March 6, 2009 1:15 pm

Ich Bin Ein Berliner

I have finally done it – I signed up for a non-credit German course! I’ve wanted to learn German FOREVER and, while I own a ton of books meant for teaching yourself, I really haven’t progressed farther than learning to say things like “the hedgehog” in my head because I don’t know how to pronounce anything.

I do have a “Learn German” computer program that lets you speak into a microphone and it grades you on your pronunciation, so that has helped a bit. That said, it’s super embarrassing to use and I’ve probably only messed with it two or three times. (Sad! I wanted it really bad when I first got it but we didn’t have a microphone for our computer when I was in high school.)

As far as languages go, I took a year of Spanish in high school but was thwarted by the Worst Teach Ever in the second half of the year (my lovely, wonderful initial Spanish teacher went on maternity leave) and learned nothing. Or if I learned anything, it was idiotic and useless like “the elephants eat peanut soup.” I taught myself how to say “I am a piece of toast” in the sixth grade and that remains the only Spanish phrase I can reliably recite.

I also took an “Afternoon Academy” class (a simple, after-school program for elementary-age children) for French when I was probably seven years old. About all I remember is how to count to ten, and that we ate cheese and bread in class.

So! I am very excited. I don’t really have a use for learning German, I suppose, but I would love to know it nonetheless. My first class is on March 31 so I will definitely post about my progress. Squee!

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10 Comments

  • adastra says:

    Sehr gut! Dann kann ich dir ja jetzt Kommentare auf Deutsch schreiben die du nicht verstehst ;)

  • Audrey says:

    German is great to learn. In Europe it is the second most common language to English – I recommend using German in France if you don’t know French! It is a lot of fun and not too complex (or it wasn’t for me in high school anyway). Makes for a good excuse to travel to Europe. (;

  • Tracy says:

    What Adastra said. Plus, now you can comment on my site in German! How cool is that?! :P

  • Kaylee says:

    Learning German sounds cool, but the language-learning part of my brain is busy enough with French :(

    I hope your classes go well!

  • callie says:

    i can give you a use for it… come visit!! while i’m still over here!!! it would be great. it’s wonderful over here, so far. :D!!

  • Melissa says:

    Oh, this makes me feel bad for not really touching German since I came back from Germany. I need to get into the groove again!

    I hope it goes well for you. I remember having a dumb Spanish class in 7th grade, too, but the only thing I can say is “on top of” because my mind is dirty like that :D

  • Anna says:

    Good luck! You sound very motivated so I’m sure you’ll learn quickly. It really helps to watch your favorite shows in German once you get the hang of it (Germans dub everything). That way you’ll pick up colloquialisms and learn pronunciation even faster.

  • Kerri Anne says:

    One of my thirty before I’m thirty (gah!) goals is to (re) learn how to speak French. For real this time. And then try my luck at a (real!) Parisian cafe.

  • Erin says:

    Congratulations! That is thoroughly exciting. I’ve been working at relearning Spanish for ages now and I really ought to just sign up for a class and be done with it. But that’d be too easy (and expensive at the moment).

  • Abby says:

    Just doing my occasional check-in ;)

    As for pancake mix, I’m sure Dan’s is great, BUT, if you want an easy (think, just add water easy) mix with no trans-fats, try Krusteaz Honey Wheat – it’s yummy, and made in Seattle! Yay!

    Funny story about Spanish lessons, btw…when I started college, I really wanted to take Spanish at some point, but I could never get into Western’s 100-level classes, so after 2 years of frustration, I was drunkenly registering for classes in france at 4 am, and was suddenly inspired to just go ahead and jump right into 200 level spanish. It even fulfills a GUR, I thought to myself.

    Long, painful story later…I was not ready for 200 level spanish. I got a D-. The most depressing/astonishing part is, a D- is sufficient for GUR credit at Western. So, that was my one quarter of post-high school spanish. Hopefully your post high school language learning efforts go a little better.

    Aimee speaks German! It was one of her majors, and she’s lived in Switzerland.

    Anyway, hope all is well!