Daisy ’s Comments (group member since Aug 23, 2008)

Daisy ’s comments from the Deutsch group.

Nicht so wichtig. Sie hat in Fassbinders Filmen gespielt zum Beispiel.

Die Christa Wolf hat was interessantes gesagt über "Guten Morgen Du Schöne": "Dieses Buch war seiner Autorin wichtig, aber die Arbeit an ihm war ihr wichtiger."

Danke Muphyn. Ihr foto auf meine Kopie errinert mich an der Hana Schygulla, eine Schauspielerin. Ob du sie kennst?

A friend on facebook told me how to do it. What a relief.

Na gut. Warten wir auf Marieke. Und wie geht's Christine beim lesen?
Ich würde gern mehr über die Maxie Wander lernen. Vielleicht weiss die Christine mehr über sie?
Es freut mich das es dir gefällt wie sie schreibt und was sie schreibt.
I am sooooooo happy I can type Umlauts now.

Die Themen ihrer Briefe sind manchmal schwierig zu erfassen, finde ich. Man weiss nicht worauf sie antwortet am Anfang.
Ich habe auch Lust in mein eigenes Tagebuch öfters zu schreiben so wie die Maxie. Möchte treuer zu meinem Tagebuch sein.

Bin auch jetzt bei die früheren Briefe dabei, 1972/73. It's nicely sturctured that way, the book. Although, if I understand the first entry correctly, it's even more painful to think that she thought her life was this calmly flowing river, then look what happened.
I like the idea of the writers' retreat she's visiting in the early 70s.
Meine Schwiegermutter kommt erst am 7 Dez., wenn sie überhaupt kommt. Jetzt ist etwas mit geschwollenen Beinen... Wir werden sehen.

Oh and I do wish this had been translated. My best friend has cancer, stage 4. She has lots of resources luckily but you never know if reading about Maxie's experiences and what she thinks and confides, confesses, would be illuminating for my friend. It is for me because I read another version of the fear my friend has. It's another way for me to understand her, my friend.

This doesn't spoil things I hope, just clarifies characters: Kitty was her daughter, Dani, her son, and Berti, an adopted son. And the only way I know that is that I googled her.
Reading this is an active job. Interactive too because, with my husband helping me, I also read him parts of the story, so he's taking part in the book too. He's not much of a reader really. So that part's valuable too.

Luckily I have no trouble with the Wiener/Oesterreichishe dialect. Dort hab' i eh mein Deutsch g'lernt. Erkennen kann ich sogar viel wenn ich was hoere, ob Kaernterisch oder Burgenlaenderish oder Tirolisch... Zwei and halb Jahre hab' ich dort gelebt. Und uebrigends, wir wollen zurueck. Guess I'll have to find my Umlaut before then.
The book is extremely emotional. And vivid. I am constantly checking with my husband if I've understood something correctly. I keep hoping she'll be okay even though we know how it ends. Each time she gets good news, I get my hopes up too, and when she gets frustrating news, my hopes are dashed with hers.
I do find it confusing not knowing who she's writing to in some of the letters. It took me a while to realize that Jossl is a nickname for her husband.
Anyway, I'm glad you guys like it. We'll talk more later.

Diaries and letters can be conversational and therefore an easier kind of language to tackle than a regular novel. I understand a lot from the context but since I want my German to improve, I'm looking stuff up and bugging my husband to death. I'm learning some useful words. Allmaehlich=gradually, for instance. That's a good word to know... duh.

Marieke,
Have you started? It's hard to say I love this book because it's so sad but it's so interesting. Really a whole other world on many levels. I am having a good time, don't want to leave the house, just want to read it.
Rereading paragraphs helps me understand things. I have a lot of "aha!" moments after I thought I understood something, when it becomes even clearer on second look.

Just a note: Lass uns eines Tages ueber dem Brief an Tanja vom 1. November diskutieren.

Seite 42 (in meinem Buch), ein Zitat vom Goethe: "Nur einem Menschen, der nichts hervorzubringen vermag, dem ist nichts da." Bitte um Hilfe beim uebersetzen. Woertlich glaub' ich verstehe ich, aber ich bin mir nicht sicher.
Es kommt aus einem Brief an Ernst R., Paris, am 5. Oktober 1976.
I'm not always going to be asking for translation help. Just thought this was kind of pertinent to how she and Fred feel about living in East Berlin vs. Vienna?

CAKE!!!!!!!! Of course! I just had chocolate.
I think we moved the discussion to the private group. A better place.

My husband thought it was funny when I said "aufreisschluss" for "zipper." Oh yeah, it's "reissverschluss," but I think I just spelled it wrong.

I'm finally finished. Have we already moved on to Maxie Wander or are we discussing this somewhere else (secret group) or have we finished discussing this and I just didn't notice? I guess I have some observations to make, just want to put them in the right place. Here or "there?"

My husband still says cute things like "sit on the table." But he likes some of my German mistakes too. I am much more of an English grammar dictator than he is about German.

Apropos prepositions and cases... I always mix up these kinds of things in German:
lock up vs. unlock
uphill vs. downhill
lose weight vs. gain weight
It's those pesky prepositions.

Ich fange heute an. Morgen muss ich arbeiten aber dann Freitag mach' ich weiter mit Maxie. That's the plan anyway.
Christine, Muphyn, und Marieke: eine Uebersetzung Frage...
On the back cover of my library copy of Thomas Brussig's Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee. Interpretationshilfe Deutsch. is a quote:
"Glueckliche Menschen haben ein schlechtes Gedaechtnis und reiche Erinnerungen." I'm not so moved by the quote as the subtleties in the difference between "Gedaechtnis" and "Erinnerungen."
Mit meinem begrenzten Deutsch, koennte ich dass verschiedlich uebersetzen. (Mein Mann hat mir auch beim letzten Satze geholfen.)
Happy people have a bad memory and rich memories. Zu buchstaeblich. Happy people have a bad conscience and rich memories? Zu weit weg von der Sinne?
Was denkt ihr? This is a case of translating more than the words, also the intention thereby maybe sacrificing the literal translation. Oder?