How can I describe the feelings I experience every Thursday evening when my German language instructor leaves our home? Exhausted. Intellectually Challenged. Frustrated. These are the feelings that first come to my mind. THOUGH, as time passes, I am SLOWLY starting to also feel less vulnerable living in a foreign country and ever so slightly empowered.
The first six months we lived here, I refused to embark on committing to learn German. I told Matt (and myself) that I was too overwhelmed with adjusting to living in a foreign country and needed to focus on getting our family settled. But as I reflect back on this, I think I was just scared of tackling such a big feat. I was scared of failing and I was scared of the challenge that learning a new language was going to present to me. I told myself, “almost everyone speaks SOME English” and “the majority of my friends are American here.” BUT, by procrastinating in learning German, I felt intimidated in completing the simplest of tasks (i.e. running errands, communicating with Elle’s teachers). Now, I by NO MEANS am saying that I am mastering the language nor is my goal to be able to talk fluently with someone in German (I am trying to remain realistic), but already I am starting to be able to read portions of the newspaper and more of Elle’s notes from her school and ballet studio without using Google Translate. Also, I am expanding my vocabulary at places I frequently visit; at the grocery store I can now ask where a particular food item is located and at a clothing store, I can ask where a specific size is (sizes are completely different here, for example, Elle wears a size 104-110!). So, being able to do these simple tasks, with confidence, is allowing me to feel less vulnerable living in an area where I still cannot understand 90% of the conversations being said around me.
Some of the challenges I have faced in learning the language are:
-Learning new pronunciation for each letter AND learning the extra letters (ä, ö, ü and ß).
-Several letters are pronounced more from the back of the throat: g, ch, r.
-The W in German sounds like the V in English
-The V in German sounds like the F in English
-Most of the time the S in German sounds like Z in English when placed at the beginning of a word followed by a vowel.
Some examples of common words and how they are sometimes similar/easy and sometimes different/difficult from the pronunciation in English:
English: Train
German: Zug (TSOOK)
English: Apple
German: Apfel (AHP-fel)
English: Sun
German: Sonne (ZONNE)
English: Fire Truck
German: Feuerwehrauto
(FOYER-vayr-ow-toh)
English: Elephant
German: Elefant (Eh-leh-FAHNT)
English: Dog
German: Hund (HOONT)
English: Fish
German: Fisch (Fish)
English: Pig
German: Schwein (SHVINE)
English: Clown
German: Clown (CLOWN)
English: Peas
German: Erbsen (AIRP-sen)
So, as you can probably guess, I do have fish and clown mastered:)!!! In between my language classes, I am trying to listen to German phonics 30-minutes each day, creating/using flash cards for simple words (like the words above) and completing homework assigned to me by my teacher. Overall, I am now actually enjoying learning German. Though it is a challenge, I enjoy that Elle and I can teach each other and we can all learn this new language together as a family. Elle and I are definitely at the same skill level and truly, I think her German-speaking skills are far surpassing mine at this point in time! Just last night, when I was “secretly” observing her in ballet class, I was SO PROUD of her. There she was in a German ballet class, with NO English being spoken and not really knowing any of the other little girls but still participating AND most importantly, having fun doing so!! Since day one, Elle has shown such courage and confidence when participating in German school and activities. Elle is my inspiration to keep working at learning German:)!! As a family, we are all definitely learning how to better adapt to situations, conquer challenges, be open-minded and speak a new language during our “European Adventure.” Hopefully in the months to come I will be saying less of, “Sprechen Sie English?!?!”
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| Elle is wearing the "Rainbow Bright" leg warmers:) |
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