Guglhupf Geschwader at the Cinema in Munich

 I saw my first film at the cinema in Germany yesterday, This is the latest in a series of crime films set in rural Bavaria. These are based on books by a lady called Rita Falk. Both the films and the books deserve to be better known but I would expect that an English or American version would lose some of the humour.

There is a main character the cop who is Bavarian Bruce Willis and his friend Rudi, they comprise 'the Dream Team'. The other family members, colleagues and friends are always involved in the case or cases as there was a serial murderer in an earlier film. Despite the deaths this is a funny film that celebrates rural Bavaria and its manners and customs.

I saw it at the Sendlinger Tor Cinema which is a great venue and the actors and the writer were there to promote it. There is no way I would have been able to enjoy them talking about working on the film (30 days a year and they produced one during the pandemic) and encouraging people to support local bookshops and not Amazon.

This aspect of Germany is such a revelation. Their vibrant film industry and their humour. Guglhupf Geschwader is doing twice the box office of 'Bullet Train' and I am not surprised. There is no hullabaloo about the promotion of this film, no men dressed in skirts to create attention just hard working actors and writers who enjoy what they are doing.

Unexpected Things in the German Language 'KopfKino' and 'Mimik'

 I moved to Germany last year with no job lined up as my wife had an opportunity over there. To get a job and to function well you need to speak and understand German. I continue to learn and I am surprised and fascinated with the culture and activities that Germany has to offer.

One myth is that all the German words are long and there is a shorter English equivalent. In my new job I train people in English who may have English as their 2nd or 3rd language. It's a balance between making the course boring by using too simplistic phrasing or being entertaining and having references they don't understand without explanation. I try and avoid anything that sounds too 'new age' even if I think that the concept works. Often I use the term visualisation to encourage people to share information in pictures or graphs or to rehearse mentally a situation they are going to be involved in. It turns out the Germans have a word kopfkino (head cinema) that does all the work for me and more and is more elegant. Another word I have discovered is Mimik which is German for facial expressions.

Getting past the surface and stereotypes of culture opens up a different game to explore and try out new things. Mark Twain may have complained about the German language but I put that in Mark Twain's nature to tweak the tail of his host country. 

Language Coaching for French

 I got my B1 exam in German so that is really good and my two teachers did a good job in getting me ready for the exam and improving from beginner to Intermediate. I'm going to take it slower getting to B2 because the Covid restrictions mean travelling to and from Germany is likely to be quarantine at both ends and also that companies aren't hiring.

I'm targeting smaller companies as they are less bureaucratic and stand a better chance of wanting to grow and improve. Larger companies, like large animals, need a lot of food each day to remain the same size and they are not good at evading predators.

I'm going to refresh my French and see if I can get it to A2 level by the end of the year or the beginning of next year. As I worked in Paris for a while I have a hazy knowledge of it but I don't know where the gaps are. A2 will make me refresh the vocab and the grammar so I am a well functioning French speaker.

I learned a lot while studying for B1 so I am helping a friend by doing the A2 at the same as he is doing it so I can coach him and have a language buddy to talk about progress. I've outlined a process that we think makes sense and I'll catch up with him once a week.

I believe that the massive input of Comprehensible Input is the key to language acquisition. There is still a need for speaking but it means that the bulk of the learning time should be spent on listening and reading and building up vocabulary. I've got a DELF A2 book I am working through, the See it and Say It book for French and also the online Keep Talking French and using them to prod me along for the next 4 weeks. Let's see how that goes.

I'm studying Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to get a diploma from the Institue of Counselling so I need to make sure I schedule and focus on the right work at the right time. No pressure!

Language learning in German

 i'm learning German and I'm intermediate and taking a B1 exam in Freiburg in Germany. While I am learning it I've also looked at how we learn it. You have to do the structured parts - vocab + grammar and free reading and speaking to increase your understanding. I've looked at beginners books in technology such as AI and the poetry and prose of Bertold Brecht. The goal is to pass the exam but have a broader view of German culture and identify the key to the language that will be a catalyst for further learning.