have future meaning in German when it's clear from the context; so whether you can use the present tense for the future here would depend on what comes before. In something like a scenario description, the simple past is also preferable.
*2) That is very literary - in colloquial and even in non-pretentious written German von denen einige is preferable.
*3) Lebesgefahr is always singular; if you want to render the English plural, use tödliche Gefahren / Gefahren für Leib und Leben / lebensgefährliche Situationen.

I should note that in English mortal danger is normally a mass noun, and using it in the plural is to refer to different kinds of moral danger.

[jal]

different kinds of moral danger

Es gibt sehr viele Arten von moralische Gefahren 😄.
There's many kinds of moral dangers 😄.


JAL

[hwhatting]

Es gibt sehr viele Arten von moralischen Gefahren .
There's many kinds of moral dangers .