Letter 10-2007. German.

25^th June 2007

Dear friends,

I have now been so long in Germany that I think I can come with „Hanne's German course“, or perhaps rather „Hanne's favourite expressions in German“, or „German expressions you will probably not need(?)“. I think I have gathered some really good German words that I will teach you.

Those of you who study or have studied theology and have finished your Hebrew (or for some other reason have Hebraica at home), can start reading Gen 1,1-2. In verse 2 you will find the German (Hebrew) expression above all German expressions, Tohuwabohu. When I together with some friends at Evangelisches Studienhaus, as preparation for a lesson in the OT seminar about creation, translated the first verses of this creation story, my fellow students said: „Actually we do not need to translate this.“ An English translation of the biblical 'tohu wa-bohu' is 'formless void', and describes the chaos before God cleared up and made kosmos. „This is theology German“ I thought, and found my German-Norwegian dictionary just to show that it was not a common word... Theology German seldom appear in this dictionary from high school, Tohuwabohu is though a common word, at least common enough to be there, theology German for everyone; translated with 'confusion, chaos'.

Last Sunday I learnt a new expression when the dance class was over, and my dance partner was tired. 'Ich bin k.o.' she said, and I looked like a question mark. 'Ich bin kaputt' she translated, 'done' was the meaning. She did not know where it came from, and accepted my guess that it was just opposite of o.k. My dictionary again had a contribution to an expression I never thought I would find there; 'k.o.' means 'knockout', or 'exhausted, done'. Perhaps it is also used in English, without my knowledge. I am certainly more often o.k. than k.o., but next time I am not o.k., I might say that I am k.o. This expression is worth having in my active vocabulary(?)

Those of you who have been to (or are in) Palestine, or in other ways have some knowledge of Arabic, know that 'yalla' is a frequently used word. I have not found any such usable word in German, but one of the most used words is probably 'genau'. I can not say that it is a favourite word, but the frequency makes me explain it, perhaps as much as a warning, as a suggestion. It means 'exactly' and is not as meaningless as 'lissom' in Norwegian ('you know' might be an equivalent phrase often used in English), but still not necessary to add in every sentence. 'Genau' might be such a word you must have in your vocabulary in order to be really German, but so far I have not had a need to sound so native that I have started using it, and I will try to keep it out. It is often used by students, and I understand it as a break in order to think. Though I do not regard 'genau' as one of my favourite words, it is much better than 'eehm', which is not in the dictionary! I have a teacher who have a couple (or more) 'eehm' in each sentence, and it is so disturbing that I seldom understand the meaning of what he is saying. Then 'genau' after each paragraph is after all much better.

„Wir duzen uns, ja?“ I should certainly have learnt as soon as I came, but I still looked like a question mark when I got this question in Selbitz. Something I still find very difficult in German, is to know when I shall say Du (informal, friendly, close 'you' – 'Tomi' for those of you who know Bangla...) and when I shall say Sie (formal, polite, distant 'you' – 'Apni' in Bangla). I still find it artificial to say Sie, as I never say 'De' in Norwegian. At the same time I thought I had to say Sie to everyone I did not know. Anyway, students use Du to students, while they to professors always say Sie. To scientific co-workers they certainly also say Sie, and I made at least one mistake the first week, as I thought such a co-worker was a fellow student, and I addressed her with Du. She has not been angry with me afterwards, so I guess I am forgiven. ('duzen' then means 'address informally')

At last a word I think sounds nice: 'schwül'. The stable warm weather was limited to April. Now in June it has changed a lot, and I must admit I am grateful for days with rain, more than days with much heat. The funniest days when it comes to language, are then quite tiring for the body; as 'schwül' means 'close' (or how this hot and humid weather is normally called in English), but then it also gives the opportunity for some real weather afterwards. Today it has not been really 'schwül', but we have though had some real weather, with wind, rain and thunder ('Gewitter' is also not bad as a thunder-word), so I am quite pleased.

Viele Grüße

Hanne