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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Just you wait and see


I have been a bit busy lately because I have started German lessons again (yes again) and I have been working hard.

I have decided that I am not happy with my combination of fractured German, sign language and charades so am going to make a mighty effort to get through the barrier of this monstrously difficult language.

I exhausted my previous teachers. One went to Brazil and another left to have a baby. My new teacher - Frau Knickerbocker - drew the short straw for this assignment and has brought cotton wool to put in her ears when I speak – so as to dull the noise.

She also has a club in case I attempt to work on separable verbs as this would be too much for a German speaker to stomach.

Frau Knickerbocker is an excellent teacher and if anyone can get me there – she can. I am having three lessons each week for the first few months of this latest bout of manic activity.

She is giving me lots of homework and I being most diligent in doing this and also doing extra study.

I just cannot imagine how anyone could have allowed a language to develop like this.

You would think that – having discovered that the grammar is complete nonsense – they would have changed it – but no – they continue to teach it year after year.

Makes no sense to me at all.

But I will learn it – just you wait and see. 

15 comments:

  1. go badger! you can do it! (i'm still struggling. its really hard to motivate myself to do something i'm rather bad at).

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  2. It's the Rhine, you know. The Romans never got past it.

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  3. Good luck with it. I do think that either you have a flare for languages or you don't - I don't but my daughter does and I wish I did.

    Have a great weekend and work hard !!

    Me

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  4. Achtung! My German consists of phrases picked up from war comics during a mispent youth, so I will wait and see.

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  5. I am so proud of you. I however have more talent at charades than language skills.

    I had trouble picking up Canadian.

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  6. Do not worry, the natives (as I can duly attest) are also struggling with their tongue's grammar. The syntax in particular is a nasty one. The pronunciation, by contrast, is relatively easy to master. Just assume that you have swallowed a spoon and try to spit it out while talking. Rule of the thumb: you can ner get guttural enough when speaking German. My key example: ask your teacher to teach you how to pronounce a box of matches in German("Streichholzschachtel")... that gives you an exact idea how this language works. Anyway, all the best to you in your endeavors.

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  7. angiv: i know what you mean - it is a struggle.

    SK Waller: I can't get post the Donau

    Me: I had a flare for French but the flame dies when i got to German.

    freefalling: Cynic! I will show you.

    Sandy: And Hogans Heroes of course.

    Simon: Thanks

    fmcgmccllc: Charades are very useful here. I used them in a picture framing shop only yesterday when i could not remember crucial words.

    David: Well my teacher says my pronunciation is good - it's just that the language is lacking in detail - with crucial bits missing - like verbs, and nouns and stuff like that - and they are in the wrong order

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  8. German is one of my favorite languages. But I haven't spent any time with it lately, too busy learning other things.

    WordVeri: chrop - Welsh for crop

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  9. esb: Yes you have far too much on your plate!

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  10. At least your are not swiss. In Switerland, which is a country with four languages, folks tend to not like each other much. As a result, the French will not learn german and the germans will not learn French.

    Everyone speaks to everyone else in English... which is good for me now that I am Swiss.

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  11. I believe in you Badger! I tried but soon abandoned ship. It was well beyond my fragile linguistic ability. Is it possible drinking large quantities of beer helps with the pronunciation? Wishing you the best of luck.

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  12. Garry Ladouceur: Another problem his that Swiss german does not sound anything German German.

    SymbioticLife: I can certainly speak better after consuming alcohol.

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  13. Are you writing your Monday blog in German? ;-)

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