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After a decade in Germany, I was still anxious talking to native speakers – then I realised my language skills weren’t the problemI have prefaced every conversation with, “Entschuldigung, mein Deutsch ist noch nicht so gut” (“I’m sorry, my German is still not very good”) since I moved to Hermsdorf, a little village in east Germany in 2015. Its purpose was to act as a disclaimer upfront so that the German person I was talking to wouldn’t expect me to articulate complicated ideas or respond promptly and accurately to everything that was said. But mostly, my opening line was a plea for mercy, a signal that I was still learning the language and would greatly appreciate it if they spoke more slowly and clearly. They would always graciously reply: “Ja, Deutsch ist eine schwere Sprache.” German is a difficult language, they all agreed. And for the longest time, that was true.Growing up in Kuala Lumpur as Malaysian Chinese, I speak English almost natively, given that Malaysia was once a British colony. I also speak Malay, Malaysia’s official language, and Mandarin and Cantonese because I needed to communicate with my grandparents. Before moving to Germany, I already spoke Italian after working on board cruise ships for years alongside Italian officers, and conversational French after dating a Frenchman. Then, I met the man who would later become my husband in a bar on the 63rd floor of a building in Singapore and a thought occurred to me: “Wouldn’t it be funny if I have to learn German this time?” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/01/language-skills-germany-native-speakers">Continue reading...</a>

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published: 2024-04-01 07:00:04.000000000 Z
carlessian_info:
 news_filer_version: 2
 newspaper: US general21
 macro_region: USA
image: https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/86e22dfaadd76dc0e12e4599c3f5f85af8537132/0_35_2000_1200/master/2000.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=15af6b9c47b291023354eeaa043e371d
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 guid: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/01/language-skills-germany-native-speakers
title: I stopped apologising for my poor German, and something wonderful happened
 | Ying Reinhardt
categories:
- Languages
- Social etiquette
- Germany
- Society
- Life and style
summary: 'After a decade in Germany, I was still anxious talking to native speakers
 – then I realised my language skills weren’t the problemI have prefaced every
 conversation with, “Entschuldigung, mein Deutsch ist noch nicht so gut”
 (“I’m sorry, my German is still not very good”) since I moved to Hermsdorf, a little
 village in east Germany in 2015. Its purpose was to act as a disclaimer upfront
 so that the German person I was talking to wouldn’t expect me to articulate complicated
 ideas or respond promptly and accurately to everything that was said. But mostly,
 my opening line was a plea for mercy, a signal that I was still learning the language
 and would greatly appreciate it if they spoke more slowly and clearly. They would
 always graciously reply: “Ja, Deutsch ist eine schwere Sprache.” German
 is a difficult language, they all agreed. And for the longest time, that was true.Growing
 up in Kuala Lumpur as Malaysian Chinese, I speak English almost natively, given
 that Malaysia was once a British colony. I also speak Malay, Malaysia’s official
 language, and Mandarin and Cantonese because I needed to communicate with my grandparents.
 Before moving to Germany, I already spoke Italian after working on board cruise
 ships for years alongside Italian officers, and conversational French after dating
 a Frenchman. Then, I met the man who would later become my husband in a bar on the
 63rd floor of a building in Singapore and a thought occurred to me: “Wouldn’t it
 be funny if I have to learn German this time?” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/01/language-skills-germany-native-speakers">Continue
 reading...</a>'
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url: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/01/language-skills-germany-native-speakers
author: Ying Reinhardt

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