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       #Post#: 10011--------------------------------------------------
       Ostalgie- the Superiority of the German language 
       By: SHL Date: December 7, 2018, 12:43 pm
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       Ostalgie is a really cool German word that is non-translatable
       into English. It`s easy to understand because it consists of
       just the word for East (Ost) and the English „nostalgia“, sort
       of a nostalgia for the East, but that`s misleading. Dict.cc
       translates it as „nostalgia for the supposed delights of the GDR
       (I hate that English acronym „GDR“ because I think it sounds
       weird and I find it confusing, so I just use the German DDR).
       It`s a ZDF series I started watching and I love it. They also
       have non-translatable expression like „Das Hamburger Sie“ (and
       there are a few others like it). It´s got an interesting
       meaning. Sie (when it doesn`t refer to „they“) is just the
       formal you. But say you are a police officer and you`re not
       close enough to your superior officier to refer to him with
       informal „du“ (when addressing him with „you“ ) but referring to
       him by his last name would be too distancing. You just want to
       call him „Chef“ (boss) of by his first name if he prefers, but
       retain the use of Sie in adding him with a „you“. You can do
       both and when you do it`s called „Das Hamburger Sie.“ There are
       other variations of this clever use of language too, but it
       would be a nightmare trying to translate this into English.
       English really lags behind in many ways making translations like
       this nearly impossible. I was wondering if other languages do
       this too?
       Alharacas is the expert, but they also have sort of the reverse
       of this where you might call someone by his or her last name but
       use the informal „du“ in addressing them. That`s called the
       „Müncherner Du“ or „Kassiererinnen Du.“
       It made me think because the Nobel Prize winning German author
       Günter Grass, in his „Katz und Maus“  Novelle. He said once
       wrote in the book, „Wir haben uns geduzt.“ We said „du“ to one
       another. You can`t translate the sentence that way because
       English speakers won`t understand it. So, I looked at an English
       translation of the blood, and that sentence was translated „We
       were on a first name basis.“ As you can see, that`s just a crude
       translation, but I suppose the best you can do.
       #Post#: 10013--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Ostalgie- the Superiority of the German language 
       By: NealC Date: December 7, 2018, 12:49 pm
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       How can German NOT be the greatest language in the world - it is
       from Germany after all!
       Tell me Steven is German the greatest language in the world
       because it is from Germany, or is Germany the greatest country
       in the world because they speak German there?
       After this, perhaps we can trade baseball cards?
       #Post#: 10018--------------------------------------------------
       Re: Ostalgie- the Superiority of the German language 
       By: SHL Date: December 7, 2018, 3:35 pm
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       [quote author=NealC link=topic=669.msg10013#msg10013
       date=1544208562]
       How can German NOT be the greatest language in the world - it is
       from Germany after all!
       Tell me Steven is German the greatest language in the world
       because it is from Germany, or is Germany the greatest country
       in the world because they speak German there?
       After this, perhaps we can trade baseball cards?
       [/quote]
       Oh Neal! Finally we agree on something ! Joy!
       Anyway, I can`t answer your „which came first, the chicken or
       the egg“ question, but it is a good one. I`ll have to get back
       to you on that.
       Isn`t Friday, „ chicken-guillotine“ day for you? Or maybe the
       poor things aren`t big enough yet?
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