Learning English in New Zealand

It was in the 5^th grade when I was forced to learn English. As someone who likes natural science over humanities I wasn’t pleased with this development in my life. I always had a hard time learning all the vocabulary and grammar. So it’s easy to say that English never became my favorite subject, maybe it was even the one I disliked the most.

That didn’t get any better when I got into the 7^th grade and we had to choose another language to learn. I had the choice between French and Latin. So for me basically it was a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea. I went with Latin. It seemed to be a little bit easier because there were rules to everything. But I also instantly knew this wouldn’t be fun either.

So that was the first part of my language education, sitting in school learning English and Latin. I still don’t like to think back to that time. Fortunately, everything changed when I went to New Zealand at the age of 16.

The trip to New Zealand was an exchange program so I was sent to stay with a guest family over there. When I arrived, I thought: “Finally I’ll get a chance to use the English I’ve worked so hard on to learn in school”. Well, it turned out that wouldn’t be happening right away, because my guest family was just heading out on vacation. I was left to stay with my Chinese guest brother, also an exchange student with only marginal English knowledge. Our main communication took place through his phone where he had some kind of translation software. It was ridiculous, because, as you probably know translation software never really gets the whole sentence right. With all different interpretations possible we spent most our conversations just guessing what the other person wanted to say. Hand gestures were also an essential part of our conversations. In the end it worked out well. And for me it was interesting to discover that communication does not only depend on spoken words. Of course, there was that one time when communication really did break down...

So one time, my Chinese host brother told me something about meeting up with his friends and I didn’t really understand him. Because I wanted to go hiking I kind of assumed it had something to do with the hike. To be perfectly honest, I guess I didn’t put much effort in understanding him, because I was excited to get outside and heard what I wanted to hear. Anyway, I started to hike, and he came with me. As we were walking through the mountains we eventually came back to the topic of his friends. That’s when he mentioned that his friends had already been waiting for us for over two hours. Oops! I quickly realized that earlier he had wanted to tell me something completely different. Anyway, after some more broken English I finally understood that his friends had invited us for dinner, so we quickly headed back, and when we finally arrived at their house the food was already served and we apologized profusely.

This little mix-up showed me how a miscommunication can be multiplied by the difference between cultures. Like how my Chinese guest brothers’ culture persuaded him to be polite and not to disagree with me. Of course in the end I felt bad that I made him ditch his friends just because I didn’t understand him. It also helped me realize that communication isn’t just about mastering a language, but also understanding the culture of the person you are talking with.

The remaining time I spent on exchange was put to good use, and I finally did get more contact with English native speakers through my school, with my host family, and with friends I made over there. When I came back to Germany I found I could enjoy my English classes a lot more. Around the same time, I also started to play more online computer games and got more into programming. Both these activities helped me understand how important English would be to enjoying basically anything that had to do with a computer.

When I finished school I actually couldn’t wait to get back to New Zealand again, so this time I went to work on a farm and explore the country. While I was there I think the biggest compliment I ever received about my foreign language abilities was, and still is, that people couldn’t hear a German accent. When someone would say that, it made it easy to forgive all the less than enjoyable hours learning English in school, and even easier to appreciate the fun hours learning to speak and listen with the people I met along my travels.

Keep learning!

Cheers, Christian