Learning German in Germany

by my sweetheart

I've been learning German with only brief review before traveling, which has given me the exciting opportunity (a phrase with many meanings) of touring a new place without really speaking the local language. The task before me is daunting but enticing.

I've gotten some practice learning definitions from an English-German book that classifies things into categories (shopping, cooking, anatomy); I've also been soaking up music and television with mixed success, and spying in on conversations that occur around me. I manage to get the gist of what they're saying sometimes, though I'm not always sure how I know (the power of body language, partly). The ability to do that makes me a little proud, and the evening that I gave three or four topical replies in a row is my proudest moment thus far.

Saoirse has given me a lesson on numbers, about which I now feel rather competent – not fast, but accurate. It's a good feeling to feel some kind of mastery over an area, rather than taking potshots at words that I've heard several times (though that has its place as well).

I tend to badger her with questions about what this sign says, or what that advertisement said, or some word I've heard spoken aloud several times. I've quickly found that while hearing it is important, I learn best when I have it spelled; something I feel a little guilty about it, since my constant interruptions require her to rattle off the lettering of each word. At some point, I really should pick up a German-English dictionary.

Pronunciation is going to be … 'entertaining'. When I ask Saoirse what some word means, she often gives me a quizzical look – often I have to show her the text I'm looking at before she knows what I'm trying to say. It's an irksome subject, since even after being corrected, it doesn't sound like I'm that far off. (to his ears, at least ~Saoirse)

Playing Heroes with her has been an entertaining exercise – very time-consuming at first since all the words were new, but I don't have to arrest her attention as frequently now that my exposure to new words in the game has leveled off. It is to my advantage that I've played similar games before, and I am presently to the point where I can decipher much of a new spell's use even if can't read it precisely.

I look forward to trying Neverwinter Nights when we've run out of steam for Heroes, and in parallel learning, perhaps I'll try to find some list of particularly common German words, or come up with groups of words I want to learn (they, we, you (singular/plural), it, right/wrong, left/right, etcetera).