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This was the root of the overblown Kennedy gaffe where he said “ich bin ein Berliner” instead of “ich bin berliner.”

by 1-more 14d ago

arlcode 14d ago
The thing is that doesn't even sound wrong and I don't think any native speaker would object to the article when used with a place of origin/belonging in a speech. It emphasizes the statement if you ask me. Only many years after learning of the speech I read online that it's allegedly "a gaffe".
- ifloop 13d ago
  It's uncommon, but without thinking about it, I wouldn't have noticed that I wouldn't usually add the "ein" here. I think it emphasizes the affiliation to the group of people.
hasley 14d ago
To me, "Ich bin Berliner" sounds relatively neutral, or like a short statement. "Ich bin ein Berliner" sounds a bit less direct or a bit softer to me because you state that you are just one of the citizens of Berlin. But this may be just my feeling. (In case you put the emphasis on "ein", you would clearly emphasize that you are just one of the many Berlin citizens.)
zelphirkalt 14d ago
In this specific case the "ein" emphasizes/expresses that he "is one of us" to the Berliners. Not a gaffe at all, in my opinion.
- AdamN 13d ago
  Is it possible that after the JFK speech and exposure to English this mode of using 'ein' actually became more acceptable? If not I wonder what drove this story.
  - tsimionescu 13d ago
    I think it's much more likely this story was spread by native English speakers who learned German as a second language in school. It has all the hallmarks of a teacher's pedantry to me. That said, blunders do occasionally happen even at this level. During Bill Clinton's visit in Romania (the first time a US president visited the country after the Revolution), he said in a huge public speech that the American people stands shoulder to shoulder with the Romanians - which the translator for the public broadcast translated as "șold la șold", which sounds similar, but means "hip to hip" (the correct translation, which is also a literal translation as the expression exists in Romanian as well, is "umăr la umăr").
  - tame3902 13d ago
    Wikipedia has a lengthy section about this 'gaffe', including the likely origin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Urban_legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Urban_leg...

This was the root of the overblown Kennedy gaffe where he said “ich bin ein Berliner” instead of “ich bin berliner.”

by 1-more 14d ago

This was the root of the overblown Kennedy gaffe where he said “ich bin ein Berliner” instead of “ich bin berliner.”

The thing is that doesn't even sound wrong and I don't think any native speaker would object to the article when used with a place of origin/belonging in a speech. It emphasizes the statement if you ask me. Only many years after learning of the speech I read online that it's allegedly "a gaffe".

ifloop 13d ago
It's uncommon, but without thinking about it, I wouldn't have noticed that I wouldn't usually add the "ein" here. I think it emphasizes the affiliation to the group of people.

hasley 14d ago

To me, "Ich bin Berliner" sounds relatively neutral, or like a short statement. "Ich bin ein Berliner" sounds a bit less direct or a bit softer to me because you state that you are just one of the citizens of Berlin. But this may be just my feeling. (In case you put the emphasis on "ein", you would clearly emphasize that you are just one of the many Berlin citizens.)

zelphirkalt 14d ago

In this specific case the "ein" emphasizes/expresses that he "is one of us" to the Berliners. Not a gaffe at all, in my opinion.

AdamN 13d ago
Is it possible that after the JFK speech and exposure to English this mode of using 'ein' actually became more acceptable? If not I wonder what drove this story.
- tsimionescu 13d ago
  I think it's much more likely this story was spread by native English speakers who learned German as a second language in school. It has all the hallmarks of a teacher's pedantry to me. That said, blunders do occasionally happen even at this level. During Bill Clinton's visit in Romania (the first time a US president visited the country after the Revolution), he said in a huge public speech that the American people stands shoulder to shoulder with the Romanians - which the translator for the public broadcast translated as "șold la șold", which sounds similar, but means "hip to hip" (the correct translation, which is also a literal translation as the expression exists in Romanian as well, is "umăr la umăr").
- tame3902 13d ago
  Wikipedia has a lengthy section about this 'gaffe', including the likely origin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Urban_legend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner#Urban_leg...