undefined | Better HN

0 pointseru4y ago0 comments

In German there was actually quite a lot of historic development about whether to write words together or separate or with hyphens.

The current state of formal German will surely not be the end of history.

See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leerzeichen_in_Komposita#Gesch... (Might need Google Translate, if you don't speak German.)

0 comments

rvba4y ago

For someone learning German as a foreign language separating the words would really help. Even if it leads to things like "Trink Wasser fur Hunde" (as mentioned in the Wikipedia article).

Hyphens or spaces are still better than those long words...

eruOP4y ago

Yes, I can see that. Pervasive hyphens would resolve most of the ambiguity and make it easier to learn. (But they also look kind of ugly.)

Just be glad you ain't learning Turkish or Finnish, though.

CRConrad4y ago

I find the difficulty of learning Finnish is being consistently exaggerated on the Internet.

Source: Learned it as an adult myself.

2 more replies

IfOnlyYouKnew4y ago

Compound words are about 70% of the fun we have.

eruOP4y ago

We don't have much fun in Germany..

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointseru4y ago0 comments

In German there was actually quite a lot of historic development about whether to write words together or separate or with hyphens.

The current state of formal German will surely not be the end of history.

See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leerzeichen_in_Komposita#Gesch... (Might need Google Translate, if you don't speak German.)

0 comments

rvba4y ago

For someone learning German as a foreign language separating the words would really help. Even if it leads to things like "Trink Wasser fur Hunde" (as mentioned in the Wikipedia article).

Hyphens or spaces are still better than those long words...

eruOP4y ago

Yes, I can see that. Pervasive hyphens would resolve most of the ambiguity and make it easier to learn. (But they also look kind of ugly.)

Just be glad you ain't learning Turkish or Finnish, though.

CRConrad4y ago

I find the difficulty of learning Finnish is being consistently exaggerated on the Internet.

Source: Learned it as an adult myself.

2 more replies

IfOnlyYouKnew4y ago

Compound words are about 70% of the fun we have.

eruOP4y ago

We don't have much fun in Germany..

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse