Questions & Answers, Part V

More answers to questions! This time, it's CAD Monkey's turn. CAD Monkey is my new best friend because she linked to my blog and said she's been reading it "voraciously". Woohoo! :)

First, the recommendations.

Movie - Real Genius. Ermm, yeah. You know, I don't think I've ever sat through this movie in it's entirety? I've seen bits & pieces. Back in High School I was a total romance novel nerd. My nose was stuck in the middle of a romance novel every waking minute seemingly. My brothers, on the other hand, were total HBO & Movie Channel nerds. I watched many snippets of many movies on my way through the living room to the kitchen for a drink and then back to my room to read. Occasionally I would stop & watch the movie with them. So I've probably seen the entire movie, just not all at once. Or maybe I have. I'll have to rent it to make sure.

Book - Memoirs of a Geisha. I keep seeing this book. And picking it up. And reading the back. And putting it down. I think I even read the first few pages of it. I just need to buy the flippin' book and read it. I'm such a wimp when it comes to new genres and a little bit of a non-conformist. If it's new & hip & happening, that makes me want to not participate. A little bit. On the other hand, I love being one of the first people on a new & hip & happening wave. Yes, I know, a contradiction. Point being: Memoirs of a Geisha was hip & happening a couple of years ago and I was late on the uptake and now I just need to read it. Good suggestion. :)

Music - Kittie. Cool. I listened to snippets of their latest album and it sounds promising! A bit like Disturbed - I love "Down with the Sickness" - but a bit different too. Definitely will check them out next time I'm in the CD store. (Man, that last sentence is a perfect example of how German is corrupting my English. "Definitely will" is a German phrasing, "Will definitely" is more American. )

On to her questions!

Were you fluent "auf Deutsch" before you moved there? (please forgive grammar if I'm wrong)

No! Goodness gracious, no! I wouldn't say I'm fluent now, but I'm a lot closer to fluent now that I was three years ago. My German was on the level of a really bad 2nd grade student then. Possibly worse. It's maybe up to the level of middle school now, grammer-wise. Vocab-wise, I'd say late high school, early college. My grammer is the worst. I mix up genders, use "du" when I should use "Sie", haven't quite figured out the correct way of saying "you two", etc. That said, I've notice a significant improvement in this area in the last 3-6 months. Probably because my only vocal contact is in German now that Bill is in the States.

Where did you learn German (book/ class/ etc.)?

I originally learned German while living here as a child. In the DoD elementary school we had German once a week and then in middle school I took it as a class. We moved back to the States in the middle of my 7th grade so for two years I had no German contact. I lost a lot of vocabulary. But the basis was there. I continued German for all four years of High School & then two years in College. Sorry Brett, but I just don't feel like I learned German from Frau Blanner, as just keeping it fresh in my head. It probably has more to do with me than her because we had a couple of guys in my class take AP German and pass with flying colors. I didn't do bad, I just didn't feel like I could read or talk the language. Granted I never really tried. And thinking back on it now, I probably did learn more than I realized. In any case, those six years kept German in the back of my brain & really helped with my understanding & re-learning the language when I moved back here three years ago. I'm not much of a help if you're looking for advice on how to pick up the language. Even after moving here I didn't take a class. My first company offered German lessons on company time, but after they declared bankruptcy two months after I joined them, those stopped. Funny that. I looked into German classes at the local Volkshochschule (community college), but those are inconveniently timed in the middle of the day and the professional business language schools want an arm and a leg per month. So I've just been picking it up on my own and trusting my German colleagues to be patient. It really helps having them speak German to me. And explaining things when I don't understand, preferably also in German. Reading German books/newspapers helps a lot and so does watching TV.

If I moved there, would you be my friend? ;P

Absolutely! :) That was an easy answer.

Posted by Jinglelady at December 17, 2004 11:26 PM | Blogging | TrackBack