Moving to a new country is definitely an engaging experience, you are thrown completely out of your comfort zone and then you have to work towards creating a new normal in this foreign environment. Three months into my move I feel like Bean and I have settled into a pretty decent routine, our apartment is looking more and more like home and I can walking into the city now without feeling like everyone knows that I am not from here (not that they could before but irrational feelings). Before moving here I had very little exposure to the German language, the only spoken German I had heard before H was in war documentaries, films and the occasional satire on television. In school I studied French and Spanish, German was never even on my radar. I cannot say that I am picking up the language as well as I had hoped but at the same time I really have not been putting in the effort, I am seriously hoping to change that but for now here are a few things I have learned...
one. The Alphabet
The German alphabet is exactly the same as the English one, just add a few extra vowels and weird "S" thing. But my dear friend, the letters do not sound the same, here's a quick (and rough) guide to German pronunciation: F's sound like V's (not all the time though), J's sounds like Y's, W's sound like V's, V's sound like F's and Z's sound like T and S together. Do you feel enlightened, I know I do now!
two. Genau
This is probably the most used word in the German language, it means "right" but is generally used in all situations of consensus. I'm pretty sure in order to join a conversation all I have to do is stand there and say "Ja, ja Genau" and I'll be golden.
three. Just Sound Angry
Seriously everything in German sounds so harsh, what I think is an intense argument over the phone is actually just plans being made about visiting H's parents for coffee over the weekend. Unless someone laughs I genuinely think German people are being indignant with each other.
Okay, okay all joking aside, I really do need to learn German, if anyone has any tips I am all ears. It really is an interesting language and I am really enjoying trying to figure out how it works. I like that is has a lot of rules, and that it doesn't seem to rely too much on irregular verb conjugation (I'm looking at you English). Oh and the best part about German it's compound words.
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