Ich spreche klein deutsch

[pne]

It always amuses me when people say, "Ich spreche klein(e) deutsch" (or variations thereon).

Presumably, it's meant to be a translation of "I speak only a little German", but"klein" is "little" only in the sense of "small" ("I speak small German"?), not in the sense of "not much" (which would be "wenig").

It's a cute mistake.

Comments

Re: ein bisschen

[pne.livejournal.com]

I thought it was only 1 's'

I've seen that spelling; my father always told me it was wrong, however. I'll have to look it up. *does so*

Ah yes. Apparently "bischen" (pronounced with a "sch" sound, presumably) is a regional term meaning "to rock (a baby) in one's arms", and the word meaning "little bit" is spelled "bißchen" (or, post-reform, "bisschen").