In one week, we go to her parents’ house in Hannover for a long weekend. My goals: 1 – to try to exchange some basic pleasantries without any major cock-ups ; 2 – to speak in full sentences so that I sound a little bit less like a German toddler! I’ll let you know how I get on…
Six days after this post was written, myself, the German in the making, and my beautiful freunden found ourselves sitting in the departures lounge of Birmingham International Airport, looking out on the wet and drab beginnings of the British summer. However, one of the undoubted advantages of having a German partner is the great excuse to escape and, within a couple of hours, fly out of austere surroundings and into the more reliable German sunshine.
This is one of the great upsides of my trips to Germany; the downside: the dreaded greeting with the family which we linguistic dullards loathe. Don’t get me wrong, I am very fond of my potential German in-laws, but this is one situation where the lack of a common language can make things rather awkward. As soon as the ‘Welkommens’ and ‘Wie gehts dirs’ have been used up, I find my situational vocabulary rather lacking. And as my girlfriend seems to have developed the slightly irritating habit of using the airport bathrooms as soon as the initial greetings have been completed, I regularly find myself standing around, smiling awkwardly, the momentum of my German usage rather halted.
Still, as a person who is relatively new to the joys and frustrations of trying to learn a second language, I am always surprised by how satisfying it is to visit a country where the language is spoken and realise that I understand slightly more than I did the last time. Whether it be reading the menu – my undoubted specialism – or interpreting signs, it is always great to see a bit of progress after spending seemingly hours struggling through grammar exercises and trying, sometimes unsuccessfully, to make a bit some new vocabulary stick.
These improvements were particularly useful when, returning from using the bathroom at a restaurant, I was stopped by a rather loquacious lady pensioner. My first reaction was as it always is when I’m spoken to unexpectedly in anything other than my mother tongue – I panicked. Every word spoken to me became a muffled echo. My brain went to mush. My jaw froze, leaving me with a rather embarrassing gape. Just when I thought another confidence wrecking humiliation was on the cards, I picked up on the word ‘schwarz’. Thank goodness, a word which I recognised! Just as I was rejoicing this small victory, she turned her back to me and pointed toward her black collar. Of course – the lady simply wanted me to help her to straighten her collar. Still in a slight state of shock and confusion, I did the best collar-straightening job that my trembling hands could muster, whispered an uncomfortable ‘bitte’, and hurried down the stairs, with the poor lady offering what I hope were words of great gratitude to my retreating behind.
With the World Cup nearing its closing stages and the German team still very much in the mix, this will form the basis of my next post – the novel experience of supporting a group of talented and fearless individuals who really believe that they can compete and win on a global stage. Viel Gluck Deutschland!
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