If one day wasn't enough to be German, then how about three weeks then?
That was the challenge posed to me as Tina's parents stayed with us in Reading, coinciding with Easter. Before they arrived Tina explained to me that her parents do not speak any English, which scared me somewhat. Despite that I put on a brave face and said "awesome!" This spurred me into learning as much German as I could possibly manage, just so I could hold the most basic of conversations with them.
Earlier on, I resolved that I would start learning some languages during my time here. With the intention of travelling to Germany for the Berlin Marathon, the lessons learned from France over the New Year period, and the many different countries I wanted to visit, I took it upon myself to learn the languages of the countries I would go to, starting with French and German. I subscribed to a couple of podcast channels that teach French and German. It was the first step I took to become conversant in these languages.
When Tina's folks arrived, I introduced myself in German. Actually I rehearsed the introduction many many many times, in case I forgot how to say how are you or nice to meet you. The introduction went so easily, it felt like I was a fluent German speaker. But as time went on, and more German was spoken to me, I struggled to understand and struggled to say anything else. Podcasts can only teach you so much, and I have only learned for a couple of weeks. Often I had to speak slowly to them, sometimes in English, sometimes in German, most times incomprehensibly. It was quite tough for me and, I'm sure, for them too.
Indeed if it wasn't for Google Translate on my laptop, or my iPod Touch, I'd be stuck at sea without a paddle and a life jacket. I used Google Translate to translate the things I wanted to say in German. It is mostly accurate, but sometimes the words and the ordering can be incorrect, a case of Lost in Translation. So when I typed in the phrase Where did you go? in Google Translate, I got back Wo haben Sie?, which doesn't make sense in German. The correct way to say this is Wo Waren Sie?, which literally means Where were you?, but of course we don't say that in English. So I did get a few quizzical looks from Tina's parents when I said something in German that didn't make sense to them. It felt awkward when I said something that didn't come across correctly to them - I was afraid of saying the wrong thing!
But I did manage to have some conversation with them. Topics that I recall included:
That was the challenge posed to me as Tina's parents stayed with us in Reading, coinciding with Easter. Before they arrived Tina explained to me that her parents do not speak any English, which scared me somewhat. Despite that I put on a brave face and said "awesome!" This spurred me into learning as much German as I could possibly manage, just so I could hold the most basic of conversations with them.
Earlier on, I resolved that I would start learning some languages during my time here. With the intention of travelling to Germany for the Berlin Marathon, the lessons learned from France over the New Year period, and the many different countries I wanted to visit, I took it upon myself to learn the languages of the countries I would go to, starting with French and German. I subscribed to a couple of podcast channels that teach French and German. It was the first step I took to become conversant in these languages.
When Tina's folks arrived, I introduced myself in German. Actually I rehearsed the introduction many many many times, in case I forgot how to say how are you or nice to meet you. The introduction went so easily, it felt like I was a fluent German speaker. But as time went on, and more German was spoken to me, I struggled to understand and struggled to say anything else. Podcasts can only teach you so much, and I have only learned for a couple of weeks. Often I had to speak slowly to them, sometimes in English, sometimes in German, most times incomprehensibly. It was quite tough for me and, I'm sure, for them too.
Indeed if it wasn't for Google Translate on my laptop, or my iPod Touch, I'd be stuck at sea without a paddle and a life jacket. I used Google Translate to translate the things I wanted to say in German. It is mostly accurate, but sometimes the words and the ordering can be incorrect, a case of Lost in Translation. So when I typed in the phrase Where did you go? in Google Translate, I got back Wo haben Sie?, which doesn't make sense in German. The correct way to say this is Wo Waren Sie?, which literally means Where were you?, but of course we don't say that in English. So I did get a few quizzical looks from Tina's parents when I said something in German that didn't make sense to them. It felt awkward when I said something that didn't come across correctly to them - I was afraid of saying the wrong thing!
But I did manage to have some conversation with them. Topics that I recall included:
- Occupation (what we did)
- Where we lived in New Zealand and Germany
- Music
- Sports
- Family
- Food
- Learning English and German
While in the office, I found some company whitepapers of Concerto and Rhapsody, a case study involving a customer reference site, and a background of my company, all in German! Sehr Gut! So I took these home and showed it to them, to better explain what my company is and what I actually did for a living. It's also a good public relations exercise too! I explained to them earlier that I am a Consultant, but that was a very general statement. I couldn't find a way to say that I was an Implementation Consultant or a Technical Consultant. Hopefully they got a better understanding upon reading those whitepapers; I couldn't have explained it on my own.
They return to Germany tomorrow, so that means I won't have many more opportunities to practice my newly-learned German. To reflect, they were quiet people and kept to themselves mostly. I didn't really see them much, and that meant I couldn't really speak to them as much as I would like to. Perhaps they weren't confident speaking English to me. But I definitely felt the same too. I wasn't confident speaking German either.
If it's any consolation, I learned a new language. And they were kind enough to say that my German was better than their English, even though I'm pretty sure we're at the same level in our learning of foreign languages. In reply, I tried to say that my German is bad, so I used Google Translate to translate "I speak bad German". Tina corrected me and said "no, you speak a little German". It was quite funny, because I knew exactly how to say that phrase in German. Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. But it was also very nice encouragement.
Being German for one day was easy, but three weeks was pretty challenging. I hope to see them again when I visit Germany in September. Hopefully my German language skills will be much improved by then.
They return to Germany tomorrow, so that means I won't have many more opportunities to practice my newly-learned German. To reflect, they were quiet people and kept to themselves mostly. I didn't really see them much, and that meant I couldn't really speak to them as much as I would like to. Perhaps they weren't confident speaking English to me. But I definitely felt the same too. I wasn't confident speaking German either.
If it's any consolation, I learned a new language. And they were kind enough to say that my German was better than their English, even though I'm pretty sure we're at the same level in our learning of foreign languages. In reply, I tried to say that my German is bad, so I used Google Translate to translate "I speak bad German". Tina corrected me and said "no, you speak a little German". It was quite funny, because I knew exactly how to say that phrase in German. Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch. But it was also very nice encouragement.
Being German for one day was easy, but three weeks was pretty challenging. I hope to see them again when I visit Germany in September. Hopefully my German language skills will be much improved by then.
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