Another thing that I got to experience while being a kid in Germany was German pre-school. Every morning we would have tea and breakfast- pretty sophisticated for how young I was. One day, we had to make lanterns out of paper and paint. We were going to have a candle lit in placed inside as we walked in a parade for St. Martin that evening. It is custom for children to make these lanterns and sing songs about St. Martin, who was most famous for having cut his cloak in half and shared it with a beggar, who would have otherwise froze to death. This night stands out to me because being the badly behaved child I was, didn’t follow the rules and swung my lantern- making the candle go out. This was the number one rule, and I had to beg to get my candle re-lit.

The last thing I want to talk about was my trip to Chiemsee. It is also located in Bavaria, and is a nice vacation spot by the lake. What made this place unique though, was that there was a salt mine near by in which you could travel into. We were suited up in dark clothes and put on a little train that took us deep under ground. I remember you could lick the walls (as unsanitary as that sounds) and taste the salt. There were also these massive slides you could go down to get to a lower level. It was really cold down there, I cannot imagine being a miner. I think I went on this excursion two times, but I believe I would be two scared now to be that far under ground!

This is Anna’s first time abroad but it is made easier by being with her family. Although I’ve just had lunch at the office, Anna has just finished her school day, choir practice and dance lessons. Sometimes during our tutor lesson in her Victorian bedroom I get to see her hanging blazer and school uniform. Neither Anna nor I are located at the KET Headquarters in Lexington, KY so we figure out the best times and places to Skype for both of us. I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying her stories of doing homework on the train from London and adjusting our meeting time one week because Daylight Savings Time happens earlier in the UK. Her Halloween and Thanksgiving were not too far from how she celebrates in the US. At her school there was Trick-or-Treating and all of the Americans, including Anna’s family, contributed towards Thanksgiving resulting in more food than anyone could finish. While Anna is exploring her surroundings, I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to Skype with her twice a week. She has just finished the semester and is traveling in Germany this week. I left her with some recommendations and well wishes before we paused our tutor lessons. The next time we Skype will be Christmas Eve and in the same time zone for the first time.

Congratulations to this brave young girl for all she’s seen and done in the past 6 months and thanks for letting myself and everyone at KET Distance Learning share the experience!  We are both already looking forward to next semester.

-Jordan Sangmeister (KET German Tutor)

Most small- to mid-sized cities in Germany conjure up romantic images of serpentine cobblestone alleyways, colorful 18th Century facades and the characters who have inhabited them for generations. Heidelberg, a magical town at the mouth of the Neckar Valley in Baden-Württemberg, does this better than the rest.

Tourists from six continents flock to Heidelberg each year to take in the city’s stunning scenery and revel in the history that has taken place  there over the years. Popular English-speaking writers like Mark Twain and Somerset Maugham found inspiration in Heidelberg, and many famous scientists and academics have called Heidelberg home. Robert Bunsen, a chemist most noted for his invention of the Bunsen Burner, Gustav Kirchoff, a physicist who developed revolutionary methods to analyze electrical circuits, and Daniel Bernoulli, a famous mathematician, all studied or worked at the world-renowned Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg. The University, founded in 1386, is the third-oldest in Europe and is considered the best in Germany.

Surrounding the city is the Neckar Valley, a set of forested mountains flanking the Neckar River. Standing behind the Altstadt (Old Town) is the Königstuhl (King’s Throne), the tallest mountain in Heidelberg. The famous Heidelberg Castle is on this mountain and looks out onto the valley and its inhabitants. Walking paths, a high-incline tram and a downhill mountain bike trail are ways to get down. Across the river is the Heiligenberg (Saints’ Mountain), home to the Philosophenweg (Philosopher’s Way). This meandering trail was a favorite of Mark Twain and is frequented by countless residents and visitors daily. The Alte Brücke (Old Bridge) takes you back to the Altstadt and serves as an excellent venue for photo-ops or a refreshing beer. More recreational activities can be had on the Neckarwiese, a huge park on the northern bank of the river. Vast expanses of green provide room to play sports, grill out with friends or just lay around. The Neckarwiese is a favorite meeting spot among Heidelberg’s many students.

The Altstadt itself offers the most entertainment. While the Hauptstraße (Main Street) has become commercialized and touristy, all the little side streets and alleys have something original to offer. Although there are a host of bars and nightclubs to choose from in the Untere Straße (Lower Street), the best atmosphere for great food, drink and conversation is Schnookeloch (dialect for “Mosquito Bite”). Here, one street over from the Alte Brücke, one can marvel at the huge collection of student memorabilia – ranging from the colored hats the fraternity students wear to the swords they use when dueling with one another – and feel as though one is part of an unending historical tradition. The tables sport carvings done by students dating back to the 1800s, and the pictures and paintings on the wall are even older. The tavern itself has been around since 1703.

A trip to the castle is always great for an afternoon of fun and discovery. Patrons are amazed by the size of the wine-keg housed in the cellar, and the legend of Perkeo, the dwarf who kept watch over said keg, brings smiles to all. Inside the castle are numerous rooms and salons featuring stunning artwork, and a marvelous garden is only a short walk from the drawbridge. The gardens are open all the time and are a great place to spend a lazy couple of hours and take in the vistas. Directly beneath the castle gardens stands the Haus der Burschenschaft Allemannia zu Heidelberg (House of the Fraternity Allemannia in Heidelberg), made visible by its signature black-white-red flag. This was my place of residence in Heidelberg and consequently my favorite hangout. With its classic styling, private Biergarten (beer garden) and fraternal atmosphere, I always found a way to enjoy myself. One afternoon, at the suggestion of a friend, three buddies and I celebrated the long-awaited summer by leaping from the Alte Brücke into the Neckar. Another time, we snuck into the castle and raised our colors on the turret flagpole. Countless nights were spent merrily roaming about the Altstadt, and I fondly remember the Studentenlieder (student songs) we sang.

My experience living and studying in Heidelberg was the highpoint of my college career. In fact, I was so in love with the city that I decided to pursue my Master’s there. The benefits I reaped from spending so much time in Heidelberg are priceless; independence, new friendships and increased self-confidence are all treasures to be taken from living abroad. Moreover, the language skills you develop when living in a native-speaking country are not to be underestimated or missed. In my opinion, every student should spend a year living in a foreign country, and Germany, more specifically Heidelberg, is an excellent place for this. It is beautiful, engaging, modern and, most importantly, safe. Many young adults do not trust themselves to make this leap, but coming from somebody who has, it certainly pays to do so, and you will not regret you did.

After a while, German vocab decks could have hundreds of words in them. This is no cause for concern though, because as long as you keep up with your reviewing, you’ll probably not have more than 20 or 30 words to review on any given day. And usually you’ll already know them pretty well, so even that won’t be much work. The benefit is enormous though, because you’re constantly reminding yourself of older vocab words that may have slipped into the dark recesses of your memory. Now the words which have gotten farthest away from you are being brought back systematically. In just ten minutes or so a day you can be reviewing your entire German vocabulary!

There are a lot of fancy features of Anki, which you may or may not feel the need to explore. This includes, but is not limited to, total control over the length of your review sessions, access to copious statistics and graphs of all sorts, and the ability to store your decks online for free and sync them between multiple computers (i.e. use the same deck and home and school without having to review the same words twice!).

To make it even easier, and to encourage your German studies, I went ahead and entered in almost all of the Vokab for German I and II. If you’d like any of these vocab sets just send me a message in the message center on the Distance Learning website with your email address and I’ll send you the goods. Than all you have to do is import what I send you into Anki and you’re ready to study. So do yourself a favor and go download Anki here.

Their web site has pretty good instructions on how to get it set up and going, if you have any questions just message me in the message center.

I was in Bavaria on the KIIS (Kentucky Institute for International Studies) Munich Program. There were 16 other college students who also participated in this program. Each student lives with a host family and then we attended class Monday through Friday. We were not living in the actual city of Munich, but rather in a small farming village called Esting. Esting is about 30 minutes by S-Bahn from Marienplatz, the heart of downtown Munich. When we first arrived at the Grundschule, the elementary school where our classes were held, in Esting it was raining and I just wanted to sleep. Our host families were coming to pick us up at the school and I couldn’t have been more excited to meet my host family…and then take a nap.

Esting, Bavaria

Upon meeting my host father and both of my host sisters I realized that I was not at all prepared for the culture shock that Bavaria had just placed in front of me. I’d studied German for more than five years and actually found myself speechless when I tried to speak to my host family. “Why?” you might ask? It was at that moment when I realized how intensely altered the German language in Bavaria is. Actually the language spoken by native Bavarians actually has its own name, bayerisch. I do not speak a lick of bayerisch and found myself not being able to understand the majority of what my host family was saying to me.

“Well, this will be fun.” I thought to myself. The language barrier existed throughout my entire 6 week stay with the Schilling family in Esting, Bavaria. I did my best to listen and try and pick up some of the simple bayerisch words but fully comprehending them turned into be an impossible mission. This dialect of German taught me one very important lesson: patience. My host family was patient with me when I didn’t understand them and I was patient with them when they tried to speak more clearly. I have more patience than I ever have had before with the KET German students because now I understand from personal experience the frustration that a language barrier can bring. I was essentially learning a new language in Esting and that’s what our students are also doing.

The language barrier was something that was only an issue in the small outlying towns and villages of Munich. In the metropolitan city of Munich, the language barrier did not exist. Munich is by far the greatest large city of Germany that I’ve visited. The people are so friendly, the city and all of its old charm is enchanting and there is never a dull moment in a city like Munich. Munich has so much to offer to everyone that is there, whether that be foreigners or natives. There are museums, restaurants and shops galore.

Soccer Public Viewing at Hirschgarten, Germany's Largest Biergarten

The cultural difference that most distinguishes Munich (and Bavaria) from other parts of Germany is the Biergarten. There are so many Biergartens in Munich and the atmosphere at the Biergartens is so relaxing. People are enjoying beer after work, singing and spending time with friends and family. My favorite Biergarten was Augustiner Keller, a more traditional, non-touristy spot. We were the only Americans there but were treated just like everyone else. Before I came to Munich I had never been to a Biergarten anywhere else in Germany. Some of my favorite memories of my summer in Munich were at Biergartens. The Biergarten is what most defines Bavaria.

Besides bayerisch and the Biergarten, there is one final aspect of Bavarian culture that is

My UK Blue Dirndl and Lederhosen for Women!

unique. And that would be the traditional Bavarian dress: Lederhosen for the men and Dirndl for the women. No where else is Germany is it common to wear such attire. Bavarians don their traditional dress anywhere they can – Biergartens, street festivals, town festivals, or any other major celebration. Authentic Dirndls and Lederhosen can be quite costly but this is a cost that families push aside because the traditional dress is so important to their culture. My favorite purchase of my trip is definitely my Dirndl. It symbolizes the time I spend in Bavarian, the memories I made there and the amazing people I met.

I wouldn’t trade my trip to Munich for anything. I learned so much about myself and advanced my German skills. I absolutely fell in love with the city and the people. After all, the city’s motto is

“München mag Dich!”

München- Die Frauenkirche und Das Rathaus

Jessica Ankenman

When I started taking it in school, I realized that I was passionate about it for more reasons than I thought going in. At first, I figured I would just take it to make my Oma happy, but I found myself enjoying the class simply because I enjoyed the language. I took German through high school and ended up declaring it my major in college. I learned, and am still learning, tons about German history, film, and culture. I found enjoyment in learning other languages too, and a whole fascinating world opened up to me, all thanks to my grandma inspiring me to take that first step toward learning a new language.

Now I’m avidly interested in linguistics, and learning as many languages as I can. I want to do more than speak them; I want to understand them the way I understand English. I want to know the history and roots of words so that I really know what I’m talking about, because my ultimate goal is to teach.

So why teach? That’s the tougher question. There are a million reasons one could give for learning any language, all ranging from “it sounded interesting” to “it sounded easy”. I guess my personal reason for wanting to teach is that I think it’s really just one more way to learn, and I want to learn as much as I can. I would argue that it’s one of the best ways to learn, actually, which is why this just had to be the subject of my first blog post.

I would recommend to anyone that when they are learning a new language, they try to teach it to others. The reason for this is simple: if you’re going to teach something, you are forced to know exactly what you’re talking about. There are no excuses when someone asks you a question about grammar. You can’t shove it to the side and tell yourself you’ll study it later if you don’t get it now. When you make the effort to learn so that you can explain something to someone else, you’ll find that it sticks better in your brain.

Nobody wants to look like a fool when they try to teach someone else – so try! The motivation to come across like you know what you’re talking about will result in you actually knowing what you’re talking about, I promise.

Not to mention, it can be fun! If you enjoy German, I urge you to share it with someone else. I guarantee they’ll be impressed, and you both might just learn something!

Another perk of being a tutor: spontaneous workplace photography.

While this method doesn’t work for all of the great silent films Germany produced, it does hold true all the way back to classic films such as Fritz Lang’s “M”. Follow the link to Youtube and check it out! The story is about a city’s manhunt for a murderer, and the climax at the end is one of the most moving scenes in all of cinema history.

In the 1960s a movement called New German Cinema got started, proclaiming a new age in German cinema. A generation of young directors created some of the freshest films in decades. Wim Wender’s “Wings of Desire” is a wonderful film set in a divided Berlin and told from the point of view of an Angel who wants to become human.

Filmmaker Werner Herzog is famous for being one of the most original directors to come out of any period in history. His films are certainly not for everyone, but if you’re adventurous he can be incredibly rewarding. Some of his more recent films are in English, but still worth checking out (plus you get to hear his great narration!), such as “Encounters at the End of the World” about McMurdo Station on Antartica!

These three are just a start, there are many more directors and many more amazing films worth checking out. Check your local library, or poke around on Netflix or the internet and see what great German Films you can find on your own. Here are some links to get you started.

This link to Open Culture’s free online films page has some German films on it, and at the bottom has links to other websites with free films. Look for Metropolis, Faust, and Pandora’s Box in the silent films section.

Ubu Web is a repository of difficult to find and out of print cultural, mostly focusing on more experimental stuff. There is a lot on there, and I’ll let you explore for yourself, here a place to start: Alphabet of Dada. You’ve been warned.

Have fun! Don’t forget why we learn languages, and don’t forget to enjoy yourself along the way!

-Don

About German has a great strong verb list, in addition to having hundreds of other pages about German grammar and culture.

This strong verb list includes which helping verb to use, the first and fourth columns are the ones you’ll want to focus your attention on.

This third and last list is a PDF ready to be printed out and kept with you at all times!

LEO is a great online dictionary. It lists multiple meanings for words, and has discussions (albeit in German) about words and phrases.

BEOLINGUS is another online dictionary. It also includes…

a list of prepositions! They are listed by case and include definitions and examples of usage–just click on the arrow next to each preposition.

Canoo is another dictionary, but it is arguably more useful for conjugations. Can’t remember how to conjugate that verb? Check here. Need to find the plural form of a new noun? Here again! Just search for the word and then look at the ‘Wortformen’ (word forms)

For a great grammar resource, you can’t do much better than this online manual. The site also includes some fun and useful info about literature and Germany in general!

About.com also has a good grammar guide, which includes the following pages…

Here, you will find a list of some common strong verbs and their conjugations.

You might not need this for a while, but eventually it will come in handy: a chart of accusative and dative adjective endings.

If you’d like to learn about life in Germany, one resource is Deutsche Welle. Here they have a series of radio shows about different aspects of German life. They also have a page dedicated to information about Germany.

Listening to German radio can be a fun, interesting way to practice. This is a listing of numerous radio stations, many of which stream online.

I hope these are helpful… More to come later!