Fun anecdote: I did an internship in a French company with German subsidiaries once. My boss told me that if orders are given in German, they are usually followed more precisely - he attributed it to the verb being at the very end of the sentence, so the workers had to listen to the full set of instructions and their context before knowing what they were supposed to do, as opposed to English or French in which the workers sometimes seemed to stop listening after the verb and miss important contextual information.
To add to what Johannes has said, I took a conversation analysis class once and learned that German speakers interrupt other speakers less frequently than French or English speakers precisely because they have to keep listening to hear what is actually being said.
Korean and Turkish are similar in syntax and we have the conjugated verb at the end of the sentence. We even skip the subject if not necessary because it's in the conjugation like in Spanish, so you have to wait until the end to understand the action :))
In Japanese it's also like this, except it's not "usually", it's "always". :p The funny thing is, I never thought for one second that Japanese grammar was "weird" when I was learning it, but since I've recently taken up German this feature constantly bugs me. It may be because I've come to get used to Japanese, or that I subconsciously "expect" German to behave more like English, or because German also have that split verb thing?
"I have to vite you and your cousin to my party on Wednesday evening in our lovely house in Hamburg in!"
Fun anecdote: I did an internship in a French company with German subsidiaries once. My boss told me that if orders are given in German, they are usually followed more precisely - he attributed it to the verb being at the very end of the sentence, so the workers had to listen to the full set of instructions and their context before knowing what they were supposed to do, as opposed to English or French in which the workers sometimes seemed to stop listening after the verb and miss important contextual information.
ReplyDeleteHah! That's really interesting!
DeleteYeah!!! My German teacher always use say that this rule is the reason why jokes are not funny. In German.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe, German jokes just aren't funny, period.
DeleteYou surely don't know Volker Pispers.
DeleteTo add to what Johannes has said, I took a conversation analysis class once and learned that German speakers interrupt other speakers less frequently than French or English speakers precisely because they have to keep listening to hear what is actually being said.
ReplyDeleteIn Dutch do we this also, it is the only way to your sentence logicly up to build :-) (wow, it was suprisingly hard to create that monster)
ReplyDeleteI agree, that they difficult in English to build are! Like Yoda now, do we talk!
DeleteAgree with you, the council does
DeleteLOVE this...and Korean syntax like this often also is!
ReplyDeleteGood to know! Maybe my German will prepare me for the backwards talking...
DeleteKorean and Turkish are similar in syntax and we have the conjugated verb at the end of the sentence. We even skip the subject if not necessary because it's in the conjugation like in Spanish, so you have to wait until the end to understand the action :))
DeleteIn Japanese it's also like this, except it's not "usually", it's "always". :p
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is, I never thought for one second that Japanese grammar was "weird" when I was learning it, but since I've recently taken up German this feature constantly bugs me. It may be because I've come to get used to Japanese, or that I subconsciously "expect" German to behave more like English, or because German also have that split verb thing?
"I have to vite you and your cousin to my party on Wednesday evening in our lovely house in Hamburg in!"
Yeah someday I'll do a comic about those pesky trennbar verbs...
Delete