Me: "I want to learn German."
Them: "Why would you do that? Don't bother!"
Me: "Because I spend half my time on the Fediverse clicking on the 'Translate' button."
I can't help it if so many of the awesome accounts I follow are in German. And I want to be able to understand their messages without clicking on 'Translate' 50+ times a day. Plus this way I would understand / could attend ALL the talks at Berlin #FediDay.
I'm putting this here so that people hold me accountable 😅🤗
@johl@mastodon.xyz haha when I mentioned at FediDay that I wanted to learn German, someone immediately recommended this essay. I'm almost scared to read it (I don't want to be discouraged) 😅
@_elena@mastodon.social Keine Angst!
Twain was from the USA ...
You are never too old to learn languages. I emigrated to France with merci and bonjour only, and now speak it fluently. And as I'm German, I can say: it's much more complicated!
Learning by doing is the best! I e.g. button-translate Spanish posts, and I'm happy that I begin to understand more and more only by doing this, comparing the words ....
@NatureMC@mastodon.online do you have a classic German children's books / cartoon character to recommend? I typically start there, with the simple language of cartoons
@_elena@mastodon.social
Did you read Asterix comics as a kid?
They're French, but as Germany doesn't have a comparable culture with regards to comics/cartoons, we adopted them as ours.
@NatureMC@mastodon.online
@_elena@mastodon.social It can be frustrating to learn „the awful German language“ (Mark Twain) as an adult, but as with other things on the Fediverse, everything is possible with enthusiasm and interest!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awful_German_Language