Learning German, advice or help appreciated!

[Angrboda]

[Alex K]

Achieving Fahrvergnügen is no problem if you have the necessary Vorsprung durch Technik

[abaris]

Meaning, he shouldn't have any in his state?

Honestly, I don't get the joke.

[abaris]

So I hear "ihr trinkt wasser" or "sie trinken wasser" and for the life of me, I will always think the first one means they drink water, even though it is "you" drink water.

Want to make you head spin some more?

I just thought of all the different meanings this can have.

"Sie trinken Wasser" can mean you are drinking water or they are drinking water. "ihr trinkt Wasser" again means, you are drinking water, but in a more closely related way to a group of people, while "Sie trinken Wasser" can also mean,, you are drinking water in a more remotely related way, adressing a single person.

I guess, it's not that easy for someone not growing up with it.

[Pyrrho]

One of the things I'm struggling the most with right now is Ihr vs Er.  They sound identical to my ear, and the only way to tell the difference is in the context of the verb, like Er hat or irh habt.  He, you, they...ugh.
But since I'm still learning which verb form goes with which pronoun, I find I'm mistaking this one often.   

The die, der, das for "The" is a tad confusing, but after I hear it attached to the noun a handful of times, I find I'm able to remember it reflexively....most of the time.

You'd have to given me a concrete example for that. Ihr can have different meanings. Posessive for a female person or item, as in her's, or politely adressing another person you're not very close with.

Ihr and Er shouldn't sound the same. The I in Ihr is, pardon my french, spellled like the I in shit. The H is only there to symbolize that the word is drawn out when spoken. The E in Er, well, again, think of the A in take or make and you come pretty close.

But since you mentioned Ear, come to think of it, it rather sounds like the word Ihr should be spelled.

You are making it hard.  "Ihr" sounds almost like "ear" in English.  And "Er" sounds almost like "air" in English.

[Cecelia]

A friend of mine speaks almost twenty languages. She always says the best thing you can do is find other people who speak the language you are learning fluently and converse with them.

[Alex K]

A friend of mine speaks almost twenty languages.  She always says the best thing you can do is find other people who speak the language you are learning fluently and converse with them.

Haha, anyone who really speaks 20 languages is so unusually gifted that it is far from obvious that their advice is applicable to any other mere mortal.

[Pyrrho]

A friend of mine speaks almost twenty languages.  She always says the best thing you can do is find other people who speak the language you are learning fluently and converse with them.

Haha, anyone who really speaks 20 languages is so unusually gifted that it is far from obvious that their advice is applicable to any other mere mortal.

Yes.  But in this case, it does seem like good advice, if one is reasonably able to follow it.  If you want, you can drop by and we can discuss it, with you speaking German, so that I might improve my [terrible] German.  I can even give you some German beer to give a proper ambiance to the discussion.

Since you are a real German (or so you say), you may want to comment on my pronunciation.

[Alex K]

You'd have to given me a concrete example for that. Ihr can have different meanings. Posessive for a female person or item, as in her's, or politely adressing another person you're not very close with.

Ihr and Er shouldn't sound the same. The I in Ihr is, pardon my french, spellled like the I in shit. The H is only there to symbolize that the word is drawn out when spoken. The E in Er, well, again, think of the A in take or make and you come pretty close.

But since you mentioned Ear, come to think of it, it rather sounds like the word Ihr should be spelled.

You are making it hard.  "Ihr" sounds almost like "ear" in English.  And "Er" sounds almost like "air" in English.

The main difference between Ihr and ear for an American would probably be the rhotic r in "ear", where there is none in "Ihr". The rhotic r is one of the typical shibboleths for recognizing Americans speaking German (next to pronouncing ch as k)

For a non-rhotic Brit, it becomes harder, although the e in "ear" in England is probably closer to a schwa sound, while the i in "Ihr" is more like in english "liter".

Still, there is a subtle difference between the r in "Ihr" and the non rhotic ear, the latter being more open.

Also, the beginning has -I think- a noticeable glottal stop in German "Ihr", but ideally none in British "ear"

[Alex K]

Disclaimer: IANAL