美国国家公共电台 NPR Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Part Zwei

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Part Zwei

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Let's meet our next two contestants 1. Nick Pappas, you are a content manager for a comedy website.

NICK PAPPAS: That's right.

EISENBERG: Nice. What do you think we need to laugh more at? What do we need to make fun of more often?

PAPPAS: It's definitely a good year to laugh at the election.

EISENBERG: Yeah. But do we need to laugh more at the election or do we need to get more...

PAPPAS: I think it's the only way we're going to get through it.

EISENBERG: Yeah. Also we have Eleanor Wells. You work at a startup men's clothing subscription 2 company. That sounds like a dream job.

ELEANOR WELLS: It's really cool. I'm not going to lie.

EISENBERG: So that's like - my husband does this - where basically you send them a bunch of stuff, and they get to look through it and see what they like and then send back what they don't.

WELLS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: That's how they get their wardrobe, right?

WELLS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: What's your office like?

WELLS: It's really fun. Everyone's young, and there's lots of dogs all the time which is great.

EISENBERG: Really?

WELLS: Yeah.

EISENBERG: Lots of - I like that.

WELLS: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: You work at the company for the pets.

WELLS: You caught me.

EISENBERG: Nick, if you could learn any language in its entirety, like just instantly, what would you pick?

PAPPAS: I think I would choose Spanish. My wife's family speaks fluent Spanish.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

PAPPAS: And I'd like to know what they're saying about me.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Very good. Eleanor, how about you? If you could pick a language to just learn in a minute, what would you pick?

WELLS: I would choose Korean because my manager is Korean and the founders 3 of my company are Korean. And I just want to freak them out.

(LAUGHTER)

WELLS: Just like come into work and just start.

EISENBERG: Yeah. All of a sudden they're like, wait a second, what have we been saying?

WELLS: (Laughter).

EISENBERG: You guys kind of have the same answer for different reasons. So as you may know, the German language has a lot of very crazy long specific words. Jonathan Coulton, why don't you give us an example?

JONATHAN COULTON: Sure. Kummerspeck - literally 4 meaning grief bacon refers to the weight you gain from eating your feelings.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: It's a actual German word.

EISENBERG: I love it. So in this game, Jonathan and I will be attempting to pronounce German words. We will give you their definitions and all you have to figure out is whether it's a real word or one we made up for this game.

COULTON: And you should be very careful because if you buzz, and you guess wrong, your opponent will automatically score the point. Remember - you are guessing whether these German words are real or fake. Here we go.

EISENBERG: Torschlusspanik or the realization 5 that as life goes on, the scope of one's life becomes smaller and smaller, and no one can never know which opportunities to seize before they are gone forever.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Nick.

PAPPAS: Real.

EISENBERG: Oh, yeah. That is real.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: There is nothing more German than that.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: That's embroidered 6 on baby pillows.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Arbitekindofbelydegune (ph) or the process of redoing your mate's chores in secret, so that they won't be offended and stop doing the chores in the first place.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nick.

PAPPAS: Fake.

COULTON: You're right. That is fake.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

COULTON: We made it up.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: No one does someone's chores in secret. Lebensabschnittspartner - a synonym 7 for lover which translates more directly and perhaps cynically 8 as the person I am with today.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Nick.

PAPPAS: That's real.

EISENBERG: That is real. Yes, you are correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: My current husband hates that word.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Your first husband.

EISENBERG: Yeah, my first one.

COULTON: Yeah. Felshtowshugester (ph) or the gesture one makes when only pretending to hold an elevator door open for someone else.

(LAUGHTER)

WELLS: That's true.

COULTON: No, it's fake.

WELLS: It's a real thing, but a fake word.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: It's totally a real thing.

COULTON: It's totally a real thing.

EISENBERG: In Germany, they just stare at you. There's no gesture.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Kevinismus - or the oft maligned 9 phenomenon of German parents giving their kids American-sounding names such as Kevin.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Eleanor.

WELLS: True.

EISENBERG: That is true. Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Kevin - is that an American-sounding name? Bobby I could see.

COULTON: To Germans it's a very American-sounding name.

EISENBERG: To Germans, right. Yeah, when - right, when it's like Axel (ph), Verner (ph), Helmut (ph).

COULTON: Yeah.

EISENBERG: Kevin.

COULTON: Kevin. Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Sticks out.

EISENBERG: All right. This is your last clue.

COULTON: Drachenfutter or dragon feet used to describe a gift brought to one's angry partner when coming home later than promised from the bar.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Nick.

PAPPAS: Fake.

COULTON: That is real.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: All right. Puzzle guru Art Chung, how did our contestants do in German?

ART CHUNG: It was a close game, but to Nick we say gut 10 gemacht. We'll see you in our final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Coming up, Jonathan Coulton sings about characters who try to take over the world and strangely none of them are in "Game Of Thrones." Plus, what are you wearing while listening to our show - also a fur bikini with ski goggles 11? Interesting. We'll be talking love, style and life with fashion blogger Garance Dore, so stay tuned 12. I'm Ophira Eisenberg, and you're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.

(APPLAUSE)