This course has provided me with ample opportunity for various writing exercises. These are great practice, especially when I’m given a subject I would normally not choose since they necessitate new vocabulary.  My devoted teacher proof-reads my work and tells me what needs correcting but makes me figure out the way to fix it.

I love writing in my own language. I love how words fit together and create pictures and sounds and feeling.  Writing in German is not yet something I have grown to love. Right now it is just work. It takes me an hour to write what would take minutes to write in English. This is frustrating at times. I still need to return an email to a friend which I keep putting off because I know it will take so long. Besides allowing for procrastination, writing in German is easier for me than speaking. It gives me time to look up words I don’t know and think about things like correct verb placement and other proper grammar. Even so, I think my instructor used all of her red ink on my paper!

When I speak I feel like I have to concentrate so much on finding the right vocabulary that my grammar is almost never right on the first attempt. Depending on the patience of the person I’m talking with, I’ll stop and correct myself when I catch it or ask for the right form of the word. There are a few people who are a perfect balance between trying to understand me without correcting every mistake (of many) and still helping me learn to speak correctly.

So on I press.  Perhaps one of these days it will feel easier.