And since you persist in your foolish assumption that all people from every single city, state and country in the world are always called wherever-they-came-from-plus-er, with no exceptions, what hell do you call your mother in law? A Bayerner(in)?!

Dude, you are in so far over your head, that it’s not even funny. Seriously, it’s actually sad that someone who knows as little as you do can think he knows so much. On BFT’s site you weren’t even able to insult me without butchering basic German grammar.

This is about as dumb as suggesting that “deutschisch” is the correct word for German, “berlinisch” is the correct word for Berliner, muenchenisch” is the correct word for Muenchner (person from Munich), “wienisch” is the correct word for Wiener (Vienner), or “amerikanisch” is the correct word for American (as opposed to “Amerikaner”). And, by the way, one of the articles you linked to even used “Governor”. The fact is that there is no specific word for “Governor” in German, since the term is not used, at least in Germany. So they use–interchangeably–both the French Gouverneur and the English or American Governor. Not that they necessarily pronounce it the same way as the French or the Americans might. You should hear the way my mother in law–sie stammt aus Bayern–pronounces Jallousie. The word is unrecognizeable.

For the benefit of any non-German speakers who may be scratching their heads while reading this exchange, here’s an English equivalent. Picture two Germans who both speak English reasonably well. Hans, a blogger, majored in English in college, spent a year in England and another in the U.S., attained near-native fluency at the time, and then went on to teach English for a couple of years at a Gymnasium before moving on and doing something else. Since then, his English is a bit rustier, but still pretty strong. He writes an entry like this in his English-language blog:

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson Monday welcomed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s recent appointment of a special adviser on the prevention of genocide and urged U.N. action on Sudan.

Along comes Franz, a troll who doesn’t know Hans from Adam. Franz speaks some English, too, but not nearly as much as he thinks he does. Franz jumps in with:

No, you idiot! Dem ‘Mercuns don’t call their top officials Prime Ministers, they call ‘em Prezidents! And didn’t you know that the English name for Schweden is “Sweden?” So people who come from there can’t be called “Swedish,” silly, the right word is “Swedenians,” just like people from Jordan are called Jordanians. God, your translation sucks.

“der kalifornische Gouverneur Arnold Schwarzenegger” would probably be better translated as “Der Kaliforniener Governor…” (“Kalifornien” is the German word for California) This is similar to the way the Berlin mayor is referred to: Der Berliner Burgermeister, the way that the Munich mayor is refered to: Der Muenchner Burgermeister, usw. BTW, the various German Laender do not have “governors,” they have “Minister-praesidenten,” so the use of “Governor” or “Gouverneur” would be an adoption of the English or the French.

While “Ansprache” does translate to “speech,” Germans would likely use “Rede” or “Anrede” instead.

“Der erstere stamm aus einem verständlichen Übersetzungsfehler, der letztere war aber vollkommen erlogen” is completely wrong. Actually, the use of “Berichte” in the previous sentence was wrong, too. “Berichte” (singular, “Bericht”) refers to “reports,” as in, for example, “newspaper articles.” Here, one would use “Behauptungen” (pl, singular “Behauptung”) to refer to Schwarzenegger’s contentions or allegations that he made in his speech (his Anrede). In that case, the sentence should read “Die erste (Behauptung) stamm aus…, die zweite (Behauptung) war aber ganz Luege” (“ue”=u mit Umlaut). (BTW, what is this silliness with “vollkommen erlogen”? Germans would say “ganz Luege”–a complete lie.) Even assuming that the use of “Bericht” might be proper here, the sentence should read something like “Der erste (not “der erstere)…der zweite (not “der leztere”)….”

So that’s the first paragraph.

The second paragraph is a complete mess. It is impossible to determine what you are trying to say there, and it isn’t worth a lot of time to dwell on. Just referencing the first clause “Selbstverständlich kann man Österreich nicht ernsthaft als ein “sozialistisches” Land auf deutsch beschreiben…” “Auf deutsch”? What does that mean? “Auf Deutsch” would mean something like “in the German language.” That makes no sense considering the rest of the sentence. A translation of the sentence might be “of course one cannot earnestly describe Austria as being a socialist country in the German language, in the sense of Hungary,…” but that makes no sense at all.

And the sentence “Wegen Arnolds Vorstellung ist kein Ami auf die Idee gekommen, Österreich liege jenseits des Eisernen Vorhangs” makes no sense whatsoever. “Vorstellung”? Arnie didn’t make a “Vorstellung” (a presentation). He made a speech (a Rede or Anrede). “Jenseits” is completely inappropriate here. “Ausserhalb” (“outside of”) is the correct word.

Give me a break. This is an idiotic translation, and it isn’t worth spending a lot of time correcting you.

Xrlq’s Paradox: a bilingual social democrat can say “I am a socialist” in English, then turn around and say “ich bin kein Sozialist” in German, and be telling the truth both times.

I’m not convinced of your view that most Americans see “socialism” in such a one dimensional light, though probably many right-wing Americans do.

Great article, and thanks also for the language practice! Ich sollte öfter Deutsch üben.