I went to the grocery store this afternoon—the Saturday before the Christmas holiday. Not sure what I was thinking because it was a bit of a mad house in there. Thought I’d use this time to share a story from my German language course when we learned how to ask directions in a grocery store (and how to understand the answer). Things like, Where is the bread? or “It’s over there near the cheese.” ETC.
I’ve been in Berlin for a while before my course, so I already know quite a bit of vocabulary for the grocery store. Every time I walked into a Kaiser’s and realized I didn’t know the name for “flour” or “faijta seasoning” was a challenge, but it’s surprisingly easy to make do in these situations.
To make class interesting, our professor on the day we learned how to ask questions in a grocery store, Wolfgang made us pretend we were asking where to find assorted drugs and drug paraphernalia. It was a bit confusing at first, but made for some funny interactions at least.
Also: what’s the deal my course book (Kursbuch)? I feel like it’s from the ’80s even though I know it’s not. Some of the vocabulary in the grocery store section:
- die Zigarette (cigarettes)
- das Feuerzeug (lighter)
- die Fernsehzeitschrift (TV guide)
Though, admittedly just about everyone in Berlin (in Europe?!?) smokes so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that one of the first words we learn deals with smoking. But who on earth actually still uses a TV guide?!
Everybody I know still uses TV guides
Seriously?! I wouldn’t even know where to get one in the USA…or Germany for that matter.
Which course book does DID use?
Hey Bradley- sorry for the delay in replying! Was enjoying the holiday here in Berlin. We used the Hueber “Tangram aktuell” coursebooks. Seems there’s some interest in this so I’ll write a post about the books as well
Sorry to ask the same question however what course book are you working from, I’m learning German and would like to get a book like that.
Hey Jonathan!
No worries – seems people are interested so I’ll be sure to write more about it. But in the meantime, the coursebook we used was published Hueber and called “Tangram aktuell”