In Other Words

I have always believed that relationships need to be nurtured like plants with love and affection. That is a key to build lasting relationships for life. I completed a decade of friendship with one such friend, who is not made of flesh and blood but certainly has a soul. The friend that I am talking about is one of the best things in my life: German language.

I wanted to learn a foreign language, but I was not sure which one. I had heard that foreign languages open doors to many good opportunities. As a 16-year-old then, I was clueless as to what that really meant. On reaching class 11, I had to choose a second language. My father, fascinated by German history, suggested that I choose German. I was convinced that I wanted to learn German, though I was not sure how difficult the language was. However, a backup plan always helped and hence French became my second preference. I remember that day of filling the college admission form when I had marked ‘1’ against German, ‘2’ against French and ‘3’ against Sanskrit, my ‘ancient’ friend from school. Like a typical student and a materialistic individual, I thought of German only as a means to score good marks. Back then, I never thought that this very language could turn out to be one of the greatest passions of my life.

My relationship with German started rather on a rough note. I could barely understand its grammar, the backbone to learn any language. I felt the articles ‘der’, ‘das’, ‘die’ for every noun play cruel games with me. My first German exam was a nightmare as I could not understand a majority of words. I felt like rephrasing the idiom ‘it’s all Greek and Latin to me’ to ‘it’s all German to me’! I could see my purpose of opting for German getting defeated as I was not scoring well in it. There came a time when I started pondering over my decision to learn German. I could imagine Sanskrit smirking at me with ‘I told you’ look as if it felt betrayed for not getting chosen in spite of a wonderful journey of 3 years in school. While Sanskrit tried to laugh at my misery, I thought of my initial days with Sanskrit, which were no less than tough. The struggle to learn Sanskrit transformed into a memorable friendship before I could realize. That’s the thing with languages. They need perseverance, patience and passion to learn. When you devote these three things to them, they become your friends like no other. That’s when it hit me like a Eureka moment. If I could befriend Sanskrit, then why not German? In fact, German could be my first international friend ever. For any relationship to work, you need to put in efforts. That’s what my relationship with German needed- sincere efforts from me. Maybe the language was standing with an extended hand of friendship, but it was I who refrained from shaking that hand.

With 12^th Board Exams approaching and with an aim of having an overall good score, I needed to score well in the ‘scoring subject’ German. That became my driving force to take German seriously and learn it at any cost to give justice to the purpose why I had chosen German in the first place. I was fortunate to get a good teacher who taught the language from its basics. I realized that the groundwork itself of my German building was weak and I needed to strengthen it to build a stronger structure. I devoted perseverance and patience to ‘study’ German like any other subject. Passion and German were still not ready to go hand-in-hand few years back. In the course of learning, I experienced that the language slowly stopped acting difficult and I could ‘tame the shrew’, like Shakespeare would say. Before the D-day of exams, I was convinced that I had established good acquaintance with the language. Thankfully my exam went as per my expectations and I was satisfied that I did a good job. When I got my results, I was happy to see that I had scored really well in German. The purpose was thus served. At the same time, I realized that I had started loving the language and considered spending more time understanding my new friend.

It was during my graduation years that I started learning German formally from Max Mueller Bhavan. Having strengthened the base of the language in college, I started with A2 level, i.e. the second of the beginners’ levels. That was the beginning of some of my golden years in life. ‘Deutsch lernen, Deutschland kennen lernen’, the motto of the institute, which means ‘Learn German, get to know Germany’ was fascinating enough to start learning the language with full vigour. German language became my window to understand Germany- its history, culture, literature, society and economy. Now German did not remain restricted to only textbooks and scoring marks. It got a wider and creative perspective, thanks to the fun ways in which we were taught the language at every level. At first, listening comprehension seemed like an impregnable fort as I had a difficult time understanding the accent of the Germans played on audio CDs. I still remember the times how dumbfounded and blank I used to be after listening to the German conversations. I found my comfort in writing the most because you get more time to articulate your thoughts into words and of course is a way to keep grammatical errors at bay to some extent. The writer in me thoroughly enjoyed writing German essays and letters. Speaking is spontaneous most of the times and therefore there are chances of committing grammatical errors because you haven’t really ‘owned’ the language yet to flaunt it effortlessly. Reading brings me joy and language is only a vehicle. In German, I found that rejuvenated joy. At times, it took me back to my childhood days as I read the German content meant for children in my initial years to build up my language. To improve your command over any language, you need to read more, listen more, write more and speak more. More the challenges I faced, therefore exciting became the German learning journey for me. I started watching German movies to get acquainted to German society and history. With every level came new set of vocabulary and grammar that simply added to the beauty of the language. I am fortunate to learn from some of the best teachers who taught not only the nuances of the language but also showed Germany to us from their eyes. While most people think that German is a commanding language given its history and the way it sounds, I found sweetness in it and the way it changed me as a person.

There comes a time when you part ways with your friends to pursue your dreams and goals. Yet, the times spent with them leave you with memories to last forever. Similarly, after two eventful years of learning German, I parted ways with it after completing B2, i.e. the intermediate level to pursue MBA. I completed MBA and then began corporate life. While most would think that the important mission of getting a job is accomplished after MBA, I felt that it was time to go back to my now distant friend. I had read that having some passion in life is necessary, it keeps you stress-free. I wanted that to be true for myself. With new energy and enthusiasm, I decided to complete the last legs of German levels, C1 and C2 after being away from it for three years. Being the last levels, the language had become complex as we were slowly heading towards mastering the language like a native speaker. Every German class was memorable with discussions on topics that left me with a new perspective every time. We discussed and read the trends in Germany and how different it is from India. Thus, my weekends were filled with positivity and lots of new ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed making PowerPoint presentations on various topics and share the knowledge with my fellow classmates. Though Germany is known for its crème de la creme technology and engineering, it has a gentle and rich side of literature as well, thanks to some of renowned classics by Wolfgang von Goethe, Grimm Brothers and others, which I read about briefly. Similar to human nature that has various emotions, languages too have different ways to express themselves. As a corporate professional I wanted to learn the language in business parlance and thus completed the last milestone of my journey in German learning.

German gifted me years of happiness and still continues doing so. I keep my camaraderie with the language alive by reading something daily. Though I haven’t really ventured into the world of German books and English continues to hold the numero uno position in this case, I am sure that one day German books will also make place in my bookshelf. As I write about my German learning journey in English, somewhere the language hopes that one day it will create a space of its own in form of a German blog. I admire the word for ‘vocabulary’ in German- it is called ‘Wortschatz’ which literally means treasure of words. I still consider myself a student of German and know that the language still has a lot to offer and to add to my treasure not only in form of words, phrases and expressions but also in form of new thoughts and ideas. I see myself getting richer with that every day because it is a precious gem that I will ever own.

During my course of learning I read the book by Pulitzer prize winning author Jhumpa Lahiri, ‘In Other Words’ in which she wrote her trysts with the Italian language and her desire to call it her own. The book was full of wonderful lines which made me fall in love with it. The lines which left an imprint on me the most: “What does a word mean? And a life? In the end, it seems to me, the same thing. Just as a word can have many dimensions, many nuances, great complexity, so, too, can a person, a life. Language is the mirror, the principal metaphor. Because ultimately the meaning of a word, like that of a person, is boundless, ineffable. Because in the end to learn a language, to feel connected to it, you have to have a dialogue, however childlike, however imperfect.” I grew up with Marathi, Hindi and English and became like a tightly knit family. German joined my family of languages when I was a grown-up and remains like the youngest child, pampered and loved. It will grow old with me like other languages and I can proudly call it as one of my own. My foreign friend with its proud uniqueness has created a special place of its own never to leave and continues to enrich me, improve me in some or the other way every day.