From the 8th grade until I graduated high school, I had taken German as my foreign language. I've never been good at learning languages, so I was surprised that I stuck with a foreign language for so long. Honestly, the only reason I stuck with it in high school was because of all of the counselors stressing that colleges wanted to see 4 years of a foreign language in high school. Of course I wasn't exactly happy when I got into the engineering program at NCSU and found out that I only needed 2 years of German in high school to graduate.
The point being, with 5 years of German under my belt, you would think that I could carry on or understand a handful of things when I actually finally went to Germany. The first time I went to Dresden I quickly realized that just about everyone I interacted with spoke English, which meant that my German hardly got a workout. But I shouldn't shift the blame, it wasn't that everyone I encountered spoke English, it was I couldn't speak anything but a few words of German.
This time around, I tried a bit harder, but I ended up with the same end result. Sparkling water is plentiful in Germany, and I'm not sure what the attraction is, because I absolutely cannot stand sparkling water. Drinking it feels like I get none of the hydrating aspects of water and instead I'm left with a strange taste and an even stronger thirst for flat water. Of course, finding anything but sparkling water at AMD and the other places apparently wasn't really going to happen. The thing that surprised me most however was that I swear I was taught that the word for flat water in German was mineralwasser, but given my recent experiences indicating the contrary, I'm guessing I remember incorrectly :)
Being in Germany, I did regret not having more time to spend there. But with piles of work back home and Vinney having classes this week, it just wasn't going to happen. One of these days I would like to spend some more time there, potentially on a non-business related trip. Who knows when that'll happen :)
As far as work goes: my Gefen review is complete, just waiting for a hole in the schedule to publish it. I will be doing an update to the USB Flash Drive roundup hopefully in the next week or so with Lexar's latest offerings. I have much more interesting items waiting for a review, but I'm waiting on a few other products in order to make that review possible. I have no idea when the moons will be in alignment, but as soon as they are, you'll know. On a similar note, Kris is out in Taiwan right now, gathering some interesting information for us all, as well as finding us all new and unique pieces of hardware to test.
The point being, with 5 years of German under my belt, you would think that I could carry on or understand a handful of things when I actually finally went to Germany. The first time I went to Dresden I quickly realized that just about everyone I interacted with spoke English, which meant that my German hardly got a workout. But I shouldn't shift the blame, it wasn't that everyone I encountered spoke English, it was I couldn't speak anything but a few words of German.
This time around, I tried a bit harder, but I ended up with the same end result. Sparkling water is plentiful in Germany, and I'm not sure what the attraction is, because I absolutely cannot stand sparkling water. Drinking it feels like I get none of the hydrating aspects of water and instead I'm left with a strange taste and an even stronger thirst for flat water. Of course, finding anything but sparkling water at AMD and the other places apparently wasn't really going to happen. The thing that surprised me most however was that I swear I was taught that the word for flat water in German was mineralwasser, but given my recent experiences indicating the contrary, I'm guessing I remember incorrectly :)
Being in Germany, I did regret not having more time to spend there. But with piles of work back home and Vinney having classes this week, it just wasn't going to happen. One of these days I would like to spend some more time there, potentially on a non-business related trip. Who knows when that'll happen :)
As far as work goes: my Gefen review is complete, just waiting for a hole in the schedule to publish it. I will be doing an update to the USB Flash Drive roundup hopefully in the next week or so with Lexar's latest offerings. I have much more interesting items waiting for a review, but I'm waiting on a few other products in order to make that review possible. I have no idea when the moons will be in alignment, but as soon as they are, you'll know. On a similar note, Kris is out in Taiwan right now, gathering some interesting information for us all, as well as finding us all new and unique pieces of hardware to test.
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AtaStrumf - Saturday, October 29, 2005 - link
There's something about german language that just makes it hard to learn I guess. I only took a few months of lessons myself, but I know many people that studied it for years (4 primary + 4 high school) but still can't speak much, so don't beat youself up too much about it ;-) A few months back I tried to explain some lost tourists how to get to Austria, but I almost broke my tongue. I have no idea if they ever got home or got even more lost :-) After some 6 months you'd think I could at least give directions, LOL.AtaStrumf - Saturday, October 29, 2005 - link
He, he, imagine trying to give directions and not knowing the word for crossroad. It all came to me (Kreuzung), after they were gone, but for a million dollars I couldn't remember it at the time.elvisizer - Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - link
I rran into the same tap water phobia in germany when I was going to highschool there. Only thing my host family would let me drink was carbonated mineral water. tapwater would 'make me sick' if I drank it. I actually got pretty used to the carbonated stuff by the time I left.Anyway, I think I saw some other posts referring to this, but un-carbonated water is referred to as 'stilles' in german.
ProphetCHRIS - Monday, October 24, 2005 - link
Guys, very funny comments about water here.Anand, ich denke "stilles Wasser" ist das beste Wort für diesen Gebrauch. Mineralwasser ist natürlich völlig falsch, obwohl es in die richtige Richtung geht. Wieviel Deutsch sprichst du denn wirklich? Ich war überrascht, als ich las, dass du Deutsch kannst. Schreib doch mal ein paar Sätze die überzeugen!
I am German myself, but live so long time in China that I forgot my own language almost completely... but Chinese rocks :D
xtknight - Sunday, October 23, 2005 - link
I can't stand sparkling water either. I tried some once and I felt like vomiting, literally. It's disgusting.obeseotron - Thursday, October 20, 2005 - link
4 years of German in High School and 3 semesters more at college and I've never really picked it up either. I've been to Austria once for 3 weeks and Germany twice for much shorter periods and I think asking for and then understanding directions to a subway once was just about the only use I ever got out of my German. If we're going to half-ass it this badly with foriegn languages I really don't see why we bother at all in America. I think actual bilingualism and multilingualism are very good things, I just don't see any connection between our system of foriegn language education and actually learning other languages.mlittl3 - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
When are we going to get another Apple product review? They have released so many new products that some of them should be worthy of some type of review. iPod Nano? iPod w/ video capabilities? Quad Core G5? Etc. Etc.Anything would be nice! :)
Anand Lal Shimpi - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
Both iPods are being worked on and I'm waiting for Apple to update me on review schedules for the new G5s :)Take care,
Anand
GTaudiophile - Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - link
Ich möchte gern stilles Mineralwasser.Ich möchte gern stilles Wasser.
Ich möchte gern Wasser ohne Kohlensäure.
I lived in Berlin from 1988 until 1991, witnessing the fall of the Berlin Wall first-hand. I began my formal study of the language in 1994, took AP German, and made German my minor at Georgia Tech. I now work for the German government, coordinating a program designed to give educators throughout the United States a picture of modern-day Germany.
As I wrote in my response to your last post, feel free to PM me if you ever need professional guides to lead you through Germany or need any other travel recommendations. It's part of my job to work with the German government's Federal Visitors Service (Besucherdienst) to organize trips to Germany.
I feel lucky to work in an office where I can continue to practice my foreign language skills. I work according to German employment law and have strong connections to the German community in Atlanta. As you well know, if you don't practice your language, you lose it, and I wasn't quite ready to do that after 8 years of study.
OvErHeAtInG - Wednesday, October 19, 2005 - link
Exactly, everything GTAudiophile said above.... and there are three things Germans don't understand: flat water, free water, ice in their cola, and deodorant. Okay, that was four. If you don't want to pay for your water you have to say "Leitungswasser bitte" because they're really not accustomed to drinking out of the tap. "Wasser ohne Gas" also works if you need flat water, and it's easier to remember...I think your experience parallels that of many travelling abroad. Let's say you were from Bangladesh travelling in, say Estonia, you would probably still communicate in English with the locals since it's really an international thing. In order to practice a language I find I have to pretend I don't speak English. :)
One bad side effect of having spent time in Germany - I've really developed a liking for mineral water, believe it or not. In case anyone didn't know, mineral water is naturally fizzy water with a nutritious mineral content.... as such, you can't chug it hehe. Kind of defeats the purpose of water for some.