I am slowly integrating into the blogging world, and I read one that I specifically enjoy about a girl who spontaneously moved to Germany with no language knowledge to become a baker. As I read it, I really do start to wonder how her German is coming along. Her entire blog is in English and she speaks about her classes very little. (Remind you of anyone?) My question to you guys is, does anyone wonder how I'm coming along?
Probably not, but if you didn't want my opinion, it's a safe bet to say you wouldn't be here reading. ... I hope.
Background: Rebecca knew no deutsch beyond aufwiedersehen before college. In all honesty, she didn't even know what country aufwiedersehen came from.
In college, by some random circumstances she had half a mind to enroll in a German language course. She took three semesters before coming to Germany and declaring a German major. At this point, she could say what she liked to do in her free time (Ich koche gern!) and describe her family. Which granted, by how confusing her family is to explain in English, doing it in German is a bit of a feat. (Ich habe viele Geschwister!)
As of right now, she can say what she needs to and is able to hold semi-intelligent conversations in German so long as the other end speaks clearly enough. Her biggest accomplishment thus far was having an AHA!-moment (Shout out to all you Tuesday people.) during class where she realized that while doodling, she could understand her teacher when only half-listening. It was thrilling.
What I really wanted to get at here, was that my German has improved, but it is not perfect. Absolutely nowhere near perfect. Although some other students are having some problems with that mind-set...
The biggest example is a girl storming out of class (twice) because she didn't feel she needed to review. However, my favorite was today.
I was on the bus with the other American students, just sitting in my seat minding my own business until all the younger school kids got on. They are always rambunctious and loud, but you can always hear English over it. That voice is always a girl from my class. Let's call her Blondie. So Blondie thinks she is very good at speaking German,...
this is how the conversation went between her and a nine-year-old German.
Blondie: (loudly speaking English)...
German Kid: He, kannst du deutsch?
Blondie: Doch! Kannst DU englisch???
In English now...
B: (loud English)
GK: Hey, do you speak German?
B: Nu-huh! Do YOU speak English?
The hilarity is that she improperly uses German while declaring that she can speak German but ultimately actually saying (and implying through her misuse of the language) that she really doesn't understand German. A true face-palm moment. I just shook my head because this is how that conversation should have went:
B: (loud English)
GK: Hey, do you NOT know any German?
B: Nu-huh. Of course I know German. Do YOU speak English?
Lesson learned from Abe Lincoln: It's better to say nothing and be thought a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Bis bald.
Meet Rebecca
- Rebecca
- Amateur blogger (yes, there are professionals) who started with a travel blog that quickly degenerated into blabbering. Along with a life goal of surfing with Eddie Vedder, attending BlogHer is now on my list.
Showing posts with label German language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label German language. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The Rest of the Story
So I promised I would be back and here I am, well rested.
I spent a lot of my weekend in Stuttgart, our free trip of the week was there and so it was a good excuse to visit the Abele's. Apologies to all in the states, because it is beautiful here. Upper fifties and sunny. I guided a miniature-tour of my own that may or may not have included a group of Stuttgarters giving out free hugs.
That night, I bid ado to my group and went to the Abele's house where we went to Ray's volleyball game. It's beginning to be quite a tradition and I am apparently Ray's biggest fan. I was told, but this is a lie, that I was the first to yell at an out ball (In English because my reaction times are not that fast in German) and I'm pretty positive everyone thinks I'm insane. I'm fine with that considering their team is pretty awesome. Ubly girls volleyball team: we're going to take a field trip to Germany to watch these guys play. Next week is against Konstanz and I've considered making a "That just happened!" sign. Other than that, I napped a lot. Love visiting Nick.
On the train back to Horb I took my first real test in German: How well can she speak in the real world?
Score: Eh.
I went to the Hauptbahnhof myself and was a little behind schedule. While jogging to my platform (Is it weird I had to look up the English word for platform but knew it in German?) a conductor stopped me and told me that if I wanted to go to Horb the platform had been changed. Bonus points for not having to have to ask him to repeat himself.
On the train itself I asked a man if the seat beside him was free. That is a four-word sentence in German. It took four words for that man to realize that I am American. Nevertheless he conversed with me the entire hour long ride back to Horb. He spoke no English, and that's where I feel I succeeded. He told me about his fifty-six years of working and what his retirement plans are for next month. Yeah, I am going to take that as a personal accomplishment. In a sink-or-swim situation I belly flop and then doggy paddle my way through.
Bis bald.
I spent a lot of my weekend in Stuttgart, our free trip of the week was there and so it was a good excuse to visit the Abele's. Apologies to all in the states, because it is beautiful here. Upper fifties and sunny. I guided a miniature-tour of my own that may or may not have included a group of Stuttgarters giving out free hugs.
That night, I bid ado to my group and went to the Abele's house where we went to Ray's volleyball game. It's beginning to be quite a tradition and I am apparently Ray's biggest fan. I was told, but this is a lie, that I was the first to yell at an out ball (In English because my reaction times are not that fast in German) and I'm pretty positive everyone thinks I'm insane. I'm fine with that considering their team is pretty awesome. Ubly girls volleyball team: we're going to take a field trip to Germany to watch these guys play. Next week is against Konstanz and I've considered making a "That just happened!" sign. Other than that, I napped a lot. Love visiting Nick.
On the train back to Horb I took my first real test in German: How well can she speak in the real world?
Score: Eh.
I went to the Hauptbahnhof myself and was a little behind schedule. While jogging to my platform (Is it weird I had to look up the English word for platform but knew it in German?) a conductor stopped me and told me that if I wanted to go to Horb the platform had been changed. Bonus points for not having to have to ask him to repeat himself.
On the train itself I asked a man if the seat beside him was free. That is a four-word sentence in German. It took four words for that man to realize that I am American. Nevertheless he conversed with me the entire hour long ride back to Horb. He spoke no English, and that's where I feel I succeeded. He told me about his fifty-six years of working and what his retirement plans are for next month. Yeah, I am going to take that as a personal accomplishment. In a sink-or-swim situation I belly flop and then doggy paddle my way through.
Bis bald.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Next time: Facewash.
Not much to update about tonight. I'm kind of tired today and the schooling is catching up with me. We have six hours of school a day and so it leaves very little for other things. Although, I am nowhere near complaining since I have no job right now (that might happen in Tuebingen) and Elke doesn't have many requirements of me, maybe to help load the dishwasher because that's hard for her to bend down on crutches. She even does my laundry! What a crazy world these Germans live in...
I am getting this feeling that my German isn't actually getting better, despite the comments from my host family, but rather worse. I realize this probably isn't so, but when the thought of attending another University completely in a foreign language is looming over your head, you have your doubts.
That is only compacted by the fact that Germans can, without any mistakes, pick out a foreigner. Especially one from the United States. It's like a sixth sense. Or maybe I emit a pheromone and it reeks of McDonald's and fanny packs. I have no idea, but either way on some subconscious level they just know I am not one of them. It is sometimes a hostile feeling that's hard to explain.
For example, today a little kid threw a snowball at me and I felt discriminated against. Honestly indignant: I was thinking, why would he throw that at me? Is it because I'm American? Do I yell at him? Oh crap, how do you insult a seven-year-old in German? Afterward I considered avoiding him and ended up sulking away with my head down and proverbial tail between my legs.
Now let's be real here, the kid probably lobbed a snowball at any mobile object in his range, so I shouldn't be hurt. Then why was I worried? It's a weird feeling, truly and definitely something interesting to think about. (Epilogue: I told Elke and Volker about the incident and they said next time chuck back as many snowballs as I can before he runs away. I take that as permission to facewash him in the snow.)
I believe that's all for tonight. Best to everyone back home and a big thank you to everyone who reads. I hope you enjoy.
Bis bald.
I am getting this feeling that my German isn't actually getting better, despite the comments from my host family, but rather worse. I realize this probably isn't so, but when the thought of attending another University completely in a foreign language is looming over your head, you have your doubts.
That is only compacted by the fact that Germans can, without any mistakes, pick out a foreigner. Especially one from the United States. It's like a sixth sense. Or maybe I emit a pheromone and it reeks of McDonald's and fanny packs. I have no idea, but either way on some subconscious level they just know I am not one of them. It is sometimes a hostile feeling that's hard to explain.
For example, today a little kid threw a snowball at me and I felt discriminated against. Honestly indignant: I was thinking, why would he throw that at me? Is it because I'm American? Do I yell at him? Oh crap, how do you insult a seven-year-old in German? Afterward I considered avoiding him and ended up sulking away with my head down and proverbial tail between my legs.
Now let's be real here, the kid probably lobbed a snowball at any mobile object in his range, so I shouldn't be hurt. Then why was I worried? It's a weird feeling, truly and definitely something interesting to think about. (Epilogue: I told Elke and Volker about the incident and they said next time chuck back as many snowballs as I can before he runs away. I take that as permission to facewash him in the snow.)
I believe that's all for tonight. Best to everyone back home and a big thank you to everyone who reads. I hope you enjoy.
Bis bald.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Das Fenster ist groß
Today, let me just give you a taste of what speaking/learning German is like. (Uncle Brain, you are two steps ahead of everyone reading this post...) There are entire books dedicated to deterring one from the German language written for many reasons. Mark Twain was one of these authors. He has an essay titled "The Awful German Language". He was also fluent in German. That alone should be evidence.
I was discussing this with my host family when Elke quickly jumped up, or as fast as someone in crutches can, and ran off to get a book. (She had knee surgery two days ago.) It's titled Nothing for Ungood... and let me just read you a little of it:
"...The German language is something that must be learned from birth...(I'm translating this from German, give me a break...) In German there are three indefinite articles: der, die, and das. One must know, of these three, every conjugation of the article in every case. For example: German.
Nominativ der die das die (plural)
Genitiv des der des der
Dativ dem der dem den
Akkusativ den die das die
Now let's look at that same chart, in terms of English:
Nominative the the the the the (plural)
Genitive the the the the the
Dative the the the the the
Accusative the the the the the
Do we see the differences?
In all honesty, who wants to learn a language with 16 possibilities for the? There is also 16 possibilities for a (with English only two, a or an) and 32 different ways to end an adjective! In English there is no way to end an adjective. We don't say, "Wow, what a great*interject masculine ending* shed!"
For an English plural you only need stick a s at the end of word. Just slap it on. In German you can add an s or perhaps an e, or maybe two little points above a letter in the middle of the word, or maybe en, or it could be the case that you add nothing at all and you just must know that it is plural. ..."
Sounds fun, right?... Thought so. I bet you're all happy you took Spanish in high school now.
I was discussing this with my host family when Elke quickly jumped up, or as fast as someone in crutches can, and ran off to get a book. (She had knee surgery two days ago.) It's titled Nothing for Ungood... and let me just read you a little of it:
"...The German language is something that must be learned from birth...(I'm translating this from German, give me a break...) In German there are three indefinite articles: der, die, and das. One must know, of these three, every conjugation of the article in every case. For example: German.
Nominativ der die das die (plural)
Genitiv des der des der
Dativ dem der dem den
Akkusativ den die das die
Now let's look at that same chart, in terms of English:
Nominative the the the the the (plural)
Genitive the the the the the
Dative the the the the the
Accusative the the the the the
Do we see the differences?
In all honesty, who wants to learn a language with 16 possibilities for the? There is also 16 possibilities for a (with English only two, a or an) and 32 different ways to end an adjective! In English there is no way to end an adjective. We don't say, "Wow, what a great*interject masculine ending* shed!"
For an English plural you only need stick a s at the end of word. Just slap it on. In German you can add an s or perhaps an e, or maybe two little points above a letter in the middle of the word, or maybe en, or it could be the case that you add nothing at all and you just must know that it is plural. ..."
Sounds fun, right?... Thought so. I bet you're all happy you took Spanish in high school now.
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