learning can be fun

i'm about a week and a half into learning german now and i have to say, coming from an english speaking background german is about 50/50 on the easy/hard front. i find that sentence structure is pretty well straight forward and very similar to english. this makes stringing words together into something that resembles communication quite simple, my only problem is remembering the damn words. the words themselves are what makes this learning experience so 50/50. there are some words that are very close to their english equivalents and i am finding myself making things harder for, well, myself. i keep thinking it can't be that easy, surely. and then i go and say something and find out that i'm wrong and it really was that easy. for the words that aren't anything close to english i have been getting most of them right, but unfortunately for me the germans are not afraid of big words. most of you that know me in real life and not from this crazy nerd-fueled computer world will find this most ironic and funny. for years now i have loved big words and now that i am faced with big german words i am at a loss. for instance let's take the word for economics - die Wirtschaftswissenschaften. it's such a simple small word in english and they've got some crazy-arsed dodecahedron of a word.

now don't get me wrong, i can't wait for the day that i can speak fluent german, cause it is coming. you can't spend a whole year somewhere and not learn the language. that's just a waste of a trip. for something comparative, my housemate pete is from ireland (german version = irland. see what i mean about some words and their english equivalents) and he has made an irish friend over here. now pete keeps getting asked out to the pub with this guy, but not just any pub, a goddamned irish pub! what's the point of coming over to australia and going to a pub that you could visit at home? what makes it worse is that this friend of pete's has made friends with a stack of irish guys while being here and that's all they do, go to an irish pub and listen to music from the UK while drinking pints surrounded by the irish. you may as well save your money, stay home and just have a bender. this is not what i'll be doing on my trip. i intend on pretty much becoming a german citizen while i'm there. that includes learning the language and culture, seeing the sights and running the other way every time i hear the words, 'g'day' or 'bloody hell, mate.' no offence australia, but if i wanted to hang with aussies i'd stay home.

the tape and book that i'm learning my german from is very good though. it's a 3 month course which i am trying to cram into 2 months. i have so far completed section 1 and almost all of section 2 and started on section 3. how is this possible you ask, because i have been listening to this on the way to and from work everyday. the plan is, first week i listen to section 1 and occasionally hear section 2. then during the second week i listen to section 2 and, because i've already got a start on it, i start listening to section 3. it's working well so far. i can remember nearly all of section 1 and section 2 is holding. i've only just started section 3, but it seems to be sticking as well. i think it helps that i've started saying hello to people at work in german (customers, not other staff members - i work in retail and it's pretty common for german tourists to walk in) and i have some friends that work in a cafe in the city who are french, but speak some german so they're helping too by speaking it to me. although i will say, being yelled at in german for not speaking it first thing in the morning while you're waiting for your first coffee of the day is very startling. it's not a very pleasant language to be chastised in when you don't know what's being said.



*by the way, my sleeping pattern is fine. i think my brain and psyche have gotten over the shock of me doing this and given up trying to freak me out. either that or they're just as lazy as the rest of me. hehehe... or alternatively, me going into work early everyday trying to get more commission has started to wear them down. i think it might be the latter, but only time will tell. once i finish work and don't do so much we'll see if my sleep starts going to the dogs again.*