Hello from Germany (Full Version)

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jalalkun -> Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 11:42:07)

Hello Foro people,

I have been lurking around the forum a lot for a couple of months, gathering information about a lot of things considering flamenco guitar. Now I've decided to try and be an active member in this forum!

I am Jalal, I am Arab and I live in Germany. I've been doing music since I was a child, started off with keyboard but stopped because I want a really nice piano instead of bashing plastic buttons without dynamics. Then by chance I started playing the guitar in winter 2010 and I fell in love with it ever since. Especially when I started learning flamenco in 2013 I saw the true challenge of guitar playing. I've been an autodidact ever since, which isn't good if you really want to excel, but from what I've heard from a couple of local flamenco guitarists I'm doing pretty well. Which makes me a little proud, but I still need to work a lot on my skill and my repertoire [:)]

I have ordered a guitar from a local guitar maker here in Cologne, and I was looking forward to sharing my experience with y'all, maybe show off my baby a little bit :P and promote the guy a little bit because he really is a skilled craftsman and I'd love to see him flourish in what he likes to do the most - which is building guitars. So I hope to have a great time, greetings [:D]



sartorius -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 15:21:30)

Welcome [;)]



FredGuitarraOle -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 17:25:32)

Welcome to the Foro Jalal!



rombsix -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 17:45:42)

Ahlan wa sahlan bi Jalal. Keefak khayyi? [:D]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 17:55:14)

Thank you all for the welcom'ings! [:D]

Ahleeen feek ramzi ana b5er enta kifak?? [:D][:D][:D]



rombsix -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 20:33:49)

quote:

Ahleeen feek ramzi ana b5er enta kifak??


El-7amdella. Sharrafetna bel Foro! [:D]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 21:18:25)

quote:

ORIGINAL: rombsix

El-7amdella. Sharrafetna bel Foro! [:D]


eh el7amdellah [:)] liya kel el sharaf 7abibi [:D]



Erik van Goch -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 3 2017 21:29:50)

Welcome to the foro



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 4 2017 13:18:34)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik van Goch

Welcome to the foro


thank you very much erik!



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 4 2017 13:44:39)

Ana la atakalem al-arabiya. [8D]
At least, I hope that means something if you read it out sort of phonetically. If it doesn't mean "I don't speak Arabic", then I've got to talk to my friend who told me that's what it meant and revisit in my mind that whole stint I did in Morroco. [&:] The cool thing about saying "I don't know how to speak ..." in a language you don't know is that, no matter what you say, right or wrong, you're 100% guaranteed to get your point across!
Anyways, welcome to the foro! Cologne's a great place. I would take a fresh kölsch over Spanish beer any day.



edguerin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 4 2017 17:03:44)

Ahlan wa sahlan ! But like Piwin I don't really speak Arabic :)
Is your German a good as your English? Then you'd really be set up in Cologne.
You might try to contact Jérôme Etscheid a flamenco guitarist from Contratiempo in Colgone

Ed



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 6 2017 13:37:01)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Piwin

Ana la atakalem al-arabiya. [8D]
At least, I hope that means something if you read it out sort of phonetically. If it doesn't mean "I don't speak Arabic", then I've got to talk to my friend who told me that's what it meant and revisit in my mind that whole stint I did in Morroco. [&:] The cool thing about saying "I don't know how to speak ..." in a language you don't know is that, no matter what you say, right or wrong, you're 100% guaranteed to get your point across!
Anyways, welcome to the foro! Cologne's a great place. I would take a fresh kölsch over Spanish beer any day.


Thank you so much Piwin! Don't worry, your friend told you the right thing! [:D] I know what you mean, I can say "I speak a little Turkish" and "I don't speak French" in the respective languages and it saves me a lot of trouble...not quite the French one (cuz I have never been to France and I don't miss it somehow) but since there are a lot of turks here in my region I learnt a little bit Turkish. Quite surprisingly there are a lot of Cologners who are fed up with Kölsch and would drink something else. Cologne is really a great place, just as we like to say in Kölsch: "Kölle es e jefööhl" (Cologne is a feeling) [:D]

quote:

ORIGINAL: edguerin

Ahlan wa sahlan ! But like Piwin I don't really speak Arabic :)
Is your German a good as your English? Then you'd really be set up in Cologne.
You might try to contact Jérôme Etscheid a flamenco guitarist from Contratiempo in Colgone

Ed



ahlan bika, ed! (which means "welcome to you aswell") :) I am actually born in Cologne, so my German is better than my English and my Arabic [8|] I learnt English at school and through the internet by watching a lot of stuff in English and communicating with a lot of Englishmen and -women. I haven't been to an English-speaking country, but that's on my todo-list [:D]

I've never heard of him because I've been active in the flamenco scene here in Cologne for about half a year only, but I might contact him, sounds interesting!



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 6 2017 14:14:14)

quote:

Quite surprisingly there are a lot of Cologners who are fed up with Kölsch


Ha, not really all that surprising. I enjoy it because I only have it when I go there (so, not often at all!) but I don't know if I'd drink that all year round. Sometimes I just turn on my full-tourist mode and order a kölsch and a schnitzel [:D][:D]
In my younger days I worked for a short while just North of Cologne, in a small town called Bechum. I had just come out of a six-month stay in Leipzig and was feeling pretty good about my language skills. But the lady who rented out a room for me was an elderly woman who spoke "plattdeutsch". So I understood about a word in every two sentences. That sure brought my ego back down to the right place!
[:)]



edguerin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 6 2017 14:51:22)

quote:

a kölsch and a schnitzel

[:D] of course the real thing would be "hämmche un kölsch"
(knuckle of pork ...) [:D][:D][:D]
That might turn off the non-Alsatian French though...
Sort of like "tripes à la mode de Caen" for the Germans [:D]



edguerin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 6 2017 15:07:34)

Marhaba ya Jilal,
also könnten wir auch auf Deutsch chatten - mein Platt ist leider nicht ganz so gut [:D]

Schukran limsaadetak wa
ma'a assalama

[;)]



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 6 2017 15:09:16)

quote:

hämmche un kölsch


[:)] That's for when you're reeaaally hungry! The word "schnitzel" just has that poetic/comedic quality to it. I can't resist! When I worked in that area, the only place near work that was open at lunchtime was a small food stand. I ate way too many currywurst mit pommes. Good times. Unhealthy times, but good [:)]
The other thing that stood out is how people would greet each other at that time of day by saying "Mahlzeit". I still don't know if it was just a regional thing or a working class kind of thing. Still makes me chuckle to think of the whole village greeting each other by basically saying "lunchtime!"
Unfortunately a lot of my German has gone down the drain. Learning Spanish was taking up too much drive space and apparently my brain just had to make room. Last time I was in Germany, it was almost painful. I'd want to say "bitte" but would automatically spurt out "de nada".



edguerin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 6 2017 16:59:43)

quote:

I'd want to say "bitte" but would automatically spurt out "de nada".

Yeah, languages and the brain are really special, spooky at times.

As a young man my French was nigh on perfect, but after decades without practice I've forgotten VERY much.

Two experiences:
When I hear myself stuttering a phrase, I hear my -now German - accent and every single mistake I make.
A while back in Sevilla I had found back into the rhythm of Spanish - and of a foreign tongue . A French couple was trying to decipher the fine art of buying a train-ticket at the central station, and all of a sudden my French was fluent again.
Alas that didn't last very long [:(]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 7 2017 19:18:18)

I was about to post a huge reply message on my phone, but I pressed the "homepage" button and it was GONE ! -___- so now I'll repeat on my computer.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Piwin

In my younger days I worked for a short while just North of Cologne, in a small town called Bechum. I had just come out of a six-month stay in Leipzig and was feeling pretty good about my language skills. But the lady who rented out a room for me was an elderly woman who spoke "plattdeutsch". So I understood about a word in every two sentences. That sure brought my ego back down to the right place!
[:)]


do you mean Bochum or Beckum? I think you meant Bochum, because it's nearer to Cologne. Don't worry, I have about the same problem with plattdeutsch (Kölsch is a kind of platt), it's mostly the elderly that speak platt. especially the elderly at the place that I work at speak a lot of kölsch and I understand about 40% when they speak quickly. so don't let that bring you down haha [:D][:D]

Since I started working my eating regime has switched dramatically to a lot of pommes and a lot of nuggets (no currywurst for me, because I don't eat pork). but I never understood why they say "mahlzeit" when greeting somebody. like, why don't you rather just say "hello"? to me it sounds like "hey i'm gonna have lunch, do NOT talk to me" rather than "hey what's up" [&:]

quote:

ORIGINAL: edguerin

also könnten wir auch auf Deutsch chatten - mein Platt ist leider nicht ganz so gut

Schukran limsaadetak wa
ma'a assalama


klar können wir auf deutsch quatschen, mein platt war nie gut gewesen [:D] vielen dank für die echt offenherzige aufnahme, man fühlt sich direkt wohl hier [:)]

ok back to english: growing up as a bilingual person I had some problems mixing up german and arabic lots of times, or when I spent a month in baghdad and came back to cologne I was often times mixing arabic words into my german sentences. [:D] but now I learnt to separate the two languages after I learnt the differences in grammar and so on...i like linguistics a lot and I read a lot about language families and that stuff. this separation became stronger when I became fluent in english and when I started catching up some phrases in turkish, japanese and now a little spanish because of flamenco.

I find it so interesting that we are capable of thinking in different languages and actually learning new languages. it's really important to look into this topic because learning a language means learning culture, history, tradition. it's like opening our minds to the world.



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 7 2017 20:37:41)

It was Beckum. Yeah it's not all that close to Cologne, just in the general "region". Though it was close enough for me to take the train in and spend the weekend in Cologne every now and again.

quote:

hey i'm gonna have lunch, do NOT talk to me" rather than "hey what's up"


In Spain, when people greet each other when they're just passing by and don't have time to stop and talk, they'll often just say "hasta luego", which to me meant "bye". Kind of like if people said "auf wiedersehen" right off the bat. So at first I couldn't help but feel like saying "oh yeah, well f*** you too" [:D]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 9 2017 7:43:33)

well at least you visited cologne and liked it. that's all that matters ! [:D]

yeah at first glance in does sound a little douchebaggy haha [:D] I thought hasta luego meant bye, or does it have another meaning depending on the context?



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 9 2017 8:03:38)

quote:

yeah at first glance in does sound a little douchebaggy


[8D] yeah it does but it's really not meant to be. Hasta luego just means "see you later" so I guess when they say when they're just passing by it's kind of like they're saying "hi, no time, we'll talk later". At least that's how I interpret it but I've been getting so many things wrong that I don't know anymore!

Another I don't always get is "primo". If you say someone is a "primo" (like...what a primo!), it means he's an idiot. But then friends we'll say "hola primo" so I don't know if that means "hey, buddy" or "hey, idiot". [8D] All this time I thought they were being nice to me but maybe they actually think I'm an idiot [:D]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 9 2017 15:01:39)

this kinda reminds me of arabic. when there's somebody that I know and am fond of, I can call him "welak" (iraqi dialect, syrian/lebanese: "wla", the "w" is rather a "u", but since the main stress is on "lak"/"la", it needs to be pronounced quickly, hence the "w"), which is like a more crude version of the word "pal" or "dude". Kinda like afro-american people use the N-word to talk to each other [:D] It's not really meant in a derogatory manner, it's really just being nice [:D]



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 10 2017 17:37:36)

quote:

Kinda like afro-american people use the N-word to talk to each other


Well if it's like that word, I think I won't use it just to be safe!
I'll stick with habibi, less risky. [:)]
Which brings my entire Arabic vocabulary up to:
I don't speak Arabic. Habibi. Shoukran. Safi. Salam.
And I managed to survive two months in Casablanca with nothing more. It's amazing how far just a few words and a lot of finger pointing can get you!
Wish I could've learned a lot more of the language when I was there but it was one of those things where you just don't have any time to do it. I kind of got mad at a friend who was going about how the Chinese lady who owns the local "liquor store" hardly speaks Spanish at all despite having been here for a few years. Her shop is open from 8am to 1am everyday of the week all year round. So yeah, clearly she's slacking off because she's sleeping at 3am instead of going to those middle-of-the-night Spanish classes....[8|]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 11 2017 12:03:26)

well. it's not quite like the N-word, just as crude. unlike the N-word, lak does not have any relevance regarding political correctness. so if you got a really good buddy call him lak, it's alright [:D] habibi is of course a lot friendlier, I like to say habibi more than 'lak' or other stuff. habibi is the universal way to say "dude", but you sound very sweet when saying so - that's a perk [:D]
I've always wondered what "safi" means in moroccan dialect. does it mean "enough"? as far as I know, "safi" means clear, like in clear water.
learning a language takes a lot of time I agree, and sometimes it just is not possible.
hahaha let him move to a non-spanish country and have him work from 8-3, let's see if he learns any language [8D][:D]



Piwin -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 11 2017 13:03:21)

quote:

"safi" means in moroccan dialect. does it mean "enough"?


That's what I was told. Like if a street vendor just won't drop it, I was told to say "safi" or I think the other one was "baraka" (?) something like that. But maybe it means something else in a different context? One day someone had the bright idea of convincing us to go to the "offical" medina of Casablanca, i.e. the one in Habbous where it's all asepticized and everything's 10x more expensive than in the other medinas and only the foreigners go. It's basically disneyland for affluent expats when they feel like coming out of hiding. I mean all they sold was basically crafts and such so zero interest compared to a real bustling market where they sell anything from batteries to fresh olives to couches or whatever the hell you might need. Anyways, it was basically a tourist trap and man the safis and barakas went flying![8D]
Fortunately, that was one rare occurrence. Casablanca isn't really a tourist destination so it's a whole lot calmer as a foreigner than it is in places like, say, Marrakech, where people are constantly trying to grab your attention to sell something. It's a pretty ugly town with people just going about their business. The kind of town I like! [:)]



jalalkun -> RE: Hello from Germany (May 16 2017 20:18:00)

i find this very interesting. often times the cities that kept this earthy traditional flair are the ones that appeal more to the "tourists", or just somebody who wants to visit, because they are a lot more authentic i feel, not like typical tourists cities where they just "act" and pretend. :/



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