Premium Plus Lesson 10.2

In Premium Plus, Lesson 10.2 (extra vocabulary) "Oh ja, I reise unheimlich gern (I might not have quoted correctly) but it is translated "Oh Yes, I love to travel" yet "unheimlich" is correctly translated as "scary" unless I am mistaken. Marvin W.

You are correct. That is one translation particularly when used as an adjective. However, when used as an adverb, as in this example, it can mean incredibly or terribly or ever so much, in the way one might use terribly in English as in "I am terribly excited about going". It's used as a superlative in this sentence and not to be taken literally as "scary". Perhaps a better translation might have been something like: "I am incredibly fond of traveling." but you get the idea. The speaker really likes to travel.

Byron, Once again, you come to my rescue. Seems odd to use such verbiage to a student who's just learning. Of course, thinking about it, it is in an advanced lesson pack. You seem quite astute in the language including the grammar part. How long have you been at this, or are you a native speaker and are taking this course just for refresher? I know that even a native speaker can lose the language if they don't keep up on it regularly.

Oh my gosh no! Thanks for the compliment. I first started studying German in college about 50 years ago. Didn't do anything with it for about the next 45 years and then started studying again about 5 years ago although I'm afraid I haven't been as steady as I could or should be. You'd think being retired, I could spend all day long at it, but I'm amazed how many other things seem to fill my time, not the least of which is my big dog, Marta. I'm on my second pass through all 3 levels of RG and plan to complete every single test and exercise. The write it and play it are new since I made my first pass. Perhaps I can get in one more trip to Germany. Although Rocket is really very good, and devotes a lesson or two to idiomatic expressions, they do slip in a few from time to time without really explaining it.

I'm from Montgomery AL. It's too bad you don't live close we could practice regularly one on one. I qualify the "it's too bad" as an assumption because it would be quite coincidental if you did live close considering the size of this country.

Hi Marvin, No, we will have to continue our little exchanges on line as I live in Minnesota. Just starting to get warm here after a very long winter. In fact, in Duluth where we were last weekend, there is still ice in the harbor.

Scrabble in German is a way I use to practice. I find it really forces me to think about vocabulary and word construction. I use the Scrabble for iPad. I usually play against the computer (beginner level) because no one else wants to do German! You can select specific players to play against regardless of their location.

Thanks Pam, I'll have to see if I can find it on my pc laptop or some version.