Ich lerne Deutsch...

I've been 'learning' German since October 2011. I say 'learning',  in italics, as this implies the opposite, that I in fact haven't been learning German. But enough about my witty formatting.

The lessons were hosted by my uni, and were pretty good for the bargainous price I paid. Sadly, due to a number of reasons, I didn't apply myself as much as I perhaps should have. (No hidden meaning in that italic formatting. Just so you know.) In fact, I didn't even attend all of them (and boy am I regretting those decisions right now!)

German is meant to be easy to grasp, but puh-lease, I beg to differ! Maybe it is just me? Maybe I have the opposite to a natural talent for languages, whatever that may be. No matter how I dress it up, I just can't seem to grasp German, which could be a bit of an issue...

Or hilf mir! (or Hilfe!) In Deutsch

For example, I constantly mix up the words for four (vier) and five (fünf); obviously because fünf sounds closer to four than five, it must mean four. Obviously.

Another, less idiotic, example is my confusion over how to ask where somebody is from, and where somebody lives. The confusion is not in the formal and informal, but in the actual question words:

Woher kommen Sie? Is 'where do you come from?' Wo wohnen Sie? Is Where do you live? Seems simple enough until I'm practicing dialogues (with myself) and can't seem to separate the two! And quite frankly, the consequences of mixing these two babies could be awkward; imagine intending to ask where someone lives, so you can visit them, only to be informed that they live in Sweden. Obviously I would realise my mistake, but honestly, can you imagine?!

So it's a relief to know that on my first Monday (Montag) in Germany, I will be packing off to an intensive language course. Whoo! I don't hold out much hope for leaving my year abroad fluent, but I'm hoping that with some application and complete immersion I'll be able to get by. And when I return to my home university, I'll definitely be signing up for more lessons, just to keep it fresh.

PS: I totally cheated with the German in this post. Google Translate will become my new best friend...

-Rae