Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

europeanreviewofbooks.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 362 posts

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#251

Post by nibbleshifter »

ricardobayes wrote: post #215
pimeys wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved eleven years ago because I loved the party scene. Took me less than a month to find a huge apartment for under seven hundred a month from a nice neighborhood. Now I cannot move out anymore without doubling or tripling my rent. Also chose to study Rust instead of German, and been having so much work afterwards that I still haven't started my German studies. My husband speaks good German so that helps. The weat…

Uh, yeah Berlin is definitely a mixed bag. To me it's like a bigger Glasgow - a local epicenter for everything but has really unkempt and outright scary parts. It's sort of cheap but not really. Public transport is great but in every one seems to be someone smelly or just too weird. Maybe some kind of re-urbanization programme would help the city, so they would rethink some areas.

I don't think the city needs, or wants, to be "helped".

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#252

Post by worklaptopacct »

hnbad wrote: post #147
worklaptopacct wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a new Berliner who immigrated here I can answer some of those: - Berlin has a reputation for its artsy party scene and lax enforcement of drug laws. People come here in their 20s to let themselves loose. - German universities are good quality and free for all (excluding the Semesterpauschale, but for my American or British friends this 300€ is basically nothing in comparison - especially when you count in the publ…

You're not kidding about lax enforcement of drug laws. In Kreuzberg I'd often see people obviously offering to sell drugs to passers-by as police cars would drive down the road practically next to them. On the other hand the police does occasionally decide to make a show out of its enforcement. I think it's more appropriate to call it "selective" than lax, at least by German standards.

It is a show, that's true. However at least in my circles drugs - or at least talking about them - are so normalized that I have to remember to censor myself whenever I meet my friends who don't live in Berlin.

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#253

Post by nibbleshifter »

ben_w wrote: post #210
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ireland (fear I might get blamed personally for the stupid done by British politicians, and the UK Gov was being loudly stupid about Ireland at the time Just to be clear, this basically would never happen with most people. Now, the North of Ireland (the part still in the UK) might be a little different, but most Irish (i.e. republic) people couldn't give two sh*ts about where you're from as long as you're good crai…

I assume people are much the same everywhere — 80% fantastic, 10% arseholes, 10% lizardman constant. But with headlines like this, and a somewhat-posh English accent, I didn't want to risk either of those 10s: https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/fury-at-torys-call-to-th... In retrospect it would've been fine, but I had to guess in advance the UK wasn't going to actually try that, and they kinda have a history there…

Our largest immigrant group in Ireland is Brits.

Nobody gives a fuck.

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#254

Post by nibbleshifter »

hnbad wrote: post #143
aix1 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you travel to NRW North Rhine-Westphalia? (Don't live in Germany, took me a while.)

Yes. The official/technical abbreviation is apparently NW because German Bundesland abbreviations are two letters, but colloquially (and even formally on most occasions) everyone calls it NRW. Incidentally when GP said the police "use" the guns at train stations, what they meant was "carry". The German "einsetzen" is more ambiguous about whether something is part of the loadout or actively used (I guess "deploy" is t…

Those MP5's they (some German cops) carry are loaded.

Negligent discharges happen every now and then. Usually only injuring other cops.

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#255

Post by ben_w »

ricardobayes wrote: post #218
ben_w wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm British by birth, I chose Berlin after Brexit because: 1. Friends here 2. Alternative countries were Luxembourg/Switzerland (more expensive); Canada (worse weather); Ireland (fear I might get blamed personally for the stupid done by British politicians, and the UK Gov was being loudly stupid about Ireland at the time); USA (weird culture, guns); Australia/New Zealand (too far from the old country to visit regular…

Did you never consider Sweden or Spain? I see these two being popular with tech expats too.

Language barrier in both cases. Since moving to Berlin I've picked up tourist-grade Spanish — without looking at Google Translate, "Hola, una mesa para dos personas, por favor. Un hamburgar vegetario y un café. Graciás." — but not enough to function outside a holiday.

If I even know a single word of Swedish that's not a loan-word, I'll be surprised.

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#256

Post by nibbleshifter »

worklaptopacct wrote: post #19
G3rn0ti wrote: post #9

As a native Urberliner I am both flattered and confused by the fact so many young Americans choose to live in my home town. I always wondered what makes it so attractive to you. I mean, winters are miserable, the city is ugly compared to many others in Germany, the people are rather not friendly to each other, the German language is difficult to learn, our history is troublesome, German immigration laws still difficu…

As a new Berliner who immigrated here I can answer some of those: - Berlin has a reputation for its artsy party scene and lax enforcement of drug laws. People come here in their 20s to let themselves loose. - German universities are good quality and free for all (excluding the Semesterpauschale, but for my American or British friends this 300€ is basically nothing in comparison - especially when you count in the publ…

The healthcare is not "free" - health insurance is mandatory, and its quality varies massively depending on your insurer, the hospital/doctor you go to, etc.

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#257

Post by jacooper »

orthoxerox wrote: post #134
looperhacks wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst thing is someone trying to put it in past tense: For "herunterladen" it's easy: "herunter-ge-laden". For "download", the obvious choice is "downloaded", but instead some people prefer the weird hodge-podge of "down-ge-loaded"

I think it looks weird even in present tense: "Ich loade den neuen Gamingstreamvod down".

Nobody uses it as as a separable verb

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#258

Post by pge »

secondcoming wrote: post #227
derriz wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is perhaps nitpicking but I wish non-native English speakers would not use the term “Anglo-Saxon” to describe anglophone or (better) English speaking countries. The term refers to the original north Germanic invaders of England and so has tribal (racial) connotations and is typically used in English to distinguish people on that basis. Many/most Americans (e.g. black or Native American) so not consider themselve…

> I wish non-native English speakers would not use the term “Anglo-Saxon” I quite like it and find it endearing. I'm definitely not of actual Anglo-Saxon stock but if non-English use that term then they're free to do so. Everyone knows what they mean. There are zero racial overtones associated with it.

There are definitely racial overtones with the expression "Anglo-Saxon" as used in the US, at least in the last decade or so. This article is an example of some of the discourse around the term - https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/anglo-saxo...

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#259

Post by nibbleshifter »

et-al wrote: post #17
G3rn0ti wrote: post #9

As a native Urberliner I am both flattered and confused by the fact so many young Americans choose to live in my home town. I always wondered what makes it so attractive to you. I mean, winters are miserable, the city is ugly compared to many others in Germany, the people are rather not friendly to each other, the German language is difficult to learn, our history is troublesome, German immigration laws still difficu…

- easy visa to obtain + fairly cosmopolitan city, but still cheaper than NYC//London/Paris - good location to visit other spots in Europe - probably already have a friend of a friend living there - the party scene Very few Americans intend on living in Berlin permanently, though. It's an extended study abroad session for them.

The average stay IME is less than 18 months.

If you stay a few years you will have made and lost touch with a good few friends from all over the world who will have come, partied hard for a year while working for Zalando or N26 or some shit, and fucked off.

Re: On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish and global Englisch

#260

Post by [deleted] »

type0 wrote: post #149
boffinAudio wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bowie. It all goes back to Bowie. He's really the one who made Berlin so attractive to young Westerners. We think Berlin is a lovely city, with lots of tolerant people and a diverse set of cultures providing a rich and interesting outlook. Of course, the reality is, Berlin is as much of a shit-hole as any other major European city, but the fantasy of meeting an intelligent, inspired, enlightened 'newly free' young Ge…

Do you find Berliners friendlier than Viennese?

[deleted]
Post reply on HN