TheDrunkenEpic

I think it's about time I RE-learn ...

... my native tongue. As some of you know, I was born and raised in Germany. When I was very young, my mother married my step-father who was in the USAF. Eventually, he got stationed back in the good'ole U.S. of A and we had to tag along. Over the course of the next few years I almost entirely lost my ability to speak German. Thanks to H.S. German classes I was able to learn a small amount of it back, but ...

because of total immersion and the fact that my mother only spoke German to me when she was yelling, I was still unable to have more than just a basic conversation with my relatives and fellow Germans. Ironically, my mother yelled at me a lot, so you'd think I'd remember the language a bit better than I did.

Ironically, my mother yelled at me a lot, so you'd think I'd remember the language a bit better than I did.

Anyhow, my relatives will be visiting us next year and I want to make a good impression. I have decided to fully relearn German on my own and just surprise everybody. Only problem is I couldn't find any decent software or books to really help me along. What you really need is a sort of simulated immersion to get the most out of your lessons. After a bit of research, I found out about a little piece of language tutoring software named Rosetta Stone.

I read some of the reviews and tried out the demo and, eventually, I became convinced I had to buy it. So $320 later, I can honestly say that this was the best investment I've made in a long time. As soon as I popped in the German 1 & 2 CD I was learning.

Naturally, the first few lessons cover the basics of the language; most of which I already knew. This didn't bother me so much as it's great to have a guided refresher and I did pick up on a few new words and grammar that was completely lost to me before last night.

I've only done the first 2 lessons of German 1, but I'm actually convinced I'll be speaking near fluently by the time my relatives fly down to visit next year!