Hello All,
OK. So, here are the first two youtube videos I’d like you to watch. We haven’t really gotten into the “German-ness” of German so I’m sending these to just give you a preliminary idea of the sounds we’re going to be dealing with. German, as an oral/aural language gets a bad rap and some of it is due to what you will hear in the first video. It’s a short clip of only a minute or so. Sure, it’s Hitler and all, but this is about sound in language – nothing else. And it makes a good contrast to the second video which is the point of the whole thing. But there is a point to the first video as well. Listen to the following things and start getting them in your ear. Notice his [a] vowels and how bright they are. Notice how long the long vowels are and short the short ones are. He was an Austrian so he has that typical sing songy speech style which would be amusing if not for the genocide and stuff! Also, you might want to listen out for his closed [o] and [e] vowels and get used to the sound of the umlauts. However, like I said, don’t spend too much time on it – just a minute.
The second video is of a documentary about Thomas Quasthoff. Thomas is a very special singer and man who, unfortunately, retired from singing a couple of years ago due to the difficulty of traveling. Luckily, we have a lot of recordings to remember his artistry by and will be listening to his singing quite a bit this semester. I want you to listen to his speaking and begin to get the sounds and the rhythms of the German in your ears (and soon – mouths!). I can’t stress enough how important listening is to help your languages. The documentary is an hour long but you can watch the first 5 minutes or so.
Please, let me know that you’ve watched them and write a little something. Just a thought or an impression about what you notice. I’m not expecting papers or even paragraphs – just a sentence or as much as you want. There will be more to say once we’ve learned the rules and are applying them but for now, I just want to know you’re paying attention.
R
Hitler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuaRGtIrM9U
Quasthoff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCNl7FJg8ds&t=324s
OK. So, here are the first two youtube videos I’d like you to watch. We haven’t really gotten into the “German-ness” of German so I’m sending these to just give you a preliminary idea of the sounds we’re going to be dealing with. German, as an oral/aural language gets a bad rap and some of it is due to what you will hear in the first video. It’s a short clip of only a minute or so. Sure, it’s Hitler and all, but this is about sound in language – nothing else. And it makes a good contrast to the second video which is the point of the whole thing. But there is a point to the first video as well. Listen to the following things and start getting them in your ear. Notice his [a] vowels and how bright they are. Notice how long the long vowels are and short the short ones are. He was an Austrian so he has that typical sing songy speech style which would be amusing if not for the genocide and stuff! Also, you might want to listen out for his closed [o] and [e] vowels and get used to the sound of the umlauts. However, like I said, don’t spend too much time on it – just a minute.
The second video is of a documentary about Thomas Quasthoff. Thomas is a very special singer and man who, unfortunately, retired from singing a couple of years ago due to the difficulty of traveling. Luckily, we have a lot of recordings to remember his artistry by and will be listening to his singing quite a bit this semester. I want you to listen to his speaking and begin to get the sounds and the rhythms of the German in your ears (and soon – mouths!). I can’t stress enough how important listening is to help your languages. The documentary is an hour long but you can watch the first 5 minutes or so.
Please, let me know that you’ve watched them and write a little something. Just a thought or an impression about what you notice. I’m not expecting papers or even paragraphs – just a sentence or as much as you want. There will be more to say once we’ve learned the rules and are applying them but for now, I just want to know you’re paying attention.
R
Hitler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuaRGtIrM9U
Quasthoff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCNl7FJg8ds&t=324s
