First of all thanks everyone for the support. My last posts recently have been a little down but I'm so glad to have the advice and support of everyone, it makes me really happy. Second of all I did mean for the last post to be a bit humorous. I mean, I was standing in the teachers lounge literally begging my co-teacher to tell me who it was, while she was so afraid it'd get my feelings hurt... I thought it was funny at least.
Anyway, good news, we went out tonight to a local foreigner bar called All That Jazz, Jazz for short. There were a lot of people there, mostly newcomers due to the fact a Greenpeace ship had taken port in Masan for a little bit. We ended up speaking with a guy from Germany. I had started studying German earlier this month. And so when he asked if would speak a little bit I obliged. I said "excuse me" in German, it's one of my favorite words to say. And to my delight he said I sounded very good! I love when natives of a language or country say I do something well. Sometimes I'll be reading hangul and a Korean will say it sounds good(which makes me happy because they're so picky) and that I'm not butchering the language. It makes the studying and research all worth it. Sort of like no one can tell you're a Yankee when you're in the South or a tourist in New york City... I'd say both are good accomplishments.
Although, being from Maryland and having a bit of a Baltimorian flair to my speech makes things a bit easier when you're using a Southern drawl because your words melt together anyway.
As for the reason I started studying German. During the holidays we watched the TV movie Shrek the Halls. If you're familiar with the movies the Three Pigs are German and have accents and all. In Shrek the Halls there's a dialouge that goes a little something like this...
"We are pigs yah?
Yah.
And ve are in zee blanket yah?
Yah.
So this is funny zen yah?
Yah! Yah! Zis is funny! Yah! Good one!"
After hearing this I couldn't help but think that accent and random German words were absolutley amazing and I had to learn German. Also, I've been reading a lot of books set in Germany and felt to understand the country and culture more I had to learn the languge, more on that later.
And so 60 days till I'm in the sunshine of Thailand...
Auf Wiedersehen!
Isn't it great when people acknowledge that you aren't butchering their language? I feel the same way when I speak Spanish in Panama. They start speaking really fast to me in response and I get all confused because I have no idea what they are saying and obviously have a lot more studying to do. Haha, that's great though. 60 days isn't long at all! : )
ReplyDeleteWell it's great when a native says you're doing well in any language. However, I have carried decently long conversations with our Mexican lady here and Spaniards. The Spanish language is also very phonetic. Indo-European languages closer to are a bit different with squiggly letters and very nasal sounds. As for fast speech just listen pick out what you know, that seems to work for me.
ReplyDelete59 days.
I didn't know you were studying German. Before you know it you are going to be a linguist. I used to know a little Italian, but a shame it's gone.
ReplyDeletewell Ma'am mom doesn't use it anymore except for random swear words I think. I'm planning on learning Italian as well so that if I ever go to Sicily I can say I'm a Sergi and good things will happen.
ReplyDelete