Deutsch, Deutsch, Und Mehr Deutsch

Yesterday I had four classes, which means that I've now gone through all of the dreaded class introductions. What does it say about me, I wonder, that even two years ago, I looked forward to class introduction day as being predictable and easy and just a matter of zoning out in a big class or trying to make a good impression in a small one, whereas today I want it over with... I want to get to the meat, even in Statistics and other classes I'm less than thrilled about.

Still. My Statistics teacher seems great. He's funny, and our T.A. is nice, and what else could you ask for in a class you just need to get through? Career Explorations in Journalism is the kind of filler fluff I had expected, except that I had expected it to be in a small group setting, and it's definitely a lecture hall. That leaves Spanish and German. The Spanish teacher I had met before - he was a sub for us once last semester, and he scared us all with his fast, difficult to decipher Spanish and his lack of patience with us. I was worried, but I found myself warming to him a bit the first day, so it can be hoped that that trend will continue. He may have a manner that makes people think they are under-performing without meaning to - I know Altadonna did, and I grew to adore her. :) I also figured out his Spanish - he's from Cameroon, grew up speaking his tribal language and French, and added English and Spanish later on. Strangely, while his accent (and voice) was a lot harder to understand than my high school teachers or even Monica, from last semester, I found myself starting to like it. It had a sort of wet, tropical warmth to it, if that makes any sense. A few of the peculiarities reminded me a bit of Costa Rican Spanish, although there was none of their tendency to sound like chickens now and then. :) We'll see how that goes.

Then there was Deutsch, Deutsch, und mehr Deutsch. I was really worried about that class, because I only took levels 1,2, and 3 in high school, and I only consider year 3 to be of any real merit - in levels 1 and 2 in high school you are still dealing with the masses who just need their language credit, and don't care, and it moves SOOO slowly. I learned more Spanish in year 4, for example, than 1 and 2 combined. So yes, year 3 in high school counts as year 1 in University, but instead of lining up for year 2 (Beginning German 2), I signed up, based on a computer exam, for year 5 (Intermediate German 2: Language and Culture). In the back of my mind, the utter failures I've experienced the last 3 times I've tried to speak German were buzzing like flies.

The first time I opened my mouth, "Uch" came out. I almost clamped my hands over my mouth, horrified. I had meant, of course, to say "Ich". But I swallowed and started over, with Ich. And things went, slowly, but steadily. My mistakes were drilling themselves into my skull, I could only hear them once they were freed into the air, but the words kept coming, slowly and steadily, out of my mouth. And I only went into Norwegian once, just once, like walking quickly on wet sand and letting your foot sink a little too deep with one step.

"Ich habe zwei gang in Deutschland gewesen."

A bit of confusion registered on my speaking partners face, so I quickly altered my statement.

"Ich habe zwei MAL in Deutschland gewesen."

Understanding returned. The teacher seems very nice. The students seem nice. There's an interesting mix, with the omnipresent white afro and the somewhat unusual adult student both making their appearances in our small class of seven. They have all had the normal amount of German that precedes getting to this class.

So I stayed late, and asked the teacher:

"Ich habe eine kleine Frage... Ich verstehe Sie gut, aber... spreche ich gut genug, für diese Klasse?"

"Ja ja," she said, "Keine Frage!"

So I felt good. :D I still think that I won't be the best student in the class. I still think that I won't be able to approach each assignment with my cocky, 'what can I do to make this more interesting and mine?' attitude that I employ for Spanish and employed in high school German and occasionally in English, when I had some free time. No, I'll be hopping just to get a good grade in the class. But I think I can do it, I think I am in the right place.