Liebe Michelle,To the American/English eye, the H needs to be capitalized because it's the start of a sentence, but to a German eye, the H needs to be lower case because "Liebe Michelle" is actually the start of the sentence. It makes sense, but a new paragraph that starts with a lower case seems so weird to me. I guess it's just the sense of tradition.
hast du einen schönen Tag gehabt?
Mittwoch, 7. Juli 2010
*Uncapitalized First Words in Letters*
The differing German grammar and editorial rules have left my brain completely confused. But one thing that I will never remember is the uncapitalized word at the start of letters. Like this:
Abonnieren
Kommentare zum Post (Atom)
7 Kommentare:
Yes!!! That drives me insane! It just seems so wrong.
And as an interesting aside, they have changed rules for capitalizing Ich and Dich in correspondence, so now older folks (in 30's) think younger ones are ignorant, as they follow the new rules!
Yes, but I have a friend who thinks it shows respect, so he still capitalizes Du, Dich, Dir, Ihr, and Euch and I've taken it up too.
My husband who is German got a big kick out of the German flag + soccer and also the sandals with socks. My husband wore socks with Birkenstocks. After 12 years of marriage I have Americanized him. Also got a kick out of the Missionaries who thought the toilet paper had been used before as toilet paper.
No, that's no tradition. Only a few years ago you had to write:
"Liebe Michelle!
Hattest Du einen schönen Tag?..."
See the difference? ;)
No, that's not traditional. Only a few years ago you had to write:
"Liebe Michelle!
Hattest (capital letter!) Du (capital letter!) einen schönen Tag?"
See?
I still capitalize "Du" in my emails. I think it shows respect.
Kommentar veröffentlichen