Last week we proceeded into the wonderful depths of the German language, learning every day a bit more. Our conversation begin to be a bit more complex than: “Hallo ich heiße Filippo, woher kommst du?”

For example last Freitag we started to play around with possessiv pronouns like mein, unser, ihre etc. We also learnt (ok I must have put the quotation marks around “learnt”, but hey we are getting there!) the imperative. Pretty useful I must admit if you need to order people to do stuff for you!

Es ist kalt, kannst du bitte das Fenster zumachen? (kind of more relaxed way)
Es is SEHR kalt, mach das Fenster zu, bitte! (bossy style which basically mean “move your a** and close the bloody window!)

Surprisingly I found more similarities with Italian than expected!

Bis bald!

Filippo

Wo said that Germans are cold and unfriendly?!?

Well apparently S-bahn commuters are not! It’s been a couple of days that on the morning S7 service we are having a 10 min concentrated lecture. Yesterday evening it was all about the differences between

stehen – stellen
liegen – legen

For example:
Der Tisch stehet auf dem Fußboden.
Ich stelle den Tisch auf den Fußboden.

Die Kuli liegt neben dem Buch.
Ich lege die Kuli neben das Buch.

So the moral of the story is: talk to strangers on public transport!

Servus!

Filippo

So, impressions after one week of Deutsche Akademie. The course is intense, there’s a lot to learn. Before enrolling to this course I seriously thought that 3 hours a day sounded a bit too much, but I was convinced to give it a try. Surprisingly the 3 hours are not heavy at all and several times I find myself willing to keep going on! For me, a latin language native speaker (Italian), German is not an easy language to learn. But I must say that after a week I can already pick up some tiny little bits of conversation and different words. Zahlen, kartoffeln, arbeit, was machst du gern, das is kein Radiergummi, ein Maß helles etc. etc. (no, ok the last one I learnt it within my first 22 hours in München!)

Well I feel very positive and German seems now a bit closer to my reach. But also I feel like there’s a whole lot more to learn.

Soooo…. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE, and sprechen sprechen sprechen (come on, don’t be shy ^^). For example when we go out “am Brauhaus”…. besides, recent research findings suggest that Beer improves your foreign language! ^_^

Here above: Practicing German with Victor and Gabi, proud DA students!
(Please note the typical italian hand gesture of Victor)

Aufwiedersehen!
(= Arrivederci)

Filippo

Hi guys! This is Filippo, I´m from Italy (“Ich komme aus ItaAAAalien”). I come from Castel San Giovanni, a veryveryvery small town between Milano and Piacenza. I’m currently studying MSc Biotechnology at Wageningen University in The Netherlands and I just started my Praktikum (intern) here in München. The main reason why I started to learn German at Deutsch Akademie is that basically I would like to distinguish if somebody is shouting at me or is just asking if I had a lovely day… I’m working on it…

A bit about myself:

I like to observe people. A lot. I build up their stories,  I dig in my spaceouts.
I’m more or less interested in everything, especially when I find myself in new situations, new environments, new habits. I’m amazed by discovering people, cultures, languages, swear words, foods…

I write only with blue pen. Black is ugly.

I don’t like: when you take out frozen stuff from the freezer and it scratches against the ice.
I don’t like: the Times New Roman.
I don’t like: the landing of escalators. I am wondering if anybody ever got absorbed and shredded like a paper.
I don’t like: the sound of plane toilets, which burst out unexpectedly few seconds after you flushed your stuff. One day someone will be sucked in.
I don’t like: Tuesdays. They are hopeless.
I don’t like: at the supermarket; the feeling of pressure you have when you are supposed to rush and put all your stuff in the bag.
I don’t like: at the supermarket (again); old ladies at the cashier pretentiously separating their items from the following customer’s ones.

I like: begin brief but deep conversations with random people who phoned me by mistake.
I like: the portuguese word “de nada”. It’s like caressing you with the voice.”Don’t worry, son, it’s nothing”
I like: to buy a new toothbrush.
I like: take a bike ride after hair cut.
I like: to carefully observe the little log cabins sold by bricolage stores.
I like: autumn
I like: the sound of the snow
I like: the smell of the fog
I like: people who smile

I appreciate: hairdressers. The good ones have amazing psychological skills.
I appreciate: Schroeder (from “Peanuts”)

So that’s it for now! Will be back soon with new juicy stuff and (hopefully) some legitimate German writing!

Ciao!

Filippo