So my reasons for being in Germany are twofold: first and most ostensibly, to do research on the political culture of discrimination against Muslim immigrants in Western Europe, to the extent that I'm able at this point in my academic career. Secondly and probably more importantly at this point in said academic career, to learn German in order to further my research later on.
However, due to the fact that private language schools are insanely expensive and I arrived at the wrong time to take a language course through the university, I've been learning largely on my own. I've used two online courses (busuu.com and Deutsche Interaktiv, for anyone interested), and have added in a combination of grammar workbooks and websites, watching dubbed American TV shows, and translating Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as well as my language exchange partner, Ulf! So essentially I'm not only teaching myself the language but designing my own curriculum. The Internet's a wonderful thing, isn't it? I don't think it would work nearly as well if I wasn't physically in Germany hearing German every time I leave my apartment, though.
I literally had no German background at all prior to arriving here--when I knew I was coming I made it a point to learn greetings and numbers, and then all of a sudden I was on a plane to a country I'd never been to where they speak a language I couldn't say ten words in. If there is one thing I hate, it's being dependent, and the second I got here I hated being dependent on other people's English-speaking abilities. So I've worked as hard as I can to make that less of an issue. It's very different from my semester abroad in Paris. I had about 7 years of background in French (even though American methods of teaching second languages are awful), I was living with a family, I was with one of my best friends, and even arriving I wasn't dependent on people speaking English--fluency happened pretty quickly and almost without me realizing it.
Here it's very different. Not only because I arrived all by myself to spend the summer working on my own with no background in the language. I feel like every day I am flooded with hundreds of new bits of information--new words or verb conjugations that I learn and immediately forget, cultural notes, ways to phrase or pronounce things. While in Paris I was shooting for big goals, like watching a movie without subtitles, or having a phone conversation, or understanding song lyrics, here I'm happy with little victories. After going to Geneva, where they speak French and I could communicate easily, I came back to Konstanz intensely frustrated. I can think in French, I can switch from French to English at a moment's notice, and I can understand what people say to me. My grammar may have a lot of mistakes but I can do very well without any assistance in a French-speaking place. Thinking of how to say things in French comes very quickly. Coming back to a place where I couldn't understand a word anyone said anymore was disheartening.
In Konstanz, I have to think of what I want to say. Then I have to break it down word by word to figure out the words I know and the words I don't know. If I'm out and about, I have to look up the words I don't know in my phrasebook. If they're not there I have to figure out another way to express what I mean. Then I have to make a guess at word ordering and verb conjugations. And if it's not in the present tense, forget it. I thought doing everything in French could be exhausting sometimes, but it's nothing compared to this. Imagine shopping for food or toiletries when you can't read anything that's on the labels. Or trying to get daily tasks like buying a bus ticket or making a deposit at the bank accomplished. Every time I leave my apartment it's difficult.
Obviously you can't become fluent in a language overnight, or in a month, or even in four months, particularly without formal instruction. So I'll just keep up what I'm doing, and in August see where I am!
With that, here's to the little victories of the past few days:
-ordering gelati in multiple flavors in a cone or a cup--kugeln im becher (scoop in a cup)!
-making a deposit at the bank in German...einzahlung (the deposit)!
-explaining to the woman waiting with me for the (very late) bus that there had been a car accident near the Konzil Theater so that was why the bus was late--der Unfall (the accident)!
-paying my rent and spelling my last name in German--bezahlen (to pay)!
hopefully there will be many more!
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