On 20/12/15 01:14, Christina Websell wrote:
"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
...
On 17/12/15 17:47, Phil L wrote:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
One of the things I intend to do in my retirement is to relearn to
read French - I shall never speak it, because I can't hear it, but
I used to be able to read up to Pierre Boulle (not Camus, though).
I can hear northern German, but my knowledge is very limited.

How can you hear German but you can't hear French?

Supposedly 70% of basic English is derived from the
teutonic languages, whereas French is derived from Latin.

If you have an electronic or computer background, the
RPN nature of German won't bother you. Exception:
German to English simultaneous translators can't begin
their translation until they've heard the verb at
the end of the sentence

I lived in very rural Germany for 3 weeks. No-one except my friend spoke
any English so I know the German for hens, dogs, bees, hedgehogs. that sort
of stuff. Nouns only. Couldn't hold a conversation though. and even if did
speak what is called "high german" (equivalent of posh) no one there would
understand it much, they speak a dialect.

I learned German at school, so (with difficulty) I can
ask questions, but I probably won't understand the answers.

Curiously I've been told that nowadays Germans aren't
bothering as much with all the genitive and dative
declensions on their nouns. Oh, I wish that had been
the case back then!