Dave's log, (German and French)

[StringerBell]

TV - listening
I've been watching episodes of Bettys Diagnose. I watched the first series once with subtitles on, looking up all unknown words, and I'm now watching it again without subtitles, seeing how many of those words are still unknown

Don't keep us in suspense! How was the second watching? How many words were no longer unknown?

[DaveAgain]

TV - listening
I've been watching episodes of Bettys Diagnose. I watched the first series once with subtitles on, looking up all unknown words, and I'm now watching it again without subtitles, seeing how many of those words are still unknown

Don't keep us in suspense! How was the second watching? How many words were no longer unknown?

No idea, it might be good to start keeping a record of sorts.

[DaveAgain]

French: auguries, omens and signs

In the introduction to book 7 of La Fontaine's Fables he mentions that he has found a new source text for his fabling:

...Il a donc fallu que j'aie cherché d'autres enrichissements, et étendu davantage les circonstances de ces récits, qui d'ailleurs me semblaient le demander de la sorte. Pour peu que le lecteur y prenne garde, il le reconnaitra lui-même ; ainsi je ne tiens pas qu'il soit nécessaire d'en étaler ici les raisons: non plus que de dire où j'ai puisé ces derniers sujets. Seulement je dirai par reconnaissance que j'en dois la plus grande partie à Pilpay, sage Indien.

Livre de Poche tells me that this refers to Livre des lumières, ou la Conduite des roys, composé par le sage Pilpay translated by Gilbert Gaulmin.

A little research on my part taught me that Editions Picquier have a modern translation by Alain Porte Les Cinq livres de la sagesse: Pañcatantra. The introduction of the Picquier edition attributes 12 of La Fontaine's fables to the Pañatantra. A short history of translations and research offers Kashmir as the source of the oldest known example of the book.

THEN I'm reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and he mentions that the Persian emperor

Nushirwan portant ses recherches sur tout ce qui pouvait augmenter les lumières, apprit que les fables morales et politiques de l'ancien brame Pilpay se conservaient avec un respect mystérieux parmi les trésors des rois de l'Inde. Il envoya secrètement le médecin Perozes sur les bords du Gange, et lui enjoignit de se procurer, à quelque prix que ce fût , la communication de cet ouvrage précieu. Perozes eut l'adresse d'en obtenir une copie qu'il traduisit avec soin, et ces fables furent lues et admirées dans une assemblée de Nushirwan et des ses nobles.

Two mentions in one day, perhaps I should read this book? Mr Gibbon does not reccommend it

... leur mérit réel est bien au-desssous de la concision élégante de Phèdre et des grâces naïves de La Fontaine.

... so I shouldn't read it.

Then this morning la Fontaine offers me Le Héron - La Fille > don't be picky he says!

Anyways, there's a German translation Das Panchatantra so I've put that at the tippy-top of my reading list.

When The Universe sends you a message, you can't ignore it!

[DaveAgain]

78. Wind in den Weiden by Kenneth Grahame

I read this looking up some but not all unknown words.

Nogon mentioned this book, and while I had watched a TV adaptation, I had not read the book, so I decided to try it in German.

The English version has 12 chapters, but the German edition I used (ISBN: 380941669X) has only 10, Chapter 5 "Dulce Domum" and Chapter 7 "The piper at the gates of dawn" having been omitted. I believe the Harry Rowohlt translation published by Kein and Aber is unabridged.

It's a short-story collection, following the adventures of Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad. Much like Tolkien's Hobbit these stories were originally bedtime stories for the author's son, that eventually found their way into print. Toad was apparantly modeled on Mr Grahame's son, and he reminds me of a member of my own family!

Kenneth Grahame, the author, published this when he was in his late 40s, in his day job he had been Secretary of the Bank of England, so a successful career outside of writing. I couldn't find a German language biography of Mr Grahame, but there are several in English, my local library has one by Matthew Dennison.

79. Eine Jugend in Deutschland by Ernst Toller

I read this on an eReader looking up all unknown words, ARD have a three-part radio adaptation.

This is an autobiographical book, Mr Toller was born into a jewish family in East Prussia (northern Poland), he grew up above he family shop. When WW1 broke out he was studying in France, he returned to Germany, and joined the military. After the war, Germany was a cauldron of revolutionary movements, Mr Toller became a leading figure in the 1919 Bavarian revolution, die Münchner Räterepublik, and was sentenced to 5 years in prison when the revolution failed. The book ends with his release from prison.

During his sentence he wrote several plays, which were performed while he was still serving his sentence.

Books/writers mentioned include:

Richard Dehmel
Emanuel Geibel
Max Halbe
Rose Bernd by Gerhart Hauptmann
Karl Henckell
Henrik Ibsen
Gustav Landauer
Thomas Mann
August Strindberg
Max Weber
Frank Wedekind

The picture of post WW1 Germany shown in Mr Toller's book and others has me wondering about a "what if", what if the Red Army had won the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, and continued on to Germany?

80. Kristina, vergiss nicht by Willi Fährmann

I read this looking up some but not all unknown words.

This is a young adult book, the publisher's age guidance is "ab 12 jahre", I borrowed it from the Goethe eLibrary.

The action starts in Poland, an ethnic German is applying for permission for herself and her extended family to emigrate to West Germany. This appears to have been a legal right, but one that was routinely frustrated by bureaucratic means. The final successful application was the lady's ninth attempt.

The family is split into three units, the son had defected to West Germany while on a work trip to Hungary, the family in Poland consists of the daughter-in-law and grandson in one household, and the grandmother and granddaughter in another. The grandmother is the one applying for the exit visa, she also tries to keep their German identity alive, speaking German to her granddaughter in the house. Her grandson, while he can speak German defaults to Polish.

During their time in Poland we see some friction with a few rowdy locals focused on their German ethnicity. When they successfully move to West Germany, we see that their peers experience some friction from the local German population who identify them as foreign, not all the ethnic Germans speak German, several children have poor or no German language skills and this affects their schooling.

The granddaughter is a skilled musician, and finds a place at a music school, she was a good student in Poland, and in many subjects she is quickly able to adapt. Some friends she makes there organise themselves into a tutor-group to help the German-Polish children catch up to their peers, and at the end the family has found a new house in a friendly community.

The moral of the book perhaps being be a good neighbour.

This is the sequel to "Zeit zu hassen, Zeit zu lieben" (book 77).

81. Weiße Nächte by Fjodor Dostojewski

I read this on an eReader looking up all unknown words.

This is a novella, a love story, boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl breaks boy's heart!

I was follwing a trail of "lieblingsbücher" videos on YouTube, and one mentioned this story.

TV

I'm currently watching Mama ist unmöglich, a sitcom that was mentioned in the Best German Sitcom for Intermediate Learner? thread.

French

I'm reading Éric Tabarly's autobiography Mémoires du large. Mr Tabarly was a successful yachtsman, winner of the 1964 Single-handed Transatlantic race. His daughter Marie Tabarly is still active in the French boating world.

I've also listened to two radio programmes about Mr Tabarly, toute une vie, and au coeur de l'histoire.

[Caromarlyse]

It's funny, only yesterday I was telling someone about The Wind in the Willows. In looking it up online, I saw it has a Flesch–Kincaid Level of 6.4, but, from a language learner's perspective, I don't think the language is that straightforward. Such a shame about chapters having been omitted - Dulce domum is the best one, in my opinion!

[DaveAgain]

It's funny, only yesterday I was telling someone about The Wind in the Willows. In looking it up online, I saw it has a Flesch–Kincaid Level of 6.4, but, from a language learner's perspective, I don't think the language is that straightforward. Such a shame about chapters having been omitted - Dulce domum is the best one, in my opinion!

German YouTuber Littera was the one who mentioned that. She bought two different editions, and both of them were abridged

[DaveAgain]

82. Robert Bosch by Hans-Urhard Lessing (ISBN: 9783499505942)

I read this looking up some but not all unknown words.

This is a short biography of Mr Bosch, from Rowohlt's monographien range. I have always associated Bosch with the automotive industry so my mental image of Robert Bosch was a young man, enthusied by the new technology of the early automotive industry. Not so! Mr Bosch was born in 1861, and electricity was the New Thing of his time. He emigrated to the USA as a young man and worked for a time in the Thomas Edison company, and later others too.

When he returned to Germany, and set up his own company part of his business was electrification of households, businesses and civic amenities but he also entered the then growing automotive industry, the ignition magneto being his first success.

Mr Bosch was not just a man of business and science though, he was a man of his time when it came to other fads and fashions too. Woolen underwear was in his time held to have special health benefits, promoted by Dr Gustav Jaeger, he got on that train too.

The Goethe eLibrary have two books about Mr Bosch, one by Peter Theiner, and one by Erik Raidt.

83. Das Fahrrad by Hans-Urhard Lessing

I read this looking up some but not all unknown words, I borrowed it from the Goethe eLibrary.

This is a history of the bicycle from the early velocipedes to the modern safety bicycle. The newer battery powered models are not covered.

Adverts for early models of automobiles often compared their cost with the upkeep of a horse, the transport alternative, this was also the intial impetus for a human-powered vehicle. A series of bad harvests, and the military horse-conscription of the napoleonic wars had created both a shortage of horse-power and increased cost of horse-upkeep. Alternatives were needed. All options considered.


84. Der Richter und sein Henker by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (ISBN: 0174446292)

I watched 30 minutes of the German dub of the 1975 film version of the book, then caught up with the book, then watched another 30 minutes of the film etc.

The story opens with a dead policeman in a car, we then solve the case!

This reminded me a little of the Leslie Charteris saint stories, the villains tended to be conspiracies of immoral industrialists manipulating governments behind the scenes to steer world events in their favour.

TV

I've been watching In therapie on Arte.tv/de. These are 25 minute episodes with typically just two characters the psychiatrist and the patient.

I've also watched some episodes of Ella Schön, which was mentioned by Magnoliophyta.

French

I'm currently reading Ce jour-là, j'ai décidé de ma vie by Jean-Daniel Fallery. I've been watching a repeat of the Secret Army TV series this is centered on a fictional escape line for allied pilots in WW2 Belgium and France called 'lifeline'. Lifeline was apparently modelled on a real-life organisation called "le reseau comète", and Mr Fallery's book was mentioned on their wikipedia page.

Only the first 60 pages of the book deal with Mr Fallery's time with Comète/Lifeline, but it's an engaging read so far and I'm enjoying it.

I've also watched a good comedy called le Magnifique, I chose this because Jacqueline Bisset was one of the actors, but Mr Belmondo is absolutely the star of the film. Good fun.

I've also watched episode S3E5 from the les petits meurtres YouTube channel. (I think they should ditch the 1970s cast and go back to the 1960s with Marlène and Alice!)

[LanguageLearner0007]

Hi Dave, why did you decide to learn German and French in the same time, isn't it hard enough to learn one?

[DaveAgain]

Hi Dave, why did you decide to learn German and French in the same time, isn't it hard enough to learn one?

I didn't start with German until my French was already at a TV/book stage.

[DaveAgain]

German - it's all gone Austen!

I caught a repeat of the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series recently, I should try to find this in German I thought. Failing in that, I did find a German radio adaptation, and listening to that I found a Jane Austen shaped hole in my German vocabulary.

To fix this I've started reading Pride & Prejudice with a parallel text, one chapter a day:

1. read chapter in German, without looking up any unknown words
2. read chapter in German, looking up all unknown words in a parallel text
3. listen to the relevant part of the radio drama (3 episodes | 6 episodes)
4. listen to the relevant part of the audio book.

I'm using DTV for the German text, and Gutenberg.org for the English text but Anaconda Verlag [PenguinRandomHouse.de] have a readymade parallel text too.

I've also been watching YouTube videos around Jane Austen, Madame Toussaint has a one hour video on Jane Austen, books about Jane Austen, different translations etc. (she likes the Manesse/Penguin translations) I've ordered a Jane Austen biography she mentioned.

French

French is also going Austen, Austen themed radio programmes and highlights from the French dub of the 1995 mini-series.

There's Austen everywhere!

EDIT
Jennifer Ehle (lead actress in the 1995 P&P miniseries) has uploaded videos of herself reading P&P to YouTube!