Ich höre : Es ist wichtig, dass Du für diese Übung an einem ungestörten Ort bist, an dem Du nichts weiter zu tun hast, als Dich auf diese Übung einzulassen.

#1 I hear "an" in both cases. He swallows the first 'a', making it more like 'n.

Even after slowing the playback speed to 50% of normal, it still sounded like in to me, but I guess 'n and in are extremely close. Actually, I so wanted to hear an because that was the only preposition I thought possible with Ort. Then searches returned examples, including questions from non-native speakers confused by such examples. Thanks for listening!

#3 You use "in" with "Ort" when you are talking about a locality (town, city, etc).

And never for an enclosed space such as a room?


Now that the actual utterance has been cleared up, I can get to the other thought that was rattling around in my head. Was the speaker translating the English term safe space? Could that ever be expressed as in einem sicheren Ort?

re patman2: Could that ever be expressed as in einem sicheren Ort?

Für mein Sprachgefühl nicht, es muss "an einem sicheren Ort/Platz" heissen.

Aber man kann sich in einer sicheren Unterkunft/Behausung befinden.

Thanks again to everyone that listened to the piece. Now that I know it can only be an, that's all I hear. Funny how that works. ;)

#7, #8 - Thanks for the comments on safe space. And although I'm now going to use the expression in a way different from the vogue term safe space, it's always reassuring to see what a safe a place LEO is to ask questions, no matter how basic (or even stupid?).

#8 - How should place be translated in those two examples? Gegend? Umgebung? Ortschaft? Gemeinde? Wohnraum? Milieu? Platz? Fragen über Fragen.


OT: I wish I could serve up IPA as readily as in #9.

#8 - How should place be translated in those two examples? Gegend? Umgebung? Ortschaft? Gemeinde? Wohnraum? Milieu? Platz? Fragen über Fragen.

Das habe ich mich auch gefragt. Schwierig, wenn man nicht weiß, was "this place" genau ist.

Thanks so much for the translation options in #12.

And circling back to the first of the two questionable translations listed in #8 — "I hate this place." "Ich hasse diesen Ort." — I found that exact phrasing in an episode of Seinfeld (11 minutes into The Chinese Restaurant / Im chinesischen Restaurant). Elaine exclaims "I hate this place!" The German caption: „Ich hasse diesen Ort!“ Maybe the dubbed version would have been better: „Ich hasse diesen Lokal!“ But does Lokal always work for a restaurant?

#13 Meditation, wo man "in dem Ort" versinkt, den man sich zur Meditation vorstellt.

Thanks for that! That was what I was clumsily asking about in #4 with safe space. I should have said safe place and emphasized that I meant it in a metaphorical sense.

#12 Ah ja. Mit mehr Fleisch drumrum versteh ich das jetzt auch.

#14 And circling back to the first of the two questionable translations listed in #8 — "I hate this place." "Ich hasse diesen Ort." — I found that exact phrasing in an episode of Seinfeld (11 minutes into The Chinese Restaurant / Im chinesischen Restaurant). Elaine exclaims "I hate this place!" The German caption: „Ich hasse diesen Ort!“ Maybe the dubbed version would have been better: „Ich hasse diesen Lokal!“ But does Lokal always work for a restaurant?

"Ich hasse dieses Lokal" halte ich durchaus für möglich. Allerdings halte ich "hassen" für Restaurants, die man nicht mag, schon für ziemlich stark. "Ich kann dieses Restaurant/Lokal nicht leiden" hätte ich vielleicht gesagt. Aber Sprache befindet sich ja auch ständig in einer Spirale, Steigerungen immer weiter zu steigern. Insofern könnte das "hassen" bei jüngeren Zeitgenossen vielleicht auch schon normal sein, wenn man sein Nichtgefallen zum Ausdruck bringen will.

MMn kann man fast immer Lokal synonym für Restaurant verwenden.

Many thanks for 15-17! Now I'll just have to update my mental vocabulary list to expand some definitions and correct an error:

1) Laden does not just refer to retail stores and shops.

2) Lokal does not just refer to bars, pubs, taverns, etc.

3) Lokal is neuter, not masculine.

My German teacher would have made me write das Lokal 100 times in my notebook! Fortunately LEO is more lenient. ;)