German group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
DaveAgain
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Re: German group

Postby DaveAgain » Wed May 04, 2022 9:00 am

Is "sorry" used in particular areas of Germany?

I've noticed this used universally in Dutch and Belgian (Walloon & Flemish) programmes/youtubers videos, and more recently I've noticed it cropping up, still with other alternatives, in two German TV series Ella Schön and Bettys Diagnose.

Is this just a temporary fad, or are there some areas of Germany where this is part of the everyday vocabulary?

EDIT
My dictionary tells me this is Germanic word:
ORIGIN
Old English sārig ‘pained, distressed’, of West Germanic origin, from the base of the noun sore. The shortening of the root vowel has given the word an apparent connection with the unrelated sorrow.
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zenmonkey
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Re: German group

Postby zenmonkey » Wed May 04, 2022 11:37 am

DaveAgain wrote:Is "sorry" used in particular areas of Germany?


Not to my knowledge; it is just a hip loan word.
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Le Baron
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Re: German group

Postby Le Baron » Wed May 04, 2022 2:27 pm

I think it actually has crept well into the language. Especially in office-type workplaces and actually used as an apology word. In contrast to say here in NL where the word was at first co-opted to mean 'excuse me' (as in 'I need to get past'), but now is also used as an apology word.
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tiia
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Re: German group

Postby tiia » Thu May 05, 2022 5:01 am

Especially amoung the younger generations it's definitely being used. Depends upon the situation, whether I would use it or not. "(En)Tschuldigung" works well, but in informal discussions one may hear sentences like "sorry aber das geht dich nichts an", "sorry, aber das ist bullshit", "sorry, aber das wusste ich jetzt nicht", "sorry, aber jetzt stell dich nicht so an" and so on.
Although I would say it's a still rather recent anglicism (which is why I wouldn't use it towards eldery people), it's definitely all over the place. But it is considered more informal and not as strong as the German counterpart.
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tractor
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Re: German group

Postby tractor » Thu May 05, 2022 5:11 am

tiia wrote:Especially amoung the younger generations it's definitely being used. Depends upon the situation, whether I would use it or not. "(En)Tschuldigung" works well, but in informal discussions* one may hear sentences like "sorry aber das geht dich nichts an", "sorry, aber das ist bullshit", "sorry, aber das wusste ich jetzt nicht", "sorry, aber jetzt stell dich nicht so an" and so on.
Although I would say it's a still rather recent anglicism (which is why I wouldn't use it towards eldery people), it's definitely all over the place. But it is considered more informal and not as strong as the German counterpart.

Good to know, Sounds like it’s used the same way in German as in Norwegian.
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Kraut
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Re: German group

Postby Kraut » Thu May 05, 2022 5:21 pm

always pronounced with German "r"
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MaggieMae
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Re: German group

Postby MaggieMae » Thu May 12, 2022 1:08 pm

Hi everyone!

My name is Maggie, and I'm completely new to this forum. I look forward to meeting you all! I moved to Switzerland a year and a half ago, so I'm trying to learn German as fast as humanly possible.

If I may jump in on the current topic, the Swiss say "sorry" almost as much as "Entschuldigung", and they're used as synonyms. But I don't know how it is in Germany. As in, if you accidentally bump into someone at the train station, and you say, "Sorry!" it's perfectly acceptable.
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DaveAgain
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Re: German group

Postby DaveAgain » Thu May 12, 2022 1:25 pm

MaggieMae wrote:Hi everyone!

My name is Maggie, and I'm completely new to this forum.
Welcome to the forum Maggie :-)
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Doitsujin
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Re: German group

Postby Doitsujin » Thu May 12, 2022 3:51 pm

MaggieMae wrote:If I may jump in on the current topic, the Swiss say "sorry" almost as much as "Entschuldigung", and they're used as synonyms.
I occasionally heard "merci" instead of "danke" and "tipptopp" instead of "sehr gut." (Both are rarely used in Germany.)
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MaggieMae
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Re: German group

Postby MaggieMae » Thu May 12, 2022 4:15 pm

I occasionally heard "merci" instead of "danke" and "tipptopp" instead of "sehr gut." (Both are rarely used in Germany.)


Absolutely! There are a lot of French loan words in High German already, but even more in Swiss German.

There's also a distinction one needs to make between Schwiizerdütsch and Schweizerhochdeutsch. True Swiss German is practically a language unto itself. Swiss High German (what I call it... people understand what I mean, but it's not a universal term) uses the French words that have been imported, but High German grammar structures.

I bring the differences up because I'm about to write words in Swiss High German, not Schwiizerdütsch, and I feel like the disclaimer is necessary.

The more common loan words are das Velo (das Fahrrad), das Trottoir (der Bürgersteig), das Poulet (das Hähnchen), das Portemonnaie (die Brieftasche), parkieren (parken), and grillieren (grillen).
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