Monday, January 26, 2009

Doch

There is a word in German that means "to the contrary," and that word is "doch" (end it with a K sound, if you like; otherwise, end it with the same sound that J.S. Bach's last name ends with). I will not make any broad generalizations about how language shapes the structure of a child's understanding, but I will say that in this case, it maybe makes it easier to disagree about things. For instance, within my first week here, I had both of the following conversations with (different) young children.

me: Nein. [Pronounced like "nine;" means "no"]
child: Doch.
me: Nein.
child: Doch.
me: Nein!
child: Doch!

me: Ja. [Pronounced almost like "Yeah;" means "Yes," which is also what Yeah means in English, but here no one thinks the less of you for saying Yeah, because Yeah is not a slang word for Yes, it IS Yes.]
child: Doch.
me: Ja.
child: Doch.
me: Ja!
child: Doch!

1 comment:

N said...

Doch. Oder ja. :D -N