Something as simple as saying the alphabet can trip you up in a second language. Photo (cc) flickr user james.swenson

Sometimes when you’re learning a foreign language, it feels like you’re doing everything backwards.  When children learn a language they start small, maybe asking for a toy simply by saying “me doll!”  While adults may resort to similar sentences in must-communicate situations in their adopted language, they often have the disadvantage of wanting to start with more complex subject matter.

Fear of speaking keeping you from practicing a foreign language? Here's how I got over it. Photo (cc) flickr user greenpeanut

After deciding to take German to fill my high school foreign language requirement in the eighth grade, I spent four years in classes figuring out the grammar, memorizing vocabulary, and practicing short conversations.  My teacher’s logical approach to explaining grammar clicked easily for me, and I always got good grades.  But that didn’t mean I was anywhere near being good in German.  In fact, I was terrified to speak it.

Learning German isn't just about reading books: you can learn just as much by watching television shows. Photo (cc) flickr user Lubs Mary

I’m dreaming in German now. Ah, so it has come to this. Last night I dreamed that it came out in a shocking news story that America was using fresh Dachshund (wiener dog) meat in its sushi. I expressed in this dream my shock and dismay – in German – with an Afghan woman from my class.

In other language-learning news, I’ve found in the past month that watching children’s TV is an excellent way to learn the language. My new nightly ritual is to tune in every night at 7:45 for the kid’s version of Nachtrichten (news) on KiKa. This is where German children learn at an early age to be knowledgeable and serious citizens of the world.

Photo (c) Resident on Earth

This week I was contemplating how to say a sentence in German that involved the words German woman and American man when a German language concept dug in a little deeper. I knew this concept, but I was still thinking about it in English. I wanted to string together the language the way we do in English by adding the words for woman (Frau) and man (Mann) to specify the gender of the German and American. But German is efficiently built with the person’s gender in the words themselves:

■die Deutsche = German woman
■der Deutscher = German man
■die Amerikanerin = American woman
■der Amerikaner = American man

At the end of a six-month stretch of language classes, it was time for the B1 exams. Photo (cc) flickr user Alex France

To complete the B1 level (the halfway point in the language levels), we had a party with a veritable international food buffet from everyone’s contributions. While I’m happy to finally be wrapping up my intensive classes, and I’ve struggled with them from time to time, I felt a bit sad yesterday. We all had to say good-bye to each other, including to our instructor who has worked so hard for the duration of these classes. My routine is changing again. It seems strange to not be returning to class on Monday. And now the big question for me is…what next?

How not to butcher the German language at the butcher. Photo (c) Jen

One day last week, in a remarkable coincidence, my dear and wise uncle sent me an article about German meat and butchers. It must have been fate, because that very day I was contemplating how to go to the butcher nearby our apartment to get some ground beef so I could make some chili with some chili seasoning I brought to Germany with me.

First of all, I love that we have a butcher. Sure, I can just as readily go to the grocery store and buy pre-packaged meats – maybe the “easier” option for a non-German speaker like me – but as the article points out, Germany is renowned for its meats and its specialty butchers (which sadly is a trade that is in decline as more people opt for supermarket convenience).

Photo (c) Resident on Earth

I have a beautiful red book to hold my German Wortschatz, or “word treasure.” In English, I suppose we just call it plain old boring “vocabulary.” The book has a ribbed surface, and the pages are of such a fine texture that I can’t help but flip through the book, run my fingers over the paper, and gently breathe in the scent.

As I go about my daily life, I collect German words in my Wortschatz. I write down words that I see or hear around me, such as from ads, TV, flyers, or newspaper headlines (as I look over the shoulder of the guy sitting in front of me on the train). When I get home, I look them up and write down their meaning.