Me: Ich mochte auschecken (“I must check out”) [feeling very
proud of my mad German skills]
Desk Clerk: ^)(*#RO#*&DY3&(*#&)$)(*#
Me: [blank look]
Clerk: ^)(*#RO#*&DY3&(*#&)$)(*# [more insistently]
Me: Englische, bitte? [sheepish]
Him: Room number, please.
It’s always awkward when you start a conversation in German,
and then they assume you actually know what you’re saying and proceed to
respond in German, and then you have to tell them that you have no idea what
they just said.
But it’s almost worse if
you barge into restaurants and the first words out of your mouth are “Sprechen
Sie Englische?” or you just start speaking English and hope they
understand. We've done all of the above.
People have been very kind, though, in working with us,
allowing us to practice German, and teaching us where they can. Our realtor spoke very little Engish, so most conversations were Englsh on one side and German on the other. But this just serves as ample motivation.
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