Jule & Jule (Woman & Dog)
Just to tell you some stories which encourage you to learn German. Don't worry if a German misunderstands your German, because it also can happen that Germans misunderstand their language. :-)
I was in Duver supermarket with Tine's mother. (see Interesting Experience in Germany, Part 2) We met a woman there, who was also buying something at that store. Tine's mother knew this woman. Then they had a little conversation. Tine's mother told the story about Jule, Tine's dog. Then I noticed that Tine's mother just told the woman another story. It was about Tine, who is also called Jule. However the woman was confused, maybe she didn't know that Tine is also called Jule. The woman misunderstood the story. I smiled and told her that Jule is Tine. Tine's mother realized this misunderstanding and she confirmed that it was Tine whom she has spoken about. She didn't speak about the dog anymore.
Hose & Hase (Pants & Rabbit)
I stayed at Nicole's house in Rauenstein. (see Interesting Experience in Germany) In a beautiful evening as we enjoyed the Thuringian sausage which was grilled very good by Nicole's father, Nicole's mother told us a funny story. She laughed and told us that she just had a little conversation with their neighbor. She spoke about pants (in German: Hose), but the neighbor misunderstood, she thought it was rabbit. (in German: Hase) In Rauenstein this word is pronounced [hose]. Let's say it is Rauenstein's dialect. However the pronunciation should be [hase] according to the Standard German "Hochdeutsch". Although living in Rauenstein, Nicole's mother pronounces words according to the Standard German.
Ihr Mann & Ihr Mann (Her Husband & Your Husband)
This conversation took place in Jakarta, in our meeting room of our DAAD Jakarta office. (see Scholarship) Our director (a German) just spoke about one of our woman lecturer. Then one of our colleague asked our director the husband of this lecturer: "how is about her husband?" (in German: ihr Mann) We spoke German in the office. Our director was surprised and asked back: "my husband?" She thought that our colleague asked her her husband (your husband in German: Ihr Mann, with capital i) Our colleague answered: "not yours, hers." :-)
Back to text 8: Interesting Experience in Germany (Part 2)
