So do I understand it correctly if I say
it's more like a 'of course/yes it is BUT...'
rathar than a 'of course/yes it is AND...'
Aha!
Check out the website I just edited into my last post -- there is a rather good explanation of the usages of "doch" and it should be helpful. I googled it up to trying to find a better explanation.
Heya
"Doch" was explained to me as a positive emphasism to be used where ever you wanted.
ie:
1. " Iss doch dein Frühstück "
2. Some one says " Nein " so you can use " Doch " ( as spmull06 said ) to say that you disagree that "it" IS correct/possible/etc
3. "Das ist doch wirklich schön " . Maybe not a totally correct sentence but I have heard it used by swissies and used it myself many times with my german teacher.
4. I think HOW you say it can also change its meaning ie with sarcarm etc.
By saying "doch doch " to me , I would take it to mean "of course"
Hope this helps
kt
Irrelevent, I know...
I'm trying to subvert them by using the Scottish or Geordie "Aye" for yes.
I have one Swiss disciple so far
Or how about when they ask how something is, replying with "it's no bad". Oh the fun we could have..... (OK I know I need to get a life).
Thanks for the link - made a lot of sense.
Realized that I haven't been using it too incorrectly... phew...
just didn't realize the versatility of it though.
Which brings me back to the point that - it’s one of those untranslatable German words - since I know it - I can't get rid of it - just can't seem to substitute it in English.
Plus now - with all the evidence of added usage - I'll be doch doching all the way
surely that's Tyke rather than English?
I find myself using words that pertain to permission, since that is a common theme here - Ausweiss, Bewilligung, Abo, Verboten, etc...
p.s. This is my first post. Great site, glad to be here! (will post a proper intro one of these days)
i work in a room with one other colleague and quite often the others will come in and say "hello, together" or "how are you, together".
I know this is about using German words, but I find myself using their way of translating English now
I've had a few funny looks in England when I've used the greeting in similar circumstances.
Genou is a great word, but despite having been over here a few times before my employment, and a few weeks into my employment, i hadn't really picked up on it until the auditors came. then it seemed to be that I was hearing it everywhere!
Why has no-one mentioned " Natel "?
I use this all the time and find it more "comfortable" a word than " mobile phone ".
Personally I haven't heard that one....everyone I know refers to their mobile phones as "handys"
My favourite German/English mistake is when people leave the office and say:
"I wish you."
And thats it.
You wish me what? Cos I wish you ...would just **** ***!!!
In the USA midwest it's not uncommon for bilingual speakers German and English zusammenmischen, particularly in areas with many German Nachkommen such as Wisconsin. We call it Milwaukee-Deutsch. It's always fun to introduce bilingual German/English Europeans to this way of talking. No rules, just use whatever Sprache is more efficient.
....and then there`s the"fasst Tichmässig" .."moll,moll", and "doch, doch"( when you`re soooo very sure that you`re right..and of course "ne nei", when "no,no" just doesn`t sound definite enough.
I personally prefer my bread, my men and early mornings "frisch".
Natel is Swiss. Nobody in Germany would use this word, and I would doubt that many Germans even know what it means. I've heard some Swiss claim it is actually limited to Swisscom.
Back in the US one of my friends would always say "genau" -- before I even knew what the heck it meant. We met each other in our German class at college, and I didn't have much of an impetus to learn German at the time, so the meaning of the word eluded me then. I have to say that it is pretty addictive.
I think the more that you learn a foreign language, the more its terminology and structure seeps into your own personal "style."
Stands for N ationales A uto Tel efon (Netz), back in the day when you'd get an arm like a orang-utan shlepping that "portable" around "Akkü" the size of a car battery
What I've always wanted to ask: what is the English word for Abo?
That's easy - 'Abonnement'
It's not used very often though. More likely you'll hear 'subscription (fee)' or 'season ticket' for travel.
For mobile phones, people just talk about 'being on a contract' instead of 'being subscribed' to the service.
You'll see it printed on business cards, websites and often on application forms. I get kind of irritated by it because it isn't a real word, but simply a brand name of Swisscom, which has come to be used to mean "mobile telephone". I'm not a big fan of the word handy, but if one were to be speaking German, even in Switzerland, I think it would be far more correct to use handy rather than natel. Unless of course you like to pepper your speech with Swiss-German slang words, in which case natel away....
Hi there - I'm new to this forum, just found it chance, and now have signed myself up just to say my absolute favourite "schweitzerdeutsch" word is "grüsig" - I couldn't manage without it, and it always slips into my English conversations - the weather is "grüsig", the traffic, the food -- it covers a multitude of sins!
In the moment of enlightenment nothing says it better than - 'Ach so!'