WHY I LOVE THE GERMAN

LANGUAGE
NOVEMBER 11, 2012 6 COMMENTS

When I started learning German in high school, I, like so many others who have delved into the
language of the Vaterland, encountered scores of people who would make a face and ask me,
Why would you want to learn German? Its just such anugly language. Everything sounds so
mean.
Fast forward ten years. While I dont claim to be even close to fluent, my German is passable in
just about any situation, save complex medical or technical ones. Ive kept up with my German,
even though I now live in Japan, for many reasons, but the overarching one is this: I am head
over heels in love with this language.
Of course, a great deal of the reason why I love German so much is because I view four of the
best months of my life (when I studied abroad in Kln) as intrinsically entwined with the
language. I can count the negative experiences Ive had in Germany on one hand. The positive
memories I associate with the country and its tongue number far too many to easily count.
Its impossible not to fall in love with that country. Unmglich.

Part of my love of German lies within its logic. It is a language of rules, of staying within the
lines. Learn a grammar rule, and youre pretty much set. And while its structure might not be
simple (Seriously, why do we need five different words for the?), theres a beauty in all that
neat, orderly tidiness. Someone once told me that I approach language from a mathematical
perspective, that I like my words to follow all the rules and that I dislike any sense of disorder. If
thats the case, then its no surprise Germans the language Ive grown to love.
While I might be a stickler for a language with regular grammar, my real love affair with German
lies in the words themselves. Naturally, every language has its words that cannot be properly
translated into English. In Japanese, my favorite word is , which means the way
sunlight filters through foliage. In French, theres lesprit de lescalier, which describes when
you think of the absolute perfect thing to say after walking away from a situation.
In German, though, Ive found those untranslatable words even better. With so many of them,
theres this inherent, subtle sense of sadness that I absolutely love, though perhaps that says more
about me as a person than German as a language. Naturally, Schadenfreude, or the pleasure you
take from seeing others misfortune, comes to mind first. (And Im sorry, my conservative
friends, but I have been feeling an awful lot of gleeful Schadenfreude in the post-election liberal

euphoria, what with sites like didmittromneywin.com and

whitepeoplemourningromney.tumblr.com.) Honestly, though, there are so many more fantastic
German words.
Theres Torschlusspanik, which literally translates to gate-closing panic, and means the dread
that, as you get older, the opportunities youre afforded decrease. Forget a quarter- or mid-life
crisis. Give me a few years and Im going to suffer from a full-fledged Torschlusspanik attack.
And if gate-closing panic gets you down, youve got Kummerspeck, or the weight you gain
from overeating from sorrow or heartbreak, to put you at ease. It literally translates to grief
bacon, which you when you think about it, is the absolute perfect term. In English, sure, weve
got the phrase comfort eating, but doesnt grief bacon just hit the nail on the head so much
more perfectly?
Then theres Fernweh, one of my personal favorites. If youre lazy, you could just translate it as
wanderlust, but its really so much more than that. Instead, its a painful, yearning
homesickness for places youve never even been before.
And theres Gemtlichkeit, the feeling of being perfectly, cozily, comfortably at homeand
Drachenfutter, the gift a husband needs to buy when hes pissed off his wifeand
fremdschmen, the act of feeling shame or embarrassment for another personthe list goes on
and on.
So, yes, I love German for its untranslatable words, but every foreign language has those. Maybe
its the sounds I love most of all. Call me crazy, but I could sit and listen to a native German
speaker all day long. Others will say that Italian or Spanish or French is more pleasing, but I
have grown to find German, with its back-of-the-throat ch and prolonged umlauted verbs, truly
beautiful.
Perhaps because German, admittedly, isnt a beautiful language in the classic sense, it makes
declarations like Ich liebe dich all the more earnest. Tell me you love me or really, give me
any sort of compliment at all in French, and sure, Ill believe it because it sounds like youre
complimenting me. In German, though, I have to look beyond the sounds of the words to the
speaker themselves. I cant just rely on the words because they sound stereotypically beautiful.
German has made me keener, more adept at reading people.
And if someone tells me Ich liebe dich and I dont believe them? Then Ive always got my
sense of Fernweh calling me away to somewhere where I can get over it.
http://theglobetrottinggeek.com/2012/11/11/why-i-love-the-german-language/

Possible roles and program

Supporting grantees in practical learning German

Support the care teams in the design, organization and implementation of the activity program

Participation in sports, leisure and cultural activities

Participation in welcoming the scholarship as a representative of the host Germany

Exchange with the fellows about interesting topics about living in Germany and the main topic
"Building Bridges to the Future"

Smaller research activities and assisting in the preparation of daily plans

Assisting in the documentation of the teens, especially when teens blog the PASCH website

Employees when creating articles for the newspaper and price for PASCH Global, the
international online student newspaper of the initiative

Conditions, you should comply with the

If you want to participate as an intern / in in a PASCH youth course, you should:

Be 16-18 years old

a secondary school in Germany to visit (High School, Secondary School, FOB)

Interested in intercultural exchange

Culturally meet again openly and without prejudice

Independently and reliably perform minor work orders

You may well arrive in international peer groups

Versatile, have communication skills, that is pleasure to talk with the fellows and to explain topics
to understand and actively listening to

Of advantage are:

Experience in youth work or other social engagement

Abroad and Travel

Participation in student newspapers

Experiences with video and audio editing

Knowledge of word processing programs

You enrich it the course in leisure activities and project work in addition by:

a certain degree of creativity

special interests and skills in the field of sport and / or

musical or creative skills

Services we offer to you

Free board and lodging in a boarding or guest house during the two- or three-week PASCH youth
course

50 euros pocket money per week

Activities within the recreational program is free of charge for you

The course instructor will give you an introduction course and it is envisaged the assignment of a
mentor or a mentor in the care team at the start of the course

You will receive an official internship certificate that includes your tasks PASCH-teens and your
acquired experience in social and intercultural competence confirmed

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