So, the funk continues. I just can't seem to get much focus happening. At least I have finished passive lesson 94, and am working on active lesson 45 which I must finish today for the sake of my ego, seeing as this is the last day of the month. I feel as though my progress has stalled, but let's face it - with the application I've been showing lately, I'm lucky to make any progress at all!
These things come and go I suppose. The reason for setting the goal I have set (of passing the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 exam in July) is so that I will be able to push myself to keep going, even at those times when the enthusiasm isn't just bubbling out of me.
Having a goal has also pushed me along in other ways, like finding germans to meet up with and chat to. This weekend I'm hoping to meet up with a guy coming out from Germany who contacted me on Couch Surfing. I couldn't offer him a couch this time, but I'll show him around Sydney a bit if he's keen. And I'm preparing myself mentally now - I'll just have to refuse to speak English with him. He'll have plenty of other people to practice on :-)
In fact, I'll write to him now to organise something!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Low ebb...
I don't know what it is, but in the last few days I've felt somewhat unmotivated. I still haven't managed to do the active lesson I was last up to. So, not a very exciting update in that respect!
In positive news, I still feel better all the time listening to german radio...
Still, I do have some useful links for other german learners to share/record here for my own benefit. First, there's the Google Translator Toolkit, which makes a side-by-side and phrase-by-phrase translation easier to manage. There are a few drawbacks from the point of view of a learner - one is that you can't edit the source language text - you need to edit the original file and re-upload. Phrase-by-phrase is probably the way to go for beginners/intermediate who are using this tool to produce translations they will use themselves to understand texts better. It's not necessarily the way to go for translations.
As for the quality of the translations, and the selection of the correct words to capture the intended nuance, I really like Linguee. It's brilliant - check it out for yourself. You can see the word/phrase used in a number of high-quality translation sources (and some perhaps lesser quality :-) ) which really helps to figure out the intended sense for your situation. There are always words and phrases that Google Translate just can't come up with good translations for on its own (yet).
Another couple of useful sites are:
http://www.verbix.com - for fully conjugating german verbs
http://abkuerzungen.woxikon.
I look forward to having news of more substantial progress for my next post!
In positive news, I still feel better all the time listening to german radio...
Still, I do have some useful links for other german learners to share/record here for my own benefit. First, there's the Google Translator Toolkit, which makes a side-by-side and phrase-by-phrase translation easier to manage. There are a few drawbacks from the point of view of a learner - one is that you can't edit the source language text - you need to edit the original file and re-upload. Phrase-by-phrase is probably the way to go for beginners/intermediate who are using this tool to produce translations they will use themselves to understand texts better. It's not necessarily the way to go for translations.
As for the quality of the translations, and the selection of the correct words to capture the intended nuance, I really like Linguee. It's brilliant - check it out for yourself. You can see the word/phrase used in a number of high-quality translation sources (and some perhaps lesser quality :-) ) which really helps to figure out the intended sense for your situation. There are always words and phrases that Google Translate just can't come up with good translations for on its own (yet).
Another couple of useful sites are:
http://www.verbix.com - for fully conjugating german verbs
http://abkuerzungen.woxikon.
I look forward to having news of more substantial progress for my next post!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Brief update...
After a busy weekend with illness, a big family get-together organised and run by my wife and I and her sister and brother-in-law, and a fridge breaking down, I didn't find much time to make progress. Monday was a bit of a washout too for the same reasons. I did find time at least to watch "Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Moerders" with my wife... but because of that, it had to be in english with german sub-titles. It's something though - I think I'll watch it a few more times in german, with and without subtitles. I also have the original book as both the written work, and as an audio-book, all of which I plan on using as well.
In the meantime, I feel like my understanding of Deutsche-Welle news and the german program on SBS radio in the mornings grows and becomes easier. A good feeling!
I managed to finish Assimil lesson 93 (passive) this morning, and started on the active lesson 44 straight away. I'm hoping to sneak in enough time tonight at home to finish it off, so I can move on tomorrow morning. I really want to finish the passive lessons. It's kind of a mental barrier...
In the meantime, I feel like my understanding of Deutsche-Welle news and the german program on SBS radio in the mornings grows and becomes easier. A good feeling!
I managed to finish Assimil lesson 93 (passive) this morning, and started on the active lesson 44 straight away. I'm hoping to sneak in enough time tonight at home to finish it off, so I can move on tomorrow morning. I really want to finish the passive lessons. It's kind of a mental barrier...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Zertifikat-Deutsch B1
Today I finished an online example of the Zertifikat-Deutsch (B1) that I started some time ago, but I haven't been able to find the time to work on it. I kept to the time limits listed (I think!) and did as much as I can on my own in the office. That means mainly that I didn't do the speaking tests (Mündlicher Teil 1-3) - of course! I also had to self-assess on the written composition (writing a letter). I didn't award a mark, but my letter seemed OK - certainly above the 60% pass level required :-)
I listened to the example spoken tests and found nothing I couldn't do myself, perhaps even better. It gave me a little thrill when the young Japanese girl in the test said she had been studying German for 4 years. I'm pretty sure I'm at or above her level name, with really only less than 8 or 9 months of serious study. Then again, in those 8 or 9 months I've done something pretty much every day, whereas she might have only attended classes once or twice a week. I think working at it continually, and doing some every day, makes a big difference.
The point of the post is just as a checkpoint - the results I got on the parts that were marked automatically in the online test were all passes (greater > 60%). In fact, in the listening test I got 100%. I guessed only ONE answer and, luckily, got it right as well :-)
In other words, I believe that if I were to go today to do the Zertifikat-Deutsch (B1) I would pass, and possibly even get an above average or good. Great news, and a good boost in my confidence that I can reach my goal of passing the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 by July of this year!
One of the articles that were required for the reading understanding presented a bit of a challenge - I let myself get thrown off by new words. I plan on taking this text and translating it so that I can familiarise myself with its vocabulary. It was a sort-of work related piece, so I suspect the same sort of vocabulary comes in ZD tests all the time.
In other news, I finished off Assimil German with Ease lesson 43 (active) this morning, and so listened to lesson 93 (passive) this morning on the drive in. I usually play lessons (and music!) from my Nokia N97 via its FM transmitter, but there are a lot of trucks on my drive, and I like to have the windows down, so I tried using headphones this morning. Unfortunately, it was not much better, possibly even worse because I couldn't make it loud enough to overcome the trucks. Schade!
And finally, I recently joined a meetup group for German native speakers and learners, and their partners, in Sydney. Sounds perfect, but so far all the meetings look like chances to get pissed, which isn't my thing. Still, I look forward to going along and meeting some of the local Germans :-) Who knows - maybe I'll find a German who lives near me and is looking for a running partner. I could practice German and get back into shape - kill two birds with one stone :-)
I listened to the example spoken tests and found nothing I couldn't do myself, perhaps even better. It gave me a little thrill when the young Japanese girl in the test said she had been studying German for 4 years. I'm pretty sure I'm at or above her level name, with really only less than 8 or 9 months of serious study. Then again, in those 8 or 9 months I've done something pretty much every day, whereas she might have only attended classes once or twice a week. I think working at it continually, and doing some every day, makes a big difference.
The point of the post is just as a checkpoint - the results I got on the parts that were marked automatically in the online test were all passes (greater > 60%). In fact, in the listening test I got 100%. I guessed only ONE answer and, luckily, got it right as well :-)
In other words, I believe that if I were to go today to do the Zertifikat-Deutsch (B1) I would pass, and possibly even get an above average or good. Great news, and a good boost in my confidence that I can reach my goal of passing the Goethe-Zertifikat-B2 by July of this year!
One of the articles that were required for the reading understanding presented a bit of a challenge - I let myself get thrown off by new words. I plan on taking this text and translating it so that I can familiarise myself with its vocabulary. It was a sort-of work related piece, so I suspect the same sort of vocabulary comes in ZD tests all the time.
In other news, I finished off Assimil German with Ease lesson 43 (active) this morning, and so listened to lesson 93 (passive) this morning on the drive in. I usually play lessons (and music!) from my Nokia N97 via its FM transmitter, but there are a lot of trucks on my drive, and I like to have the windows down, so I tried using headphones this morning. Unfortunately, it was not much better, possibly even worse because I couldn't make it loud enough to overcome the trucks. Schade!
And finally, I recently joined a meetup group for German native speakers and learners, and their partners, in Sydney. Sounds perfect, but so far all the meetings look like chances to get pissed, which isn't my thing. Still, I look forward to going along and meeting some of the local Germans :-) Who knows - maybe I'll find a German who lives near me and is looking for a running partner. I could practice German and get back into shape - kill two birds with one stone :-)
Log Entry - 16/02/2011
Just a brief update: I've finished lesson 92 now, and the sentences from lesson 43 are in the Anki cards. I've listened to lesson 43 a few times again too, but I haven't done the main thing - ie., reading the english and generating the german sentences. I'm hoping to find some time in the first half of tomorrow to do that.
In other news, I've finished "translating" the DW news from the 15th of January and now I just need to do the layout of matching lines with numbers. This is quick work, but I just didn't get a chance to do it today during "spare" moments at work, so hopefully I'll be posting it tomorrow.
In other news, I've finished "translating" the DW news from the 15th of January and now I just need to do the layout of matching lines with numbers. This is quick work, but I just didn't get a chance to do it today during "spare" moments at work, so hopefully I'll be posting it tomorrow.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Deutsch Welle Radio + SBS German Program = A great combination!
It just occurred to me this morning as I listened to the German program on SBS World Radio that it is a good addition to listening to Deutsch Welle Radio. Deutsche Welle is generally very proper, very correct, and generally speaks with native speakers, albeit with some variety of German dialects - not in the presenters, but rather in the occasional interval with a Swiss german speaker or Austrian. In the future I'll find some other stations for a mix of accents, but for now I think this is enough exposure.
SBS is a different kettle of fish, at least in the material it produces itself (it plays a lot of articles from DW too). Its focus on Australian events helps for a start, because I am often already familiar with the topics, but they also interview germans living in Australia, and have phone-ins on every show from the local German-speaking community. Every monday (I can't remember if it's more often than that) they have a mystery sound that people try to guess to win a prize, and they also ask each caller to comment on their current stories. Today the prize was a DVD (can't remember the exact title) and the topic of discussion was the death of Peter Alexander on saturday at the age of 84. I had never heard of him before, but he was apparently a famous german entertainer and actor. A few of the oldies rang in and had some funny recollections of his works, etc. I didn't catch every detail of what everyone said, but I found myself laughing at the same time as the callers and hosts, so I guess that means we had the same understanding of what was happening :-)
One important feature is that many people who call in are clearly not native, fluent speakers of german. A few days ago a lung-specialist surgeon called in to guess the secret sound, and he was definitely a german beginner. I really respected his guts to ring up and comment nonetheless. Today I heard a few more - the hosts were very helpful with them, and repeated questions or tried to rephrase them if the caller didn't understand. Very helpful for their other non-native listeners as well! And finally, when they are native speakers, the tone is much more conversational and relaxed than I ever hear on DW. The differences don't strike me as massive, to be honest, but it's nice to hear some variety. In any case, I plan on being one of these callers, guessing the mystery sound, some day soon...
Speaking of listening to the radio, I had a "moment" while listening to DW last night. Now, when I listen to the radio, if I don't have other noise happening, I usually understand what is being discussed in general, and then plenty of specific details as well (and more all the time), but last night for one particular article which I was following quite well there was one long sentence which, when it finished, I felt that I had really understood it. Fully - I heard and understood every word, and the nuances, all without needing to think about it afterwards and lose my train in the audio as a whole. I can't really put my finger on what was so different about that moment, but it felt damn good :-)
My "book" learning update: yesterday I finished lesson 41 (active phase) of Assimil "New German With Ease". I had wanted to finish it on saturday evening, but between doing my taxes, and family life, I only got a little done that evening. I managed to find the time on sunday between going out for an early Valentine's Day lunch and preparing an old PC (clearing the hard-drive, etc) for sale.
Now I'm up to two review lessons - lesson 91 and lesson 42. I've read the review text for lesson 91, so I just need to listen to the 6 most recent lessons and repeat them on my way home today, and read the review section for the active lesson (lesson 42) and then I'll be ready to move on to 92 (passive) + 43 (active) tomorrow.
This blog's really working - hard though it is to believe, considering my tight timeframe and goal, my pace is now a lot faster than it was before I started the blog. And in trying to speed up, I have had to reconsider how I'm tackling the process and forced me to focus on just exactly what will achieve my short-term goals that lead to my mid-year goal. Right now, I want to finish the passive phase of my Assimil book as fast as possible!
There are no fancy tricks - just putting one foot in front of the other. Just like in running where some of your training sessions are just a matter of putting in some (lots of!) kilometres on your feet, each day you just have to keep pushing that little bit more - keep the kilometres ticking over - in between chances to hang out with native speakers, or watch a movie in the language you're learning, or whatever. It's not pretty, but there are no shortcuts here. I just try to make sure that I'm moving in the right direction every single day...
SBS is a different kettle of fish, at least in the material it produces itself (it plays a lot of articles from DW too). Its focus on Australian events helps for a start, because I am often already familiar with the topics, but they also interview germans living in Australia, and have phone-ins on every show from the local German-speaking community. Every monday (I can't remember if it's more often than that) they have a mystery sound that people try to guess to win a prize, and they also ask each caller to comment on their current stories. Today the prize was a DVD (can't remember the exact title) and the topic of discussion was the death of Peter Alexander on saturday at the age of 84. I had never heard of him before, but he was apparently a famous german entertainer and actor. A few of the oldies rang in and had some funny recollections of his works, etc. I didn't catch every detail of what everyone said, but I found myself laughing at the same time as the callers and hosts, so I guess that means we had the same understanding of what was happening :-)
One important feature is that many people who call in are clearly not native, fluent speakers of german. A few days ago a lung-specialist surgeon called in to guess the secret sound, and he was definitely a german beginner. I really respected his guts to ring up and comment nonetheless. Today I heard a few more - the hosts were very helpful with them, and repeated questions or tried to rephrase them if the caller didn't understand. Very helpful for their other non-native listeners as well! And finally, when they are native speakers, the tone is much more conversational and relaxed than I ever hear on DW. The differences don't strike me as massive, to be honest, but it's nice to hear some variety. In any case, I plan on being one of these callers, guessing the mystery sound, some day soon...
Speaking of listening to the radio, I had a "moment" while listening to DW last night. Now, when I listen to the radio, if I don't have other noise happening, I usually understand what is being discussed in general, and then plenty of specific details as well (and more all the time), but last night for one particular article which I was following quite well there was one long sentence which, when it finished, I felt that I had really understood it. Fully - I heard and understood every word, and the nuances, all without needing to think about it afterwards and lose my train in the audio as a whole. I can't really put my finger on what was so different about that moment, but it felt damn good :-)
My "book" learning update: yesterday I finished lesson 41 (active phase) of Assimil "New German With Ease". I had wanted to finish it on saturday evening, but between doing my taxes, and family life, I only got a little done that evening. I managed to find the time on sunday between going out for an early Valentine's Day lunch and preparing an old PC (clearing the hard-drive, etc) for sale.
Now I'm up to two review lessons - lesson 91 and lesson 42. I've read the review text for lesson 91, so I just need to listen to the 6 most recent lessons and repeat them on my way home today, and read the review section for the active lesson (lesson 42) and then I'll be ready to move on to 92 (passive) + 43 (active) tomorrow.
This blog's really working - hard though it is to believe, considering my tight timeframe and goal, my pace is now a lot faster than it was before I started the blog. And in trying to speed up, I have had to reconsider how I'm tackling the process and forced me to focus on just exactly what will achieve my short-term goals that lead to my mid-year goal. Right now, I want to finish the passive phase of my Assimil book as fast as possible!
There are no fancy tricks - just putting one foot in front of the other. Just like in running where some of your training sessions are just a matter of putting in some (lots of!) kilometres on your feet, each day you just have to keep pushing that little bit more - keep the kilometres ticking over - in between chances to hang out with native speakers, or watch a movie in the language you're learning, or whatever. It's not pretty, but there are no shortcuts here. I just try to make sure that I'm moving in the right direction every single day...
Friday, February 11, 2011
Stolen moments...
This morning I finished German with Ease lesson 90. They are certainly taking me more than a day, but I have picked up the pace since starting a blog, so it's working as a motivation/to keep me honest. Part of how I've done this is through better focus. For example, I felt I got a little bored sometimes listening to the same lesson, so I would have a play list of the current active and passive lessons, and the one before of each as well. Also I'd sometimes have the DW news downloaded on there too. This worked a bit to prevent boredom, but I lost focus, and the ability to repeat the lesson several times to get it into my head and then be able to repeat it. I had the new lessons in the playlist a few times so they played more often (and then I set it to play randomly) but I think it's a little distracting. The purpose is simple - repeat the lesson until you know it cold - you need to be able to repeat the german version at the original speed and know the english meaning really well.
Focus and repetition. Do I still get bored? Absolutely I do. So when I get sick of repeating the lesson, I would just switch over to listening to some german music (Rammstein or, lately, Unheilig) and sing along with them.
Now I need to move on to complete the active lesson which I'm hoping to find time for today. I've already managed to add the new sentences to my Anki deck. Now I just need to do some listening and then get the german version down cold.
It's all about stolen moments. I have a fulltime job, 2 hours of commuting every day, a house that needs lots of work, a busy social calendar, and a 4 month old daughter. There's plenty to do always. I even have to occasionally post on my blog to keep myself motivated and honest!
But no excuses - commuting is a chance to listen to the german program on SBS radio, or german music, or german lessons. While I'm waiting for my code to compile (I'm a programmer), or for my food to heat up in the microwave, etc, I might get in a few more words/phrases from my Anki deck. This is how it has to be. I no longer live in germany, speaking only german at home is not an option, watching inordinate amounts of german TV shows or movies is not going to happen (my wife usually has the remote control anyway!), and I can't exclude my english speaking friends, family and life just for this purpose. It will be hard enough to try to meet up with german people to make new friends - I often don't get a chance to meet my english-speaking friends as much as I would like. I'll do it, but all I'm saying is, for most people, this is the way language learning has to be - whenever the time can be stolen for it.
I only got to finish lesson 90 and update my Anki deck this morning because my daughter is asleep and my wife is out. Now I've got to get back to doing my taxes so that hopefully I'll be able to find some time in the afternoon to focus on completing lesson 41 "actively" :-)
Of course, I'll be listening to something german the whole time, but real focus will have to be in those stolen moments...
Bis später!
Focus and repetition. Do I still get bored? Absolutely I do. So when I get sick of repeating the lesson, I would just switch over to listening to some german music (Rammstein or, lately, Unheilig) and sing along with them.
Now I need to move on to complete the active lesson which I'm hoping to find time for today. I've already managed to add the new sentences to my Anki deck. Now I just need to do some listening and then get the german version down cold.
It's all about stolen moments. I have a fulltime job, 2 hours of commuting every day, a house that needs lots of work, a busy social calendar, and a 4 month old daughter. There's plenty to do always. I even have to occasionally post on my blog to keep myself motivated and honest!
But no excuses - commuting is a chance to listen to the german program on SBS radio, or german music, or german lessons. While I'm waiting for my code to compile (I'm a programmer), or for my food to heat up in the microwave, etc, I might get in a few more words/phrases from my Anki deck. This is how it has to be. I no longer live in germany, speaking only german at home is not an option, watching inordinate amounts of german TV shows or movies is not going to happen (my wife usually has the remote control anyway!), and I can't exclude my english speaking friends, family and life just for this purpose. It will be hard enough to try to meet up with german people to make new friends - I often don't get a chance to meet my english-speaking friends as much as I would like. I'll do it, but all I'm saying is, for most people, this is the way language learning has to be - whenever the time can be stolen for it.
I only got to finish lesson 90 and update my Anki deck this morning because my daughter is asleep and my wife is out. Now I've got to get back to doing my taxes so that hopefully I'll be able to find some time in the afternoon to focus on completing lesson 41 "actively" :-)
Of course, I'll be listening to something german the whole time, but real focus will have to be in those stolen moments...
Bis später!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Lesson 90!
I kept my word and finished lessons 89 (passive) and 40 (active) today, so on my drive home I'll be listening to lesson 90 and 41. The end of the passive phase of study is in sight!
I managed to do all my Anki revision today, and listened to Deutsche Welle on the internet for an hour or so. I feel like my understanding is reasonable, varying from almost everything, to somewhat less, but definitely trending towards the former!
I haven't hooked up with any german speakers in person but it's time I did to make some german friends! The only german friend I have currently in Australia is actively replying to my email, but always in english. I don't know if I should tell him what I'm doing, or just keep writing and hope he'll decide it's OK to use german :-) I'll write once more and see what happens, and if it fails, I'll ask him directly. With any luck, he might be visiting Sydney soon too which would be a nice chance to catch up in person - and in german!
I managed to do all my Anki revision today, and listened to Deutsche Welle on the internet for an hour or so. I feel like my understanding is reasonable, varying from almost everything, to somewhat less, but definitely trending towards the former!
I haven't hooked up with any german speakers in person but it's time I did to make some german friends! The only german friend I have currently in Australia is actively replying to my email, but always in english. I don't know if I should tell him what I'm doing, or just keep writing and hope he'll decide it's OK to use german :-) I'll write once more and see what happens, and if it fails, I'll ask him directly. With any luck, he might be visiting Sydney soon too which would be a nice chance to catch up in person - and in german!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Quick update
So, today I finished my current lessons and tomorrow I move on to new Assimil lessons - passive lesson is lesson 89, active lesson is 40. The complete end of the passive phase is so close I can almost taste it!
Since the first post I have also written to an old german friend of mine who lives in Australia, and so far (twice!) I've written only in German. I've looked up a few words, and checked some grammatical genders, etc, but I've already started to do that less. Two reasons are (1) it's just getting easier to recall words and phrases as I'm actively using them and (2) I'm deliberately weaning myself off the crutch of correctness and trying to see if I can find phrases to work around my own limitations. I've only had one response from my friend so far, and he wrote all in English, starting with the phrase "Your German is really good." I didn't let that deter me from responding all in German again!
What else? I've added another German rock band to Rammstein for my daily "drive-time" music selection - Unheilig. When we were living in Germany, this band's song "Geboren um zu leben" ("Born to live") was getting a lot of airplay. The lead-singer is like a stiff, well-dressed version of Peter Garrett in his heyday of Blue-sky Mine "dancing", but the music is great. It's been growing on me - I recommend checking out the lyrics for "Abwärts" ("Downwards") and "Sternbild" ("Constellation") in particular. I find the lyrics simpler and more repetitive than Rammstein, and just generally easy to understand, which makes them good for learning German.
One final thing - while listening to the German program on SBS this morning an lung-specialist Doctor rang up to guess the mystery sound, and also to give his opinion on alternative therapies which was the topic for the day. All normal stuff, except that the guy was obviously not a native German-speaker. In fact, his German seemed to be in the early intermediate stages, but didn't stop him from having a go. It got a bit painful for the listeners when at one stage he struggled to say "It's hard understand your question" and when the host rephrased the question he responded with "Your last question". At this stage the host gave up and just asked the question in English to which the man responded "oh, nein, nein, nein." Pretty funny stuff. It was nice for me to see someone else on the same quest and, especially, that they had the guts to put themselves out there for the radio show. Maybe one day soon I'll torture the audience of the SBS German program myself :-)
Since the first post I have also written to an old german friend of mine who lives in Australia, and so far (twice!) I've written only in German. I've looked up a few words, and checked some grammatical genders, etc, but I've already started to do that less. Two reasons are (1) it's just getting easier to recall words and phrases as I'm actively using them and (2) I'm deliberately weaning myself off the crutch of correctness and trying to see if I can find phrases to work around my own limitations. I've only had one response from my friend so far, and he wrote all in English, starting with the phrase "Your German is really good." I didn't let that deter me from responding all in German again!
What else? I've added another German rock band to Rammstein for my daily "drive-time" music selection - Unheilig. When we were living in Germany, this band's song "Geboren um zu leben" ("Born to live") was getting a lot of airplay. The lead-singer is like a stiff, well-dressed version of Peter Garrett in his heyday of Blue-sky Mine "dancing", but the music is great. It's been growing on me - I recommend checking out the lyrics for "Abwärts" ("Downwards") and "Sternbild" ("Constellation") in particular. I find the lyrics simpler and more repetitive than Rammstein, and just generally easy to understand, which makes them good for learning German.
One final thing - while listening to the German program on SBS this morning an lung-specialist Doctor rang up to guess the mystery sound, and also to give his opinion on alternative therapies which was the topic for the day. All normal stuff, except that the guy was obviously not a native German-speaker. In fact, his German seemed to be in the early intermediate stages, but didn't stop him from having a go. It got a bit painful for the listeners when at one stage he struggled to say "It's hard understand your question" and when the host rephrased the question he responded with "Your last question". At this stage the host gave up and just asked the question in English to which the man responded "oh, nein, nein, nein." Pretty funny stuff. It was nice for me to see someone else on the same quest and, especially, that they had the guts to put themselves out there for the radio show. Maybe one day soon I'll torture the audience of the SBS German program myself :-)
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