When learning English as a foreign language, we tend to pronounce "t" as "t", and when Americans speak, it sounds like they soften the "t" inside words, making it sound like "d" or nothing at all ("").
The trader/traitor is a common example, see for instance http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/68634/are-traitor-and-trader-pronounc...
I heard the Party/Par_A on East & West coasts, but maybe it's a regional accent? I remember Nancy Reagan's G.O.P = "Grain Owl Par A".

As I couldn't hear this in other parts of the world, I asked if it was typical of AE.

what about the inner "t" sounding between "d" and " ", such as " trader = traitor" or "party = par A" ? it seems ubiquitous in the USA, but not so common outside, so perhaps it denotes American English ?

Jupp53 wrote on 06/21/12 at 10:34:43:

Your teacher was Yoda? 

In my language classes we had a lot of those things that were useless in practice. Worst was in French (as we went there on holiday every year), when you would use those sentences only to get corrected

"gehört" in the meaning of "belongs to" is acceptable, in the meaning of "has to be put to the right place -- has to be done" sounds old to me. "The doorknob needs fixed" - "Der Türknauf gehört repariert." is something understandable, but a teacher would underline it red. 

In school I learned the sentence: "Your hair needs cutting badly." Does this sound like an English sentence?

Do the Germans say anything like "The lawn needs mowed," or "The doorknob needs fixed?"  That is improper English, but it's entirely common in Ohio around Columbus or Cincinnati, two major seats of German immigration.  People from elsewhere do a double-take when they hear it.

kylemeister wrote on 06/20/12 at 03:02:19:

Actually, in British English there is no strict rule about this and either a singular or plural verb may be used according to context.  There's a detailed discussion of the topic in 'The Complete Plain Words' (Gowers), in which the need for flexibility is illustrated by the sentences 'The committee leaves its hats in the hall' and 'The committee were smaller when I sat on them', neither of which expresses clearly what is intended.

Stigma wrote on 06/20/12 at 00:58:02:


I dunno how true that is, but I do know that at one time German was the second most widely spoken language in the U.S.   There were German language newspapers throughout the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, and in the East as well.  During the civil war, German regiments formed an entire corps in the Union army (three divisions).  German immigrants, organized into private political militias, were mainly responsible for Missouri remaining in the Union.  The south-facing slopes of the Ohio Valley around Cincinnati were once devoted to the production of German-style wine.  Throughout the Midwest there are many splendid surviving examples of  German brick churches; more like cathedrals, really.

The anti-German riots of 1917, unfortunately, wiped out all vestiges of German culture.  Just here in Columbus, Germans were chased out of their houses, street names were changed, and a statue of Schiller was torn down.  (Decades later it was found in a warehouse and restored to its original location).  German newspapers ceased publication.  Lots of Muellers became Millers.  But there are, I believe, some peculiarly German-sounding word-orders used in the English of the Midwest.