Dec 14 2004, 2:46 pm
In response to Gughunter
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Elation
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Auntie Gug's right.
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That sounds about right... she came over earlier and she said something along those lines... she is still unsure of her decision though... but I won't get into that... thanks for the help deciphering it.
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English IS basically German with French tacked on. Well, not quite. English broke away from Barbaric a very long time ago — long before German evolved — and adopted a fair portion of Romantic languages (and even got a little bit of Skaldic thrown in, thanks to William the Conqueror). The syntax is similar, but English prefers softer words with independent meanings, whereas German prefers harder words with compound meanings. As a result, English has hundreds of thousands of individual words, each carrying independent meanings. (Many grammarians will tell you that there is no such thing as a synonym. Each word has different context and meaning, though sometimes those meanings can overlap a little.) For instance, compare "potato" from English with "pomme de terre" from French: English has its own independent word for a potato, while French relies upon three other words ("apple" "of" "earth") to convey the meaning. German is somewhat similar in concept, though it uses compound words instead of multiple words. | |
(Many grammarians will tell you that there is no such thing as a synonym. Each word has different context and meaning, though sometimes those meanings can overlap a little.) Ugh. Yes. I hate it when somebody tries to spice up their writing or speech through the use of a thesaurus and starts using words in a completely nonsensical context because their thesaurus assured them it was a synonym for the word they would have used. As an example, if somebody gives you a gift, instead of saying "How thoughtful!" imagine saying, "How reasonable!", or "How pensive!"... | |
it's amazing how most people forgot I live in Germany and speak decent Deutsch! :p
in reality, the text you posted makes little sense, even to native Germans (and I asked several at my office to try and understand it to make sure I, myself, was not the only one confused). it appears incomplete, and the grammar is bad in many places- not to mention the mix of English and Deutsch in the text (which makes the sentence 'Dinglish', both Deutsch and English). we would need more of the letter to get a proper context. it really looks like this may have been an English phrase that was put through something like Babelfish. the beginning of the sentence 'Ich interessiere mich für Sie...' is not personal enough (which seems the intent of this letter). but if we take Gughunters interpretation (which many here think that is what she is trying to say) something better would have been 'Deine Gefühle sind mir wichtiger als meine Eigenen' (Your feelings are more important than mine), or if she is trying to distance herself from you: 'Ihre Gefühle...' which is more formal. the formality may be what she was trying to impart, as she uses 'Sie' instead of 'dich' and 'du' (informal), but it was done badly. i would have to agree that Gughunters interpretation is probably the closest you may get, though even the locals here also agree that it looks more like an English phrase put through a translator program, based on the bad use of grammar (unless she is 12, but then 12-year-olds would not be using the formal 'Sie', at least not like that). translations aside- if Gughunter's interpretation is correct, I would question her logic. Even my colleagues thought there must be something wrong with her if she cares about your feelings, yet goes back to another man. sounds like she is pulling your strings, dude. | |
Hedgemistress wrote:
As an example, if somebody gives you a gift, instead of saying "How thoughtful!" imagine saying, "How reasonable!", or "How pensive!"... How arbitrary of you! | |
She was using Babelfish to translate it from English to German, and I had noticed while using some other translators that they will randomly add words into the phrase, causing a slightly misinterperated message. I don't think that she even put it back from German to English to ensure that the message recieved was the message she had intended me to get.
As for needing more of the letter, this is all that she wrote in the e-mail in German, the rest was "you want to learn German babe...use your internet and figure out what this means..." and that is all she said in the e-mail. Digitalmouse wrote: "translations aside- if Gughunter's interpretation is correct, I would question her logic. Even my colleagues thought there must be something wrong with her if she cares about your feelings, yet goes back to another man. sounds like she is pulling your strings, dude." She has had a very... unhappy life, I guess would be the best way to put it. I don't think it is as simple as her trying to pull my strings, because I know that she really cares about me, and that she wants to be with me. It's just that she also wants to be with this other guy (although I do not know why she does, he is completly wrong for her) as well. For an example of why I think he is wrong for her (and a reason that I want to beat the .... out of him.) One of her best friends that she has ever had died while they (her and her current boyfriend) were dating in a car accident. After the funeral, all he had to say to her was "Oh great, now you're going to cry again." That shows he has no compassion, and that he doesn't even pretend to care about her feelings, which just irks me in the wrong way. In my opinion, saying something like that is just about as bad as if he had hit her. So he is lucky that I didn't know the guy who had died, and wasn't there otherwise (I have never thrown a punch at a person in my life) I would have dropped him like a two-bit whore. Sorry... just venting a little bit about this whole situation... I am gonna stop before I go any more overboard. Thanks for your input Digitalmouse. ~~§~~ | |
Woah, dude, what are you doing?
GO WIN HER BACK! Get that girl for yourself- she'll just suffer otherwise! Right- You need to be: -Charming: make great jokes, be funny, interesting. -Elaborate: Take her out places! -Plotting: Record what she does at all times. -Stalking: Stalk her around places. Follow her. | |