Getting Back into the Germanic Game
When I was younger, ranging from later college years to before grad school in my later 20s, I lived in a number of diverse places. Some were for work or school, and much of it was simply on my own as I explored the world of global art residencies. In that process, I fell in love with learning various languages in an almost Eat, Pray, Love type of way. Part of it was for survival, so I could fraternize, date, and simply get around with going insane, and part of it was for the challenge and intellectual stimulation. I believe that learning about a place is truly impossible without some degree of knowing the language, which for me is akin to situated thinking and the foundation for any culture.
I had a fantastic time learning handfuls of Spanish (I did my thesis project actually in Bolivia), Italian (a year of schooling in Rome), Mandarin Chinese (several months of museum residencies), and my absolute favorite, German (over a year of creative work with the @hitheryon crew in Berlin). I was both simultaneously hungry for new experiences and terribly bored in places where I knew few people, and language learning because the perfect inexhaustible meal for my 20s appetite.
Unfortunately, I had to cut off my international work, living, and travel when I returned to the US for graduate studies in 2013. Schooling, work, and now married life is keeping me tethered to the land of my mother tongue and I have very very few chances to maintain what I’ve learned abroad. Most of all, I have little motivation to practice as I have no expectation of returning to Germany or bumping into random native speakers in Brooklyn. I try not to think about it, but it does honestly tear me up that I don’t have the opportunity to exercise what I believe to be a very transferable skill of cultural empathy.
@hitheryon on our Bauhaus tour
But I’m tired of making up lame excuses and I’m getting to a point in life where I’m terrified of not making goals and letting my sense of accomplishment melt to mush. I recently started a weekly Fortnite series to log my incremental progress and goals for my competitive play and I’ve found it tremendously helpful to keep a regimented schedule. I plan to do that now as well with something that used to bring me much joy, opportunity, and confidence. I’ll begin (and may stay with for a while) German.
Since I’m rebooting my learning again from the context of Americanness, I suspect much of what I learn will either be very technical (from dictionaries or educational resources) or literary (books, news, etc.) and I absolutely welcome any input on the latest jargon or more appropriate forms of communication by other German students and native speakers on Steemit.
Also, Ich beginne meine Reise jetzt um nochmal Deutsch zu lernen!
Sehr geil! Du kannst die Sprache sprechen, die ich lernen möchte.
I also dont want to lose the German i have been learning while I was in Germany.
So cool @hansikhouse.. I also wanted to learn time ago too when I was as a madman listening Rammstein! No doubt that German is amazing... And by the way never thought you also know Spanish!
You are full of surprises Michael...
Viel Glück bei diesem Unterfangen.
Frieden!
Danke schön Herr Leo!
Willkommen Michael! :)
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For my International MBA studies I took an intensive summer German course. About 7 hours a day, 5 days a week for three months. Then a year 6 semester hours total during the MBA studies, and then a 6 month internship in German. Before the Internship we had 6 weeks of business German in Germany.
That foundation is important, but interestingly, I found that with a foundation just watching US TV series dubbed in German really helped me to get more of a feeling for everyday German.
Generally with the series it is easy to imagine where the story is going, and thanks to the Internet you can re-watch. You'll find with time certain idiomatic expression start to sink in.
This series is a good start.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-HSJRooLA9swHkVcK3RXQ
Watching discussions is also helpful, especially if it is about something that really interests you. Good luck.