SO! HOW ARE YOU?!
Hi ho, MMMLOGerinos!
So! How are you?
Remember when you used to write letters or obligatory thank you notes when you were a child and started each with, "How are you? I am fine." This is also one of the first phrases foreign language students learn.
When we lived in Brazil many longs ago, we were supposed to be transferred to Munich and decided to take German lessons prior to our departure. (Note: We were transferred instead to London, but we'll always have our German language skills and a taste for smoked pork chops that we used to get a German restaurant in Sao Paulo--hooohaaa!)
Brazil is the land of roving foreign language teachers who will come to your home to teach you any language. We signed on with Ursula, a former SwissAir flight attendant because she was also a language student herself of English and Portuguese. Ursula envied my command of Portanole and certainly wanted to practice her English on me during our lessons. She would begin each session with a brief dialogue that started in English with--"ZZZSO! Me-lin-da, how are you?" I was commanded to answer in German.
The moment she boomed out that "ZZZSO!" I felt like I was about to be interrogated, sweated for information about the Resistance and I would warble a weak, "Ich bin okay?" and follow with some bit of nonsense from a memorized dialogue from the Portuguese/German text such as "Entschuldigen Sie, mein Zug." (Excuse me, my train [is here].) That is one of the few phrases that my DH and I and my son remember. The boy was barely five years old and used to hide under the coffee table in the living room while we had our German lesson. (He's always had an excellent ear for languages.)
A year or so later when the son of MMMM and I flew to Frankfurt to meet my sister and her husband to tour Germany for two weeks, he and my sister loved to make up German-sounding words and treat the train conductors to their fun. It's a wonder we weren't tossed off the trains in some Bavarian hay stack. Good thing I remembered the "Entschuldigen Sie" part of my language training, huh!
Ciao, ciao and Auf Wiedersehn! MMMMMMMMMMMelinda
So! How are you?
Remember when you used to write letters or obligatory thank you notes when you were a child and started each with, "How are you? I am fine." This is also one of the first phrases foreign language students learn.
When we lived in Brazil many longs ago, we were supposed to be transferred to Munich and decided to take German lessons prior to our departure. (Note: We were transferred instead to London, but we'll always have our German language skills and a taste for smoked pork chops that we used to get a German restaurant in Sao Paulo--hooohaaa!)
Brazil is the land of roving foreign language teachers who will come to your home to teach you any language. We signed on with Ursula, a former SwissAir flight attendant because she was also a language student herself of English and Portuguese. Ursula envied my command of Portanole and certainly wanted to practice her English on me during our lessons. She would begin each session with a brief dialogue that started in English with--"ZZZSO! Me-lin-da, how are you?" I was commanded to answer in German.
The moment she boomed out that "ZZZSO!" I felt like I was about to be interrogated, sweated for information about the Resistance and I would warble a weak, "Ich bin okay?" and follow with some bit of nonsense from a memorized dialogue from the Portuguese/German text such as "Entschuldigen Sie, mein Zug." (Excuse me, my train [is here].) That is one of the few phrases that my DH and I and my son remember. The boy was barely five years old and used to hide under the coffee table in the living room while we had our German lesson. (He's always had an excellent ear for languages.)
A year or so later when the son of MMMM and I flew to Frankfurt to meet my sister and her husband to tour Germany for two weeks, he and my sister loved to make up German-sounding words and treat the train conductors to their fun. It's a wonder we weren't tossed off the trains in some Bavarian hay stack. Good thing I remembered the "Entschuldigen Sie" part of my language training, huh!
Ciao, ciao and Auf Wiedersehn! MMMMMMMMMMMelinda
posted by MMMelinda at 8:31 AM
