If you subscribe to Yabla, technology and computers likely play a significant role in your life. To augment a previous lesson on verbs related to computers, today we'll cover nouns related to computers and internet technology.
First, let's look at the words for the various parts of a computer, such as the hard drive, the keyboard, and the screen. The noun der Rechner can mean both "the processor" and "the computer" depending on the context. Although many words have been adopted from English (such as der Computer or der Laptop), there's still a lot of vocabulary to learn:
Die Rechner könnten anschließend von Kriminellen zu einem Botnetz verbunden und ferngesteuert werden.
The processors could, consequently, be connected to a botnet by criminals and operated remotely.
Captions 28-29, Apple-Trojaner: Wie man ihn beseitigt
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Aber ist ja nicht schlimm, weil das Originalmaterial insgesamt gerettet wird, und das können die immer noch auf der Festplatte mal irgendwann ...
But that is not so bad, because the entire original material is saved and they can still, on the hard drive at some point...
Captions 30-31, RT Radiotonteam: Erinnerungen retten
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Wenn du auf deiner Tastatur keine Taste für die Umlaute hast, kannst du stattdessen notfalls auch Ae für Ä, Oe für Ö und Ue für Ü schreiben.
If you don't have an umlaut key on your keyboard, you can also, if need be, write Ae for Ä, Oe for Ö, and Ue for Ü.
Captions 20-21, Deutsch mit Donna Blitz: Das Alphabet
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Sieht man das dann auf einem kleinen Bildschirm oder hat man einen Riesenbildschirm?
Do you see it on a small screen then or do you have a giant screen?
Caption 4, Rhein-Main-TV: Interview mit Edmund Stössel
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In diesem Grid können tausende Forschungsinstitute und Universitäten ihre Datenspeicher und Rechner gemeinsam nutzen.
In this grid thousands of research institutes and universities can use their data storage devices and computers jointly.
Captions 38-39, Die Weltmaschine: Der LHC-Teilchenbeschleuniger
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Ich geh nicht eher, bevor du mir die Speicherkarte gegeben hast.
I'm not leaving until you've given me the memory card.
Caption 45, Die Pfefferkörner: Alles auf Anfang
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Sie müssen die Möglichkeit haben zu posten, mit dem Smartphone, Tablet, Laptop, immer und überall.
They have to be able to post with a smartphone, tablet, laptop — anytime and anywhere.
Captions 13-15, Nicos Weg: Das Internet
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Next, there is specific vocabulary related to the internet. Here, there is quite a lot of vocabulary adopted from English, so it's a matter of knowing the article and exactly how it's pronounced.
Wenn ich das melde, dann stellt der Erpresser den Film ins Netz.
If I report it, then the blackmailer will put the video on the internet.
Caption 15, Die Pfefferkörner: Cybermobbing
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Sie will über das WLAN des ICEs im Internet surfen.
She wants to surf the internet via the ICE's WLAN.
Caption 66, Galileo - Zug vs. Flugzeug: Von München nach Berlin
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Wie die Internetseite National Geographic News berichtet, hat Cameron vor ein paar Tagen nahe Papua-Neuguinea eine Testfahrt unternommen.
As the internet site National Geographic News reports, Cameron performed a trial run a few days ago near Papua, New Guinea.
Captions 19-20, Expedition Marianengraben: Zum tiefsten Punkt der Erde
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An welche E-Mail-Adresse soll ich Ihnen die Unterlagen schicken?
What email address should I send the documents to?
Caption 30, Berufsleben: das Vorstellungsgespräch
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Further Learning
For help with pronunciation, go to Yabla German and listen to the examples. Also, can you guess the meaning of der Router, die Maus, and das Lokalnetz?
I still sometimes find it difficult, despite speaking German for decades, to distinguish between the two nouns die Gelegenheit and die Angelegenheit. In all fairness, though, the fact that prefixes like an-, be-, ver-, ent-, etc. radically alter the meanings of German words is part of what makes German difficult for English speakers.
Let's start by stripping Gelegenheit of its -heit suffix, leaving us with the adverb/adjective gelegen:
...eine Kleinstadt für sich, gelegen entlang der schweiz-französischen Grenze.
...a small town on its own, located along the Swiss-French border.
Caption 2, Die Weltmaschine - Der LHC-Teilchenbeschleuniger
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Vor der abseits gelegenen Düne gelang ihm eine sensationelle Entdeckung:
In front of this remotely situated dune, he managed to make a sensational discovery:
Captions 22-23, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen
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Thus gelegen is usually translated as "located" or situated," though it also can mean "desired" (erwünscht) or "opportune" (günstig). When we add the suffix -heit and make it a noun, it becomes:
Die Gelegenheit lässt sich Florian nicht entgehen.
Florian doesn't let this opportunity slip by.
Caption 18, Abenteuer Nordsee - Unter Riesenhaien und Tintenfischen
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Dann lernst du ihn auch gleich kennen bei der Gelegenheit.
Then you'll also get to know him right away on this occasion.
Caption 28, Fine - sucht einen Hammer
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Die Gelegenheit is almost always translated as "opportunity," except when preceded with the preposition bei, when it's usually translated as "occasion." On a more humorous note, just as "the facilities" are used in English as a polite euphemism for the toilet, so too is die Gelegenheit an old-fashioned euphemism in German for das WC. A perhaps overly polite way to ask where the toilet is would be Wo ist hier die Gelegenheit, bitte?
Die Angelegenheit is, on the other hand, literally a different matter altogether:
Die Königin war fuchsteufelswild und beschloss, die Angelegenheit jetzt selbst in die Hand zu nehmen.
The Queen was "fox devil wild" [slang: angry] and decided to take the matter into her own hands now.
Captions 55-56, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Schneewittchen
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Musste zufällig jemand den Kaiser in kaiserlichen Angelegenheiten sprechen, gaben seine Diener stets dieselbe Antwort.
Should someone need to speak to the emperor about imperial affairs, his servants always gave the same answer.
Captions 20-21, Märchen - Sagenhaft - Des Kaisers neue Kleider
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I use this mnemonic device to remember the difference between Gelegenheit and Angelegenheit:
–An "opportunity" should be easy and is thus the shorter of the two words, Gelegenheit.
–A political affair or business matter tends to suggest difficult bureaucratic procedures and is thus the longer word Angelegenheit.
Further Learning
Go to Yabla German to find other examples of gelegen, Gelegenheit and Angelegenheit as used in real-world context.
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