Difficulties in German (1)

My successes – and failures – at studying German abroad

I will be the first admit that my German skills are quite poor. As a university student I decided to minor in German. For some reason, I really liked the language, but I was not particularly good at learning it. The grammar and word order confused me. Prepositions made no sense. All the nouns had genders, and I rarely remembered which noun was which. My only talent was spelling - I got an A+ on every vocabulary test I took.

After two years of studies, I resigned myself to communicating in broken German, and signed up to study in Germany to complete my degree. it was the hardest semester I would ever have.Once in Germany, I felt like I was starting from scratch.

The German I'd learned in university wasn't practical for everyday conversation. My book knowledge fell by the wayside as I figured out the basics of getting around, reading menus and chatting with my classmates. I was constantly on edge at school, worried about whether the professors would call on me in class and whether I'd understand their questions. I only relaxed a little around my eight roommates, who were willing to speak German slowly to me and didn't seem to mind my mistakes.

Grammar Gym
to be the first to + verb = when someone is admitting what they are responsible for something that is not so good
I will be the first to admit that my German skills are quite poor.
Although Tom comes from a family of accountants, he'll be the first to admit his math in very poor.
Dr. Nelson is a long-time expert in this field, but he'll be the first to admit he has no idea how we should handle this case.

Info Cloud
talent n. a natural ability to do something well天分
* He has a talent for music.
他有音樂天分
gift n.禮物；天分、才能
* He has a gift for music.
他有音樂天分
* He has a gift for languages.
他有語言天分
knack n. a natural skill or ability技巧、竅門
* Steve has a knack for teaching English.
Steve懂得教英文的技巧
genius n.
a very high level of intelligence, mental skill, or ability, which only a few people have
天才、技能、天賦
* He has a genius for music.
他有音樂天分

Language Lab
minor n.
the second main subject that you study at university for your degree [≠ major]


gender n.(語言中字詞的)陰陽性、(男女的)性別
In French, the word for "moon" takes a feminine gender.
在法文中，月亮這個字是陰性
The book talks about the differences between genders.
這本書探討兩性間的差異

resign v.
to officially announce that you have decided to leave your job or an organization
辭職；
to make yourself accept something that is bad but cannot be changed
屈從、使聽從、使順從
resign oneself to something只能如何如何
Because I have to work during the championship game, I resigned myself to watching the rerun.
因為我在冠亞軍比賽時要上班，我只好接受看重播

by the wayside
into a state of no longer being considered, used, etc.

start from scratch (idiom)
to start from the very beginning; to start from nothing. 從頭開始、白手起家
After the model for our science project was ruined, we had to start from scratch.
自從科學計畫的模型被毀了之後，我們一切得從頭開始
After closing his restaurant, Dan decided to start from scratch and open a clothing store.
結束餐廳營業後，Dan決定從頭開始，開一家服飾店

on edge (idiom) feeling nervous : not calm or relaxed  緊張不安、焦慮
Martha was on edge while waiting for the results of her interview.
Martha在等面試結果時很緊張
Sandra was feeling tense and on edge before the audition.
Sandra在試鏡之前，感覺緊張焦慮


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