Keri SoVery…

I only know one language. Heck, there’s some times when I have to be interpreted with fellow English speakers just because of my accent.  As soon as I meet people, no matter how hard I try to sound sophisticated, the first question I get is, “Where are you from?”  Oh and there’s the people that try to guess….They guess Kentucky…. a LOT.  The other night my own kids didn’t understand what I was trying to say.  After several repeats and an interpretation from Brad, we successfully communicated.  (WHEW!)  I was so traumatized by it, I can’t even remember what it was I was trying to say at the time.

Obviously I barely speak English.  I only speak southern, y’all!

I should’ve learned some German before I moved here. Some people said, “Learn some German.” Other people said, “Everyone speaks English, you’ll be fine.”  Either way, we had a lot going on figuring out a move with a new blended family, lots of kids, and a house to figure out what to do with.

I also haven’t learned much of the language since being here.  I do work hard to manage transactions with a simple “Hallo!” and then a “Danke.”  maybe even a “Guten tag!” While at the grocery store, I am able to identify many words on labels and such.  There’s something super intimidating about SPEAKING the words.  Any time I try, it just comes out all wrong.  Those sounds just don’t naturally come out of my South Carolina mouth!

I can’t even seem to get signing right.  I held up 2 fingers at the bakery to indicate I wanted 2 of the type bread I was getting.  I used my index finger and middle finger. You know, like a peace sign.  The lady responded back by holding up 2 fingers, her thumb and her index finger to confirm I wanted 2.

 

So, I’m often asking either, “Do you speak English?”  or “Sprichst du Englisch” I’m pretty sure I even say that wrong.

 

So far, I’ve identified 4 ways people respond to this question. 

1. The I love speaking to Americans so I can practice my English, crowd:

I’ve met a young lady, 70 years of age who was excited to practice her English by carrying on a conversation with me. She is from Slovenia and loves to travel. We met in the street late one afternoon and spent the rest of the day together into the wee hours of the morning. We chatted, we walked, we went dancing, it was an evening I hope to never forget.

I met another woman (75) while walking home one day. She greeted me in German as we approached each other. I pulled off a response, but then she asked a question to which I responded in English and hand gestures to try and get my answer better understood. She excitedly responded “oh! You’re the American lady!” She has lived in Germany since she was a young girl, but is originally from France and blames those roots for her chattiness. 😂 She was so friendly!

I met a couple (thanks to my roaming pup dog) whose daughter isn’t yet in kindergarten, but so greatly desires to learn English. They are excited for her to learn. Apparently they recognize that my dog is American because she doesn’t “speak” German.  She didn’t follow the German commands.

2. The a little crowd:

These are the folks that when you ask “do you speak English” they respond with “a little” This is a LARGE majority of the folks I encounter. There are two sub groups within this group.

I. Those Lacking Confidence: Some seem really unsure of their ability to speak English. They know some, but don’t want to mess it up while trying to speak it. They aren’t being rude, just not confident. We take it slow and they usually know WAY more than they realize. We both seem to walk away feeling good about the encounter. I am incredibly thankful for these encounters.

This includes the very sweet waitress this morning that was very kind to me.   She even let me know they could do eggs boiled, scrambled (which she questioned herself on), or fried (we worked through figuring out fried together).  I ordered scrambled. When I didn’t partake of the entire buffet, she made a point to let me know there was more to it. Before leaving I thanked her and she told me, “I’m not very good (at English)”  I told her she was great and that I appreciated her taking the time to work with me in English and be patient with me.

Our amazing land lord falls into this group as well. We LOVE talking to him.

II. Those Lacking Patience: The other part of this crowd seem to be annoyed to be asked and don’t want to waste their time trying. They may pause for a brief second to listen, but usually shake their head no and go about their business. Its like, I speak a little, and then you try to ask a question.  They then give you a confused look, shake their head, and walk away. They tried, we were just too much apparently.  I’m quite used to being too much for some people.

3. The nein crowd

Nope. They don’t speak it, they can’t help you. They may or may not be rude, but either way they don’t speak English.

I did encounter one older couple in the grocery store that still took the time to look at the picture on my phone of what I was trying to find and helped me find it. I had resorted to this after asking several of the second sub group of the “a little” group.

We also encountered a young lady at a church records office who was willing to google translate back and forth with us. There were three of us, and it was so exciting to figure out how to communicate. The wins feel really good. 🙂

4. The it’s completely irrelevant whether I speak English or not-the official language here is German crowd.

These folks are awesome. (Please note the sarcasm)

This includes the lady at the Notfallpraxis known to us Americans as the Emergency Room. Eye Rolling is apparently an international language. She did very reluctantly use English as she told us we had to pay upfront before we could be seen and wouldn’t take our insurance card. A fun time was had by all.

This also includes the speeding ticket office that responded to my email asking for instructions in English on how to pay with: the official language is German. Interpretation is your responsibility. All further communication will be in German. Then typed the payment instructions in German. 🙄🙄🙄 My turn for the eye roll. In the time it took to type that, they could’ve sent the instructions in English, but whatever. We got the ticket paid. 🙄🙄🙄 Extra eye roll for dramatic effect.

This also includes the McDonalds worker who sighed and called up the worker that apparently deals with us non German speaking customers.  Meanwhile the German customers were ordering by the English names on the menu.

This also includes my WordPress website.  Everything on the back end is in German for me since I’m here.  Yes, I know there’s a button to select to have it in English.  Sometimes that works…other times, not so much. WordPress support is pretty awesome though. They have been willing to help me, but it is what it is.

I guess I said all that to say this here:  I need to learn some German. I don’t want to be THAT American.  I’m living in their country and so incredibly thankful for this experience.

My landlord says the best way to learn is to find a German that doesn’t speak English. In his opinion if I try to work with a German that knows a little English, we will speak more English than German. Which is what we do with him.  He let me know that I can put an ad in the local paper. He also says he speaks 3 languages: German, English (he says not very good), and Schwäbisch. (That’s a joke) Schwäbisch is the language of this area.  In the North they speak German very differently.  I told him I can relate to this.  I may venture out and find a neighbor.

Meanwhile, I’m going to challenge myself and I’m going to tell all of you about it, so that y’all can hold me accountable.  Motivational Candy is going to be so proud of me!

My goal will be to learn 2 new phrases a week for the next 5 weeks.  This puts me to the end of the year.  That gives me time to see if this is too low of a goal or too high of a goal, so that I may adjust accordingly.  When I say, “learn them,” I mean and work to use them regularly so I can really get comfortable with them.

My first is going to be “How are you?” because it’s what I seem to automatically say after I say, “Hallo.”

I’m open to suggestions on what phrases you think I should learn.  Hopefully I can have a list of phrases so it makes my goal more achievable.  So, help a girl out!  😉

SoVery Adventurous