German questions

[Travis B.]

Eigennamen für Sachen wie Webseiten haben keinen Genus oft, außer der Name einen längeren Ausdruck bedeutet.

[WeepingElf]

Ich glaube, dass man Dativ für 'on' und Akkusativ für 'onto' benutzen würde.

Genau. In der Stadt (Dativ) bedeutet 'in the town'; in die Stadt (Akkusativ) bedeutet 'into the town'. Ebenso: auf dem Stuhl (Dativ) 'on the chair'; auf den Stuhl (Akkusativ) 'onto the chair'.

[Creyeditor]

Wie weiss man welchen Genus Webseiten haben? Heisst es 'der, die oder das Wikipedia/Youtube/Facebook' usw?
Und welchen Kasus verwendet man nach 'auf'?

Heisst es 'auf der (fem. dat.) wunderschönen Youtube'? Oder 'auf das (neutr. akk.) wunderschöne Youtube'? Oder sonstwas?

Haben alle Webseiten den gleichen Genus?

Als Muttersprachler haben manche Webseiten für mich ein Genus. Es ist z.B. auf jeden Fall "die Wikipedia". Aber Youtube hat z.B. im Normalfall kein Genus für mich. Wenn ich aber den Namen einer Webseite mit einem Adjektiv modifizieren will, dann braucht auch Youtube ein Genus z.B. "Jetzt gehen wir auf das ach so wunderschöne Youtube.". Das ist dann parallel zu "Jetzt gehen wir auf die ach so zuverlässige Wikipedia.". Wenn man die beiden Webseitennamen ohne Adjektiv benutzt, dann ist es aber anders: "Jetzt gehen wir auf Youtube." vs. "Jetzt öffnen wir die Wikipedia.". Es ginge aber auch: "Jetzt öffnen wir Wikipedia.".

[jal]

"Jetzt gehen wir auf Youtube." vs. "Jetzt öffnen wir die Wikipedia.".

Could the difference be explained by "Wikipedia" being transparently derived from "encyclopedia"?


JAL

[WeepingElf]

"Jetzt gehen wir auf Youtube." vs. "Jetzt öffnen wir die Wikipedia.".

Could the difference be explained by "Wikipedia" being transparently derived from "encyclopedia"?

Yes. Wikipedia is feminine because Enzyklopädie is.

[Creyeditor]

Could also be because it ends in -a, which usually marks female proper names.

[Raphael]

Back in the 2000s, for a while, I was mentally using "der Blog" inside my head, before I noticed that everyone else used "das Blog".

[Creyeditor]

It's der Blog /blOk/ for me, too, as well as der Vlog /flOk/. But we are basically from the same area, I guess.

[WeepingElf]

It's der Blog /blOk/ for me, too, as well as der Vlog /flOk/. But we are basically from the same area, I guess.

To me, it is also der Blog.

[hwhatting]

Das Blog for me...

[jal]

Duden allows both, so you're all right :). (In Dutch it's the same, both "de" and "het" are possible. For me, I don't think I have a preference, and I'd wouldn't use the definite article that often anyway, the indefinite is used far more often I think.)


JAL

[Raphael]

I know that I should know the answer to this myself, but I don't, so here it goes:

Are there any dialects of German in Germany that have such a sound that, to speakers of sufficiently different dialects from completely different parts of Germany, the speaker's accent might sound downright foreign? For the purposes of this question, I'm not counting Austria or Switzerland as foreign.

[jal]

the speaker's accent might sound downright foreign?

I would suppose that any sufficiently educated German/Austrian/Swiss would have heard about all regional accents of Germany/Austria/Switzerland, and be able to recognize them as native German speakers? Of course, there's no telling where a speaker comes from if you're going to use dialects across the Dutch and Belgian border, as it's a dialect continuum into these countries.


JAL

[Travis B.]

I know that I should know the answer to this myself, but I don't, so here it goes:

Are there any dialects of German in Germany that have such a sound that, to speakers of sufficiently different dialects from completely different parts of Germany, the speaker's accent might sound downright foreign? For the purposes of this question, I'm not counting Austria or Switzerland as foreign.

What are you calling 'German' here, just for the record, as what counts as 'German' can vary wildly depending on how narrow or broad a sense of the term one chooses? (E.g. 'German' can be pretty much Central German and lower Upper German varieties, or 'German' can be all of continental West Germanic excluding Dutch and the Frisian languages...)

[Raphael]

What are you calling 'German' here, just for the record, as what counts as 'German' can vary wildly depending on how narrow or broad a sense of the term one chooses? (E.g. 'German' can be pretty much Central German and lower Upper German varieties, or 'German' can be all of continental West Germanic excluding Dutch and the Frisian languages...)

To be honest, I haven't really thought about that question much.

[hwhatting]

the speaker's accent might sound downright foreign?

I would suppose that any sufficiently educated German/Austrian/Swiss would have heard about all regional accents of Germany/Austria/Switzerland, and be able to recognize them as native German speakers? Of course, there's no telling where a speaker comes from if you're going to use dialects across the Dutch and Belgian border, as it's a dialect continuum into these countries.JAL

This, and there is also a bit of a Catch-22 in this quesion - when I know a German dialect accent, I would know that it's a German accent and it wouldn't sound foreign anymore. FWIW, I haven't yet come across someone speaking German with a foreign-sounding accent and then found out that they're a speaker of an exotic-sounding German dialect.

[jal]

I haven't yet come across someone speaking German with a foreign-sounding accent and then found out that they're a speaker of an exotic-sounding German dialect.

Would you be able to spot someone from the Alsace speaking German? I've been there on holiday a decade or so ago and many people spoke German, though I'm not sure if they all did so natively.


JAL

[Creyeditor]

Certain varieties of Siegerländisch sound foreign to me as they have an approxinant rhotic. Also, I have a neighbour whose German sounds slighlty off sometimes all the way to uncanny valley but I can't decide if it's dialectal coloring or a very sllight foreign accent.

[Raholeun]

I know that I should know the answer to this myself, but I don't, so here it goes:

Are there any dialects of German in Germany that have such a sound that, to speakers of sufficiently different dialects from completely different parts of Germany, the speaker's accent might sound downright foreign? For the purposes of this question, I'm not counting Austria or Switzerland as foreign.

Maybe it is cheating a bit, because one could consider it a dialect of Dutch, more than German, but how about Kleever platt?

Let me know if you got the clue of the story in the linked video:

More: show

The guy is recounting a tale about a farmer and a painter (Bur und Faeber). The farmer is complaining that they have the worse part of the tasks, having to sit in the cold the whole day making Strooipuppe (Strohpuppen, i.e. human-shaped figure made of straw) while the painter gets to work inside painting the ceiling friezes. So the painter, who is a bit of a prankster ("die hat uemmer Streecke"), asks the farmer to come and help him. The farmer comes down the ladder to stir the paint, while the farmer has to get up to "ueber Kopp erbeeje" (working above the head, i.e. holding the frieze above the head so it tires the arms). The painter then proceeds to take his merry time stirring the paint, until the farmer becomes exhausted and threatens to drop the frieze. In the end, the farmer acknowledges he will never say again the painter has the lighter of the work.

[WeepingElf]

Certain varieties of Siegerländisch sound foreign to me as they have an approxinant rhotic. Also, I have a neighbour whose German sounds slighlty off sometimes all the way to uncanny valley but I can't decide if it's dialectal coloring or a very sllight foreign accent.

I once thought that Peter Maffay, a German pop singer, was faking an English accent, but his alveolar R (the main "English" feature of his idiolect) is a feature of his native dialect ("Siebenbürger Sächsisch", i.e. the dialect of the German minority in Rumania), as is the alveolar R of Franz Müntefering (a German politician from the Sauerland, an area just north of the Siegerland).