"Die Kenntnisse?"
Translation:The skills?
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1770
You have to use plural when you mean more than one knowledge: Ich habe viele Kenntnisse auf dem Gebiet. If you want to say that someone knows one thing : Jemand hat Kenntnis davon.
Cool, except "more than one knowledge" isn't idiomatic English. What are these "knowledges" that one can enumerate? Are they facts? Are they areas of expertise?
I'm not saying that your observation is wrong, only that it needs some clarification for speakers of English to make sense of it.
- 1004
Singular (Kenntnis) is translated as "knowledge" (knowing a fact).
Plural (Kenntnisse) is translated as "skills".
How are we supposed to hear a question mark? I didn't hear any pitch change upward at the end of the sentence.
I think you want to know if "Kenntnisse" translates to "skills".
My personal answer is no it doesn't. Dictionaries say yes, but I do not agree.
For me skills means: Fähigkeiten / Fertigkeiten / anwendungsbereites Wissen,
and knowledge = Kenntnisse / Wissen / Erfahrungen / Bildung im allgemeinen.
It is just my opinion and I could cope with it all my live without problems.
Attention this in my personal opinion!
I was actually just making fun of the sentence. But thanks for the advice, too, I appreciate it :)
A question if you don't mind: is Kenntnis really used in the plural? In the dict.cc I've only seen examples sentences and expression with Kenntnis, never with Kenntnisse
Well, I checked it {on dict.cc} and I understand why you get this impression.
Our examples is more or less the exception. I explain.
In most cases "Kenntnis" refers to {the knowing, acquaintance, cognizance... } and it will be singular AFAIK,
When it comes to "Kenntnis" = knowledge or even skills, abilities |which are legit translations| it can be singular or plural in this case more likely plural like in the following German example sentence.
"Er verfügt über sehr gute, fundierte Kenntnisse, die er erfolgreich einsetzt."
He has very good knowing/knowledge/intellectual abilities, which he deploys successfully.
In the above German example the speaker will or can not define a specific "Kenntnis" that's why the plural is used. Same as in our example no specific "Kenntins" is meant, but general knowledge.
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The knowledge? "skill= Fähigkeit, Fertigkeit - NOT the same as knowledge! July 2020 - why do we have to put up with a wrong translation? This needs to be fixed!
How do I differentiate Kenntnisse between skills and knowledge? These are 2 different things!
- 1004
You would probably be better off thinking of Kenntnis as knowledge and Kenntnisse as skills. Note the numbers to the right. These indicate the relative frequency of use:
The debate on this page leaves me confused. If the plural Kenntnisse does not mean skills, then what does it mean?
the knowledges? What sense does it make to have a plural version of this noun at all if it only means the exact same thing as the singular?
How do we land on a clear understanding of the difference between the singular and the plural with all of the noise here contradicting the meaning given by the website?
Are 'Kenntnisse' actually skills? My offering of 'expertise' was knocked back. My Collins dict says Kenntnis = wissen; -kenntnisse = knowledge of, eg Deutschkentnisse = knowledge of German
Hi Randon,
"Kenntniss(e)" is not even knowledge to be honest with you. Don't know where the Collins got that from. "Kenntnis" is when you have got an information about anything which you own in any form (written note, your memory etc.) but it doesn't mean that you have understood it. Whilst "Wissen" is something you know, understand and are able to reproduce and tell in your own words.
+backtoschool Curious. Yours is meaning 'b' in Collins : b (no pl, form): etw zur Kenntnis nehmen von etw Kenntnis nehmen to note sth
Kenntinis is the knowing or information as explained above not the knowledge
http://www.dict.cc/?s=Kenntnis
And when it states here knowledge then olny in the meaning of [information, acquaintance with, cognizance] this is important!
And back to the original sentence/question
"Die Kenntnisse? " Translation: The skills?
http://www.dict.cc/?s=skills
This is plainly wrong in my opinion for above reasons. I consult an linguist. My understanding is that Kenntnis and skills dont go together.
Attainments for Kenntnisse, really? Leo agrees with me that the most common translation is skills. Why does duo reach for the most obscure meanings? Without context, how is anyone supposed to just know which of the five translations Duo wants!
Why do I need the article if I translate as "knowledge"? Are we talking London taxis here??
If "skills" is not a good translation for "Kenntnisse", then Duoling should accept others or at least change it. Would Germans actually use this word in the way Duo presents it in these lessons? Like 'Ich habe gute Kenntnisse'? It seems like they wouldn't.
Yes, we would, but mainly in a formal context e.g. an application. If we´re talking slightly ironic slang, most of my friends would just use Skills. formal "Ich habe Englisch-Kenntnisse" normal speech "Mein Englisch ist gut" some of my friends "Meine Englisch-Skills sind gut." In general I would say that nowadays about 50% of german slang are just random english words("random" being another example of that)
What would be used by Germans most often in this regard - fähigkeiten or kenntnisse ?
