Language Woes

I love Germany. I love living here. I love how green it is here. I love the bakeries and the beer. I love being able to ride my bike everywhere. If only the Germans spoke English…

Last month I finished a Deutsch grammar course, and now I feel like my German is worse than it was when I started. I am aware of every little mistake I make.

Oh, I understand quite a bit and I can small talk, but who wants to talk about the weather all the time? I want to be able to express myself to the same extent that I'm able to in English.

For example, the other day I met Alex on the way home from school, and he was crying because a girl in his class keeps taking his hat. I told him that she probably just wants to play with him, but he wanted me to talk to his teacher. Instead, we caught up to this girl and her mother, who were walking ahead of us, and I told her mother what has been happening. "Lea nimmt Alexs Mütze und er weint." Lea takes Alex's hat and he cries. I also wanted to say that I'm sure Lea just wants to play with Alex but he doesn't understand. Unfortunately, I don't know how to say all that in Deutsch.

I want to be able to make the little distinctions that I can in English. Sometimes I'm angry or frustrated or annoyed or furious or just anxious, but in German, I'm forever *wütend* (furious). In conversation, I can never remember the words for the other feelings.

I never thought learning Deutsch would be easy, but I never imagined it would be this frustrating, and humbling. One cannot sound smart when they are stumbling over words in a foreign language. I apologize for underestimating the intelligence of all the immigrants I met in the US.

By the way, Germans use *liebe* (love) only when speaking about their spouses, children and parents. They think Americans are *theatrical* because we love everything.