Javito1986 14 Posted October 11, 2015 How goes chaps? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Creaghorn 10 Posted October 11, 2015 Hi Javito. How are things? btw. http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/372/1/Wings:_Over_Flanders_Fields is the official forum now, though it's cool that there is still some life in this place. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted October 11, 2015 Hello, Javito - good you are still around! How about some more info from your end? Where have you been? What are you doing? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted October 11, 2015 Greetings, Javito. Give us an update. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Javito1986 14 Posted October 11, 2015 Ahaha. What's up guys. Yea I'm living in Los Angeles right now. Working as a writer, actually making a comfortable living doing it which is a blessing considering how most people who "work as a writer" have to struggle. I'm not here permanently or anything, fully intending to move home to WI and be Louvert's neighbor again, but for the time being here I am. I haven't flown much WOFF in a while. I'd sure like to, but I don't have to tell you guys how busy things get once you're out and trying to do something with yourself in the "real world," especially when you're 29 and juuuuust starting your "prime working years." My PC Moya burned down in March. She literally burned, it was interesting. I did preserve backups of everything, including WOFF, but I haven't tried to reinstall it since then in order to make sure I truly do have all the requisite files to run it. Might have to repurchase some things, which wouldn't bother me considering I <3 OBD. Other than that, I've done a lot of work as a "ghost" writer in the last year, but I'm finally getting close to publishing some stuff under my own name. Shocking I know. More on that when it's appropriate! I'll be sure to visit more often even if I don't have much directly WOFF related topics to discuss. I saw Sopwith and Lou were here recently. If and when you guys see this thread, hello boys! Oh and Olham, ich habe Deutsch gelernt in das letzte Jahr. Der Grammatik (die?) fehlt mir noch, aber jeden Tag studiere ich ein bisschen mehr Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted October 12, 2015 Gee, L.A. ! Pls send a photo of your favourite diner, Javito (presumed you eat in a diner occasionally). Would be one of the first things I would try out in America, I guess. German must be very hard to learn, compared to English - die Grammatik ist besonders schwer - and to learn "der, die, das" is surely hard, when you only needed "the" so far. You can either say "Ich habe Deutsch gelernt im letzten Jahr", or "Ich habe Deutsch gelernt in dem letzten Jahr". "In dem" is often reduced to "im". Yeah, i know - it's hard and doesn't always seem to make sense... I wish you all the best of luck and good success for your writing carreer, Javito - one of my favourite thriller authors, Raymond Chandler, lived in L.A. and wrote great stories about the city. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimAttrill 24 Posted October 12, 2015 Here is the diner I had breakfast at a couple of times in Hillsboro Ohio. Very pretty! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted October 12, 2015 Gee, yeah, THAT's a real American Diner! Thanks for sharing, Jim! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hauksbee 103 Posted October 12, 2015 German must be very hard to learn, compared to English - I took German in High School, and it wasn't all that bad. English is, after all, a Germanic language. I was struck by how many words were the same, or similar. True, the "der-die-das" took some getting used to. Yea I'm living in Los Angeles right now. Working as a writer, actually making a comfortable living doing it... What kind of writing? Are you writing for the film industry? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Javito1986 14 Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) Gee, L.A. ! Pls send a photo of your favourite diner, Javito (presumed you eat in a diner occasionally). Would be one of the first things I would try out in America, I guess. German must be very hard to learn, compared to English - die Grammatik ist besonders schwer - and to learn "der, die, das" is surely hard, when you only needed "the" so far. You can either say "Ich habe Deutsch gelernt im letzten Jahr", or "Ich habe Deutsch gelernt in dem letzten Jahr". "In dem" is often reduced to "im". Yeah, i know - it's hard and doesn't always seem to make sense... I wish you all the best of luck and good success for your writing carreer, Javito - one of my favourite thriller authors, Raymond Chandler, lived in L.A. and wrote great stories about the city. Thanks for the grammar corrections Olham! I do theoretically "know" the dative case (I even read Der Dative ist dem Genitiv sein Tod a few months ago), but as you can see, it's hard to apply the fundaments of grammar on the fly without a lot of practice. And practice is what I lack — believe it or not, the German speaking community in Los Angeles is rather small! I took German in High School, and it wasn't all that bad. English is, after all, a Germanic language. I was struck by how many words were the same, or similar. True, the "der-die-das" took some getting used to. What kind of writing? Are you writing for the film industry? The relationship between English and German is indeed fascinating. I've lost many hours studying that rabbit hole, going as far to have purchased an Old English grammar book that I've yet to truly delve into (one language at a time). As far as my writing, I'm creating marketing copy for various clients and have been fortunate enough to make it work for me. The long-term viability is, of course, questionable (clients come and go, seasons have highs and lows, income changes one month to another), but I'm unmarried and I don't have children and I have minimal expenses. I've also been working on creative fiction for publication, but that's a slow process and there isn't much income to be made until publication actually happens — and most of the time even after . But that's what the day job is for, and I would do it even if there were never any money to be made. Recently I began submitting to various contests, residencies, and (soon) short story publications to try and make something happen there. I am, to my eternal misfortune, one of those cursed with a writing gremlin in the brain that stabs me if I don't do its bidding. Edited October 12, 2015 by Javito1986 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimAttrill 24 Posted October 13, 2015 Blame it on Gutenberg! Yes, if you read your Old English grammar book the syntax will look very Germanic, with nominative dative and accusative endings and such like. However, English went through a process of simplification or even creolisation for a few hundred years as it was not spoken by the ruling classes who spoke Norman French. So those endings dropped away and were replaced by simpler prepositions and simpler word order eg. "I gave the book to the boy" the 'to' is a dative preposition. Also the word order rules stops one saying 'To the book I gave the boy" which breaks the rules and is nonsense. In Latin, you could put the words in any order as everything depended on the case of the nouns and verbs. It is believed that German was in a process of simplification and the greater use of prepositions, but then along came Herr Gutenberg with his printing press and the grammar got set in concrete! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the grammar corrections Olham! I do theoretically "know" the dative case (I even read Der Dative ist dem Genitiv sein Tod a few months ago)... Didn't mean to be corrective like an annoying teacher - hope you see it more like helping you further. As I said - German is tricky in the detail. "Der Genitiv ist dem Dativ sein Tod" is of course not correct German - he purposely used the dative formally wrong here, as a funny, catchy title. But I guess you knew that anyway. I guess that book is already for advanced German language training. Never read it myself though. ...believe it or not, the German speaking community in Los Angeles is rather small! Haha, yeah, nowadays there may be fewer Germans, even in the film industry, where you found quite a few Germans during and after WW2. Edited October 13, 2015 by Olham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Javito1986 14 Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) Didn't mean to be corrective like an annoying teacher - hope you see it more like helping you further. As I said - German is tricky in the detail. "Der Genitiv ist dem Dativ sein Tod" is of course not correct German - he purposely used the dative formally wrong here, as a funny, catchy title. But I guess you knew that anyway. I guess that book is already for advanced German language training. Never read it myself though. Haha, yeah, nowadays there may be fewer Germans, even in the film industry, where you found quite a few Germans during and after WW2. Of course Olham, I appreciate the corrections. When I wrote that I had a feeling I was writing something wrong and figured you'd correct me anyway . Language learning is hard work, but every correction and mistake brings your brain closer to "getting it" because your brain understands "Ah that didn't work, ok, let's try it this way next time..." I went through this process when I was learning Spanish between 2007 and 2009. The nice thing for me is being finally able to read German literature. Although, again, it's hard for me to "create" my own language constructions perfectly (but I get my intention across), I can read quite well and am working on comprehending more dialects (standard German is easy for me to comprehend, other accents are harder). I went on Amazon.de a few months ago and purchased a copy of Kafka's Gesammelte Werke and a schoolbook for advanced students (B2 - C1 on the CEF, which is where I'm at), have been working on those in my leisure time. Half my ancestry came from Germany in the 19th century and some of them even served in German-speaking units in Grant's army in the Civil War here, but America's unfortunate anti-German hysteria in the WW1 era knocked it out of basically everyone. They used to teach German in schools in my home-state Wisconsin, but outlawed that 100 years ago. Now the USA has many citizens with German ancestry, but the only thing that distinguishes them are "funny" names like Eisenhower. Point is, I quite love the language and especially the literature. But there's no one to speak and practice with here! Blame it on Gutenberg! Yes, if you read your Old English grammar book the syntax will look very Germanic, with nominative dative and accusative endings and such like. However, English went through a process of simplification or even creolisation for a few hundred years as it was not spoken by the ruling classes who spoke Norman French. So those endings dropped away and were replaced by simpler prepositions and simpler word order eg. "I gave the book to the boy" the 'to' is a dative preposition. Also the word order rules stops one saying 'To the book I gave the boy" which breaks the rules and is nonsense. In Latin, you could put the words in any order as everything depended on the case of the nouns and verbs. It is believed that German was in a process of simplification and the greater use of prepositions, but then along came Herr Gutenberg with his printing press and the grammar got set in concrete! I've been reading about this a fair amount, but what you say about Gutenberg setting the language "in concrete" is new and very interesting information for me. I'll be researching this further as time goes on, it's a fascinating subject. I do wonder what was different about Anglo-Saxon England that their language and, therefore, culture were "assimilated" in such a way, whereas many other (but obviously not all) "conquered peoples" kept both, even after hundreds of years of occupation. That's a big quandary for me, but I haven't had time yet to really delve into it as much as I'd like. The right books on the subject can be hard to come by, though I'm sure they've been written! Edited October 13, 2015 by Javito1986 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JimAttrill 24 Posted October 13, 2015 The history of English is a fascinating study mainly because it is an example of languages 'in contact'. After all, Early Anglo-Saxon and the Danish and Norwegian Viking languages were basically similar, but not completely. For this reason, even before the French invaded the English had started to drop many grammatical differences between these two Germanic languages. The Danes took over the north of England and the Angles and Saxons kept the south. But they had to talk to each other. I find it of great interest that the Germanic 'himmel' somehow got lost and was replaced by the Danish 'sky'. But Danish 'sky' means a cloud! You can imagine these guys in their hairy shirts pointing up at the heavens and one saying 'himmel' and the other pointing at a cloud and saying 'sky'!! And the later languages in contact were Middle English (as spoken by Chaucer) and the Norman French of the court and nobles. Eventually English just took over most of the French words and has been doing the same ever since. We will steal words from anyone! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted October 13, 2015 (edited) The nice thing for me is being finally able to read German literature. ...purchased a copy of Kafka's Gesammelte Werke... Yeah, reading literature from other 'cultures' can widen our horizon quite a bit. But Kafka is hard to understand (if at all), even for Germans. I read "Das Schloß" (The Castle) some time ago, and it was like one of my stranger dreams. Not a nightmare, but also without much sense I could realise - but beautifully drawn and painted pictures, so to say. Definitely worth reading, even if only just for the images he could creat with words. I read about his works then, that without any understanding of the Jewish culture and beliefs, Kafka could not be understood. That might explain it. Half my ancestry came from Germany in the 19th century and some of them even served in German-speaking units in Grant's army in the Civil War here, but America's unfortunate anti-German hysteria in the WW1 era knocked it out of basically everyone. They used to teach German in schools in my home-state Wisconsin, but outlawed that 100 years ago. Now the USA has many citizens with German ancestry, but the only thing that distinguishes them are "funny" names like Eisenhower. ...or Cruikshank, which originates from "Krugschenk" (both spelled the same). That was a man who was allowed to serve (einschenken) beer or wine from a jar (Krug), but had no concession for running a pub (Wirtshaus, Gasthof). There actually are more signs of German culture in America - see here: ...but Americans often think all Germany is like Bavaria. Instead, the Bavarians have a different culture and German, than my native East Friesland's, which is almost closer to being Dutch or Danish. Heidi vs Fishermen, so to say... Point is, I quite love the language and especially the literature. But there's no one to speak and practice with here! We could exchange PMs in German. if you like. Edited October 13, 2015 by Olham Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
