I've always wanted to speak a second language and it turns out I do. I speak GERMISH!
And, I can proudly say I'm getting pretty good at it. I'm not alone at acquiring this awesome language. My husband speaks it all the time (he's a pro at it) and the people he speaks it to speak it back. This can take the form of English words sprinkled in a German sentence or German words sprinkled into an English sentence. Sometimes it's the alternating of entire paragraphs, depending on how excited the speaker is, and most often doesn't realize the switch is being made.
McDonald's employees are the best. I order in German, they answer in English. I say Danke, they say You're Welcome. It's great!
Many English words have crept into the German vernacular. Like manager and meetings (I've been told), and of course, McDrive and Ein Neues Happy Meal.
I'm confident over time, everyone will speak Germish (pure German will, sadly, be lost), and I will fit right in!
The sooner everyone in europe just sees sense and start talking English the better. They're just being stubborn, if you ask me. Although the chinese may have their own plans...
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Moody Writing
Ach Du lieber! At last I have a use for the few German words I still remember.
ReplyDeleteI speak Spanglish, though my Spanish has improved over the years. My mom didn't speak English but understood it, so I spoke to her in English and she spoke to me in Spanish. Needless to say, we created our own vocabulary. =)
ReplyDeleteElle: Das ist sehr gut! Natürlich ist der beste Weg, es zu lernen, sich in die Kultur einzutauchen. Es ist Zeit, um Ihren Mann zu Ihnen nach München zu nehmen.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Munich. Maybe someday :)
DeleteToo bad I don't speak German (only French, English and a tiny bit of Korean) (not to boast) or I might love trying out a little Germish on my friends!!
ReplyDeleteI'm learning French right now. Hopefully, I'll master the language in a few years.
ReplyDeleteLook at you! LOL. I'd love to be bilingual! Spanglish would be handy here in Texas, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteTechnically I can speak and understand Spanish, but I'm too self-conscious to speak it (though I know I shouldn't be).
ReplyDeleteGood for you for speaking German! It's good to keep speaking it, because that means you'll be more likely to pick up more words and to remember what you've learned.
It's also called Denglisch. And it's been around for quite some time. There's a classic piece of German literature called "Jürnjakob Swehn, der Amerikafahrer", containing the letters of a 19th-century GErman emigrant to his family back home. It's got such gems in it as "Die Cow ist über den Fence gejumped und hat den ganzen Cabbage gedamaged!"
ReplyDeleteAnd then, there was the label on the juice bottle: Cranberry-Apfel. Why, I ask you, not Cranberry-Apple, or Preiselbeer-Apfel? Ach, du armes Deutschland...
Yes. Today we drove by a sign: ADAC Fahr Training.
DeleteAlso Spiel fur kids
Oh, and you know what else? That style of talking has a fancy name, "Diglot Weave", and is being used in second language instruction quite readily. It's when you intersperse Worte of the one Sprache into a sentence of the andere. And just think, you figured it out all on your own!
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