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Cultural German Question


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My sons are learning German and I am not a native speaker. I am trying to make a print rich environment for my sons and one way I am doing that is to use my younger son's curriculum (pre-school so lots of colors and signs). I am translating everything (and checking it 2-3 times) to German. One of the items I am translating is "Line Leader". I was planning on using this as this is the first person out the door when we go out type of thing. Translated it seems to go to "Linienfürer". As an American that doesn't know much German, "Furer" has a very dark connotation. Is this the case in Germany? I don't mind teaching my children to use this word if this is all that there is. I just don't want to be teaching my children something the equivalent of a racist word in english. 

 

Thank you for the help!

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According to my DH and inlaws, "fuhrer" has a generally negative connotation. But if fuhrer is part of the word, or if there's no other word you can use in the instance, then there's no problem to use it.

 

They suggest looking the word up on BeoLingus to see how it is used, or to find a similar word that might be better.

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My sons are learning German and I am not a native speaker. I am trying to make a print rich environment for my sons and one way I am doing that is to use my younger son's curriculum (pre-school so lots of colors and signs). I am translating everything (and checking it 2-3 times) to German. One of the items I am translating is "Line Leader". I was planning on using this as this is the first person out the door when we go out type of thing. Translated it seems to go to "Linienfürer". As an American that doesn't know much German, "Furer" has a very dark connotation. Is this the case in Germany? I don't mind teaching my children to use this word if this is all that there is. I just don't want to be teaching my children something the equivalent of a racist word in english. 

 

 

We do not have "line leaders" in German schools. There is no equivalent term. You would also not translate line into Linie; that is for geometry only; a line of people is a  Schlange (same word as for snake)

There would be the "first" person - Der/Die erste.

Edited by regentrude
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"Fuehrer" itself is a no-go. That has only one meaning.

But it exists in compound words: Reisefuehrer (guideboook), Fuehrerschein (drivers license), Anfuehrer (ring leader), Fahrzeugfuehrer (driver of a vehicle), Bergfuehrer (mountain guide). None of those have negative connotations. You just would not use them for the context you describe.

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Ha ha! I wish I lived on a boat! I have never heard of a caboose in a boat. I just called my father (who has studied sailing and lived on a boat for a while) and he has never heard of that term either. 

 

It is odd to me that don't have line leaders in Germany. Do they just line up behind John? Also what word do they use when they are talking about a leader of a group or whatever? Or is there never a time when they would have to say "leader" without some other word being attached to it?

 

So I should use erste and zuletzt? 

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Ha ha! I wish I lived on a boat! I have never heard of a caboose in a boat. I just called my father (who has studied sailing and lived on a boat for a while) and he has never heard of that term either. 

 

Not a caboose, a Kombuese. These are two different things, one not the translation of the other.

 

 

 

It is odd to me that don't have line leaders in Germany. Do they just line up behind John? Also what word do they use when they are talking about a leader of a group or whatever? Or is there never a time when they would have to say "leader" without some other word being attached to it?

So I should use erste and zuletzt? 

 

We do MUCH less lining up than kids in US schools (my kids attended ps and I was completely floored that they do everything in lines, even go to the bathroom).

When they do line up, it is usually in rows of two. the verb is "anstellen". "Stellt euch an", the teacher would say. Doesn't work with two kids, they can't form a Schlange.

 

What term is used for a leader depends on the context. The first person in a line usually does not get a specific term, it is der or die erste.

I would not use the term "letzte" for the second of two children, even though technically correct. one is first (erste), the other second (der or die zweite).

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