American Reacts to Learning German: German Language Hacks

Willkommen! My name is Sean Huggins, an American living in Germany. Watch as I learn about German culture and life in Europe!

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[quato]

You know you mastered the German language as soon you figure out how and when to use "doch" ☝🤓 ...

[derwolf]

About the numbers in German:
I think iGerman s more comsistent when it comes to numbers.
The English language switches things around. The number 26 is twenty-six...shouldn't 14 then be teenfour instead of fourteen?

[dasmint]

I did start taking a note when you said 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Love your positive view towards Deutschlernen. It gave me chilling vibe to memorize these tips as well. Super!
Big support from Thailand

[simi]

My husband only know a few words of German because we live in his home country. One thing he picked up pretty much during our first visit back home and a thing he intuitively uses expertly is 'Ja, genau.' I swear, he can have entire conversations with 'Ja, genau.' but will have to ask me later what the other person was actually talking about XD

[MellonVegan]

The numbers thing is actually just the original Germanic way of counting. We're just some of the few (or the only ones?) who have kept it.
Some older English literature has numbers written out like that, too, iirc.

[MichaEl-rhkv]

"halt" can be used colloquial as "simply" or as a filler word expressing sth. like "no big deal" or (if you recount some event) "I did/said this because I had no idea what else to do/say".

[norbertzillatron]

You can use "halt" in the sense of "simply" just about everywhere you could insert "simply".

[galenthom]

Ich habe Deutsch in der Schule gelernt und ich fand es sehr einfach. Mein Deutsch is jetzt nicht so gut seit ich habe es nicht geübt.

[Anson_AKB]

she said _"der for seasons", _ but what about "das Frühjahr" (because it is "das Jahr").
it would be "der Lenz", but that is quite antiquated.

"halt" is regional _("Das ist halt so"), _ others use "eben" _("Das ist eben so")_
(don't confuse with "ebenso" = "the same"/"equally)"

[DSP]

Do you know the old english children song "Sing a song of sixpence"?

Here some of the Lyrics: A pocket full of rye. *Four and twenty* blackbirds. Baked in a pie. -Four and

Or these weird numbers like 13 (tree and ten - third-(and)-teen - Thirdteen why not ten-three?

[miztazed]

Don't forget the allmighty word "doch" which you can use universal and fits in every context. About the word "halt" don't bring it too much in your sentences like for instance Joe Enochs (American Fußball Coach in Germany) do it in his interviews. At some point it will just annoy listeners like the american girls always say "like like like like like like". :)

[arnothar]

2:20 We are stuck in speaking the order of digit as everyone was in old times. The english speaking people are still stuck with ancient spelling of words which don't reflect their actual sounds. So we are all even here, I think. ;-)

[pascalnitsche]

English - in the past - did the same thing with numbers as German does. Think of that song “three and twenty black birds …”
French is even worse in some regards. 92 would be 4 times 20 + 12 there. And there are even more complicated systems in some languages ;)

[laudbubelichtkind]

We germans are strict with numbers. A bit complicated but it is always the same. English speakers? Not! Look between 13 - 19. Why here 5 and then 10 (15)?

[RakkiOfficial]

halt in those contexts would be pretty close to the english use of the word "just", e.g. "das ist halt so" / "It's just like that"

[MrLogo]

Most words ending with "e" are female and hence the article is "die". There is one common exception: "DER Käse".

[Testarossi]

Great reaction 👍🏻 greetings from Austria 🇦🇹

[matthewrandom]

I totally agree: The forming of numbers in our German language makes absolutely no sene. There's no other language with this to and fro with numbers! And another things that's completely messed: Gross- und Kleinschreibweise. Words with uppercase and lowercase in the middle of a sentence - absolute nonsense!

[MrLogo]

"My philological studies have satisfied me that a gifted person ought to learn English (barring spelling and pronouncing) in thirty hours, French in thirty days, and German in thirty years. It seems manifest, then, that the latter tongue ought to be trimmed down and repaired. If it is to remain as it is, it ought to be gently and reverently set aside among the dead languages, for only the dead have time to learn it." (Mark Twain)

[Why-D]

we are consistent with the numbers.
up to nineteen, you do the same.
Why do you change at twentyone but not at teenthree?