Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Sprechen sie deutsch?

The first question that people ask when I tell them of my upcoming travel adventure is, oh, "Do you speak German?" And, much to their chagrin, I tell them Nein (German for no). Now, this exposes two things, 1) that I have a small working vocabulary of common German phrases/words and 2) that I at least recognize my lack of fluent German language skills...so I've got some work to do!

To get started, I've begun perusing the web for common German phrases to and even gone so far as to buy a learn German kit from Amazon...Luckily for me and my fellow American counterparts, the entire HISSEMA program is taught in English and the first portion of the institute contains a German Language class to help us with everyday German to be able to "get by" in a foreign land for 7 weeks, so my preparation doesn't have to get "buck-wild".

Give it a few weeks, and I should be able to survive by knowing the necessities like "where is the bathroom?" and "how much for this item?"...that way I'll be able to pee and buy stuff without trouble (two highly required acts for survival). And, lets be real..."all" Germans speak English...so I'll be fine, right*?

*- As long as I know "Sprechen sie englisch?"

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