I have been going to the English Club here in Darmstadt for the last couple of Wednesday nights. A really good bunch of people who having been really kind in offering all kinds of assistance. They have regular film nights, quiz evenings and social dining events. The club secretary David, has given me a loan of all the German language course books and tapes he used during the last three years. He has said that even with company sponsored intensive language courses (these cost around $1200 per week for 30 hours), both he and his wife Lynne were not speaking fluent German until they were at it for two and half years. God only knows how long it will take me.
It really is a monster language and so very different in structure and pronunciation to English. My tongue is having to find whole new contortions to get the right sounds and I am sure that I have managed to tickle my tonsils with it on more than one occasion.
Feels kind of funky like your choking yourself before you can yell HELP! All I can do is perservere and muddle on regardless.
It is at times like this that I wish I had payed a bit more attention to my German teacher, Henry Winkler, during my school years although some of the basic rules of the language that I have found so very useful to date were never explained to me at any point during those years. On top of that my friend Thomas has been throwing me bits of Danish to show some of the Nordish similarities.
Eg:
Dane: Smukke pige, jig elske dig !
Phon: Smoog-e pee-ah, yiiee elska dayee
Tran: Beautiful girl, I love you !
Aust: Smooch piggy, I really dig you
Dane: Jig kann snakke lille Dansk, jig er Australisk
Phon: Yiiee carn snarga leel Dansk, yiee ur Ostrarlisk
Tran: I can speak little Danish, I am Australian
Aust: Just shut up and kiss me
All a lot of fun but seriously confusing in the midst of all the rest of the gutteral germanic sounds I am trying so hard to learn.
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