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- Topic: German >
- "Mir geht es eigentlich gut."
75 Comments
2001
"How are you going?" may be common in some areas, but it's dialect and not standard English.
And Germans do not say "Wie gehen Sie?" as a greeting or asking how someone is feeling "Wie gehen Sie?" would mean, in a very literal sense, how someone is going from one place to another. "Wie geht's dir/euch/Ihnen?" is correct for the greeting.
The Germans commonly say “wie geht es dir“ or simply „wie geht‘s“. This means literally “How is it going to you”, which we do not say. We might say “How are things going” or “How is it going”. They are said in the same context as “How are you”. That is completely different from How are you going / wie gehen sie.
649
I'm English, amd "How are you going?" sounds unnatural to me, instead I wpuld say "How is IT going?".
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"I am actually going well" .. is not accepted either. I don't know if it expects the Actually to be put first in that sentence or just does not like "going" being used in that answer which is a normal Aussie answer.
urgh I hate how it expects us to guess how to put the answer it wants when we know exactly what this sentence means.
I'll put a report in that this answer should be accepted.
"I am actually doing well" should be accepted, because it is used in the same circumstance and with the same meaning as the German phrase. "I am actually going well" could be correct if it's a common Aussie response. If so, then please report it so that it can be added to the database. However, it is not a literal translation. In the German sentence the subject is "It" and "mir" is most often "to me" - So literally it means "It goes well to me." But that isn't a good translation either, because it isn't considered to make much sense in English. This is one of those sentences that should not be translated literally. We should respond with a commonly-used phrase that means the same thing.
In American English, you would not normally say "It goes well for me" (or ask "How does it go for you?"). The normal conversation would be more like "How's it going?" "Actually, it's going well" or "It's actually going well" or "It's going well, actually." Though to be honest, "How's it going?" is a more casual way of asking "How are you?" or "How are you doing?," so you wouldn't normally get a complete sentence in reply, more like "Good, thanks. How about you?"
I was given the task of translating "Mir geht es eigentlich gut." After pondering the seventeen ways of saying that in English, then trying to read Duo's mind about which way Duo would like me to answer it, I, of course, guessed incorrectly. This particular lesson is one of my least favorite, as there is a higher percentage of "Guess which version I'll want THIS time?" happening. Aargh.
It's a shame to make such a simple concept so confusing! "Es geht mir gut" or "Mir geht es gut" both sound "normal" to me. I lived in Germany four years and studied German in college, but I am not a native. We need to hear from a native German on this. Based on all the icons by your name, DavidCaldw1, I think you are doing very well!
Eigen vs Eigentlich
The more common interpretation here for Eigen has been 'to own', but eigentlich is 'actually'
I am curious how this shifts meaning when lich is added to make it an adverb.
Ive seen eigen also translates to 'destinctive.' Which makes more sense for the shift in meaning. But Im not 100% certain
Any clarification would be useful, thanks in advance
Out of habit I frequently asked my father "How do you feel" and he would usually grin and say "with my hands" or "with my fingers". Then we would laugh and I would change my question to something like "Are you well? Do you have any pain or other physical problems." But in common usage, we Americans say "How do you feel" and we mean "Are you feeling sick or well or sad or happy, etc." We do not usually ask what method one uses to feel another object. This is two different meanings of the word "feel" and it is ambiguous in English.
1533
How's it going or how are you doing are the traditional British ways, but British English is an endangered species.
2001
They're also common in American English. But that doesn't really matter here, since the German sentence translates to "I am actually doing well," not "How are you doing?"
If we say "How goes it?" we're usually being a bit comical. It's one of those things that may be incorrect "proper" English at the moment but could be creeping into the language. Maybe the next one to creep in will be "How go you?" ... When you think about it "How do you do?" is absolutely correct and normal but a bit strange too.
Later edit/addendum :
Also I think the following alternatives probably carry the same meaning as the German sentence :
I'm doing pretty well. I'm doing quite well. I'm doing rather well. I'm going quite well.
All things considered I'm doing well. ( I wasn't completely sure about this nuance, but had the feeling that the German version allowed for a whiff of countering the idea that all may not actually be well, otherwise why not just say "Mir geht es gut").
2001
That's not a translation of the exercise sentence. "Mir geht es eigentlich gut" = "I am actually doing well."
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784
I thought eigentlich has meanings of actually and really. Why isn't 'I am really fine.' accepted? or in this particular text, I should say I am actually fine?
564
It marked "Really I'm doing fine" as incorrect. I suggest this is added as a valid answer unless there is some subtle difference not recognised in English.
I thought so too at first, but it is actually quite easy to figure out if you think of another example. Look at the following two sentences:
Actually I am doing fine. & Are you actually married?
Only in one of these sentences can the word actually be replaced by really. That should answer your question. I guess the word eigentlich can only be used in that particular context. I am guessing, but I'm actually quite confident I am right. ;)