AMD 2 - Adam Zientarski

Don't mind me, I'm just posting this a bit early so I do not have to do it tomorrow...

I just finished reading Mark Twain's "The Awful German Language" and I have to say he does make some very valid points. Having over 5 different ways to say "the" is the most redundant and thing I have ever seen. We have spent a large portion of our class time learning how to use the word "the" properly when we could learn about vocabulary or culture. The English language places so little importance on the word the word "the" but in German it is used to show possession among other uses. I'm not even sure how people who are native German speakers actually remember the articles for each word. If they do not know what it is do they just make one up?

Another annoyance is that all nouns must be capitalized, regardless of type of noun. Again the German language is placing emphasis on things that are relatively meaningless. The word "rock" now holds the same importance as, lets say, "President Obama" because in the German language everything is capitalized.

Another major difference is the syntax the Germans use. It seems like their sentences are backwards and the meaning of the sentence can hinge on the final word. For example, the separable verbs "ankommen" and "zukommen." While they both principally mean the same thing (to arrive and to approach) they can have slightly different implications and the an and zu are dropped to the end of the sentence.

New German Learned:
der Regen = rain
dem (another case we have not learned yet)
zukommen = to approach