Tag Archives: German Language

Milestone Reached

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You might be wondering why I have not written here very often as of late.  Frankly, I have been wondering that too and how often I write is completely up to me!  And the answer would be I have found a job.  No, I have not started working yet, but I am excited about working again.

My first day is coming soon and I am a little bit nervous.  No, not about the technological aspects of the job I am a little unfamiliar with.  I have always picked up technology easily enough.  I am mostly nervous about working in an office with people who speak German natively.  While my German has greatly improved over the last couple of months I would say it is far from good.  Yes, everyday I follow conversation a little bit better.  And there are topics I can speak about relatively well in German, but there is still quite a few which perplex me.  I guess I am at that moment where German is starting to “click” and be awkward at the same time.  Something I hope will pass quickly once I start spending the majority of my time around native German speakers.  And a situation I hope everyone can overlook.

Even though I am nervous, I am also excited too.  This is a sign my life is returning to normal again.  That my decisions up until now were not just some passing fancy that I was to stubbron to recongize.  As Pinocchio might say, “I am a real boy”.  Meaning, what I was afraid was not true really is true.  That I was and am able to pick up my life in one culture and move myself into another.  Yes, I still have a long way to go, but that is just a part of life.  We never truly arrive at our final destionation.  We just create new goals and challenges for ourselves to overcome.  It is still good to reach those milestones along the way though.

Milestone (almost) reached…

P.S. I appologize for any potentional spelling mistakes/errors.  I am using a German computer which does not have an English spellchecker.  I will proof this entry once I am back at my own computer.

Almost There (German Course)

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Last weekend (March 19th) I took the B1 language exam.  This is the final language test for my current German course.  I wish I was confident about the test results, but unfortunately I must wait five weeks to receive the score.  I have put a lot of time into learning German and my fear is that it might not pay off, which is very silly of me.  I know it has helped dramatically even if I do not pass the B1 exam.  When I started the course in July 2010 I hardly understood any German, let alone spoke German.  Yet today I am surprised just how much I understand.  This week I had three separate conversations (almost) entirely in German.

Wednesday, when I returned from class, there were two men putting up scaffolding around our apartment building.  Since they were in the middle of their lunch break I started up a conversation with them.  The older man (40′s) was very interested in talking with people walking past on the sidewalk.  Mostly shouting out things I did not understand.  While the younger man (20′s), was more interested by an American living in town.  We talked about the similarities between Germany and the United States.  Nothing in depth, just a normal everyday conversation between two people meeting on the street.

Then, on Friday, I visited several driving schools in town.  This was another perfect opportunity to speak with people in German.  I knew what I wanted and where five different downtown driving schools should have been.  Of the five googled addresses, two were no longer located there and one is only a classroom location.  Fortunately the other two schools have not picked up and flown away.  In the first school, the entire conversation was held in German.  It was not the smoothest conversation I have ever had, but when you are discussing something that involves unfamiliar words that is probably to be expected.  The second conversation went a little better because I had a better idea of what I needed to say.  And, one of the receptionists spoke English to make sure I understood.  Everything we talked about I could have understood in German.  Perhaps next time I will leave the English at the door.  (more details on driving in Germany in another article)

Lastly, my final significant German conversation this week was with Anni’s father.  The news was discussing election results in two German states.  Most of what was being said I did not understand.  No surprise there, but that lead us into a conversation about American politics and some differences between German and American culture.  We talked about the electoral system, to social system and further on to the medical system.  Plus threw in a little about why some American’s have guns.

While not every conversation in German this week was at a B1 level, at the very least I can see improvement.  Even if I did not pass the exam, I can feel confident my German is improving and that is all that really matters.  Frankly, the possibility of having failed the exam was very depressing this week.  And should explain why there was not an article about Frankfurt last weekend.  Being sad makes it difficult to write about my life on a personal level.  Something I really want this BLOG to portray.  Who I am personally and what that means in everyday life.

I will try to get the Frankfurt article out this week.  Next Friday is the last exam for the course which covers German history and social system.  Wish me luck.

A2 German Language Test

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Last week we completed the second of four tests assocated with the German course I am in.  The exam was an extension of the original test I wrote about on this site.  Surprisingly, I was not very nervous this time.  I resisted the mental blocks I was stricken with during the A1 exam.  Specifically, I could recall the entire “Ich heiße…” portion of the oral examination.  Unlike while taking the A1 when my mind went completely blank.  Hopefully the results show this new found Zen.

I know that every day brings some improvement.  Saturday I walked into town to buy tea and order contact lenses for Anni.  I do not go shopping very often.  Mostly for groceries and the occasional run to the drug store.  When entering a store I wonder to myself if I will understand the salesperson.  Interaction with native Germans is a great indicator of my progress with the language.  The better understanding I have of what is being said means the closer I get to being better understood myself.  On this trip into town I did surprising well.  In the tea shop I understood everything the clerk said to me.  Even responding in German without thinking about my answer.  The contact lenses proved a little more problematic though.  Since the conversation involved something I had not been exposed to this was to be expected.  Fortunately the salesperson spoke English and quickly switched when my German vocabulary failed me.  I kept responding in German though.  I think he was wondering if I actually understood the English conversation or not.  Fortunately I did.

Harry Potter in German

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1

Last weekend, Anni and I spontaneously decided to watch the new Harry Potter movie while out for a walk.  With my limited German vocabulary, I have always felt bad about spending money watching a movie I will probably not understand.  So, this was the our first theater experience together in Germany.  It went much better than I could have hoped for.

Since my knowledge of the story is limited to the previous movies I thought it would be difficult to follow the movie in German.  And, it was challenging sometimes, yet there were enough action sequences to fill in where my ears left off.  Plus, Anni wonderfully translated highlights from the longer dialogged scenes.  I really enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to the conclusion next year.  Which, makes this the first Harry Potter movie I regret not reading the book beforehand.  I think this is because the main characters are older, making it seems more relevant and less like a children’s story.

Even with Anni translating, combined with the portions I understood and the action sequences, I still found myself wishing for subtitles.  In the past, I have always walked away from subtitled movies in the theater with mixed feelings.  Passion of the Christ is probably the most notable.  I found the subtitles very distracting and I wished they had just filed English dialog instead of Latin.  Apocalypto was a different story because I was mostly interested in the historical framework of the film.  Same goes for the movie Mongol.  Maybe someday someone will create glasses where the subtitles are displayed for the individual wearer.  Something like those described in Daniel Suarez’s books Daemon and Freedom™.  Or better yet, automatic translation into any language.

Side Note:  If you have not read Daemon or Freedom™ you should.  A very exciting modern day thriller with lots of fun and interesting technology mixed in.  I highly recommend them.  You can also listen to the book from Audible.com.  That is what I did.  The authors website for the books is at thedaemon.com

The more you hear…

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A lot of people have told me I should listen to the radio to help with my spoken of German.  The theory being the more you hear something the better you will be.  There is only one slight problem though.  Most music stations broadcast songs in English.  I tend to mix my German and English a lot and hearing a lot of English on the radio does not seem to help.

The first time I came to Germany I went to a showing of Starlight Express.  It is a musical, on skates, and being a musical in Germany strangely enough it was mostly sung in German.  After we left my friends asked if I liked the English songs during the play.  I had not even noticed anything was sung in English.  Since that day I have never expected myself to easily switch between the two languages.  Since I started my German intensive course this has gotten a lot better, but I still have room for improvement.

A TV is like a window. Both let you view beautiful things sometimes.

A TV is like a window. Both let you view beautiful things sometimes.

As an alternative to the radio we have been thinking about getting a TV.  In the United States having a TV is like breathing air.  Almost everyone I know has one and a lot of people watch it every night.  Since April I have not missed the TV very much.  Only a couple shows on the Syfy Channel, but nothing else.  If anything I miss watching movies on something bigger than my laptop.

The hardest part of finding a TV is research.  Most of the outlets I am used to from the United States do not list European products.  Maybe it is the exact same product, but carries a different numeric identification between Europe and the US.  This is the case with my camera.  The only variation between the US and European models was the documentation and the chargers power cord.  My love for electronics does help out.  I believe I already found the TV model I want.  Now, just to figure out if/where I can buy it.