Deutsch

Missing the leaving call

debbiekaye19805 Comments
german confused

Even at a point where I understand German fairly well, and can keep up (for the most part) in conversation, it still manages to catch me out.

This has happened multiple times… I’ll be sitting, for example, with a group of people at a friend’s place, in a conversation that’s been going on a while, predominantly in German. Perhaps my brain is full of German and I’ve started to tune out. Perhaps it’s late and I’m tired…

And suddenly everyone stands up.

And I’m left sitting, looking from right to left. Wondering… what on earth is happening?

Continue reading →

Understanding a German-speaking toddler

debbiekaye19801 Comment

Being home with Sammy for the first two years of his life, I just assumed that he would be more proficient in English than German, at least until he started daycare.

Turns out I was kind of wrong.

I guess it’s because it’s the local language, so although he tends to hear me speaking English most of the day, German is the thing that’s on in the background all the time. He also spends plenty of time with his grandparents, who obviously speak German to him, and I’m also in the habit of speaking German when they’re around so they understand me.

Continue reading →

German Lessons – part 2 – oh screw this!

debbiekaye19803 Comments
german confused

I’ve already mentioned that as part of my maternity leave I am also studying German. And in the beginning, everything was going well. The course takes me through all levels from A1-C1, and since I’d previously completed up to B1, and lived here for ten years, I figured it would a simple matter of focusing on the two upper levels and breezing through. I would be a pro in a year, I thought stupidly, like all the other times I thought improving my German would be easy.

Continue reading →

Getting paid to study German? How can that be a thing?

debbiekaye19804 Comments

In between raising a child I’ve taken on another challenge: learning German… again.

You see, there is a thing in Austria called Ausbildungskarenz. Which translates to something like training on leave. With the blessing of your company, you can take time off work to do some kind of further education. There are plenty of courses available, the caveat being that it has to be relevant to your line of work. For this you get the time off (can range from months up to a year) to study, as well as a bit of cash for doing it.

Continue reading →

The art of the reaction

debbiekaye1980Leave a comment
german confused

One night when we were out at dinner, as the waitress walked away from us after taking our order, she threw an offhand comment back over her shoulder. Nothing out of the ordinary. But when hubby asked me what she’d said because he hadn’t heard and I told him I had no idea, he was surprised… but you laughed?

Yes… because here’s another skill I’ve gained in living in another language: the ability to know (most of the time) what reaction is expected of me, even if I don’t understand the words. I guess we all do it unconsciously anyway – following the visual cues and tone of voice to know how to set your face and how to react.

Continue reading →

And then the German language just comes out of nowhere and trips you up

debbiekaye19801 Comment

accidental blow waveIn the aftermath of passing my B1 test, I was experiencing renewed confidence in my German abilities. But of course, what goes up, must come down. A few weeks later, two incidents happened within about 20 minutes of one other, leaving me to realise I still have some work to do before I can call myself fluent.

Incident #1: Accidentally agreeing to a blow wave at the hairdresser.

Continue reading →

The hilarity of the angry-sounding German language

debbiekaye1980Leave a comment

confusionGerman is an angry-sounding language. You know it, I know it. When Austrians get together over dinner they generally start speaking in their very loud, angry voices.

I remember the first few times I had dinner with my now in-laws… I would sit quietly, eating my dinner, sipping my wine, just trying to stay in the background because I certainly didn’t want to get involved in whatever it was they were so mad about. Their heated conversation would be sporadically punctuated with cackles of laughter and then the grim faces would return and they would start arguing again. Or so it seemed to me.

Continue reading →

Words that are actually longer in English

debbiekaye1980Leave a comment

FairyThe German language is known for its long words. Without even going into the ridiculously long words (which to be honest nobody uses anymore anyway) try Entschuldigung instead of simply saying ‘sorry’ or Kniebeuge for ‘squat’. Though in all honesty, part of the problem is that the German words just don’t fit well in our English-speaking mouths – they come out all clumsy and end up sounding a lot longer than they do when spoken by a native speaker.

But there are exceptions. So I’ve made a list of 10 words that are actually shorter in German:

Continue reading →