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- The Meaning of "Unterhalten"
The Meaning of "Unterhalten"
Hello everyone,
I have thought of the word "Unterhalten" recently and wondered what it means.
According to Google Translate, it means "To chat".
According to my German dictionary , it means to: Amuse, entertain, maintain.
So my question is: can it be used in the context of interviewing?
Thank you! AP4418
18 Comments
All translations are correct. You might say:
Wir unterhalten uns (we are having a chat)
Ich habe mich im Kino gut unterhalten (I felt amused at the movies; it could also mean "I chatted to my delight at the movies" - but probably to nobody else's delight)
Es kostet viel Geld, ein Haus zu unterhalten (It costs a lot of money to maintain a house)
You could use "unterhalten" in an interview situation, but only if it is a true conversation, not a strict question-answer version, that would be "befragen" or the germanized "interviewen".
1346
Both is actually right. You can use "unterhalten" if you want to say people chat or talk to each other.
Meine Freunde unterhalten sich am Abend.
Sie unterhält sich mit ihrer Freundin.
But it can also mean to entertain.
Die Musik unterhält die Leute auf dem Fest.
Das schöne Konzert unterhält die Besucher.
If you use "unterhalten" for an interview you could say:
Der Reporter unterhält sich mit dem Musiker.
123
Unterhalten translates better as "to converse". There are other more colloquial words for "to chat" like quatschen, plaudern, chatten etc.
123
*ich will mein Nutzername behalten
Edit: Apparently it's meinen. Do I need to go back to school? XD
1400
Dessert-Rose - I am not a native German, just a learner like you. BTW, your sentence made sense to me.