Well guys,

that’s it! The A1-1 course at Deutsch Akademie is over! It’s been an intense 4 weeks of full immersion in the German language and culture. I can say that I am satisfied with the course and if I think about what I knew 4 weeks ago, it seems impossible that I learnt that much in only a month.

Now I can sustain simple conversation, ask for the weather forecast, chit-chat with random people, and most importantly: make the locals smile!
I will certainly continue my way in German learning, there’s still a lot to do and only a short time (5 months).

Vielen dank und bis später!

Filippo

Have you ever felt the need for a night to avoid night clubs, to escape from the crammed the movies, to evade the mass entertainment?
So suit-up, polish your black leather shoes, iron your shirt etc. etc. and Opera time! Ok, I know, sounds like the most boooring thing on earth: a bunch of ballet-like dancers singing and performing in old dresses, everything sprayed with some classical music…

Hold your horses people, it is actually NOT BAD AT ALL! Carmen is basically the story of a beautiful gipsy woman who is contended by two lovers, a sergeant and a torero.

Well, I must say that we got the cheapest seats for just 10 euro but standing for almost 3 hours being able to see something like 35% of the stage only, it was NOT the best choice… but anyways you will discover an old fashioned form of entertainment, where everything flows together from the orchestra music, the dance, the singing. A sort of alive cinema that is able to give you shivers.

And when the curtains close, no matter if you are bored, tired, disappointed, exhausted and similar, YOU MUST CLAP as much as you can! Never let the applause fall, throw from time to time a couple of bravo and some whistles. And wave everywhere!

And…. since 3 hours most definitely make your throat more arid than the Atacama desert, what’s better than a refreshing typical Bavarian beverage?

Filippo

Hi guys,

the course at Deutsch Akademie is almost arrived at the end of our first 4 weeks. 3 hours daily are certainly a big amount of time and I believe that’s important to review concepts and practice every day. But sometimes things go so fast, get complicated and advanced: that’s great but sometimes you feel like going back to the basics you learn the first week. For this reason on the weekend we planned to meet up somewhere (park, house, biergarten) to go through the material together. Try to make up a rule (or a little fantasy story) for remembering genders for example is a good system.

What we also noticed is that if the “meeting” is accompanied with (ranges from moderate to upper-medium) beer and food consumption the improvements are unbelievable!

Ciao!

Filippo

Guys, are you looking for a destination nearby Munich for a short trip or a night out? Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Bavaria’s second-largest city, is a vibrant place with an INTENSE nightlife and a beer which is as dark as coffee. The city is pretty alive any time during the year. During summer and the spectacular Christmas market it fills up with turists, but it’s definitely worth to have a look to. After summer and winter break, when the University re-opens, it’ almost impossible to avoid the parties!

Typically Nürnberger:
– first, SAUSAGES! “The small, thin bratwurst from Franconia’s largest city, Nuremberg, was first documented in 1313; it is surprisingly small, being only 7 to 9cm in length and weighing between 20 and 25 g. Perhaps the most popular sausage in Germany, it has the denominations Nürnberger Bratwurst and Nürnberger Rostbratwurst (Rost refers to the cooking grate above the flames)…”

– Christkindlesmarkt the Xmas market! amazing atmosphere, you don’t wanna miss that, especially if it snows!

Filippo

Hi all,

as we sail through this german course at Deutsch Akademie some progress can be seen. First of all I fell I can understand most of the spoken german of our teacher, at least I can follow her instructions or even appreciate some jokes! The most difficult part I think is the vocabulary… unlike Spanish or Portuguese, it’s hard to guess the meaning of most of the words, which does not show any connection with my native language. The teacher plays a key role in this, explaining a particular word by paraphrasing it.

Speaking about limitations, I would say that my biggest one is not being able to tell a story happened in the past or to guess the proper gender of substantives.

BUUUT it’s been only a month since I started my way through Deutsch so I feel pretty much achieved for now!

That’s what happens if you piss off your Lehrerin! ^^

Bis später!

Filippo

Oh, guys

I’ve been living in Munchen only for a month and already I could spot some recurring features… here is a condensed resume of my observations so far.

– the windows of the houses: there are no shutters at all! Do you know that wooden external devices that are sooo useful if you come back at 6 am from a party and outside there is a giant halogen lamp called “The Sun” which wants to shine on your face?!? Ok someone could argue: but there are curtains! NOOOT THE SAME!

– men with… EARRINGS. That’s odd… I am currently counting the number of men who wear an earring and are above the (estimated) age of 30. Well at the moment we are getting close to triple digits! I am asking myself, but what is it about? A pandemic fashion which infected Bavaria in the 70’s? Definitely not common to see in Italy!

– Toilets: here I noted a similarity with Netherlands, the water-closet is in a separated room from the shower/bathroom! Why would someone enjoy taking a “bodily relief” (let’s call it like this!) closed up in a broom cupboard-like cubby-hole!? A mistery yet to be unveiled…

– Zeitung distribution: choose a city in Italy you like, imagine you decide to distribute newspapers the way it’s been done here in Munich, by leaving them in open boxes spread around town and by trusting in the good soul of citizens to pay for each copy. I’m telling you, time a week and the Italian press would go bankrupt!

Filippo

That’s it, I have a goal. No, nothing to do with Fußbal.

I’ve been thinking recently what is the driving force that pushes me to try my best in learning German. Well first I am extremely attracted by cultures, and the language is a powerful expression of a certain culture. When I am in a new environment I feel the need to learn how to be a local. And communicating with people in their mother tongue has always given me  many smiles and small satisfactions. Plus, I got to know how much people appreciate even the smallest effort you are doing to be part of their Nation, no matter if you are visiting for a week or planning to live there.

Every year since 2005 my father and I have been attending an international trade exposition held in Nürnberg at the beginning of March. If you exclude the complex hand-gesture-mix-of-french-italian-german-turkish-bulgarian-language “spoken” by my dad (which works pretty fine in many occasion), I am the only means of communication with the international world. And that occurs of course in english. I gave it a try, last year, to use-combine-shuffle the few words and german expressions I knew at that time… pretty disastrous! I even remember a man asking for information about our company and after my explanation in my broken German he yelled at me… I always thought German was a harsh language in sound, but I don’t really think he only said: “Thank you very much for the information, have a good day.”

Therefore I have a goal now. By the beginning of march 2012, at the Nürnberg Messe, I have to be able to sustain a fluent conversation in German. Without being yelled at! Too tough you say?

Filippo

Hallo Guys!

I heiße Filippo. Klar ihr wißt schon das!
Ich komme aus Italien und ich wohne in einem Bauernhaus auf dem Land. Meine Stadt heißt Castel San Giovanni, und es liegt im Norden von Italien, aber südlich von Mailand. Ich gefällt mir mit mein Herkunft. Das Haus hat 5 Zimmer, ein alten Balkon und ein großen Garten. In Castel San Giovanni, es gibt eine schöne Kirche, und viele Weingüter. Auf dem Land wohnt man in Bauernhäusern in kleinen Städte. Habt man einen Garten und arbeiten man in der Stadt. Im Winter es ist sehr kalt und es schneit ganz. Aber im Sommer die Sonne scheint jeden Tag und es gibt 30-35 Grad.

Es Gibt in diese Bilder die Kirche von Castel San Giovanni und ein Panorama bei mein Haus.

Ciao

Filippo

~ No worries, mate. ~

I am Italian. Italians don’t learn English at school. It is simply not achievable, inside “The Boot”.

For this reason during the lovely summer of 2005, when I was on my late 16, I set my sails towards Australia for a journey a couple of months long.

The “Great Expectations” posed by my family were many:

– Go and learn this bloody English! You don’t wanna be left behind in these modern times! (suggested by mom)

– Go and learn how to wash your own dirty underwear!! Too easy with your grandma doing it all the time! (suggested by mom again)

– Learn how to iron and you’ll be a good boy. (suggested by grandma)

– Payout this investment! Go and try to make some business! (of course suggested by dad)

Well the list would be longer, but anyways that’s how a boy from a tiny village of the Pianura Padana left his Mother Country to find himself 15.000 km further away, Downundah.

A thrilling experience, one of the most compelling times I have ever had.

I know. I should tell you of Roberto and the amazing first days in Sydney. I should tell you of that time, when we were playing cards (Italian “Briscola”) and we ended up right in the middle of Lleyton Hewitt’s (tennis player) wedding. I should tell you of the time we rent a fishing boat and tried (disastrously) to conquer the open sea. And most certainly I should tell you of how we survived 7 days in Northern Queensland with 5$ (real-deal aussie dollars, no fancy u.s. stuff!).

But that’s not the point, now.

What I wanted to say is that in 3 months I made my way through Australia. And I got familiar with the Aussie accent. So familiar that the very first time I met an American (girl, blonde, wearing NYU sweater, saying Oh-my-God every 3 words) it took me 5 minutes to understand the word “wicked”. And I am still not sure of what she meant with that.

At that time, if my efforts with the Yankees seemed helpless, the ones with the Brits were even worse.

So basically Australian was the only form of English I had a smattering of.

Unfortunately years passed by and the arrogance of the ubiquitous American accent slowly wiped out my Australian slang reminiscences. Nevertheless I am proud to say that I still carry few tiny bits of this “Red Heart” Heritage with me.

That’s the case of “No worries, mate”.

– Hey man, can I have your lecture notes, just need a couple of pages… (guy who for sure will photocopy the whole thing)

– No worries, mate.

– Oh, sorry, I just spilled my strawberry-banana smoothie on you!

– No worries.

– Could you do me a huge favor…? (very lousy, unpleasant, inappropriate, revolting one)

– Hummmm… Sure, no worries!

That’s it.
No freaking “Cool, man” or “You are welcome”. Neither “That’s ok”, nor “Brilliant, thanks”.

They just don’t sound natural to me. They sound weird… like Hey buddy? Or like I’m-from-the-U-KAAY-and-that-is-lovely .

“No worries.” It just feels right.

Filippo

Hi guys!

So I would like to share with you what, so far, I found helpful when learning a language, in this case German. I found this video on the web, made by a polyglot who speaks something like 16 languages! His name is Richard Simcott from U.K. and among all the languages he speaks there’s of course German. Here’s a video of him sharing his experience of learning German. Enjoy!

How I learnt German

filippo