Ich liebe John Kerry! Und du?

[LiberalVoice]

I just firgured i'd ask since you people look like hippies.





(Just a note: I TOTALLY guessed that the headline is german for "I like". If I am wrong please forgive me. I'm only an 8th german.) :shrug:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Mir auch

actually, it means I love. "liebe" means love, if my memory recalls. And "mir auch" means "me too".

[LiberalVoice]

2. well I guess it works out in any case!

lol

[German-Lefty]

3. German lessons: "Ich auch"

You want to say "I too" not "me too" or "to me too". You've 4 cases in German where English has about 3.

You would say "me too" if you want to say something is done to you too.

Es ist mir warm. = It is me(dative) warm. = I'm hot.
Mir auch. = Es ist mir auch warm. = It is me(dative) also warm. = Me too.

I've never noticed "I too." being said much in modern English, but it seems like you should have to say it that way.
"I like to smoke crack."
"I too "Me too
So anyway I like Kerry too. Ich mag Kerry auch.
I'm not sure I love the guy. Love seems a bit strong in German. I don't know if I know him personally well enough to say that I'm love him. Of coarse if you're trying to exaggerate a bit it's all good.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. Sorry, it's been 35 years since I wrote German

und ich habe Viele fergessen. (and this is schlechtig too, I'm sure!:) )

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. Ja!

[NamVetsWeeLass]

5. or he could be like JFK

Eich Bien Ien Berliner! (I am sure I butchered the spelling.) Now, what is funny about this is what he really said... He so proudly announced to the whole of Berlin in their Language "Eich Bien Ien Berliner!" this means "I am a Donut". Berliners are a type of Donuts in Germany.

[herthaner]

9. Nicht doch schon wieder!!

:crazy: Not again! Why do americans believe so strong in this myth?

"Ich bin ein Berliner" is absolutely correct!

[NamVetsWeeLass]

10. I stand Corrected.... The following is from Wikipedia

According to the context of the speech, Kennedy meant that he stood together with West Berliners in their struggle to maintain their freedom against Communist aggression.

Jelly doughnuts are called "Berliner" outside Berlin (but usually referred to as "Pfannkuchen" in Berlin itself). This has led some people to believe that the phrase Kennedy uttered was amusingly ambiguous ("I am a jelly doughnut"), which is, for the most part, incorrect. While the phrase could possibly be understood that way, both the context of the quotation and the fact that jelly doughnuts are not actually called "Berliner" in Berlin made this unlikely. Normally a Berliner would say "Ich komme aus Berlin" ("I come from Berlin"), but because Kennedy wanted to emphasize the common identity among people of the "world of freedom", that usage would have been misleading. "Ich bin Berliner" (cf. "Ich bin Amerikaner", "Ich bin Deutscher" etc.) would be preferred in common usage.

The jelly doughnut urban legend apparently arose in Florida in the 1980s and culminated in a letter to the editor to the New York Times in 1987 which claimed that the error was embarrassing and resulted in laughter. The context made the meaning very clear, though, so nobody misunderstood Kennedy when he delivered his speech. He did however pronounce the sentence with a very strong American accent, reading from his note "ish bin ine bear-LEAN-ar". Contrary to the urban legend, it was not followed by a roar of laughter. Audio and film recordings show the remark was followed by applause and cheers, as was witnessed by television audiences in Europe and the United States at the time.

[CiCi the Psychobunny]

11. Nein! Es ist nicht! Wirklich!

Es wuerde richtig auf Deutsch, "Ich bin Berliner" sagen, als ich sage, "Ich bin Neuseelaenderin", weil ich bin Person und nicht ein Ding. Aber ich wuerde ein suesses Ding sein. Aber das ist nicht die Frage.

I was taught that in German, one does not use the indefinite article as it marks the subject of the sentence as being a thing, whereas to describe an innate quality of yourself requires no article. For the Spanish speakers, it's the difference between "estoy" and "soy" (can't remember infinitives this late at night).

Also, in the original recording, the audience listening to JFK *do* in fact laugh before thinking "Oh, dass ist so suess" and applauding.
It all boils down to his translator not actually being that crash hot.

Sicher!

(Any grammatical mistakes in the above German are due to it being 1 a.m. and me not having done any German classes for six months)

[Kellanved]

12. Entschuldige, aber Du irrst

German is not the homogeneous language many believe it to be. There are local dialects with different words, even different grammar (including more/less/different cases).

In Berlin "Berliner" does either mean "citizen of Berlin" or - as a recent addition - a beer; never a pastry.
The "ein" is used correctly, it does convey the message intended by Kennedy: "I am with you, I feel with you". Kennedy's translator at the time was a native speaker.

In fact saying "Icke bin een Berlina" is quite common.

[mare]

13. uhm...nope.

"Ich bin Berliner" means you were born, grew up or you are living in Berlin. "Ich bin ein Berliner", as said by Kennedy, was absolutely correct because it implies the deeper meaning of being a "Berliner" at heart. If he'd said "Ich bin Berliner" people wouldn't have understood at all what he was trying to say because it's not making sense in the context.

Also, I've heard/seen the recording of his speech a lot of times and I've never heard anyone laughing, just cheering.

And as far as I know the translater was a German native.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Wir sind nur Freunde.

[Kellanved]

7. well

Ich respektiere, unterstütze, schätze, ... John Kerry. Lieben (=love) ? nicht wirklich.

I just hope some of the money I spent in the Boston John Kerry shop ends up in the campaign.

[Spider Jerusalem]

8. Liebe? Nein. Ich kenne ihn nicht persönlich.