Learning German is hard. We all know that. But back when I was in my first German class in 2012, I remember learning a few basics about grammar and verb conjugation, and thinking to myself, “Hey, maybe I’m making some progress! Maybe I’ll actually learn this ugly bastard!”
Oh silly little American nerd — I had no idea what I was in for. German keeps getting more and more complex the deeper you go, and unless you’ve been doing a perfect job of memorizing those godforsaken gender-based articles along the way, you will make mistakes every single time you open your yap and try to speak it.
But my wife, God bless her, has been 110% supportive the entire time. Never a discouraging word. Always telling me how great I’m doing, how I’m learning so much, and how I will become fluent someday. She’s fantastic like that. She still has to correct me when I make big mistakes, however, which is why our conversation back in May of 2012 went like this: We had just come home from a trip to the beach and were unpacking our bags, when suddenly I had to go poop really bad. Like, Red Alert bad. So I dropped the bags, pointed my finger to the sky and proudly announced:
ME: “Ich gehe zu scheißen!” (“I’m going to shit!”)
…to which my wife replied…
THE WIFE: “Good job. That is right, but it is very rude.”
Oh God, My Wife Is German. 
Are you sure you said that? Cause it’s grammatically wrong.
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Of course it’s grammatically wrong. It’s wrong is every way possible. :) I think that was the funny part. :)
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Then I must suck at reading comprehension :/ I figured by saying, “That is right” she meant it was grammatically right. I guess not.
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Her intent was more to support me for having the courage to even try and speak German — something I was even more hesitant to do back when I said this quote. Oh, and it was funny. That’s really the point, after all.
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Hahaha! My high school German teacher was a fairly prim and proper lady, so I never learned any useful words or phrases for, say, going to the bathroom. Or cursing effectively. So, when I was on my study abroad, I told my German friends “Ich muss ins Klo”. They laughed and laughed, and told me I’d just announced I needed to go into the toilet. Like for a swirlie. Language learning requires a hefty, hefty dose of humility. I’m back in a German class finally, and am remembering how much I forgot.
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Haw haw! That’s awesome, Amber. And everybody needs a good swirlie from time to time. :) Have a great day!
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