I could not fathom anyone who was so interested in learning German and repeating after the teacher every single time. When I came out of German 101, my enthusiasms for language had wore off, the novelty of an immersion class had faded and I faced the grim reality that the language was no longer a guessing game but rather a paramount task . So I was extraordinarily put off by the aforementioned as well as the rest of the class, all riled up about the language. Granted, I feel like one of the quieter people in class, I can surely say that my enthusiasm now matches Emily Joy Rothchilds or even surpasses it.
German 102 is really the class I look forward too. Though I may have fudged a few Auf Gehts! by simply pressing 'richtig!' over and over again till I got it right, I really feel something of a bound with the language now. It's a very valuable language. For the native English speaker, German is the third most important language that one should learn according to the Steinke Language Index. You could argue then, whats the point in taking the time to learn German if another language is more valuable?
This class has taught me that Germany is our twin. While each twin has its own distinct personality there are glaring similarities. I never any notion that Germany was some Nazi filled paradise. These beliefs were long torn aside for me after numerous History Channel specials watching the Berlin wall come down. It was one of my dad's favorite things. German 102 furthered the idea of verisimilitude and kept me further along this path of understanding. Rigorous language development is the only way to understand another culture. Withi this ability you can then get behind the eyeballs of that culture and truly understand the way they percieve things and interact especially with us. Auf Gehts! really stressed this inter cultural development and that truly is commendable of the textbook because that is probably the most crucial part of the whole language course altogether.
I had alot of trouble with comprehension. I think it was because I found it difficult to study. This is mostly my personality. I cannot simply practice problems and memorize theme, it has to be hands on for me. So for German, studying in an English country, that certainly proved to be difficult when you can't just get up and talk to somebody. My regret for this class though, was to do just that, I wished I had asked more from y peers and tried to garner more practice for myself so that I could have a fuller experience with the program.
I did have one big grief in this class, and I do feel that it is best expressed by a passage from Mark Twain's essay, "The Awful German Language". Twain, as well as myself and I'm sure my colleagues, is frustrated by the genders of words that simply do not connect:
Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book. In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. See how it looks in print -- I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:
- "Gretchen.
- Wilhelm, where is the turnip?
- Wilhelm.
- She has gone to the kitchen.
- Gretchen.
- Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?
- Wilhelm.
- It has gone to the opera."
1 comment:
Lucas,
The gender issue unfortunately is something that is not at all logical. It was set a long time ago under completely different circumstances. In your example the maiden is an unmarried woman and in the past you couldn't refer to an unmarried woman as to be of female sex. I think that was just not polite. Times changed though and in German we don't use the term "Fraeulein" any more which is like maiden or miss. If you get more into German literature the whole gender thing makes more sense because it has so much more possibilities to play with especially in lyrics. I really hope that one day you decide to appreciate the genders. ;-)
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