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To: Monkey Face
No spreche Deutch...

};oþ
566 posted on 10/07/2007 12:37:27 PM PDT by rottndog (This Tagline currently closed for maintenance and rehabilitation.)
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To: rottndog

Wie getz?

*HUG*


573 posted on 10/07/2007 4:08:14 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Money can't buy friends, but you can get a better class of enemy.)
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To: rottndog; Monkey Face
No spreche Deutch...
};oþ

You'd have loved Monday afternoon's meeting. Our meeting was visited by representatives from another (government-related) organization. Some of them did not speak English so our group's tradition of using English when a non-German-speaker (such as yours truly) is present went out the window. I remained for this meeting, however, because there was much political significance to my being there.

We'd prepared for a colleague to translate the essentials to me, but to my dismay the meeting opened with a round of introductions, and it was clear that more than name & employer was being given.

So when it came to me, I just said (following the pattern and easily understanding this much), "Meine Name ist N___ N___ mit Co___ und ich hab' kein Deutsch." [room breaks up in laughter] "Chair, XYZ committee."

Good enough -- and following the conversations and slides that followed through the afternoon I was surprised at how much of my limited (elementary) but still-forgotten German started flowing back.

I don't think they believed the "kein" (none) part. The first of their speakers wound up with an impassioned plea directed straight at me. Unfortunately I understood little of what he said in that sentence but if it was only summation, I understood completely.

727 posted on 10/11/2007 12:09:57 AM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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