So I've been learning German for about a month. I thought I'd watch the German parts in Saving Private Ryan and see how much I could work out. Most of it is still gibberish to me. The one I think I can understand the most is when Mellish is being stabbed to death. What I can make out is: Gib auf! Du hast keine Chance! Lass es uns beenden. Es ist einfacher fuer dich, viel einfacher. I can't make out the next sentence or most of the next one, but it ends with vorbei. So if I have it right that translates as: Give up. You have no chance. Let us end it. It is easier for you, much easier. Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah over. The German sounds like a nice guy. Not sure if I don't know the words I missed or if they were spoken too rapidly. I had to watch it a few times before I made out all the words that I knew. I don't think I'm ready for Das Boot or Der Untergang yet.
Is this the part where the German stabs the Jewish american soldier in the heart? As he was plunging the knife deeper, the Jew was asking what are you saying, what are you saying?!? The German speaking in his native tongue was saying don't fight it, don't fight it, the more you do the more its going to hurt before he finished the deed.
Did you translate it or did you read that because that's not what it sounded like to me. And yeah, it's when Mellish, the Jewish soldier, is getting stabbed.
You're right, that is indeed what he says. Furthermore he says: "Du wirst sehen, es ist gleich vorbei", which could be translated to: "Just wait, it'll be over soon". And I'm really impressed that you were able to understand all that after learning German for a month. I believe that German is quite difficult to learn as a second language.
Just luckily matched up with words I've learnt in a month. Other parts of the movie I can't make heads or tails what they're saying. Earlier there's a scene with the hitchhiker (soldier has a stone in his boot) and they accidentally knock down a wall. Some of the Germans yell out, "Nicht shiessen!" which means, "Don't shoot!" which I'm assuming they're yelling at each other and not to the Americans. It's a Mexican Standoff and no one wants to be the first to shoot. Upham yells out something I can't make out and then says, "...oder wir schiessen!" which means "....or we shoot!" At the end Upham says to Steamboat Willie, "Haltet die schnauze.," which I'm assuming is the equiv. of telling someone in English to, "Shut your trap." Steamboat Willie says, "Ich kenne den Mann," which means, "I know this man." That's about all I've made out so far. According to one of the websites I'm using I've learnt 756 words, but I'm using multiple sources. Of course of those 756 words I keep forgetting quite a few if I go a few days without coming across them again. It's all about just going over it again and again. One of the biggest problems I'm finding with German is false friends, that is words that are exactly the same spelling, or very close, to words in English, but mean something entirely different. There are also words that are spelt the same, or near enough, that mean the same thing. Sometimes gotta watch out thinking a false friend means the same thing in German as it does in English.
The false friends give German students in school a lot of trouble as well. One of the favourite mistakes for students is to mistake 'become' for the German word 'bekommen'. That's why you get such wonderful sentences like: "I become a hamburger/..." every now and then. Still, you're doing a really good job in learning German if you can already make out all these sentences. Oh and you're right with your assumption that "Haltet die Schnauze" means "Shut your trap", though did you realize that the German expression is actually plural?
Nope, didn't realise that. The whole become bekommen thing works both ways I guess. I too thought bekommen when I first saw it would mean become rather than get. Another one which gets me is German prefixes for verbs going on the end of the sentence rather than as a prefix with the actual verb. When I don't realise it's a prefix the sentence makes no sense. Example: Sie sehen gut aus. At first I was trying to work out what, "You see good from," meant lol.
