In the past I have written about my attempts to teach myself German on Duolingo. After my trip to Switzerland, Austria and Germany in the summer of 2019, I lapsed, and I had not logged onto Duolingo in over a year. A couple months ago, I got back to spending some time every day practicing my German. I had to go back and review all the lessons that I had done before, but I was pleased by how much I remembered. I was even getting the hang of some of the grammar that I had found so difficult. I was doing better with the nominative, accusative cases and dative cases and the devilish prepositions that require a change in case. Now, however, I have progressed to new lessons, and there are more diabolical aspects of German grammar that are driving me crazy. Now I am learning that adjectives change not only according to the gender of the nouns they describe, but also according to the case. It makes Spanish grammar seem like a piece of cake in comparison. My Swiss cousin Brigitta consoled me and told me that there are foreigners who have lived in Switzerland for years who have still not mastered the intricacies of the language.
During this year of the pandemic, I have been chatting frequently with my Swiss relatives on Skype. It is one of the silver linings of this terrible year that I have grown even closer to my Swiss family than I have during my occasional trips to Switzerland. For this holiday season I have sung to them two Christmas carols in German... "O Tannenbaum" (Oh Christmas Tree) and "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night). Brigitta said that my German pronunciation was excellent, and I am encouraged to continue my study.
Here is my singing debut on the blog. Hopefully it is not too painful to your ears, and my rendition does not leave you forever hating one of the most beautiful carols ever written...
Excellent pronunciation of a very difficult language!
ReplyDeleteFrohe Weihnachten und ein gutes Neue Jahr!
Danke schön! I wish the grammar came as easily as the pronunciation did.
DeleteBeste Wünsche für dich!
That was lovely! Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteGayle
Thanks, Gayle. Merry Christmas!
DeleteYou have a mellow and professional sounding voice. There is a lot of musical talent in my family of Martis and Deckers. I see you got that as well. I could visualize our ancestors singing this at the church in Othmarsingan, and that made me feel nostalgic. We missed Christmas Eve at church for the first time in 50 years and in 71 years for myself.
ReplyDeleteThank you, cousin, although I still cringe when I listen to myself singing.
DeleteI wonder if "Stille Nacht" was sung by our ancestors. After all, it was an Austrian Catholic song, and Othmarsingen was a Protestant town. Back in those days there was a pronounced demarcation between Catholic and Protestant.