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Native German speaker: Most of the time we think it's just funny if you get the gender wrong, no harm done. As you said, there's very few instances where there
by hutattedonmyarm 8y ago
Native German speaker: Most of the time we think it's just funny if you get the gender wrong, no harm done. As you said, there's very few instances where there are words changing meaning if you swap out the article. And even then, it's ususally obvious from context. (Der Schild => the shield; Das Schild => the sign). I do get the frustration though, I had to learn French in school and I'm currently learning Swedish (I'd consider their en and ett words something conceptually similar to the gender thing).
I also agree about mapping the prepositions, but I think that applies to learning other languages in general, or at elast, more than just the pairing German/English. I can only compare it to English => Swedish (I had not interest in learning French as a language, I was more trying to get a passing grade in it. And I do have to learn Swedish from the English perspective, because Duolongo doesn't offer a German => Swedish course), but it's the same thing
- stesch 8y agoI even suspect that wrong gender is a running gag among Americans. See "Hotel das Alpen" on the show "Titans" and "Der Waffle Haus" on the show "Dead like me".
- jahaja 8y agoSince I'm doing the same thing but the other way around I'll trade you Swedish for German if you'd like.
- maljx 8y agoIn case no one told you "en" words usually map to masculine and feminine in German, and "ett" words are neutral.
- pikzel 8y agoAs a native Swedish speaker, albeit with little interest in languages and grammar, I can't see how that would help anyone. How do you know if "bil" (car) is masculine/feminine or neutral (en bil, ett bil)? Open to learn here :)
- hashmush 8y agoWell, it works for many cognates. Haus/house/hus all come from the same word, so if you know that it's "ein/das Haus" you can expect it to be "ett hus/huset" in Swedish. Same with e.g Hund/hound/hund, "ein/der Hund" is masculine so it is of common gender in Swedish "en hund/hunden".
- jrnvs 8y agoIt helps because words describing a profession, a person or something animate are usually male/female. The same goes in Dutch, where "de" refers to male/female and "het" to neutrum. There are several rules of thumbs which can help foreigners to correctly guess the article in both Swedish and Dutch. Of couse, they'll only be an accurate guess at best, but they can give you a headstart as a novice learner.
- nemetroid 8y ago> I'd consider their en and ett words something conceptually similar to the gender thing En and ett words actually are genders (or "genus"), they are known as utrum and neutrum respectively.
- xtracto 8y agoBack when I Lived in Germany a colleague used to have fun when I said "meine Deutsche" instead of "mein Deutsch" when referring to my knowledge of the language. After 2 years I just stopped worrying about articles, knowing that I would anyway always sound like auslander to them.