English grammar in German schools

powerlerner · Anmeldungsdatum: 01.08.2007 Beiträge: 6

hi

so I've been to the US of A for about a year now. And what I realized is that all the English tenses we learn in Germany aren't even applied in real life by Americans.
Furthermore I realized that many German English teachers often tell us wrong stuff about the tenses. Kotzen

Anybody that has been to the US and feels the same?

MI · Administrator Anmeldungsdatum: 22.01.2005 Beiträge: 1140 Wohnort: München

I haven't been to the US, but some years ago (five I believe) I have been to England. I stayed there for a term only (I was in year 9 back then), but I can confirm some of your observations.

It is true that a lot of the tenses we learn in Germany aren't used by native speakers - best example: the so-called "present perfect progressive" or the "past perfect progressive". I have read a few sentences in some English books, where they were used, but that's about all there is. I've never heard any of those in spoken English, that's true (same goes for their passive forms, too - but let's face it: The passive forms of these tenses, though they exist I have been told both in France and in Germany, are just ridiculous).
But nevertheless, these tenses exist, only the teachers overemphasize them. So I don't quite understand what you mean by "wrong stuff", perhaps you could give an example or clarify this point otherwise?

Just one remark regarding "tenses": There are also some German tenses, which - although existing - are never used and hardly ever heard of (I am referring to the "Konjunktiv II" for instance), however I could imagine they are still taught at universities, foreign or German.

Greets
MI

powerlerner · Anmeldungsdatum: 01.08.2007 Beiträge: 6

well for example the difference between the Simple Past and the Present Perfect... I mean, sometimes teachers get that wrong and think just one of them fits to a particular sentence...even though you actually could use either one of them

MI · Administrator Anmeldungsdatum: 22.01.2005 Beiträge: 1140 Wohnort: München

Oh, that's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. Yeah, I have never had these problems with my teachers in Germany - at least not that I can remember. I mean, sometimes it is just about what part of the sentence you want to emphasize, which gives you information about what tense is to be used and when a teacher isn't really careful, he might not see this. Have you tried discussing the matter with your teacher?

But I think I had this problem with a French teacher, who was pretty... well she made a lot of mistakes. Augenzwinkern

Greets
MI

powerlerner · Anmeldungsdatum: 01.08.2007 Beiträge: 6

and see, there is also the difference between the "will-future" and the "going to future" tenses.. I mean ACTUALLY you usually can use both, it's just that it's more common to use one of them depending on what you want to emphasize... but why do stupid things like that get marked in tests? I mean no English teacher in the US would ever mark those kind of mistakes because actually there is no mistake LOL Hammer

I remember having a kid from America here in my German school and he said that the English class here is really hard and the teachers are wrong about certain stuff (like the stuff I mentioned)

Ukkat · Gast

hi.
i have also been to UK for a year....
In school in Germany I had problems with the tenses before and when I came to England, suddenly everything changed and I knew when to use which tense.

back in germany i realised the same as you did.

english teachers put a lot emphasis on the tenses but once you are in a english spoken country you will realise that it is NOT SO IMPORTANT to know it perfectly.

its more important to speak and that the native speaker understands you.

so nowadays I am really good in using tenses but I would have have problems to explain it to someone why you use exactly that tense.

MI · Administrator Anmeldungsdatum: 22.01.2005 Beiträge: 1140 Wohnort: München

cycille · Anmeldungsdatum: 27.10.2007 Beiträge: 2 Wohnort: Nidderau

i never been to the states yet. but i´m working for the army soldiers here in germany. and i know what you mean i think the same i had an american boyfriend when i was in school still and my teacher told me everything i did was wrong. But my boyfriend approved it everytime before i showed it to my teacher. Lehrer

Lahela · Anmeldungsdatum: 17.09.2007 Beiträge: 39 Wohnort: Braunschweig

That doesn't mean anything. I've been to the US and went to High School. I, like anyone else, had an englisch class (like we ave german in school, so mostly book interpretations). But at some point we also had grammar. I've been in the senior class so the final class before college or work.

The teacher wrote a sentence on the board and asked someone "Which word is the verb?". The sentence was something like "Bill eats ice." and the one he asked didn't know it. He said that Bill is the verb.

So if some American is approving English homeworks it doesn't mean that it is right.

Another example. My guest brother always said "I didn't do nothing" when he was accused of something (Ich habe nicht nichts gemacht) but he meant "I didn't do anything/it."

Clikker · Anmeldungsdatum: 02.11.2007 Beiträge: 3

MI · Administrator Anmeldungsdatum: 22.01.2005 Beiträge: 1140 Wohnort: München

I agree with you that my expression about the active forms of the cited english tenses was wrong. So here, I apologize for telling absolute nonsense. However, I have never heard the passive form in use as you well admit - and they are taught, too...
(by the way: your past perfect continous example is not at all passive, a passive form would be "The work had been being worked on" - as you say later on Augenzwinkern

).

I am also wrong that the Konjunktiv II is not used anymore that is correct and I beg your pardon. But actually, I did not mean to say this, I rather meant that most verb-forms of the Konjunktiv II are not in use anymore (example: I have never heard anybody say: "Wenn ich Zeit hätte, machte ich meine Hausaufgaben", which is, as I know it, grammatically correct. You would rather say: "Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich meine Hausaufgaben machen". But even that form is transformed more and more frequently into "Wenn ich Zeit haben würde, würde ich meine Hausaufgaben machen" - at least where I live).

Reading over the critizised post, I have to admit that this was really imprecise work back then...
Greetings
MI

Clikker · Anmeldungsdatum: 02.11.2007 Beiträge: 3

Yeah well, no problem at all... i didn't want to criticise you or so, just wanted to, you know, "correct it".
and you're quite right about my examplesentence for the past perfect continous "he was quite optimistic about his project, he'd been working on it all summer" i said it was passive, which it is not, it is reported speech, which is, correct me if i am wrong, afain the most frequent situation in spoken english that requires the "past perfect continous" (of course if the present form of the time is used in the active sentence.)

And about the konjunktiv II, i guess i got it now what you meant, but you phrased it a bit wrong so that the way you put it didn't reveal what you intended to say...
good night, then

Goldenhind · Ehrenmoderator Anmeldungsdatum: 17.08.2006 Beiträge: 399

MI · Administrator Anmeldungsdatum: 22.01.2005 Beiträge: 1140 Wohnort: München

Ok, yes, of course you may correct me, if I am wrong - or else my posts have been very unclear or else misleading. So no problem with that Augenzwinkern

.

Greetings
MI