AMD 3

For this entry, I decided to do a loose interpretation of the suggested activities. Since I was home for fall break, I had a lot of opportunities to talk to my dad, who speaks German fairly fluently. He worked in Germany for several years, and the fact that he speaks German is what made me want to pick it up in the first place. He helped me study for my oral exam, but we also sat down a couple nights ago and managed to hammer out a conversation. He also explained some regional differences in pronunciation, as well as phrases in other dialects. It was like a private class on what it's like to speak German when you're actually living in Germany!

For example, my dad taught me that sometimes in Berlin, "ich" is pronounced like "ick", rather than the way that it is pronounced in "high German"- the dialect of German that is considered more proper and is more commonly taught. He also taught me a few phrases in the Schwabisch dialect, although I'm not sure how to spell them. One of the phrases means "I think I'm standing in asparagus", and apparently it's used to express disbelief. All in all, it was fun to see my dad and get some more insider knowledge from him!