Everyone in the class is attempting to learn a language that is not their own. And for this reason...we find a lot of commonality. German does not flow easily from any of our tongues. We are all like toddlers, clumsily trying to mimic foreign sounds. Some recklessly jump into the new language and unabashedly murder every word they utter, while others painstakingly enunciate every syllable, glancing upward repeatedly for the teacher's approval. Regardless of our approach, we are all in the same boat. A boat that is being inundated with new vocabulary, new sounds, new grammar rules. New everything.
After class yesterday, a couple of classmates and myself were on our way to get soup (side note: we got Green Cabbage soup called "Grunkohl" or something like that...a German specialty that was quite tasty). We were reflecting on how much progress we were making. Having just completed our second week of classes, we were basking in a moment of accomplishment and success.
Looking back at that moment, I have to smile. It's true that we have learned a ton. We started at ground zero and now have something to show for our work...I can find out someone's name and tell them mine. I can count to a thousand. I can even tell you that my washing machine is broken and that my grandfather is crazy (he's not really...but I could tell you if he was.) But if I depended on the German language to save my life...I wouldn't have a chance.
