I'm smarter in English
I went to Germany in November.
Now, while I have spoken German all of my life, being in the States helps me to lose a lot of vocabulary. I speak to my mum and to people at my church, yet that does not bolster the language as much as if I was, oh I dunno, actually speaking German every day. Besides my mom lets me get away with Engrish. Like in the email I sent her recently: German, German, German, "Actions have consequences" German, German, German. (Because I did not know how to say that in German.)
The first two days in Germany involved me saying a lot of things like "what does that mean?" and "huh?". After a few days of being immersed, I was much more comfortable in speaking. It's just the slang that loses me.
But let me give an example of how I speak German when I am not certain of the words...
Me: It's like that animal with the horns? You know, a male cow.. in a china store.
Them: A Bull?
Me: Seriously? It's bull in German, too? I totally knew that. Shameful.
Let me tell you how frustrating it is to not have a strong grasp of a language! I kept looking at my friends and thinking, I am really not this dumb. You should hear me speak English. I am really smart in English.
Now, while I have spoken German all of my life, being in the States helps me to lose a lot of vocabulary. I speak to my mum and to people at my church, yet that does not bolster the language as much as if I was, oh I dunno, actually speaking German every day. Besides my mom lets me get away with Engrish. Like in the email I sent her recently: German, German, German, "Actions have consequences" German, German, German. (Because I did not know how to say that in German.)
The first two days in Germany involved me saying a lot of things like "what does that mean?" and "huh?". After a few days of being immersed, I was much more comfortable in speaking. It's just the slang that loses me.
But let me give an example of how I speak German when I am not certain of the words...
Me: It's like that animal with the horns? You know, a male cow.. in a china store.
Them: A Bull?
Me: Seriously? It's bull in German, too? I totally knew that. Shameful.
Let me tell you how frustrating it is to not have a strong grasp of a language! I kept looking at my friends and thinking, I am really not this dumb. You should hear me speak English. I am really smart in English.
Buggie spilled her guts for you at 3/07/2006 02:13:00 PM
6 Comments:
What would the German equivalent of Engrish be?
say Deutsch phonetically, the way an english speaker would, that would be the equivalent.
I speak spanish daily to a co-worker that doesn't speak English and she is always correcting my grammer, drives me crazy!!! The nice thing is when others hear they are so impressed cause I can carry on a conversation, but really it's all jacked up.
just repeat 'Kaum waren wir angekommen als es angefangen hat zu regnen' like a mantra. You'll soon be back to fluency.
I was out last night with some German girls and attempting to impress people with my knowledge of the language. I kept saying things like "I don't like Tesco because there are too many of my relatives there." Not at all what I intended.
Hey Matt, that is actually what mu mom said. The weather over there is horrendous.
Harms, I am impressed. I Can't claim any credit for speaking German. It was taught at the same time as English.
Marci: I think we call it Deutschlisch.
Meg: I need more of your translations, cause Damn girl, you funny.
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