MSGID: 1:153/716.0 02869ff3   
   REPLY: 6.fidonet_englisht@1:104/116 246d7e6f   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi & welcome, Brian!  Recently you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:   
      
   BK>  One of my first trips to Germany cost me a month of my   
   BK>  life.  It actually wasn't half bad.  When I heard for   
   BK>  the first time, "I have a stomach feeling," I had to   
   BK>  put it into context ("I have a gut feeling" or "I have   
   BK>  a strong feeling").   
      
      
              One of the things I find intriguing about German is that it's   
   almost understandable, with a bit of fuzzy logic, to a native speaker of   
   English.  The grammar is something else... but I realize now that I am not   
   alone because some very intelligent Fidonetters from northern Europe say they   
   have difficulty with it too.  I was quite amused by a Peanuts cartoon I saw   
   recently where Snoopy... in his role as a WWI flying ace... is shot down over   
   Germany.  After consulting his phrase book, he recites a list of pronouns &   
   prepositions.  Finally he says "I surrender!" as I did years ago when I was   
   expected to learn 24 prepositions, taking three cases, in one lesson.  Others   
   I know who have visited Germany seem to have picked up the language easily   
   when nobody marked their grammar....  :-Q   
      
      
      
   BK>  Skype, it might be interesting to help out--a trial by   
   BK>  fire!  :)   
      
      
              I figure you're in Colorado... meaning your pronunciation is +/-   
   the same as my own, I guess, except for a couple of vowel sounds.  Alexander   
   may be unsure how to respond if he doesn't know you or where you're living at   
   present.   
      
              Seems to me the trial by fire works in both directions.  Alexander   
   & I have been corresponding for many years... we are comfortable enough with   
   each other to understand what's meant whether he speaks with a perfect Oxford   
   accent & graciously accepts mine, or whether as one who lives in a busy   
   seaport I have learned to make allowances for certain variations.   
      
              I am quite in awe of those who have to master an unfamiliar   
   alphabet in order to communicate with me, while I'm still grappling with   
   theirs....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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