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Two Encounters While Commuting
May. 11th, 2023 02:43 amAs I was walking from the Patent Office to the King Street Metro, I saw two young men approaching, both wearing white shirts and ties. It occurred to me that they looked like Mormon missionaries. Or perhaps there was some other reason they dressed that way? Then one of them said to me, “We’re inviting everyone to church this Sunday. Would you like to come?”
I declined politely.
On Wednesday morning, on the train heading to work, I heard a man reading a comic book to his small son in German, and also pointing out the sights in that language. I approached them, and asked the little boy, “Gefaellt dir dein Besuch nach Amerika?”
The man and I engaged in conversation, auf Deutsch. I told him that I hadn’t had much practice lately, especially with spoken German, and that, these days, I can mostly translate German with a dictionary; answering his questions, I said that I had studied German in school and college. He congratulated me on speaking grammatically, using the dative, and getting the declensions right, saying, “Most people can’t do that.”
He was too polite to say, “Most Americans trying to fumble along in German can’t do that.”
And now to try to get back to sleep.
I declined politely.
On Wednesday morning, on the train heading to work, I heard a man reading a comic book to his small son in German, and also pointing out the sights in that language. I approached them, and asked the little boy, “Gefaellt dir dein Besuch nach Amerika?”
The man and I engaged in conversation, auf Deutsch. I told him that I hadn’t had much practice lately, especially with spoken German, and that, these days, I can mostly translate German with a dictionary; answering his questions, I said that I had studied German in school and college. He congratulated me on speaking grammatically, using the dative, and getting the declensions right, saying, “Most people can’t do that.”
He was too polite to say, “Most Americans trying to fumble along in German can’t do that.”
And now to try to get back to sleep.
