Greavsie is understanding Language and Life
My understanding of the German Language has always been greater than my ability to speak it. Prior to doing German O-Level most of the language I’d picked up were from the war comics like ‘Commando’ or Films like The Great Escape or Where Eagles Dare.
Himmel, Gott Strafe England, Schnell, Raus, Achtung Tommie etc
My German teacher at school likened my oral presentation of German as something akin to the Nuremburg Rallies. Undeterred by Die Hexe (The Witch) I pressed on with my learning and began to take on board some really interesting stuff e.g. Luftkissenfahrtzeug or Hovercraft. It was those sorts of words plus working on lunchtime translations like ‘Postilion! Stop the Coach. Lightening has hit my Grandmother's ear trumpet,’ that drove me on.
Sadly, I’ve never really been a real conversationalist in foreign languages but I’ve always able to listen into a conversation and come up with the odd word or two to show that I understood exactly what was going on. This was always useful when in Germany visiting my girlfriend and I was able to eavesdrop in the way that my German friends liked to do just to show that they could understand my English accent. Sadly this did have some downsides, as there were frequent occasions when I was asked what Beer I’d like to drink and I responded with a pronunciation akin to ‘Toothpaste’ or ‘Factory’ but life is one of small victories.
Similarly at work, once people understood that I knew a bit of German, I was always given the phone to talk to a ‘European Customer’.
‘German!’ came a hushed whisper as my Boss covered the phone, making a slitty throat motion with his hand and offering me the receiver with the other.
I’d take the receiver and set off with my best Nuremburg pronunciation. ‘GUTEN ABEND, HIER IST HERR DOCTOR SMITH. ICH MOCHTE GERN MITT HERR SCHMIDT SPRECHEN BITTE.’
And so the conversation progressed and in this case it came to a satisfactory if not predictable ending.
‘Phone call complete,’ I’d say.
‘Excellente.’ Was the usual suave pro-European reply. ‘What did Herr Thingy say?’
‘Well firstly, he was Swedish.’
‘Bugger’
‘Exactly, I’ve just spent three minutes listening to the Swedish Chef speaking German to me.’
‘Err, Um, what did he say then?’
‘Well after a while he gave up talking at me and switched to English once he recognised my Nuremburg voice had the easy to spot English accent.’
‘He never does it to me.’
‘That’s probably because you don’t try.’
‘But I don’t know any German or Swedish.’
‘Well, neither did I. I probably asked for three pints of toothpaste in German and Swedish but at least I made the effort.’
‘Excellent, well now I’ve got you I don’t need to,’ he said.
You see folks:
It’s not about the Knowing; it’s the fun of the Learning.
Not necessarily making Total Sense but making yourself Understood.
It works in all areas of life.
Himmel, Gott Strafe England, Schnell, Raus, Achtung Tommie etc
My German teacher at school likened my oral presentation of German as something akin to the Nuremburg Rallies. Undeterred by Die Hexe (The Witch) I pressed on with my learning and began to take on board some really interesting stuff e.g. Luftkissenfahrtzeug or Hovercraft. It was those sorts of words plus working on lunchtime translations like ‘Postilion! Stop the Coach. Lightening has hit my Grandmother's ear trumpet,’ that drove me on.
Sadly, I’ve never really been a real conversationalist in foreign languages but I’ve always able to listen into a conversation and come up with the odd word or two to show that I understood exactly what was going on. This was always useful when in Germany visiting my girlfriend and I was able to eavesdrop in the way that my German friends liked to do just to show that they could understand my English accent. Sadly this did have some downsides, as there were frequent occasions when I was asked what Beer I’d like to drink and I responded with a pronunciation akin to ‘Toothpaste’ or ‘Factory’ but life is one of small victories.
Similarly at work, once people understood that I knew a bit of German, I was always given the phone to talk to a ‘European Customer’.
‘German!’ came a hushed whisper as my Boss covered the phone, making a slitty throat motion with his hand and offering me the receiver with the other.
I’d take the receiver and set off with my best Nuremburg pronunciation. ‘GUTEN ABEND, HIER IST HERR DOCTOR SMITH. ICH MOCHTE GERN MITT HERR SCHMIDT SPRECHEN BITTE.’
And so the conversation progressed and in this case it came to a satisfactory if not predictable ending.
‘Phone call complete,’ I’d say.
‘Excellente.’ Was the usual suave pro-European reply. ‘What did Herr Thingy say?’
‘Well firstly, he was Swedish.’
‘Bugger’
‘Exactly, I’ve just spent three minutes listening to the Swedish Chef speaking German to me.’
‘Err, Um, what did he say then?’
‘Well after a while he gave up talking at me and switched to English once he recognised my Nuremburg voice had the easy to spot English accent.’
‘He never does it to me.’
‘That’s probably because you don’t try.’
‘But I don’t know any German or Swedish.’
‘Well, neither did I. I probably asked for three pints of toothpaste in German and Swedish but at least I made the effort.’
‘Excellent, well now I’ve got you I don’t need to,’ he said.
You see folks:
It’s not about the Knowing; it’s the fun of the Learning.
Not necessarily making Total Sense but making yourself Understood.
It works in all areas of life.
posted by greavsie at 1:50 PM
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