Second languages do come in handy, as much as our American education system and mode of thinking generally makes a mockery of this fact. Native speakers of Spanish come into the education system as immigrants and people freak out about preventing them from uttering any non-English word in school, yet we spend our other time trying to cram that language – and others – into our heads as adults. Well, when I was a youngun, I didn't want to take the language all the other kids were taking (Spanish), and I certainly didn't want to take French ("like dude, I'm a dude"). German was the manly language of obvious choice, so me and the other 5 kids in the school who decided to take it during 9th grade got a kick out of making overly guttural pronunciations and making note of how much German sounds like Klingon. Yes, I was a dork.
Well, now, all that German has come in handy. In checking my blog stats, I came across a place that's sending some people over to my blog and podcasts – kammerflimmern, where the Blogmeister (I wonder if that's a word in German, since I just made it up, or if it has logically has become a word) has posted about me and my web activities. The funny thing is that my German, while highly developed (over 5 years of study that culminated in a semester abroad in Göttingen – man, I love saying words with umlauts), is now a body of knowledge riddled through with holes, like a slice of Swiss cheese you might have seen in a Tom and Jerry cartoon (because I certainly have never seen such a triangular wedge of Swiss cheese in real life).
So give your mouse buttong a goose and take a gander over there – visit my new German Freund. Hehe. It's fun getting known around das Web. German scholars out there – is das Web a word?! My learning of German is so pre-Internet.
(By the way, Blogmeister, I'm not an English teacher.) Here's the blurb about me. I've never been written about in German! Hehe. Cool.
Metropoliticking in Seoul
Wer sich eher für Korea interessiert, der sollte mal bei “Metropoliticking in Seoul” reinhören. Der amerikanische Expat Michael Hurt lebt und arbeitet als Englischlehrer in Seoul. Neben seinem Blog produziert Michael Sendungen variabler Länge zwischen 10 Minuten und mehr als einer Stunde mit zumeist unmittelbar praktischem Bezug. In erster Linie richtet sich sein Podcast an andere Expats in Seoul und Menschen, die Korea besuchen möchten, daher steht der praktische Aspekt mit handfesten Tipps im Vordergrund. So erklärt er z.B. das Bus-, Taxi- und Metrosystem in Seoul in eigenen Sendungen, testet Restaurants (oft mit eher westlicher Küche) oder macht Soundseeings in verschiedenen Vierteln und Orten rund um Seoul. Für Leute, die planen, Korea zu besuchen (wie mich) definitiv von Interesse, für andere möglicherweise weniger interessant.
In sum, it reads that anyone interested in Seoul should give my podcast a listen. The American expat Michael Hurt lives and works as an English teacher (I don't) in Seoul. Along with my blog, I produce podcasts that vary in length from 10 minutes to more than an hour with practical information. It talks about me talking about the buses, taxis, and subway system, as well as restaurant reviews (often about Western food, though) – true, true. Then it talks about me talking about hidden quarters roundabouts Seoul and why anyone planning to visit Korea (like him) would definitely find my podcast of interest.
Well, that's the Swiss cheese (forgetting occasional key nouns and verbs) translation. I'd trust it if you just wanted to know what that guy said, but wouldn't bring me to translate any international trade agreements. I just might accidentally create an international misunderstanding.
By the way – thanks be to the Lost Nomad for pointing out my embarrassing German brainfart. You're right – the title should translate as Korea – Between War and Peace. I don't know why I made Frieden into "freedom" – I think Frieden sounds like "freedom" and on top of that, frei also means "free," especially if you're slightly dyslexic, like I seem to be.
I know this post is random, but all of a sudden the German language has popped back up in my life. Forgot how fun it was to geek out overly long German nouns and giggle at German pop songs. The only remnants of German are in my iPod, as Nena's 99 Luftballons and three Herbert Grönemeyer songs that my German host brother introduced me to. You want geek?! I'll give you geek!
My brain and German ability may be as addled as Swiss cheese, but that makes it all the more fun, right?
Ah, Fahrvergnügen.
