I've been thinking a lot lately, and for the life of me, I still wonder how in the world I come to study in Germany. The thought of studying here had never once occured to while I was in school and yet here I am. To tell you the truth, I knew I wanted to study engineering ever since I was in secondary school, but the thought coming to a foreign land and studying in a whole different language never even crossed my mind.
Foreign language... Haha. I still remembered back in my school days, I did learn a little mandarin and cantonese. But the thing is, what I learned back then was only swear words and not really the language. So I guess that can't really be considered as a foreign language after all now could it?
Well as most of those whom are close to me know, before flying here to continue with my studies, I and a few others attended a preparation course of 2 and a half years in Shah Alam, taking the A-Levels and learning the basic German. To tell you the truth, it wasn't really that easy...
On the first day of class, our German lecturer, came into the class and we all stood up to greet her. She then started blabbering something in German, and we all just looked at each other filled with confusion. Later we got to know, what she said was, 'All of you please sit down. We are not soldiers that we need to stand up and greet her like one.' That my beloved readers, was just the beginning.
Along the way, we learnt the usage of german grammar, new vocabularies and of course a few swear words non the less. Oh the grammar and vocabularies... not as easy on would think. You scramble it here and there, divide its usage for different ocassions and hurmmm what do you get? Well, a little at least... =) Next came the hard part of course. Exams... All of us in the preparation coursed had to seat for a german language exam called the 'DSH'. It was divided into three categories, the grammar, listening and comprehension. The first and the later weren't as hard as the listening part of the exam, especially when the german lecturer was reading it aloud while we are trying to catch every single detail that's been dictated. Tough one....
It still amazes me how I came to pass the DSH. Truthfully speaking, I never really could speak German as fluently as I wished I could back then. Not saying that I can speak fluently at this present moment but living here forced me to speak the language even if I didn't want to. Well enough about my story in Malaysia. Now lets journey to the so called land, Germany.
My first few days weren't just sunshine and happy thoughts. The first language barrier that I experienced was actually on the day that I arrived. We stopped at a gas station on the way to Konstanz when I went in to buy a drink. Put this into mind, the exchange rate back then was RM5 for 1 Euro. The drink cost 2.50 Euro and so I went to pay for it. I gave the guy 10 Euros and waited for my balance when he looked at me and said yes anything else? I asked him with a 'illiterate' like german for my balance and he said, he already gave it back. I said no and he said he was sure he gave it back. I was dumbstruck. A bickering of chickens and ducks soon availed. Even with the help of a senior, the man behind the counter insisted that he already gave the money back. I was so damn furious and I told myself, even in Germany such people still exists. Disappointment was all over me cause I knew I would never see my money ever again. All the way to Konstanz, I was cursing the guy and hoping for a terrible accident to befall him.... still am actually.
The next language barrier incident that I could remember was during my early days in Reutlingen. Wadi and I went to the supermarket to buy some rations when he came up to me asking this very peculiar question. 'Mooney, can we drink this?' while he was showing me this particular milk product. I looked and told him yes, why not. In a very subtle manner he pointed out that on the label it was written 'Erdbeer'. I laughed my heart out cause the 'beer' that he thought was non-halal was actually Strawberry in english. 'Beer' is 'Berry' I told him and trust me, up till today, when ever Apai and I sees Wadi, we'll never leave out the old 'Erdbeer' incident. =)
There are of course a few other stories which are too long for me to state here but if you do remember to ask me if we meet sooner or later, I'd be happy to tell.
So what is really the conclusion of this entry? Well, nothing actually. Maybe just that if you ever get the chance to learn a new language, try it. You might even get a few kicks and laugh over it. Peace out peeps.
Cheerios
Munawwir Khan
p.s. The drink that I bought at the gas station was actually the most expensive drink that I've ever bought. Who else would buy an RM50 worth of 1 litre water anywhere??
No comments:
Post a Comment