learning German

I took this photo on a hike at the cottage.


Still plugging away at learning German. After hours of listening to language tapes and going through written language instruction, some of it actually seems to be finally sinking in a bit. Anytime I run into someone who knows even a little bit of German, I beg them to talk to me in the language, to see how much I understand. I listen to German radio and am able to pick out a few words or phrases on occasion (as opposed to ZERO comprehension when I first listened to this station).

I have no idea how I'm ever going to be able to memorize the genders of all the nouns as I learn them; there are THREE genders: male, female and neuter. I suppose that if I forget a gender and say "das" instead of "die", I'll still be understood. To you Germans out there: How forgiving are you of tourists with pathetic German language skills? Would you gasp in horror if I said "die Mädchen" instead of "das Mädchen" in casual conversation? And how difficult was it for you to learn English?

Anyway, I'm having fun despite the occasional "dear lord, what on earth am I getting into" feeling when I'm neck-deep in verb declensions. Maybe I'll have to make it out to a FilkContinental to practise my German someday. Only 1 1/2 months until Jeff and I leave for Vienna!

October/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ