Learning German the Italian Way

Juan, Liz, Antonio, and Abdo living it up in Berlin

Hello from the US of A! While I'm savoring my time here, I thought I'd post a story from my first few weeks of language class in Berlin.

I began taking German the day after we arrived. I had one month in Berlin before we began traveling, so I thought I'd jump right in. There were 3 other students in the class - all guys - 1) Juan - born in Chile, spent the last few years in England, speaks Spanish and English, 30 years old - 2) Abdo - from Yemen, speaks Arabic and no English, 22 years old - 3) Antonio - from Italy, speaks Italian, Spanish, and a little English, 24 years old. (You're wondering how I know everyone's ages - with a limited vocabulary you quickly delve into personal questions like these. Nothing like being asked by someone everyday 1) How old are you? 2) Are you married? 3) What is your phone number? So we asked them all the time.) Our teacher (38 and married) had a crush on Antonio, as did everyone. He said everything with an Italian accent. This, and everything about him, had an intoxicating effect on us. It became a language issue, however, when learning the different gender endings for words in German. Antonio wanted EVERYTHING to be feminine - just throw an "aay!" on the end of it all! Our teacher had to take a break from batting her eyelashes at him to remind him that some words in German simply end in consonants.

After our last German class for the 'semester' (really just the month of August) we went out for a celebration with our teacher. We went to a cafe that served both booze and tea/coffee. I guess I figured 'when in Rome', so I planned to order a beer. I ordered last however, and was losing my confidence after my three classmates and teacher ordered tea and coffee. I still did it, though, and when Antonio heard me order beer, he got very excited and immediately cancelled his coffee order. 'Warsteiner? Ja, gut! Nicht kaffee, Ich möchte ein WARSTEINER!'

During the time at the cafe we only spoke in German, which must have been incredibly entertaining for our neighbors. We were stuck on things like 'What is your favorite food?' for awhile and then attempted to talk about topics like museums using our limited vocab and excessive hand gestures. Antonio asked me many questions about my siblings. He wanted to hear all their names and kept saying that they sounded so 'American'. (He actually laughed out loud with astonished glee when I said my sister's name was Margaret. I didn't mention Americans didn't make that one up.) When I told him Kathleen and Andrew were planning to bring baby Daniel over this year, I remarked that even the baby would need a passport. Antonio smiled and paused for a few seconds, clearly thinking of the right way to say something, and then blurted out in his Italian German: 'Baby has-uh die Tele-tubby passport! Extra pages for coloring!' We both laughed for much longer than necessary. It was just so thrilling to tell our first joke in German together.

I am thankful everyday that those boys were my classmates in my first few weeks of language class. They taught me so much about how to enjoy being back in a classroom. In their wonderful way, they showed that breaks are meant to be extended, cappuccino is better than coffee, and that trying new sentences - however grammatically incorrect - is how you learn a language.