Tag Archives: German
Flashback Directions
On Fridays this year we have been looking at older posts from the same date that you may have missed. I remember this 2018 post well – at my age learning a new language isn’t fun. My German teacher supposedly appreciates my sense of humor, though she has told my wife if I don’t curb […]
The Swimming Lesson
Can something be simultaneously true and false? Sometimes it can depend on perspective I was doing my daily German lesson on an app on my phone. Even though I don’t expect to ever live there again, I want to keep my language skills somewhat current. You never know when we might visit friends, and it […]
Thursday Fart Joke
My first thought was that six-year-old boys would probably roll on the floor in laughter – but only if they speak English. German children wouldn’t see the humor. It’s another holiday in Germany, one that I never remember being mentioned in Canada. It is Ascension Day. For some reason, until this week I never heard […]
Language Lessons
The sixth most viewed post here in 2019 was my farewell to two characters from my language class that I published in 2018. We’ve spent every day together for the past few months, but now Tim and Lara are leaving my life. We didn’t really have a proper goodbye. Lara is a young girl from […]
Frustration
What happens when you have a problem with your phone? Do you phone the company? My cell phone stopped working yesterday afternoon. Except it didn’t. The wi-fi worked fine. Emails continued to arrive, as did Twitter messages. Phone calls and SMS? Forget about it. The reason, my phone informed me, was “SIM card not provisioned.” […]
Language Issues
I can’t decide. Is German a rich language full of imagery, or one with a weak vocabulary that fails to provide adequate scope for expression? The latest linguistic curiosity I have come across is the German word for glove. You know, those things you cover your hands with when it gets cold in winter. Not […]
Too Much Information (Cultural Differences XIV)
I had to write a job application cover letter in my German class. I could not believe the example we were given. I have the luxury of being the oldest person in my class. While that makes language acquisition difficult, I don’t have the same pressures the other students face. My work is in English, […]
Lost in Translation
As an anglophone struggling to survive in Germany, Google Translate is my best friend. I carry it with me everywhere on my phone and consult it frequently. I know though that it cannot always be trusted. My daughter was visiting, and I took her to the local mini-golf course, the one no-one except me ever […]
Giving Directions
My German teacher supposedly appreciates my sense of humor, though she has told my wife if I don’t curb it I will fail the government exam. Which doesn’t phase me – I don’t plan on writing the exam, though I guess I haven’t told her that. When I was a child, my teachers would complain […]
The Slam Poet and the DJ
We’ve spent every day together for the past few months, but now Tim and Lara are leaving my life. We didn’t really have a proper goodbye. Lara is a young girl from Poland who came to Germany to learn the language. Tim is from Canada, my hometown of Ottawa in fact. He too came […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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