The Lernen to Talk Show: Episode 13 – Pennymarkt!

Since I began learning German I feel as though I have been constantly assessing myself every time I open my mouth. Some days I feel pretty on top of my game, giving myself a mental pat on the back when I notice myself saying something particularly correctly. Monday was not one of those days. Maybe I was distracted by having to film Alex and myself, or maybe I was just tired. Either way, I feel like I took a couple steps back in this episode, but hey! These things happen. I tried to make up for it by adding a theme song (feat. Kansas Kate!). Let me know what you think! But first, join me for a trip through the Pennymarkt. (I apologize for the terrible camerawork…)

0:47 – Don’t worry, I just cut out a few seconds of silence here. I was tempted to edit more of this episode, but I thought that would compromise the integrity of my oh so noble project.

0:56 – “Brötchen” means bread roll. I meant to say bread, which would just be “Brot”.

1:44 – I messed up my verb order here… “kennengelernt” should go after “eine Frau von Sudafrika.” I don’t usually make this mistake, I swear!

1:54 – I really screwed this story up. Please allow me to retell it here. On Sunday I was aboard a ship on the Rhine River, where I met two women from South Africa. I asked them what they could tell me about their country that I might not know, and they told me that a great deal of food is grown there for export. They both had grown up on farms that grew bananas and avocados, and neither enjoy eating either item. I was shocked and appalled. One of them had never tried either avocado or banana, and the other had tried banana once and hated it.

2:06 – seine means “his”. I should have said ihre.

2:22 – Wise guy, eh?

2:44 – Of course not! That’d be stupid. What kind of fool would say something like that?

3:47 – I think I actually sold myself short here with the subtitles. What I wanted to say was “Economics is crazy!” And I believe that is what I actually said. You see, in German, the word for “economy” is the same as the word for “economics”. I misinterpreted what I said as meaning “The economy is crazy.” But what I said actually could mean both that or, “Economics is crazy.” I think.

3:50 – see 0:56

4:12 – Whoa! Did you hear that beeping sound in the background? That was my phone telling me I received a text message. What I just now realize is, that text came from a person who I had met in South America! Right as I say the word Südamerika! And that was the first time I’d ever received a text from this person! What are the odds! In fact, we ate palta together many a time!

4:14 – Come to think of it, I don’t think they use the word “avocado” anywhere in Latin America. In Mexico it’s called aguacate. I wonder in which language the word “avocado” appeared first, German or English.

4:17 – I’m missing a subject here. Should’ve said “In Chile, die Leute sagen palta.”

4:45 – I definitely didn’t understand what he was saying here…