German

Whenever I try to decide which languages to keep working on and which ones to drop, for some reason German always winds up on the list I'm not giving up on. For some of my languages, I've got a lot of enthusiasm for the language itself. Certainly, for example, I study French because I like speaking French. I enjoy the language, I enjoy the attitudes that come with speaking it, I enjoy its sound. German, by contrast, does not really please my ear, and when I took it in college, though my marks were good, the professor would regularly inform me that it wasn't appropriate to speak German with a French accent, so please speak more distinctly, enunciate all the sounds and speak up!

I study German for two reasons: 1) It reminds me of Anglo-Saxon, which fascinates me, but which lacks native speakers to ever chat up and 2) There are actually things I would like to read in German. For most languages, I've come to feel that for want of true understanding of the language, it's better to read literature in translation than mess with the muddle you'll make of the language if you try to read it on your own. My exceptions - for an English speaker - are: French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and possibly the Norse tongues because there are cultural and linguistic affinities enabling you to tune in. On my own list, this narrows to French, German, Italian and Spanish.

The biggest reason for me for learning German is curiosity about certain texts that I would love to have read in the originals. Note the grammatical distinction: Douglas Adams said he didn't particularly like writing novels but greatly enjoyed having written them. There are languages I prefer to have learned and books I prefer to have read. I actually do enjoy slogging through Wittgenstein in the original. His focus on language, meaning, how we create meaning, etc, makes for added value in deciphering the original. I've also always wanted to read Herman Hesse in the original, perhaps because the simplicity of style would lend itself to having read some German without being completely baffled. Kant, by contrast, it would be nice to have read. The same goes for Hegel and Freud.

My secondary reason for knowing a little German is that I am half German - My maternal grandparents were Ayers and Gingrich, and the family archives include letters, documents, certificates and a few old miniature leather books. My sister (who does French, Italian, Spanish, German and Lao) and I are the only ones in the family who can even say what they are, never mind what they say.

Since I have my reasons for studying German, this weekend I did. On Friday night, I did the first CD of the German with Michel Thomas set, and Saturday I listened to CDs 2-4. Also on Friday, I ordered Michel Thomas Advanced German. These sets aren't the best for tourist vocabulary or slapdash conversation, but they're good for getting comfortable with the structure of the language and how it works. I wish he'd learnt then made one for Turkish!

The other day the Aspiring Polyglot asked about phrase book usage. If they're all I've got for a language, there's little I can do with it, but I love them for languages where I've learned a few structures but need something to talk about. In that case, I can find phrases with patterns I know for reinforcement and find words to plug into the patterns to start making meaningful phrases of my own, which is both what language is for and the point, I believe, at which you can start to count yourself at least a little bit capable with a language.

Having spent a couple hours on structure with Michel Thomas, last night I decided it was time for some conversational stuff. I dug out my Rick Steves' German Phrase Book and Dictionary (I like the "Chatting" sections in his phrasebooks), flipped through at random and built bigger phrases from those in the book. For example, the short phrase "Das gefällt mir" (I like that) is a building block for "Es tut mir Leid, aber das gefält mir nicht, weil es zu schwer ist" - I'm sorry, but I don't like that because it is too difficult.

One other note: I don't know that many people read this. In fact, I've seen the numbers and not many do. However, for those who don't have language journals, I highly recommend them. Even if there's only one person reading this - me - it provides for a certain measure of accountability. Online is nice, because the possibility someone else will read means that you want to keep it updated, and that means motivating yourself to do a little something every week, if only so that you'll have something to write about at least once a week. On that note, I'm off to CD 5 to find out what the phrase I built above isn't quite right. See you next week if not before.