User talk:Somehomo

Conlang Challenge
The rules of the August Conlang Challenge have been announced! [This has been a Public Service Announcement from your Friendly Neighbourhood Despot.] 04:37, August 17, 2014 (UTC)

Your German profile text
While reading your profile text, I noticed some mistakes in your German version. Seeing as you seem to be very interested in learning languages, I thought you might appreciate my advise for German (which is my first language).

Ich bin 16 Jahre alt und (ich) wohne in Illinois. - The conjunction "und" is used to connect to main clauses. And in main clauses, the finite verb has to be in the second position. Therefore, your "ich" (or "in Illinois") has to come before your "wohne". However, as the subject doesn't change, you would usually leave out the second "ich" because it is implied.

Ich interessiere mich sehr für Linguistik und Conlinguistik. - Your sentence is correct but it is a bit old-fashioned. I would prefer the version I gave you (but you can of course stick to your version).

Englisch ist meine Muttersprache, aber ich lerne Deutsch in der Schule und würde gerne andere Sprachen lernen. - Your first mistake was "muttersprache" but I think you just forgot the capital letter. The second mistake was (again) the placement of your "ich". It has to come before the verbs "lerne" or "habe" because you're dealing with main clauses. Also, "Deutsche" is wrong. The German language is "Deutsch" without an e in the end. The "e" is only added when you use the definite article ("das Deutsche"). And lastly, your construction with "habe Lust ..." is a bit awkward. Of course, you could say that but then you'd have to write: "[...] und (ich) habe Lust, andere Sprachen zu lernen." You do not need the "um" in this example because "um" is only used in final clauses - so when you want to express a goal or reason for something (e.g. "Ich arbeite, um Geld zu verdienen." - "I work to earn money."). However, I would prefer the version I gave you which translates to "and (I) would like to learn other languages."

Ich will Russisch (worüber ich wenig weiß), Mandarin, Finnisch, Spanisch, Japanisch, Navajo und Türkisch lernen. - Your bracket didn't make sense; the verb "wissen" is not used with the genitive but with the prepositions "über" or "um" (the latter is rather old-fashioned, though). Also, "I know" is "ich weiß" but not "ich weiße" - "wissen" is irregular and doesn't use the "-e" for the first person singular. Another (little) mistake was your comma after Navajo. You do not put a comma before "und". Your last mistake was "zu lernen". In German, "I want to learn ..." is "ich will/möchte ... lernen" (so literally "I want ... learn"). You do not use a "zu".

Seit meinem Beitritt habe ich fünf Consprachen gemacht. - "Beitretung" is not a German word; the word you're looking for is "(der) Beitritt". I personally prefer the Perfekt in this case because in this case the German Perfekt is equal to the English present perfect; so the action of creating the languages was in the past but they still exist and influence the present. Using the Präteritum sounds weird to me because I honestly don't use the Päteritum very often (almost no German does :D).

That's it - most of the mistakes were very small and overall, you would be understood. Some of your constructions are quite old/old-fashioned but I guess that is because your teachers/text books use them. King Schnack (talk) 13:53, January 10, 2015 (UTC)