Uhh, uhh! Mh-hm-m. Yes, I did just actually “say” something there, not just make random noises.
Do you know what I said?
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
When I moved to Europe and started working in a more international environment and even
more so when I began dating Mr. German Man, I realized that not all of the sounds that
I made were necessarily universally recognized. So today I’m going to say the sound without
you seeing me, then say the sound with facial expression, and then give an explanation as
to what it means and how it’s used. Try to see if you can figure out the meaning
before I explain it.
Let’s start with a few basic ones and then work our way up from there.
Uh-huh is a sound of agreement. Do you still want chicken for dinner? Uh-huh.
Uh-uh is the opposite of uh-huh as it expresses a negative response. Do you think Bielefeld
actually exists? Uh-uh. Uh-huh is spelled uh-huh, and uh-uh is spelled uh-uh, so just
one letter off from each other, but a big difference in meaning.
And you can go back and forth with these two words as people in German often do with doch
and nein. Pluto is too a planet. No it’s not. Uh-huh! Uh-uh. Uh-huh! Uh-uh.
Naah? Is used to turn a phrase into a question. This looks pretty good. Naah? The naah at
the end shows I’m looking for an answer, generally an affirmation of what I just said.
This looks pretty good. Naah? Oh, yes, yes, it’s just beautiful.
Uhhh! Uhhh! Is usually accompanied by a smile and raised eyebrows and means “you see?!
I told you!” Uhhh! Uhhh! The soup is pretty good. You see, the soup is pretty good, just
like I told you it would be.
Hmmm basically means interesting.
Siebenhundertsiebenundsiebzigtausend-sebenhundertsiebenundsiebzig
is one single word in German and contains 65 letters. Hmmm!
This is one that Mr. German Man definitely did not know when we first met, and he had
to ask me, like, what in the world do you mean with that noise? Mh-hm-m means I don't know.
Mh-hm-m! I don’t know why there's peanut butter all over the kitchen floor.
Mh-hm-m.
This one is usually accompanied by that wagging finger, a smile, and playful, friendly eyes.
And it means, like, no, no no, no, no, no. Don't you even think about it. So let’s
say there’s one last cookie on the plate in the middle of the table and Mr. German Man
makes a grab for it. I could say "eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh" to symbolize that he better
not even think about eating that cookie. Because, I mean, we should share it, of course.
So my question for you is: actually this time I have quite a lot of questions. First of all,
how many of these sounds did you already know and how many surprised you? Did you learn
anything new today? And if you’re from an English speaking country other than the U.S.,
do they use these sounds there as well? And also what other cool or interesting sounds
have you encountered out there in the world? Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. Please don't forget to subscribe
and hit that like button. And also, for more fun stuff and behind-the-scenes photos, and
just whatever's going on around town, you can check me out over here on my Twitter and
my Facebook page. Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
Wow, I'm asking a lot of my viewers this time. I have many questions that I want answered.
I'm stuck.