German Language Biography

If German is not your first language, what other languages have you studied? For how long and in which context have you studied them?

My native language is Spanish but I learned English starting when I was 5 years old until I was 18 years old. I lived in Sweden for 1 year and learned a significant amount of Swedish, meaning that I can read and write fluently, but I sound like a kid when talking and I need natives to slow down for me to understand when listening. I also did one semester of Japanese when I was an undergraduate.

Have you spent time abroad? If so, when, where, and how much?

I lived for 1 year in Sweden. I have traveled to multiple countries but havent spent more than 3 or 4 weeks in any of them. Apart from Swedish, I have never had to communicate in a language that isnt Spanish or English.

What are your experiences as far as other languages or other cultures are concerned?

I come from a multicultural family. My dad is from Spain and my mom is from Colombia, and the diversity just increases as you go back in generations. Since my family is split up between Spain and Latin America, I have traveled to almost every country in Europe and Latin America. My dad speaks Portuguese, French, Italian, and Chinese, so I guess Ive heard him talk in those as well. My partner studies Sinhala, Pali, and Sanskrit so I get exposed to those a lot when helping him study.

Do you have any previous knowledge of German? Please specify.

I attended a couple of German lessons around 10 years ago. I honestly dont remember any of it in terms of vocabulary. Everything got confused in my brain further once I learned Swedish.

What do you associate with German culture?

Beer.

What do you know about German as a language?

I know that grammar will get complicated. I also know that words can be really long, but I know that they have a logical structure that sometimes makes more sense than English. In terms of pronunciation, letters sound pretty similar to the way they do in Spanish, which makes things easier for me. I know that learning die, der, das with learning new nouns is essential to survive complex grammar later on.

What do you associate with learning another language? Please explain as much as you can.

I think learning another language is like creating a whole new personality. I can see how the way I think or express myself changes between the languages that I speak and I think it has been widely influenced by the way that I learned each of the languages. I also think that the length of sentences and words within a language, create certain tones when speaking them, which shape the personality that I was mentioning before. I believe that there are a lot of cultural influences and growth that come from learning a new language.

What are your goals this semester? Please specify the semester and the adjustments you wish to make.

First semester: I hope that by the end of this semester I am able to say basic phrases in German and to learn new ones by myself. I hope that I get enough tools to understand things that I dont yet know, even if I lack the grammar to construct those things myself.