LL-L 'Idiomatica' 2007.02.04 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 04 February 2007 - Volume 04

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From: Jonny Meibohm <altkehdinger at freenet.de>
Subject: LL-L 'Etymology' 2007.02.02 (03) [E]

Thanks, Ron,

again for this translation:

> Jonny wrote above:

>> I tried to build him a 'donkey's bridge'

> For those of you that don't already know this, it's the literal
translation of German Eselsbrücke, meaning "mnemonic aid/device.

Just- this made me come across on one thing: in special you and Gabriele,
both of you German-speakers by birth, like to use American and English
idioms in your postings. But- I've nearly never seen an explanation or even
translation for non native English speakers, as a lot of the list members
are.

It seems as if you assume us to be familiar with all of them, but I fear you
might overrate our abilities, because one might learn a good part of the
vocabulary of another language ‚at home' or even might look into a
dictionary to understand unknown words.

Things are different with modern idioms. I guess one has to live in the
environment where these idioms arise to be able to understand them. On the
list I learned that there are very different idioms even between the
different countries with English as main language, and the same it is
between the different countries and regions with German as main language-
I'm sure I don't understand all Austrian or Bavarian idioms.

So I suggest we really should explain or translate new, modern idioms when
we use them. And we should use them, because they're often not only funny
but show the heart of a matter.

Greutens/Regards

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Idiomatica

Thanks, Jonny.  I for one will try to remember this.

"Mnemonic aid/device" is not a new term, nor is German Eselsbrücke. They can
be found in any dictionary.

I always try to explain or make clear from context truly slang-like, more
recently introduced expressions (e.g., something like "... or as some would
say these days: ...").

Well-established terms and idiomatic expressions in English, German and
certainly all other "major" languages can be found in any halfway decent
dictionary, both hard-copy and on-line.  But this assumes that one actually
does use dictionaries and bothers to reach for one or to download one while
reading or writing.

As far as I can tell, both Gabriele and I use fairly "normal" English, and
if we ever use anything"slangy" or  "outlandish" we tend to clarify what it
means. The same goes for all the native English speakers here.  In other
words, Gabriele and I and all our Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian friends
with high-level English proficiency, including also our
Korean-Kamchatkan-Japanese Vlad, are not any different in this regard.  It's
merely a matter of proficiency level.  But this is no competition.  I'm sure
no one here expects you to have perfect English, nor does anyone laugh at
your valiant efforts.  In fact, I'm sure I'm not the only one that has
noticed vast improvement of your English over time.  But it does demand some
effort on your part, too.  We'd have to add an explanation after every other
word or expression if we had to anticipate with which ones someone on the
List may not be familiar.

Perhaps in your opinion I broke this "rule" by adding an explanation of the
term Eselsbrücke for those that do not know German.  The reason for this is
simple: you wrote in English and used a German term with which most English
speakers are not familiar.  Such an explanation would have been redundant
had you written in German.

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron
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