AMD 6 - Scott Aldworth

Für mein AMD 6, I had a conversation with a german international student for thirty minutes in mostly German. We exchanged the typical, simple conversation that I've learned in class for the first fifteen minutes or so. She corrected me on some of my pronunciation and it ended up being very helpful studying for the oral exam this week. I used the helpful cheat cards that we're allowed to use in the exam to keep the conversation flowing and to practice the type of conversation I'll have during my oral exam. After a while though I asked her to teach me German phrases and other funny sayings that a fluent German speaker would say. She is from Bavaria so she said that not all of these phrases make sense everywhere in Germany. "Was geht ab?" is an informal way of asking "Wie gehts?" - it translates to roughly "what's up?" I also learned that "end geil" and "sau witzig" mean awesome and super funny, respectively. I also learned a couple of swear words that are pretty obvious to translate: "scheiße, verdammt, und kacke" (I hope that these aren't too offensive as I'm posting them publicly!)

She said that because she is from Bavaria people will often say "Bayern gehört night zu Deutschland" - Bavaria is not part of Germany. It's interesting to know that there are such large cultural differences from Bavaria and the rest of Germany. I also asked for her some funny German phrases but she explained that Germans have no sense of humor.

Talking with a German native was a very fun experience and it's rewarding to know that my first semester of German has already given me a decent grasp on the language.