Damn, I knew there was something I forgot

Some friends asked me if my German held up while I was in Deutschland and Österreich. Well...

My own evaluated scoreboard
Written German (not that I got to practise in writing German while I was there but based on my correspondences with Schnappi, K and HM)
- bearable with some grammar errors. I think I can rectify it if I concentrate on my German grammar books.

Reading German - not too bad, I see myself as reading at Kindergarten level. I had no problems reading German TV subtitles, some instructions and most signs

Understanding German speech - took me a long while, but I think I got it like 20% of the time when they talk fast, and 50% when they talk slowly. No problems understanding kiddie shows, so I ended up watching cartoons a lot in Germany. B1 was reduced to watching XXX ads on tv, because as he said, it was the only thing that didn't require understanding of German. Hahha.

Speaking German - BOMB! EPIC FAIL... It is either nervousness or some shit, but I had a lot of difficulty pushing words between my lips. Unless they were food-related. Then again, I never had problems ordering food in any language, even Korean.

In a nutshell, a long time ago, I decided to focus on reading and writing German (when I have the time) and neglected the speaking part of the house, as I told Schnappi. Point being, no one to actually speak German with in Singapore, whereas I could always buy books online or at Kinokuniya. This was not a good idea, as I found out when I went to Germany.

I bought some German kiddie videos on the last day, while B1 was moaning that I did not bring him to any Computer shop in Germany at all.  So I took him to Saturn at My Zeil, which I had asked HM before we went to Germany. Saturn is like Germany's Challenger. It sold computer and other electronic gadgets at eye-watering prices, and CDs and DVDs upstairs.

He bought Diablo II (I seriously don't remember the graphics being so lame) while I got some Richard Scarry and the Muppets Shows (Teil 1) in German. *Keeping fingers crossed for miracle now*

I switch my allegiance to Bayern 3 =D

I have to get used to the typical German speaking speed. Since I had problems connecting to my beloved Antennae Bayern Love Songs, Schnappi introduced me to Bayern 3, where I proceeded to embarrass myself by asking "why is it Bayern 3 am Samstag, when it is already 10am?"

It was am, as in at/ on. I forgot it was German. This channel does speaks a lot more German, but yes, Schnappi is right, they play almost the same (English) songs. And when the lady reports the news, I go like this...

Sprechen Sie Langsamer Bitte!!! Ich kann nicht Ihre folgen!!!!

The Berlitz Guy

Disclaimer: This is a totally superficial post. I am not sure why I brought it up at all.

My client, inspired by my learning German, was suddenly enthused about learning the language as well. She was the one who wanted to buy this book in the first place. We went to PageOne together but we weren't able to find it.

I had the discount card at another bookshop so I offered to get it for her when I came across the book there. Leafing through the book, I realized it was pretty excellent for a German primer (I have seen many), so I have been borrowing copies of it at the library since then.

As I tend to scatter my belongings all over my table, Bär saw the book many times, and remarked "why do you always borrow this book? You have a crush on the guy?" -> referring to my so-called Pinkerton Syndrome affliction.

What guy? *puzzled*

 

Oh... this guy.

Hahah. I looked critically at the cover. Yeah, I didn't notice it at first, but he is my type, except his hair isn't blonde, and I hate his stubble. I so like his eyes though and I dig the fact that he is wearing glasses. Was I subconsciously liking the book because of the guy on the cover?

Yeah right *roll eyes*

My German is EPIC FAIL

Kamerad denkt mein Deutsch ist jetzt besser.

Er fragt mich "hast du Deutsch vorfahren?"

Ich antworte "ich habe kein Auto". hahahahahahahahahhahah

I thought he meant do I drive in germany? 

After asking Schnappi, turns out Kamerad meant "do you have German ancestry?" WTF...

Learning German the Mandarin Way *Hilarious*

I bought this book when I was at the Chinese section of Kinokuniya, buying Kari his Chinese-French dictionary. I laughed when I saw the title "Don't be a nuisance, I am a German Learner book!" If you think this cover is hilarious, wait till you see the French one. Same title but has a piggie on it. =D

Check out Elijah peeping around the monitor. Sehr Goldig!!!

 

My obsession with the German Language

Well, I have become somewhat obsessed with learning the German language. I pick up a new obsession to distract myself from whatever else that is not going well for me. Perhaps it is because I am ashamed that I am taking way too long to learn a language, and I am not getting any younger.

I have increased my immersion in the language by watching SesamStrasse (bloody Ernie has gone to speaking Greek to me, this has not happened since I was 7 years old), I also write a German blog and emails to German-speaking friends. However I am not very sure whether whatever I am writing is grammatically correct even though I have also started reading German Grammatik.

So as of today, I have become a English teacher on livemocha.com. The website allows you to teach others your native languages (the irony that English is now my "native" language instead of Mandarin is not lost on me) so that you can earn points to learn new languages. The idea is absolutely brilliant.

My aim is to gain 300 points as a Language teacher so that I can learn the beginner level in ALL languages for free. I have 236 points after 18 contributions.

Kleine Gutenacht-Geschichten