Cordially Barbara

  • Coming Soon: Notes on Being Human
  • Spirit of Christmas: A Holiday Anthology
  • Teal Paisley Tights
  • Take a Right at the Mistletoe: A Very Vienna Christmas

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7 things I Learned About German While Teaching It

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Today, I am thrilled to offer my little slice of internet over to Julia, a friend I met in Germany over six years ago. Despite the time and distance, we remain close. In fact, Julia agreed to be one of my beta readers for my Christmas novella because I knew it needed to be read by a couple of German speakers! Anyway, Julia is multi-lingual (German, English, and Arabic), and she wanted to share some of her language learnings with you all.

7 things I Learned About German While Teaching It

I recently started a new job where I teach foreigners my own language which is German. I didn’t study this. I’ve never taught before, and yet, here I am helping people to get by in their new country.

It’s not a strict German class like you might imagine. There’s no curriculum. It’s completely oriented towards our clients, evaluating their skill and working from there. As for me, I’m free to teach what is necessary without having the clock ticking against me.

There are a few things I’ve learned so far about the quirks of my language. I’d like to name a few and I hope you enjoy!

1. The needed resources are out there!

Before I started teaching on my own, I looked up to my colleagues who have been in this job longer than me. I was surprised how many resources they used! In addition to books, there are tons of online resources available for free!

Oftentimes, they are even provided by the German government to help you settle. You can find resources on YouTube or on specific homepages and they offer everything from basic classes to advanced ones. You can download texts, exercises, and explanations. Downloading explanations has helped me so much in teaching! Here’s why:

2. Teaching my language makes me wonder…

…why things are the way they are. As a native German speaker, I never really wondered about my own grammar. Yes, I had to learn it at school, but using it every day, I get blind-sided. Teaching leaves me no choice but to ask questions in order to prepare well.

English has one definite article (the). An article indicates information about a noun. While the English language has one of them, German has six (der, die, das, dem, den, des)! “Why does it sometimes say “dem Tisch” when it’s usually “der Tisch”?” Ah yes, German articles. Therefore, be prepared to be asked. In explaining, I try to refer to the mother tongue of my students which I’m lucky to have studied. So far, it’s worked. 🙂

3. Language fascinates me

Languages are so complex. All these words, all these nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions… they are fascinating! Last week, I explained the word “Dunstabzugshaube”. In German, it’s a compound noun and consists of three words: Dunst, Abzug, and Haube.

The literal English translation could be “fume sucking hood”, and what it’s referring to is a thing on top of something that sucks away the steam. An everyday example would be the kitchen hood over your stove with the mechanical fan that removes fumes, heat, and smoke from the air. I loved explaining it and was once again amazed by the variety of German words.

4. Language reflects culture

It seems obvious but said (or written) aloud, it was a surprise for me. The way we say or write things not only shows our emotions or intentions, but it also reflects our culture. Sometimes, expressions imply a certain habit that was oftentimes used in the past. Some idioms shouldn’t be taken literally though. You can find a fun compilation of them in the following video:

5. Language influences other languages

Let’s stick with an example here. Take the word “television.” In English, the abbreviated version “TV” is used many times. I was surprised that the Arabic word is exactly the same: television. While it’s written in Arabic letters, the pronunciation is the same.

In German, we say “Fernseher” which is hard to spell for foreigners. It consists of two words: Fern-Seher and can be translated as tele-vision. You see, television is the Latin form which means that someone is able to see far in the distance. Fernseher means the same thing, just not expressed in Latin but in German. Isn’t it crazy how different languages influence each other like different foods influence each other, too?

6. Learn from my students

I teach German for two hours every day. The students have to learn many new words, difficult grammar, and weird sayings. Meanwhile, I try to learn something from them, too. I want them to teach me new words in their mother tongue. That way, I learned to say and write “Dunstabzugshaube” in Arabic.

To be honest, they smile at my attempts to speak and write their language. At the same time, they are amazed I can. I want them to know that we’re all learning and that making mistakes is not something to be ashamed of.

7. It makes me a cheerleader

All of the above leads me to love my native language even more. I love the complexity of it, the variety of the words, new and old. As a German, I can still learn to understand my own language with each new teaching session. As a teacher, I want to cheer people on. Yes, German language is tough but yes, it definitely can be learned!

What do you love about your language? What do you think is strange about your language?

 

Determining a Title: Christmas Novella 2020

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Determining a title for my Christmas novella was a whole process in and of itself. And while I know everyone has their own way of going about creative projects, I have mine. And while I’m like, “No one wants to hear about this,” I have a friend who quizzed me about my process and informed me that she finds it fascinating.

So here I am, hoping that she’s not the only one!

Determining a Title: Christmas Novella 2020

When I set about determining a title for this Christmas novella, I had very little to go off of! In fact, I think I barely knew my ideas for the story yet…or the characters. But I needed to supply a title and a one-paragraph novella synopsis. Cue the stress.

In all of my previous experiences of writing stories, I’ve never had my own designated writing space where I could thoroughly spread out my creative vision. But this time, it’s different. This time, I have a little hidey hole of an apartment that I absolutely adore. It’s quirky, and small. But to me, it’s my little slice of heaven. And so with that, I knew that I needed to create the scene within my very own apartment.

I flipped on my twinkle lights, turned out my glaring overhead lights, and taped up images from magazines that inspired me. I printed out photos from my own times exploring the Vienna Christmas markets with my friends six years ago, and maybeeee I was listening to Christmas music. Shush, you.

What I love is that I could create this vision wall of inspirational images (places, people, pretty things) right behind/beside my lovely L-shaped desk (thank you, dad, for making this desk dream a reality).

Then, with a cup of tea on hand, I got down to brainstorming.

And that looked like a lot of little pieces of papers, lots of scratched out words, … Thesaurus.com visits…and Pinterest ponderings as well.

Oh, it was delightful and hilarious and giggle-inducing. I think I spent 2-3 hours on the brainstorming before I started to text people for help.

Yup, that’s right.

I called in backup. My brain was mush. And my brain was getting caught up on Christmas fruitcake, eggnog, and elves. Thankfully, I’ve got some great friends who not only were excited to brainstorm but also are so supportive of this creative venture.

Ten years ago, I thought that a book was a completely solo process. I thought I had to suffer alone–to create the perfect finished project all alone. NOT TRUE. And honestly, it’s so much more delightful to invited interested friends into the creative process. Suddenly, I’m not in this alone. Sometimes I have a gut instinct on a name or idea, but having it bounced around with the right kind of people just solidifies it.

And that’s what happened with the Christmas novella title.

I’m so excited to share that the title, after much deliberation, is Take a Right at the Mistletoe: A Very Vienna Christmas!

July 2020 Inspiration

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Okay, I usually LOVE the beginning of a new month. To me, beginnings breathe HOPE. The way things have been going the last six months, though, has me reaching for my mask and holding on tightly. So as we move past the first week of July, I’m trying really hard to keep my side-eye to myself. But, gonna be honest, I’m definitely wondering what craziness is going to debut in July!

In the meantime, here are a few things that are keeping me inspired despite the COVID-19 (and its corresponding insensitivities and confusions) pandemic, the Black Lives Movement (and its corresponding revelation of JUST HOW racist and systemic oppressive the USA is on MULTIPLE levels), and the required growth in response to all this.

What I’m Being Inspired By

Current Jam:

This beat tho. It’s what got me to stay for the rest of the song and then to keep repeating it. Meanwhile, I’ve been pressing repeat on the Maleficent 2 soundtrack and Alice in Wonderland soundtrack too. So much good music, and so much time to listen to good music!

Current Food:

Summer is for ice cream. And you better believe I’m finding every possibility to visit different ice cream shops in and around Pittsburgh. This ice cream shop had pretzel cones! If I could re-do a flavor, though, I would have chosen something caramel rather than the birthday cake flavor. Ah, well. You live and you learn.

Current Read:

To be honest, my current read is my own Christmas novella. I’ve spent hours on it in the last month, and I’ll continue to pour more time into it. The best part of it is that I am thoroughly enjoying the plot, setting, and characters. They’re such a quirky group! I can hardly wait to share this story with you.

Current Obsession:

This is Fiona. It’s certainly been an adjustment having a dog. I’ve never had a pet before, and now I do. Once upon a time, I had to text a friend to say, “Hi, I’m going to be late. I forgot that I have a dog, and I need to walk her.” (That’s my life now) But she’s freaking gorgeous, and she gets catcalled more than I do. But I think you can see why!

Current Quote:

Life is a crazy, crazy thing. How are you living it? And you know, I sometimes feel super crazy, and that’s okay. It can be a great time to reassess while still holding still. Yes, never make a solid decision while you’re feeling SUPER crazy. But you can move towards a specific decision and then check in with the idea after you’ve balanced out. You get one beautiful life, and it’ll be messy and maddening, but it’ll be yours!

What’s Inspiring YOU?