Das sind meine Bücher

Last August 5, my MBB1 seatmate informed me that the Biblioteca Pablo K. Botor, the Department of European Languages library, was giving out old French, German, Spanish and Italian (a sole one) books.

After that class, I immediately went to the lib and didn’t miss the rare opportunity. After all, it is difficult to find books written in foreign languages in our local bookstores, with the exception for Spanish of course.

I got myself five German books, although I am still at A1 level, these would be helpful for me in the future. These are the books I acquired:

Über Grund und Wesen der Kunst by Rudulf Krämer-Badoni
Straße des lachenden Kamels by Ben Lucien Burman
Schrei Nach Frieden by Econ Verlag Düsseldorf and Wien
Deutscher Bundestag
Alberto Denti di Pirano: Ippolita Roman.

Just Post It

Since I stay most of the time in my room when I’m home, I labeled the things inside it in German and Italian.

I initially got this idea from my German class. And now that I’ve done it, it is an ease to remember the names of those things when I see it. I suggest you do it in your rooms or better in your whole house too.

Here are the German words posted in my room:

die Tür (door), die Türklinke (door handle), der Kleiderschrank (wardrobe), das Vorhängeschloss (padlock), der Drucker (printer), die Tastatur (keyboard), das Rollo (blind), der Mülleimer (garbage bin), der Stuhl (chair), der Computer, der Tisch (table), der Ventilator (electric fan), das Fenster (window), das Licht (light), der Schalter (switch), die Wand (wall), die Klimaanlage (aircon), das Kissen (pillow), das Bett (bed), der Teppich (carpet).

Dealing With Numbers the German Way

9.868.324.889
neunmilliardenachthundertachtundsechzigmillion-
dreihundertvierundzwanzigtausendachthundertneunundachtzig.

I found this written in my notebook when I was reading my notes. Apparently, I am in awe and have been practicing writing the German numbers. I started exploring the German numbers by writing 1-100 at the back of my notebook using Studio d A1’s pages as a reference. Once you’ve learned how to, it can be addicting.

However , a little caution with the German natives, as with other native speakers, it is hard to keep up with them when they are speaking. When our class had a listening exercise on the numbers, it is hard to immediately translate what they’ve said into Arabic numerals.

Also, what’s more bizarre with these numbers is that when you say it, you start with the one’s place and connect it to the tenths place with “und” which is and in English.

Lastly, the numbers can be overwhelmingly difficult to pronounce properly when they become larger. It would be a good tongue twister for that matter. I, honestly call it “pain in the tongue.” 🙂

For those who would accidentally read this blog and doesn’t have background on the German language, here is a short yet helpful rundown of the numbers:

0- null 1-eins 2-zwei 3-drei 4-vier 5-fünf 6-sechs 7-sieben 8-acht 9-neun 10-zehn 11-elf 12-zwölf 13-dreizehn 14-vierzehn 15-fünfzehn 16-sechzehn 17-siebzehn 18-achtzehn 19-neunzehn 20-zwanzig 30-dreißig 40-vierzig 50-fünfzig 60-sechzig 70-siebzig 80-achtzig 90-neunzig 100-einhundert 1000-eintausend 1.000.000-einmillion 1.000.000.000-einmilliarden

Note: “zig” is pronounced as zish.

tschüß!

Deutschlerner

This is my first entry for my Deutsch 10-11 portfolio.

Zuerst, let me share to you how I chose my learning resource. I have little background of the German culture or anything German, except for the ubiquity of the German Nazis and Adolf Hitler in History, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the Arts, the extremely popular German beer, the Germans’ rigidity, and the band Tokyo Hotel. I chose German as my minor mainly because I want to learn another language apart from the roster of romance languages that the Department of European Languages is offering. And as a personal reason, I do like the sound of the German language; its strong and peculiar sound attracted me (more than Italian, which is my major).

I wanted my learning resource to be inclined with music or movie, the two things that mollify my odd self. I immediately thought of Tokyo Hotel, I remember listening to their music when I was in high school, however, I find their music too mainstream now. Harry Potter also came up, but how will I connect it with the German language? With Viktor Krum and Durmstrang, I suppose. Yet there has to be something better.

In my Italian class, my amica gave me a pdf copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harry Potter e La Pietra Filosofale) while waiting for our professoressa, and that’s when I decided I will acquire a copy of it in German. Now, I have a copy of the whole Harry Potter novels in the German language. I’m starting to read the first book which is the Harry Potter und Der Stein Der Weisen. I know it would take a long time before I can fully understand the whole series but these have been a part of my life, especially my childhood years. I am immensely determined to read it again, and how awesome to think that I would, in a new language.

For now, as a newbie learner of the German language, this would greatly help my pronunciation and context reading skills. It is beneficial that I already know by heart the story of Harry Potter. Reading the translation in German could also prepare me in my translation class, and know how the Germans interpret this novel. Also, I might have a glimpse of the German culture by how the translator had put the novel into their context.

Unterstützen, I would also like to share the German that inspired me most. My migliore amico said that I should watch Schindler’s List for me to become more inspired in my German class and gave me a copy of it. However, I was only able to watch it this weekend. It is a critically acclaimed 1993 American film about Oscar Schindler who saved more than one thousand Jews during the Holocaust. This film showed that despite the cruelty of most Germans at that time, one person stood out and made a difference, saving a thousand lives and the generations that lived after them.

Zuletzt, it is proper to end my first entry of my portfolio with an inspiring quotation from the Schindler’s List:
whoever saves one life saves the whole entire.

For now, Auf Wiedersehen!