The thinking behind this blog is that I could perhaps practice some of the stuff I am being exposed to over at duolingo and memorise in particular - together with various foreign language words of the day web sites that fill up one of my Twitter accounts.
Perhaps the first thing I need to do is to switch off the spelling assist setting so that I'm not bombarded by annoying corrections that won't be, strictly speaking errors at all - merely words that have never entered the English language so that I can write for instance: Früher habe ich ein Tagebuch geführt which fell gratifyingly into my email inbox this morning informing me that Tagebruch is German for diary and at the same time informing me that although it translates as 'I used to keep a diary' in German 'I used' is converted into 'formally' as in once upon a time. 'Formally have I a diary managed' seems to be the literal translation which although slightly odd to our ears (or eyes) makes perfect sense. Analyzing the translation further helps one make sense of some of the notable differences of language construction and alerts one to this changing order when learning to make sense of foreign language sentences later.
It's about interrogating meaning more fully. 'I used' is a very English language thing to say. But if we can recognise how parochial that kind of opening statement is - and that more correctly the words once/formally might have taken precedence - we can start imagining foreign language words that represent them rather than vague constructions like 'I used' I used to keep a diary, I used the tenon saw to cut that wood. That item is not new it's a used item. Easy perhaps to see why it would be particular to English and not considered in German for example. Kepts is another of those words I think one would have to inculcate a sceptical awareness of. Kept from keep - but looking harder at it very ambiguous. Kept - in what way? Stored in a drawer - never being brought into the open. More consideration into the word kept and we understand it means to do something with it it in this context. Add something to it daily - manage it covers this. And it's being managed in English as well as German - not just kept. Fruher (formally/once/in time gone by: I managed a diary or tagebuch (day book) on a daily basis. Why is managed at the end? That's how they like it - so accept it. This is what makes languages different. That's one answer and I believe a good one. The other would be more explanatory: the verb in German often goes at the end. So 'I walked to work' might be 'to work I walked.' or something like: Ich bin durch Rome gebummelt. I wandered around Rome. I am (by means of or in a way of speaking) in Rome (where I) wandered. 'I had a stroll around Rome.' One can see that the 'around' wouldn't make universal sense - around? as opposed to squared/circled/triangulated. If you did walk a complete circle then maybe - but a casual, unstructured wander or stroll does not insist on being described or denoted as being 'around.' I wandered (in the manner of a wander) in Rome gets to the nub of the activity.
Finally for this post: 'durch' as discussed, looks useful (in the manner of). I can imagine it popping up often, and, I now have a hazy handle on it. 'Fruher' for formally might also be useful when I start learning my German verbs and maybe I can avoid the past tense conjugations (if German has them - at the moment I have no idea) such as in the 'I used' 'he used' 'she used' to do this or that etc. 'Fruher' instead - and we're away! Maybe. And gebummelt. Any word with bum in it is already memorable. It's easy to imagine according a memorise style image for some some geezer bumming around in the sun as his ass melts away. but I'll cover that sort of arcane notional learning on the next blog.
