This post is dedicated to my brilliant mother. Despite her struggles with German class I still believe her to be the smartest woman I know and I hope this helps her.
I am also dedicating it to my father, for his relentless efforts in teaching me memory tricks instead of investing in vacations. Coincidently, he happens to be the smartest guy that I know. (Steven, no worries, you’re a close second).
This is how I survived a week in Germany with no German speaking skills:
Ich mochte = I would like, think: “I would like an icky moustache”;
Danke shcoen = thank you, think: “donkey chains” (Thank you Mark)
Bitte sehr = you’re welcome or literally very pleased, think of giving someone “bitter pears” (Thank you again, Mark)
My all time favorite! Get ready to visualize this. I came up with this little trick after many scoldings for the mispronunciation of the castle name Neuschwanstein. Think of a swan holding a stein of soy sauce. The castle is pronounced noy (rhyming with soy) shvan stein.
Hauptbahnhauf = main train station. I cleverly figured this out when we left the hauptbahnhauf in Berlin and arrived at the hauptbahnhauf in Munich via the bahn.
Strasse = street, learned that when trying to read a map in German for several days.
Platz = plaza, they have lots of platzs there.
Es tut mir leid = Sorry, learned that just because it’s fun to say, pronounced ssss toot meer lied. Can also think of as “Excuse me I lied!”
It’s amazing how much of a language is picked up by drowning in it for a week.
Off to England.
Gute nacht!
Libby