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Der, Die, Was? - Ein Amerikaner Im Sprachlabyrinth
Im Januar 1994 zog der amerikanische Autor David Bergmann in die Großstadt Chicago. Da fiel ihm das Flugblatt zu einer Wohnungsauflösung in die Hände. Um sich mit neuen Möbeln einzudecken, klingelte Bergmann an der angegebenen Adresse -- und traf auf eine besonders bezaubernde Amerikanerin namens Kerry, die sein Leben nachhaltig veränderte. Denn Kerry verkaufte ihm durch die Option auf ein gemeinsames Date mit ihr und ihren Freundinnen nicht nur alles, was sie zu verkaufen hatte. Ihr gelang es sogar, Bergmann ein ihm zunächst überaus unsympathisches Textbuch für die deutsche Sprache anzudrehen. "Ich sagte ihr, dass ich mit 22 Jahren bestimmt schon zu alt sei, um eine Fremdsprache zu erlernen", heißt es in Bergmanns Der, die, was? Ein Amerikaner im Sprachlabyrinth. "David, die Deutschen haben ein passendes Wort für fast alles", entgegnet Kerry. "Eins davon passt perfekt zu deiner Aussage, und zwar das Wort Quatsch".
Natürlich bekam Kerry David mit ihrem Charme doch noch herum. Und bescherte uns damit eines der vergnüglichsten -- und kundigsten -- Bücher über unsere Sprache, das auf dem Markt für Geld zu bekommen ist. So erfahren wir nicht nur, dass es im Deutschen für fast alles ein Wort gibt. Wir erfahren auch, dass es für Manches einfach zu viele Wörter gibt (Artikel zum Beispiel). Wir erfahren, wie witzig Ausländern Umlaute erscheinen müssen, warum es nichts hilft, ihnen zu raten, "einfach" zu sprechen, was die deutsche Rechtschreibung für Tücken hat -- und warum das "ch" Bergmann schwach werden lässt.
Wer bisher meinte, schon alles über die deutsche Sprache zu wissen, sollte also unbedingt zu Der, die, was? greifen. Und wer sich mit der grandios geschriebenen Geschichte eines Deutschlerners einfach nur blendend unterhalten will, der sollte das unbedingt auch. -- Stefan Kellerer, Literaturanzeiger.de
217 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 14, 2009
David Bergmann is an American of German descent who developed a burning desire to learn German and move back to Germany. In DER, DIE, WAS? EIN AMERIKANER IM SPRACHLABYRINTH, he starts from the premise “deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache,” and addresses the many problems foreigners in general and Americans in particular face while learning German.
Issues include the past tense, the future tense, umlauts, definite articles (hence the title of the book), plurals, colloquialisms, and the vagaries of Business German, to name just a few. He even has a chapter on German words that have been adopted into English, including among many, many others Wunderkind, Kindergarten, Schadenfreude, and my personal favorite, Fahrvergnügen.
Have I by now made the book sound totally boring? It isn’t. DER, DIE, WAS? is cleverly written, with much word play that reinforces the points he’s making. Each chapter has two parts. After discussing a given problem, he then tells amusing and memorable anecdotes about his own experience with that issue and with the wide cultural differences between the United States and Germany. His landlady, Frau Wilbärt, for instance, will live in infamy, mainly just for being so relentlessly German.
Bergmann does at times get carried away, creating difficulties where they don’t exist. When faced, for example, with the idiom, “die Hosen anhaben” (to wear the pants), he tries to be amusing by conjecturing wildly what it could mean before concluding that it means exactly the same as it means in English, without, of course, mentioning the English idiom. The same for “die Katze im Sack kaufen” (to buy the cat in the bag), which in fact means exactly the same as the American expression “to buy a pig in a poke.” Such lapses can be overlooked, however.
The major underlying theme is that, despite the difficulties of learning German or of adapting to German culture, the struggle is worth it, and I recommend this book highly to anyone, especially any American, who has learned or is learning German.
Issues include the past tense, the future tense, umlauts, definite articles (hence the title of the book), plurals, colloquialisms, and the vagaries of Business German, to name just a few. He even has a chapter on German words that have been adopted into English, including among many, many others Wunderkind, Kindergarten, Schadenfreude, and my personal favorite, Fahrvergnügen.
Have I by now made the book sound totally boring? It isn’t. DER, DIE, WAS? is cleverly written, with much word play that reinforces the points he’s making. Each chapter has two parts. After discussing a given problem, he then tells amusing and memorable anecdotes about his own experience with that issue and with the wide cultural differences between the United States and Germany. His landlady, Frau Wilbärt, for instance, will live in infamy, mainly just for being so relentlessly German.
Bergmann does at times get carried away, creating difficulties where they don’t exist. When faced, for example, with the idiom, “die Hosen anhaben” (to wear the pants), he tries to be amusing by conjecturing wildly what it could mean before concluding that it means exactly the same as it means in English, without, of course, mentioning the English idiom. The same for “die Katze im Sack kaufen” (to buy the cat in the bag), which in fact means exactly the same as the American expression “to buy a pig in a poke.” Such lapses can be overlooked, however.
The major underlying theme is that, despite the difficulties of learning German or of adapting to German culture, the struggle is worth it, and I recommend this book highly to anyone, especially any American, who has learned or is learning German.
February 6, 2010
Very interesting premise: An American promoting the German language as being really cool, clever and funny.
David Bergmann has started learning German at a rather late age (22) and tells all about the problems and moments of success he came across. A very interesting look from a non-native speaker's point of view. He offers a lot of examples of why the German language is efficent and cool, and there are a lot of things I never thought about before, even though I actually am quite interested in German linguistics and have studied some before. Nice "aha!" moments going on there.
At some points, he tries too hard though, uses one idiom too much, one linguistic pun to many. But overall, this was very enjoable. A cute book. I'll get the second part later.
David Bergmann has started learning German at a rather late age (22) and tells all about the problems and moments of success he came across. A very interesting look from a non-native speaker's point of view. He offers a lot of examples of why the German language is efficent and cool, and there are a lot of things I never thought about before, even though I actually am quite interested in German linguistics and have studied some before. Nice "aha!" moments going on there.
At some points, he tries too hard though, uses one idiom too much, one linguistic pun to many. But overall, this was very enjoable. A cute book. I'll get the second part later.
May 25, 2008
Beim Lesen habe ich stellenweise schallend gelacht, und die übrige Zeit dermassen gegrinst, dass ich von Umstehenden gefragt wurde, was für ein köstliches Buch ich da gerade lese. Soviel Spaß hatte ich schon lange nicht mehr. Ich habe bisher noch niemanden getroffen, der so gekonnt mit der deutschen Sprache spielt. Einfach toll!
April 1, 2010
Liebhaber der deutschen und englischen Sprache werden dieses Buch verschlingen. Ich bin eine derjenigen, die immer sagt: "Englisch ist doch viel schöner als Deutsch", aber David Bergmann hat mich davon überzeugt, dass dies nicht in jeder Hinsicht der Fall ist.
Einige Kapitel waren etwas öde, aber der Großteil war sehr interessant, unterhaltsam und witzig.
Einige Kapitel waren etwas öde, aber der Großteil war sehr interessant, unterhaltsam und witzig.
June 8, 2008
A book written in German by an American learning German as a second language on the topic of how great the German language is--enough to hold my interest to the end. Quite often over-eager to the brink of annoying, but none the less insightful for it.
January 8, 2015
in vielen Bereichen informativ mit Unterhaltungswert, auch Spassfaktor, aber sich wiederholende Wortspiele ermüden irgendwann und manch Charakterisierungen ("Fahrradklauer") empfand ich nicht witzig, sonder unangemessen. Fazit: durchwachsen
July 18, 2008
This is a great book for those who have lived in Germany (and of course, those who can read German!).
November 8, 2015
Expatriate memoir #3. "An American in the Language Labyrinth." So gratifying to have the quirks and difficulties of the German language articulated so amusingly.
January 1, 2014
Fell back in love. Highly recommended to the Ausländer who have invariably encountered the delight and gleichzeitig irritation of mastering German.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews