# Played truant today.



## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

At 75 + I have earned my very first certificate, so this morning to celebrate Motley and I went out in the van.

This is a nice carpark that was built a few years back when someone thought the ferry to Poland was going to be popular, a lot of money wasted, but we motorhomers can take advantage.
This is the first time I have seen other vans there, I normally have it to myself with a couple of cars at the most.

The 2 vans one behind the other are Mum, Dad and son and they are full timers. 

I didn´t expect it to be such a lovely day because at 7 am I could only just see to the bottom of the garden it was so foggy.
The temperature was +10°c when we left at 9.30, when we got back it was 20°. I hadn't taken anything with me, not even water for Motley or a cuppa tea for me as I had not intended being out long. Maybe I will go again tomorrow.


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

Babble and now Babbel……….. I love a bright girl:wink2:


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## dghr272 (Jun 14, 2012)

Well done Jan keep at it girl.

Terry


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Well done you Jan! I'm still struggling on with my Russian. It's incredibly hard to write the language so I find it hard to make notes that would help me get to grips with it. But the predictive text is very useful haha!

It must've been lovely to get the van out again!


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

*Certificate number 2*

We walked our local part of the river this morning and I heard the first cuckoo over the other side in Poland, then a Pirol, I have never seen one in real life, they are very shy.
Also heard the first frog chorus of the year, I will record one when they really get going in a week or two.
The nightingales are also here, but not in full voice yet.

These certificates are only given to give you a boost to carry on learning I am sure, it´s when I can use the words in a conversation I will give myself a certificate.
Anyway, you know why I am missing these days I must keep up my lessons.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

*Third certificate today*

Note Grammer, I don´t have a clue what they are talking about, does anyone?


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Yes. The superlative is "that's fecking brilliant" and the comparative is "My Da was bigger than your Da."

Very well done though.The only certificate I have is for Cycling Proficiency. It says FAIL on it, but I don't mind.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

Put this way we all know what they are.

Examples of superlative adjectives
*Adjective Comparative Superlative*

good ----------better--------------the best
bad------------worse--------------the worst
far-------------farther-------------the farthest
little------------less ---------------the least


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

*Number 4*

Still can´t grasp the grammar, it sometimes takes several tries to get it right, but when you speak it´s difficult to distinguish between unsurer, unseren and unserem I´m sure.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Listen a certificate is a certificate

It’s a bit like an ...ology >

Well done you girl:grin2:

Sandra


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## powerplus (Oct 6, 2014)

hi jan and well done

my german is supposed to be very good and clear, some think i am german 

some germans i find very difficult to understand as they have a strong dialect or they speak so fast

i do not know many words to do with government, technical or medical and the like, as a youngster i would not have come into contact with those words but as you start to talk more to germans everything will fall into place

i do not do the grammer thing and just say the first word that comes into my head

keep up the learning and it will be worth the effort once you get a chance to meet more people 

barry


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Interesting comment on the grammar thing Barry. In my efforts to learn Spanish I gave up on learning the grammar by rote long ago. I learn by usage and by listening to what native Spanish speakers say. It may be a bit lazy of me, but it makes learning to speak adequately a lot easier.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

This is making me think of Hans.
He had been in England for 21 years when I met him and one thing I asked was _"what language do you think in" _. "English" he said.
I have been here for 15 years, if I make it to 21 years will I be thinking in German? I don´t think so.

However, there were certain words I had to teach him to pronounce, words Germans always find difficult, like thatched (he would have said thatch-ed) cloths (that was a hard one with the th and s, he would have said cloth-es) 
I soon put him right :grin2: Certain words in German I will never pronounce properly because as I told him, Germans have a different tongue and throat :laugh: anything with an *r* for a start, he never lost that skill and to hear him say screwdriver with his German* r * always made me laugh, he would normally say it correctly of course.
Once the world gets back to normal and I can mix with the village people again I expect it will fall into place easier, I´m just building the outside of the jigsaw first.


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

German mate of mine who lived in the US for years spoke English almost perfectly, though with a German accent. He never got the hang of can't. He always said "I don't can". In the end I was sure it was deliberate, but it was funny.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

erneboy said:


> German mate of mine who lived in the US for years spoke English almost perfectly, though with a German accent. He never got the hang of can't. He always said "I don't can". In the end I was sure it was deliberate, but it was funny.


I never heard the slightest of accent when he was talking to me, but others detected a bit of an accent but couldn´t say what.

Here was another wonderful *r* he would do "around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran" one of our tongue twisters.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

Oh look, there's another one :grin2:

I honestly don´t know how much of this I will remember once I can really start talking to people,
mind you I don´t know how many times I will need words like Aufenthaltsgenehmigung, Meldebescheinigung or Warteschlange :laugh:


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Jan, do you really feel you are progressing and absorbing the language? I know Hans always shielded you from the language but I'm wondering if your command of German was better than you had thought. Immersion really works but studying is very hard.

Ray.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

raynipper said:


> Jan, do you really feel you are progressing and absorbing the language? I know Hans always shielded you from the language but I'm wondering if your command of German was better than you had thought. Immersion really works but studying is very hard.
> 
> Ray.


I think from now onwards I will probably enjoy it even more because there isn´t as much grammar included in the lessons.

I can communicate reasonably well Ray, but then I get stuck on words that I don´t know and they are the important words in the sentence, thats when it gets frustrating.

You have just made me think of when I did speak German to people when Hans was there and I can still see his face light up when I got everything right.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Suddenly things start to fall into place and those that don't don't matter.

Ray.


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

JanHank said:


> if I make it to 21 years will I be thinking in German? I don´t think so.


I remember one year we'd been in France quite a while and using the language a lot. I DID find myself thinking in French at times - and was really impressed with myself!!


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