Is knowledge of word tone necessary for singer's diction? I'm not planning on tackling the business of learning Chinese (or any other tonal language) any time soon, but this something about which I have been wondering, in the meantime: Since childhood, I have used "singer's diction" to sing songs in languages I do not speak (Italian, Latin, Spanish). I am wondering if the same is possible for Asian (tonal) languages. To illustrate, here is a video in which the lyrics of a Chinese song are rendered in latin characters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qopry2-5WE If I sang the consonant and vowel sounds I read in a way that carefully matches the melody I hear, would the words be understandable? Might there still be subtle tone shifts in the melody which are difficult for me to hear and reproduce? Am I misunderstanding the concept of "tone" (by thinking it's related to melody)? Does word tone behave differently in singing than it does in normal speach?

Why do Americans tend to pronounce "ö" like "ä" in German names? When I first read about the politician John Boehner in newspapers, I imagined the name sounding fairly much like I would expect "Böhner" to be pronounced by a German speaker, but, then, I was thrown for a loop by television newcasters calling him "Bähner". Admittedly the sound that "ö" makes doesn't fit that neatly into English, but I would expect "BOOner" or "BERner" long before "BAYner". Put simply, the sounds don't seem related to me. Also, Matt Groening (creator of "The Simpsons" and the "Life in Hell" comics) indicates, in one of his books, that his last name is pronounced "Gray-ning" and pokes fun at a professor from Europe who calls him "Groo-nink". Anyway, does anyone know what causes this appearent discrepency? Might it be variations in regional German dialects, perhaps? Are there any other strange patterns you notice in how Americans pronounce German words?

Rodeos der Nacht? ...was? I have just learned that friends of a friend of mine have started a "Gothic Cowboy Rock" band named "Rodeos der Nacht". This seemingly random mixture of German and English words confuses and confounds me almost as much as people who do not herd cattle on horseback calling themselves "cowboy" confuses and confounds me. Would "Rodeos des Nachtes" or "die Nachtrodeos' make more sense, or is there no way to salvage this flaming sinking ship of a title? OK. It makes more sense now. I had forgotten that "der" can be feminine genitive (as well as masculine nominative) as well as the fact that "Nacht" is feminine (the 'der" threw me off track). Otto, It probably is a film reference. These seem like people who do such a thing. domasla, Yes, it is a strange use of the plural. It reminds me of the unfortunately named band, The Lone Rangers, from the movie "Airheads". Sometimes, it feels that one of the cardinal rules of Rock'n'Roll is to check logic at the door.

What are your favorite agglutinative nouns in German? The uncanny way in which German agglutinative nouns are a poetry unto themselves is what I consider to be one of the greatest joys (and Mark Twain considered of the greatest horrors) of studying the German language. Near to my heart is "die Morgenheutegesternwelt" a word used in the novel "Illuminatus!' by Robert Anton Wilson to describe experiencing the flow of time in a nonlinear fashion. Which ones do you find most interesting? Unlike what seems to usually be the case, I'm not necessarily asking for unusually long words so much as words in which the elements combine in a fascinating way to express a unique concept.Mark Twain's famous satirical essay "The Awful German Language" to which I was refering can be read here: http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/awfgrmlg.html

Whence came ye hither? I have been told that the archaic adverbs in English denoting motion to or from a place (hence, hither, thence, thither, whence, whither) echo a structure that still exists in modern German. So far, I have found that "wohin" appears to be equivalent to "whither". If the other five words I mentioned also translated neatly into German, can someone please list their equivalents?In case these words are unfamiliar to those only acquainted with modern varieties of English, "whence" means "from or away from where"; "hither" means "to or toward here". All these words work out into a matrix like this: motion from stationary motion toward this place hence here hither that place thence there thither unknown place whence where whither If it's true that German works the same way, putting the words in a matrix like this might be the clearest way to answer my question. The spaces disappeared and I lost the formatting for the matrix. Here goes again: ...............................motion from .................stationary ........................motion toward this place .....................hence .......................here ...................................hither that place ....................thence ......................there ..................................thither unknown place .............whence ....................where .................................whither

Grammar Nazis "Grammar Nazi" is a slang term for a person who is overly obsessed with language mechanics, and focuses upon mistakes made in grammar and spelling rather than the meaning/ content of what others write and say. This humorous video concerning an SS Officer (a Nazi) who is also a "Grammar Nazi" demonstrates many mistakes in English which are made commonly even by native speakers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4vf8N6GpdM