Learning German is definitely a lot harder than I had originally thought. I mean I know that French was difficult but I thought German might be a bit easier. It's not that I'm not trying like I didn't with French, I am trying this time. But every time I thought I had a learnt something of the stupid language that I can't grasp it would throw something new at me, leaving me baffled all over again. The team was great about it, though, especially Sarah, who had become my unofficial German tutor since I joined Bayern Munich, I suppose it helps that she had to learn it and was in my position once.
Sarah has been patient with me from the start. We'd spend time after training going over basic phrases and vocabulary about a hundred times before I could even read it, let alone say it, and she'd help me practice by speaking to me in German as much as possible... which didn't really help BUT she was encouraging and understanding, but there is no denying that I was struggling to keep up.
One afternoon, we were sitting in the team lounge after practice, a couple of textbooks and notebooks spread out on the table in front of us. I was staring at a particularly confusing sentence, trying to figure out how on earth I was supposed to pronounce "Streichholzschächtelchen" whatever that means, when Sarah started laughing.
"You look like you're about to explode, (Y/n)," she teased, grinning at me. "What's got you stuck this time?"
I groaned, dropping my head onto the table dramatically. "Why is German so hard? I swear, this word has more syllables than I have brain cells."
Sarah laughed even harder, the sound light and melodic. "Which word?"
I pointed to the offending word in the textbook. "This one. Strei—something... I'm not going to even try say it. How do you even say it?"
She leaned over to look at it, then shook her head with an amused smile. "Streichholzschächtelchen. It means 'little matchbox.'"
I blinked at her, my mouth falling open slightly. "You're kidding. How does that mean 'little matchbox'? It's longer than most sentences!"
She chuckled and patted my back reassuringly. "German likes to combine words into one. But don't worry, you won't need to use that one too often."
"Good," I muttered, sitting back up. "I'll just avoid talking about matchboxes for the rest of my life."
Sarah shook her head, still smiling. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You've actually made a lot of progress since you got here. It's not an easy language to learn, but you're doing great."
I gave her a skeptical look. "You think so? Because I feel like I'm barely getting by. Half the time I just nod and smile when someone talks to me."
"Trust me, I can tell," she joked, nudging me playfully. "But really, you're improving. You've picked up a lot of phrases, and your pronunciation is getting better."
I couldn't help but smile at her encouragement. Sarah had a way of making me feel like I wasn't completely failing at this. "Thanks. I guess I just need to keep practicing."
"Exactly," she agreed. "And don't be afraid to make mistakes. That's how you learn." She finished to which I raised my eyebrow. Mistakes suck, mistakes in a match can lead to a loss and mistakes in a language lead to me getting confused.
We spent the next hour going over more vocabulary and practicing simple sentences. Sarah would say something in German, and I'd do my best to repeat it back to her. Sometimes I got it right, but other times... well, let's just say my attempts left her in fits of laughter.
"Try it again," she said after I butchered yet another phrase. "'Ich liebe es, Fußball zu spielen.'"
"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "Ich liebe es... Fuß-ball... zu spie-len."
Sarah grinned. "Almost perfect! Just a little smoother on the last part. 'Spielen,' not 'spie-len.'"
I tried again, focusing hard on getting the pronunciation right. "Ich liebe es, Fußball zu spielen."
"There you go!" Sarah said, clapping her hands. "You're getting the hang of it."
I couldn't help but grin, feeling a small surge of pride. "Hey, look at that! Maybe I'll be fluent by the end of the season."
Sarah laughed. "At this rate, who knows? But even if you're not, that's okay. You've got time, and everyone here is patient. We all know what it's like to be in a new country."
I nodded, feeling a sense of relief. It was true that the team had been nothing but supportive, even when my German was less than stellar. It was comforting to know that they didn't expect me to be perfect.
"Thanks for all your help, Sarah," I said sincerely. "I don't know how I'd be getting through this without you."
She smiled warmly. "Of course, (Y/n). I'm happy to help. And besides, it's fun watching you learn. Gives me a good laugh at times, plus you're more determined than most people I know."
I laughed. "Determined or just stubborn?"
"Maybe a bit of both," she teased. "But that's not a bad thing."
We wrapped up our session with a promise to continue practicing the next day. As we packed up our things, I felt a lot better about my progress. Sure, I still had a long way to go before I'd be comfortable speaking German, but with Sarah's help, I knew I'd get there eventually.
And until then, I'd just have to keep practicing—and maybe avoid words like "Streichholzschächtelchen" whenever possible... it's just such a long word, how to they remember it all?
