…. or not.

Well, to fit the title I should really do this post in German as well but I am on holiday (that is why it is so late) and I cannot be bothered to translate. Sorry Ladies and Gentlemen I admit to being  lazy and not a busy Bee (it is out at last…. 😉 )

But as I could not find the picture of my husbands and my favourite mugs together and do  a post about how lovely the two of us  worked out  (we could easily be twins at least in our thoughts 😉 ) I had to go for the “bi” and what easier than me being “bi-lingual”.

Oh, I also wanted to do a double with Irene at IreneDesign 2011 but we still try to find THAT great idea how to do a SoCS post t(w)ogether and therefore left it at that for now. If you have an idea: Please let us know!!!!!!

So, where was I?

Wasn’t there something with coffee? Yes, Germans are supposed to drink lots of coffee but I always preferred tea. That is probably why I ended up in Great Britain and being bi-lingual. Oh, that’s it!

The “bi” in Linda’s prompt. Yes, I am bi-lingual and it sometimes makes my mind stumble a little: I just need to see a German film or read something in German and I start saying half of my sentence in one language and the other half in the other.  You can imagine the amount of funny looks I sometimes get from my family and co-workers and yes they are not only two ;-).

Most of the time though I do quite well in English. To be honest I think and dream in English and talking in German (proper German not Denglish (Deutsch -English) or Germlish (German – English)  😉 ) quite often feels a little funny.

Norfolk in Great Britain seems to be full of German immigrants and quite often I get a little lovely old lady speaking with some accent  at work and if I answer her in German her face lights up and I get one or two life stories told. That reminds me actually of “Forty – C’est Fantastiques” entry last week about people who light up our days.

Those elderly often formerly German ladies are really sweet and so polite and nice that it is a joy to serve them.  So I try to get back into a little German and tell them where I come from and why I am here and they go home a little happier than they came into the store.

But it feels funny and I often have trouble to find the right words or the right way to form a sentence in German and again I get some funny looks :-).

All in all though it is fine. I am quite proud that I do ok with both languages: after all, it is not a lot that we learn at school when we learn a language. It feels a little like being send out fishing just with a line and no hook or bait.

Even if you have done ok at school with the language you have learned you end up feeling an idiot as soon as you enter the country that speaks that language but unfortunately the people you face do speak some ancient dialect no one has ever heard of and you have to use your hands, feet and some cave-men noises to make yourself understood.

Yes, I have been to language school in Brighton some 25 years ago and I learned more French than English then: My guest parents had not only the German girl but also two much younger French boys with them who’s parents called practically every evening. They did not speak English. My guest parents did not speak French. I had learned two words of French at school so they asked me to help out and nice as I am I tried my best …. with lots of cave-men noises!

Never mind. I digress. It’s fun though to walk down memory lane… but before I get too tearful I better stop and head over to Linda’s Blog to find out what the other’s have made of this weeks prompt. And I invite you to do the same 🙂

This entry takes part in Linda G Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday “two/bi/double/twin“. Please head over and find more amazing SoCS posts. If you are tempted to take part: Here are the rules