While sitting here enjoying a great European Cup match with Spencer I realized that I hadn't posted Spencer's recent podcast. Germany looks good right now - 3-1 in the 78th minute. Hopefully they can keep up the energy. Otherwise no chance. Portugal is too talented. Of course, check in on our Living in Germany Podcast for more fun from Germany.
Shantal and I did another podcast together - Episode #32 of our Living in Germany podcast. The podcast is about the school-wide project and she asked me to do the podcast. Very cool. I copied in some pictures below the podcast pickle player.
Shantal and I did another podcast together - Episode #32 of our Living in Germany podcast. The podcast about her recent class projects was fun even though Shantal was very tired. One interesting thing was how Shantal kept switching back into German. I think this was due to being tired, but I found it interesting that she switched back into German.
Spencer and I did another podcast together - Episode #31 of our Living in Germany podcast. The podcast was not quite as organized as I would have liked but Spencer added hilarity to the show by quoting a mini cartoon movie found on the internet about training to be a Jedi and blurting out random thoughts throughout the show.
And here is the flash movie Spencer kept quoting: 
View the flash movie
Emma said this phrase Wednesday morning about some sandals she was trying on. They were just to gross, she said. With that much said I assume that most of the German-English speakers have figured out what Emma was trying to say. Note Emma's expression does not have anything to do with disgust. Here is the explanation.
gross = big in English
zu = too or to in English depending on the context
Emma was telling me that the hand-me-down sandals from Hannah were just too big for her feet. She can't wear them yet because they are too big (to gross) she repeated. In picking words she picked an English word and a German word and put them together. For her it makes perfect sense. I agreed with her (without correcting her) in my best German possible: Ja genau, die sind einfach zu gross. (English - Yes exactly, they are simply too big.)
This morning our 7 year old daughter Hannah said something pretty funny in a German-English (Denglisch) mixed up sort of way. She said two of the words in German and the rest in English. And the great thing about the German words is that they are normally spelled the same as the English words, just pronounced differently.
Proper English (I think, I have my own issues with English of course):
"I want the tennis shoes from Aldi for outdoor gym."
Our Hannah's English:
Spelled with German pronunciation hints:
"I want the Schportschuhe for the Schportplatz from Aldi."
Spelled properly:
"I want the Sportschuhe for the Sportplatz from Aldi."
Emma is now at that stage where she brings a smile to our face at least three or four times at each meal. She either says something so cute and unexpected or in such a funny way that we can't almost keep from laughing. In a funny way means she says something that is officially incorrect from a language perspective, but oh so cute. Hannah was very good at this a few years back and has passed on the torch quite well.
An example is this phrase: "Ian wants to get him shoes on." She doesn't know that the word his should be used in that case. And, it cracks me up every time.
The beautiful thing for me about Emma is that she is doing this in both languages (German and English). This is the first child to be raised fully with German and so when she speaks to me in German it is great. One German phrase that she says oh so cute is: "Weißt du!" (you know). I want to record it, but I'm not sure if I could capture with good sound quality a spontaneous "Weißt du!" from her with a microphone. The microphone might distract her. Anyway, it's a fun time with Emma's development now.
Emma said this to our Haushaltshelferin (Nanny) when she was talking about her upcoming birthday and how old she would be. At the same time Emma was trying to make three with her fingers. After her first statement, which included English and German, Emma seemed to realize that the "German" Nanny would not understand the English word "three." By this time her fingers were making three and she restated her age while pointing to her fingers: "Ich bin so alt".
Interesting that she determines that a word doesn't fit in one language sometimes.
The phrases again in English and German again would be as follows:
1a) I am drei (3) years old.
1b) Ich bin three (3) Jahre alt.
2a) I am this old.
2b) Ich bin so alt.
#2 said while pointing to her fingers making a three.
Here is a concrete example of the changes the Nanny ushered into our lives. Emma started speaking more German. Now Emma will occasionally respond to me in German.
It actually brings a tear to my eye when she does. I've been speaking to her in German for almost three years now, and she has always answered in English (since she could talk). And now, with the same excitement that accompanies most of her actions, i.e., jumping up and down and smiling or laughing, she talks to me in German. It is sweet.
One funny phrase jumped out the other morning. I don't remember what she couldn't "reach", but there was something that she wanted and couldn't quite reach. What she said to me was "Ich kann das nicht 'reachen'", mixing an English word with German verb conjugation into the German sentence. By the time it registered, I was a already in the next room. Very cute.
Here are a few quick items from Spencer.
By the way, he is struggling with listening to his own voice on the podcast - he thinks he sounds funny. That's a normal reaction the first time you hear your own recorded voice played back, but he doesn't realize that. So, let him know how much you enjoy his podcast and what you would love to hear from him.
Here are the jokes from HaHaHa.de (with translations) Spencer told on the show. The rhyming is important, which results in some gruesome situations (one boy stuck in the folding chair in a burning theater for instance). Have you ever read the original Grimm Brothers fairy tales. They are also gruesome. Evil step sister's foot doesn't fit in the slipper, no problem, just chop off some toes. That didn't make the cut in the Disney screenplay.
Alle Kinder sitzen im Riesenrad, nur nicht ... Klaus, der fiel raus
All the children are sitting in the ferris wheel, except for ... Klaus, he fell out.
Alle Kinder rennen aus dem brennenden Kino, ... nur nicht Abdul, der klemmt im Klappstuhl
All the children are running out of the burning movie theater, ... except for Abdul, he's stuck in the folding chair.
Alle Kinder spielen mit dem Holzbein, nur ... nicht Heinz, denn es ist seins
All the children are playing with a wooden leg, ... except for Heinz, because, well it's his.
Here is Shantal's take on our Easter celebrations and the wonderful, snowy Easter weather we had over the weekend.
She makes a fine snow chair and talks about one of her favorite Easter treats from the U.S.: sugar coated marshmellow Peeps, which are shaped like bunnies or baby chickens.
Here is a brief introduction to two of our bilingual children (started in September, 2007, and finally got this one posted).
It is enjoyable to see the children experiment with, learn, and ultimately master a new language. At the time of these podcasts our children had been living in Germany for almost a year now. They are both in the 3rd grade and have recently been asked to put their bilingual language skills to work: Shantal (see below) helps teach English in school & Spencer is translating into German at church.
At parents night Shantal's teacher explained that she has a new teaching assistant in English this year - Shantal. Children in Germany begin learning English in 3rd grade. When the teacher asks Shantal, Shantal speaks English to the kids asking them simple questions, such as "what color is this?" while holding up a card with a color on it. The children answer in English. Shantal also described her experiences in her own words in Episode 16 of our Shantal's first Living in Germany podcast.
Here is a brief introduction to two of our bilingual children (started in September, 2007, and finally got this one posted).
It is enjoyable to see the children experiment with, learn, and ultimately master a new language. At the time of these podcasts our children had been living in Germany for almost a year now. They are both in the 3rd grade and have recently been asked to put their bilingual language skills to work: Shantal helps teach English in school & Spencer (see below) is translating into German at church.
Spencer came to me at church one Sunday in September and said: "translating into German. That's easy!" I am one of the translators at church (mostly from German into English). After Spencer watched me translate one week we spoke about translating a bit. I told Spencer that it is easy to translate into English, but hard to translate into German (my foreign language, and the second language of our children). Here's how he explained it in his own words in Episode 17 of our Spencer's first Living in Germany podcast.
