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A journey across the German Language! Sara Karim

By sarakarim, on 23 July 2020

A journey across the German Language!   Sara Karim

I’m Sara, I’m going to enBerlinter my second year next year in September 2020. I study BA Comparative Literature with German as my chosen language. Over the course of the lockdown period, I set up an online German language learning initiative designed to help students to improve their German vocabulary, speaking and grammar skills. The sessions have been very enjoyable so far, with a range of activities explored with UCL students of all levels of German. Time zones were managed as well, since the initiative has had good feedback from the department and from the participants who were from a variety of different time zones, including from London, Kent, Lancashire, Milan, Peru, Moscow and Singapore. Despite the current pandemic situation that features uncertainty, what this pandemic has also shown me is the strength and courage of students to keep learning German in a dynamic atmosphere and in a fun and creative manner. As the sessions continue, I am becoming more aware that teamwork can prevail even during the toughest of times. What is more apparent is also the determination to learn from experiences and to be constantly creative. So far, for me, it has been a very rewarding experience to sustain and inspire an established group of students that strive to learn more about different cultures.

Furthermore, what I have also discovered is that learning a language has two sides of fulfilment. One side is the sheer determination and optimism it takes to cover components of a language. Some words in German are very different to that of those in English such as Der Augenblick, which means the moment. Yet, another side is taking the time to appreciate the beauty of the language that you are learning. Even though some of the words in another language may be different to that of our own, this in a way also helps us to recognise the beauty of other languages. Indeed, both the similarities between German, English and Bengali (my mother tongue) vocabulary have enabled me to find the beauty of the German language itself. During each of the sessions, I often found that even though translation may have been initially challenging, with commitment and camaraderie, I was amazed by the progress made.

As well as a recognition of the German language, this experience of my online German learning initiative has been a great opportunity to delve into German culture. The discussions also featured German culture and language from different regions of Germany, which captivated me. Comparisons between German culture and British culture and also a range of cultures on the themes of health, food, music and literature were discussed with enthusiasm, during the multi-faceted journey of learning German! I look forward to making more language discoveries as the initiative progresses in lockdown. While we are adapting to a myriad of possibilities in a technological world, it is crucial to remember that learning a language can help us stay connected, motivated, and expressive, even during lockdown.

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