Today, I found out the German I've been learning for nearly a month is a dialect only spoken by people in a small area of the country. This means I'll need to re-learn most of what I thought I knew. FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
Today, I arrived in Austria. Within about an hour, I realized that I couldn't understand any "German". Turns out they have a totally different dialect here to anything I was taught in school. I'm here till May. FML
Today, I arrived in Germany for a summer-long stay. The family I'm supposed to stay with had said they spoke fluent English. They don't. I don't speak German. It's going to be a quiet two months. FML
Today, I returned to Germany for a break from my studies abroad. I got lost while out for groceries, so I tried asking a guy for directions. I went totally blank and strained to think of the right words, prompting him to mutter about rude foreigners not bothering to learn the local language. FML
Today, I found out that while on foreign exchange for over six months now, I have been pronouncing the word for "night" in German wrong. Apparently, this whole time, the way that I have been pronouncing it in German means "naked". This explains a lot. FML
Today, I found out that I was moving to Germany. I'm going to be put back a year in school because of the system change. I also don't speak a word of German. Why? Because my mother wants to brag about this experience to her friends. FML
Today, I found out that my German wasn't as great as I thought it was. Trying to give directions to some German tourists, I tried to say, "I hope I don't get you lost." Turns out I actually said something closer to, "I hope I don't seduce you." FML
Today, a German guy came into the place where I work. Eager to use the German that I'd learned from my immigrant mother and her family, I started a conversation. Things were going well until the term I grew up thinking meant "Africa" turned out to be racist, translating as "Ape Land." FML
Today, I have learned a lot of "big" words from reading so much, but can actually only pronounce about half of them correctly. FML
Today, I went to the hairdresser for the first time in the country I just moved to. Guess I don't speak the language as well as I thought. FML
Today, I was reading a book in German, which I don't know very well. Suddenly I reached a passage I had no trouble understanding. Excited, I showed my husband, saying I was finally getting the hang of it. He laughed and patted my head. Turns out, that particular passage was a quote. In English. FML
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Top comments
mliajkfml 15
Maybe only ever visit a small area of Germany?
cornwallus24 8
Germans will help you.They probably know better English than you.
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Comments (54)
Migole 36
Since your signature says BW... yeeeah that's pretty shitty. Southern/bavarian german is probably one of the heaviest dialects you will find. But at least the grammar is mostly the same? ;)
CallMeWindSock 24
Still, domestically, Bayrisch/Schwäbisch are some of the most unique and difficult to learn/understand dialects in the German language.
SiraSiemens 21
and then theres swiss german... which is a german dialect but has in itself another 20-something dialects xD
chocoladisco 1
If its badisch it's fine. but schwäbisch oh god.
XandWacky 23
Did you learn Low German by any chance? Never go that route.
blueboarding 5
Why don't you just go to Germany and demand that they learn your language?
TheNewGuy03 29
Er, if you're paying attention, OP is already in Germany.
thunderniron 22
Yep there's high German and low German. Low German is almost a lost language now.
LucyLollipop 22
Ach, schade! As long as you try, the Germans will be happy to help you, OP.
bthny 9
Even with complete immersion, a month isn't all that much time to spend learning a language. I took over six years of classes before I felt comfortable holding a conversation in another language, so I can only imagine how long it takes to become truly fluent. I'm sure it's frustrating, but unless you're a savant or insanely gifted, there's probably not all that much to be relearning, especially considering the effort that needs to be put into becoming fluent in a second language.
Earthdforce 17
Oh darn, a whole month wasted
Hirooooochan 10
at least they'll think you're a native
xoteeshaox 22
Das is nicht gut
Aang558811 9
What part of Germany is it spoken in?