Willkommen

Learning a language seems easy for some but for most people, it can be a real challenge! I am already bilingual as I speak and write both English and Spanish. I have also been a casual student of French for many years so I can follow a conversation, order at a restaurant, and ask for directions. Now that I am heading to Germany this summer as part of my Fulbright TGC experience, I want to have at least a basic functional knowledge of the language so I can communicate with the locals we will meet while working and visiting there. I could give you an inspiring account of my learning journey but I thought it would be much more entertaining to use memes to illustrate it instead. Viel Spaß!

January 2022

Just when you think this is going to be easy!

Help is not coming!

Let's talk cognates

I had to go and look for the differences...

There. are. so. many!

Germans: Why a new word when we can just smash these two perfectly good words together?

And talking about false cognates!

The actual word for Chef comes from the word cook (kochen)- der Koch/die Köchin . Although you may still want to address Chef Ramsey as "the Boss"!

Das Gymnasium or Gym means grammar/elementary school in German. You can use das Fitnesstudio or just say "Ich gehe zum Sport." to say you are going to workout.

You will definitely end up going to the wrong body of water. The sea is das Meer in German. However, just for fun, if we change the word to its feminine form die See, now you are referring to the ocean!

The word for rat is similar but has an extra syllable: die Ratte

This word actually describes college or university. You can use die Sekundarschule to describe high school age schools but most of the time Germans simply use the word for the type of school they attend.

Also nein, it doesn't mean fabric (der Stoff) either. This is the word for factory. I actually get this one as in Spanish these words are actually cognates: die Fabrik = la fábrica