Ach du lieber! (Week 23)
"Never knew before what eternity was made for. It is to give some of us a chance to learn German."
Thanks to Mark Twain, I now know exactly how I'll be spending my time in the great beyond. If my week spent trying to get a small handle on the language is any indication, it might even take several eternities.
So, why German? My own history with the language dates back to when I was living in Germany from the ages of 1 through 5. From what I gather, I was quite the little German chatterbox by the time my dad left his RCMP post in Hamburg. So I thought maybe there might be some residual language skills hiding out in the dormant hinterland of my brain. But nein!
Maybe the larger question is why attempt to learn a language at all? I won't bore you with the blindingly practical reasons like being able to order a currywurst sausage in Berlin. There are actually better, deeper reasons, like the fact that scientists have discovered multi-language folks are genuinely smarter than others. And it's not just because they have the capacity to learn another language (or two) but because of what language learning does to our brains. Like singing and playing a musical instrument simultaneously, language engages a massive chunk of our eager little sponge brains.
The past week is not the first time I've tried getting re-acquainted with German. About 25 years ago, I was working as a waiter at Earls on Robson Street in Vancouver and I noticed we had a lot of German tourists coming in. So I picked up a Berlitz phrase book and taught myself a few sentences that I thought would earn a chuckle and maybe a better tip. "Der Bäcker ist immer freundlich!" Hey, it's nice to know that the baker is always friendly, right? "Wann die tauwetter ist eintritt es ist gefährlich auf das eis zu gehen." That one might save your life some day, because it's critical to know that it's dangerous to go on the ice when the thaw comes. Long story short, I did indeed get my German table-guests laughing, and they certainly loosened their wallets.
During my one-week return to German, I did what any modern human does when faced with learning something in short order. I got an iPhone app. And this one, Babbel, is really fun. Even the wesbite version of Babbel gets you into some conversational German banter right away. Every night before dozing off, I'd run through a set of German exercises, with the goal that I would corner one of our German speakers at work by the end of the week and impress them with my newfound skill. Never happened.
Obviously, a few days spent with any language is not going to result in any kind of proficiency. By Friday, I had only picked up some rudimentary skills, like knowing that I would address Angela Merkel differently than the woman preparing my meal at the schnitzel house. One is "Sie" and the other is "du." I also learned the many sounds that the letter "e" can make in German, which is not unlike a mad skill I already possess in English.
Still, I am undaunted after my weeklong failure. I have signed up for a full month of Babbel, and I intend to keep going after that. Meanwhile, I've also discovered that the centre for all things German in Victoria — the Edelweiss Club — is only two blocks from where I live in James Bay. I have this image in my head of strolling in there some day and issuing a stern warning about going out on the ice in warm spring weather. Might just happen!
NEXT WEEK: I discover what no longer brings me joy when I get all Marie Kondo!
Thanks to Mark Twain, I now know exactly how I'll be spending my time in the great beyond. If my week spent trying to get a small handle on the language is any indication, it might even take several eternities.
So, why German? My own history with the language dates back to when I was living in Germany from the ages of 1 through 5. From what I gather, I was quite the little German chatterbox by the time my dad left his RCMP post in Hamburg. So I thought maybe there might be some residual language skills hiding out in the dormant hinterland of my brain. But nein!
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| 4-year old version of me in Germany |
The past week is not the first time I've tried getting re-acquainted with German. About 25 years ago, I was working as a waiter at Earls on Robson Street in Vancouver and I noticed we had a lot of German tourists coming in. So I picked up a Berlitz phrase book and taught myself a few sentences that I thought would earn a chuckle and maybe a better tip. "Der Bäcker ist immer freundlich!" Hey, it's nice to know that the baker is always friendly, right? "Wann die tauwetter ist eintritt es ist gefährlich auf das eis zu gehen." That one might save your life some day, because it's critical to know that it's dangerous to go on the ice when the thaw comes. Long story short, I did indeed get my German table-guests laughing, and they certainly loosened their wallets.
 |
| The Edelweiss Club in James Bay |
Obviously, a few days spent with any language is not going to result in any kind of proficiency. By Friday, I had only picked up some rudimentary skills, like knowing that I would address Angela Merkel differently than the woman preparing my meal at the schnitzel house. One is "Sie" and the other is "du." I also learned the many sounds that the letter "e" can make in German, which is not unlike a mad skill I already possess in English.
Still, I am undaunted after my weeklong failure. I have signed up for a full month of Babbel, and I intend to keep going after that. Meanwhile, I've also discovered that the centre for all things German in Victoria — the Edelweiss Club — is only two blocks from where I live in James Bay. I have this image in my head of strolling in there some day and issuing a stern warning about going out on the ice in warm spring weather. Might just happen!
NEXT WEEK: I discover what no longer brings me joy when I get all Marie Kondo!
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