So... if you follow me on twitter, you would know that inspiration has not reared its pretty little head in a while, so I decided to do awkward and awesome with a little bit of a twist.
You all know that I live in Germany. I also speak German. I like to consider myself fluent, but then I always wonder what fluent is. Obviously I don't speak German as well as I speak English. Duh. It's not my native language. I figure, though, that if I can read 600 page novels and watch movies and carry on conversations without any difficulty, then I must be fluent.
Anyway.
Awkward:
1. Reading books like The Hunger Games in German, and then discussing them in English. I don't know how to translate those made-up words.
2. Writing blog posts half in English, half in German. This happens quite a bit, people. I then have to go through and replace all the random German words that are dispersed throughout the post.
3. Sleep-talking in German. Apparently this happens.
4. Speaking Germenglish. This also happens. Quite a bit.
5. Going to other countries where they don't speak German or English, and automatically speaking German and expecting people to understand me. I guess since they're speaking a foreign language, my brain just automatically goes to the only foreign language I know. This happened in Italy - I'd ask, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" People would say, "English, yes. German, no."
Awesome:
1. Reading books and understanding them. Ummm, how cool is this? I can look at a book in a totally different language, and understand it all!
2. Watching movies and understanding them. Again... how freaking cool, right!?
3. Thinking in 2 languages. My brain is kind of confused, apparently, but it's so cool to see how my brain thinks.
4. Dreaming in 2 languages. Sometimes I dream in German, sometimes in English. It's weird, but cool at the same time.
5. Being able to translate for people. I like that I can help other people to understand what's going on around them.
Happy Thursday, and if anyone finds Inspiration, send that sneaky little dude my way - I'm having "blogger's block!"
PS: You can still enter the giveaway here.
Happy Thursday, and if anyone finds Inspiration, send that sneaky little dude my way - I'm having "blogger's block!"
PS: You can still enter the giveaway here.
28 comments:
I always thought it was so cool that when I was with someone whose native language wasn't English that they were next to me thinking in another language! Love that thought.
I like your spin on this post! I can speak French (pretty well) and I like being able to translate and just knowing another language. What part of Germany do you live in? I'm headed there in April and I can't wait!!!
I still can't quite figure out the covers to those Hunger Games books. Her face each time, with a different color of leaves each time, and her eyes getting freakishly more green.
Is there something in the German version that explains this cover?!
I don't remember reading about leaves and changing eye color in the English version....
But I do find it interesting that in German it is a different cover. Why is that?
Okay, this comment is far too long.
I'll stop now...
Abby
www.taintedperfectionist.blogspot.com
Your blog is freaking cute.
I took german in high school, and I was terrible. It was really hard for me to grasp. I think it's awesome that you know both! Dreaming in another language would the freaky.
Dreaming in other languages must be pretty farkin awesome. No wonder you talk in your sleep, missy! I would too if I kept switching from German to English.
I've always wanted to learn another language, but I'm lazy and never have. :-)
Great post today!
i always think it's so cool for being bilingual or more. i learned German once by myself, but it didn't turn out good because i ended up knowing 5 sentences. i was once dreaming in spanish and i don't even speak spanish except that i listened to a Shakira's song in spanish,haha.
I wish I knew another language...I'm so jealous! lol
I'm so jealous that you can speak another language! When did you begin to learn German?
I so envy your fluency! I aspire to be able to read a proper book in German, as in, not a children's picture book of farm animals. I'm currently on the same level as my friend's 1-year old. Ente! Kuh! Unfortunately I am absurdly lazy and haven't cracked my 'teach yourself German' book since around Thanksgiving. I just watch How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory in Deutsch and hope for the best. So if you have any tips for those of us who want to learn but lack motivation please send them my way! h.
I can't wait until I'm that fluent in another language!
So. Amazing. I finally decided to start taking German (and minoring in it) next semester! I'm excited/nervousness at the same time (especially since I'm already in Italian)!
I'm envious of your German abilities! Where/when did you learn?
Also, I think in my brain, all foreign languages are stored in one folder. So I'm like "hola, ein helles por favor. danke."
Thankfully my American Sign Language seems to be in a different folder than spoken languages, or it would be REALLY weird.
This post actually filled me with jealousy. Except I have no write to be jealous because I have not put in the time. I did however have to go to a German movie (Hexe Lilli) with the 8 year old today and knew what was going on the whole time, so that was cool.
that's awesome you can read books in a different language! and 19 minutes is so freakin good! loved it.
oh gosh, i'm seriously so jealous that you are bilingual. my husband can speak spanish because of his mission and i get mad when he has spanish dreams. i don't know why. i just wish i could talk to someone and do all that jazz and be immersed in a different culture every once in a while :)
xo TJ
Oh, goodness. I can SO relate to this. I speak some sort of Denglisch all the time now with some of my friends.... sometimes it's quite exhausting for the brain to function in two languages and other times it's just amazing! :)
P.S. I can't watch dubbed movies anymore (unless it's a language I clearly don't understand - like Japanese or something)...
I am no where near being fluent in German, but I can speak enough to communicate and I understand more than I speak. Sometimes a German word will just pop into my head and there is no English word that I can translate it to. One word this happens frequently with is kaputt. I never say broken. Ever.
I read my first full novel in Polish last year and it felt friggin fantastic!! The whole translating for people - I love it too. Have never had a multi-lingual dream though - that sounds way cool!
Ahhh. So jealous! I literally cramming my head full of German every night and I can't seem to get any better. Want to share some German language skills? Haha. But actually. Compared to French, German seems so hard.
love this!!! i so wish i was bilingual. i think it's the coolest thing ever! so funny about the hunger games though!! ; )
meee tooo! I feel like I have NOTHING to write about!
p.s. I think a dream in German would freak me out! haha
Embrace it and know how fabulous it is that you ARE fluent in TWO languages! :)
You know what is awesome about being bilingual? When people don't realize you know the language and you hear them talking crap. That's the BEST!
:)) haha. i always dream and think in two languages. it is weird.
Sprechen Sie Englisch?... so funny!
And in my house, we speak Franglais, like I'll say, "Baby, can you fermer la fenetre". Why I don't just pick a language and go with me is beyond me.
first of all your langage skills are something to be really proud of! German is damn hard (or at least I think so) and um yeah, i am incredibly jealous you can read 600 page books in german. I have been reading the same teenage-level books (in german) for ages without making much progress, mostly because it takes so much longer to read and i get bored. You definitely have inspired me to crack them open again :)
I call it Deutschlisch but Germenglish has a much nicer ring to it! i might be stealing that from now on!
Oh please please please post something in "Denglish"! I've been putting so many Croatian words and phrases in my speech and my English is sooooo lacking these days. My future hubby is NOT helping since English isn't his first language..I end up talking more like him.
P.S. Ich liebe dein blog :)
omg, as a French speaker, I can totally relate! Frenglish all the way ;)
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