Monday, January 28, 2013

Integration: Facing the Language Battle

Often we are asked when or if we plan on returning to Australia. My response usually amounts to something along the lines of, "Well, we are happy here right now, and that's all that we know. If one of us wakes up tomorrow and wants to go back to Australia, then we deal with that then."

My first German: Cafe speak! 
A few weeks ago, I had the big light-bulb moment that maybe I wouldn't actually ever go back. We really are just so happy here... but the one thing standing in my way is the language. I will never assimilate if I am not fluent in German, and not only that, but in (insert a full-body shudder of fear) Swiss German. My German is currently okay. It's not great... I have a very limited vocabulary and my grammar is positively shocking, but I seem to have the ability to fool everybody into thinking it is better than it is. I think that my training as an English teacher has given me the ability to think on my feet when trying to come up with a strange way of explaining something. For example, when waiting today at the Mütterberatung (the place I go to get Ruben weighed and measured occasionally and to ask questions to a midwife), I was speaking to another mother. I didn't know the word for 'crawl', so without a pause I explained that in the last week, Ruben has managed to move forwards using the opposite hand and foot. And then I asked her what that is called in German. Most people are okay with me slipping in the occasional English word if I'm at a loss.

So... I thought she said lift our babies now?
I can't go to intensive German lessons anymore, and while I always have grand plans of how I will actively improve my skills, the only one that I am currently employing (and well, I might add) is to have no shame. Ruben and I go to a local play-group on Monday mornings where I speak my bad German to anyone who will listen. I do the same at our babyswimming classes. When we are at the playground or on the train with other children, I speak. I not only answer questions, but I ask them too, and attempt a real conversation. I do the same with all the people that approach us to coo over what an incredibly good-looking baby I have. Haha. I have stopped being embarrassed (okay, not totally... but I am getting much better!) and have started speaking. My Swiss German, or more specifically, my Züri Deutsch, is also getting better, but only when it comes to conversations regarding babies. All of this in mind, I don't think that I will ever feel comfortable speaking German on the telephone.

Making the decision to take Ruben to the local playgroup here was a very difficult one for me, as I knew I would be an outsider. But Ruben needs baby-interaction and getting out of the house on a Monday morning is good for us. I am so glad that I put on my brave hat and went that first time, because now I often wave at other mothers I see at the shops, on the street or waiting for the train. I feel like I am a real member of the Horgen community now, and that makes me a little bit proud. And I'm learning all those Swiss German songs, which I'm loving.

Having and raising a child in a foreign country certainly has its challenges. I often wonder how different this experience would be if we had done it in Australia, and perhaps if it really would have been so much easier.


3 comments:

  1. What better way to get a smile from a shopkeeper than having a handsome baby boy on your arm?

    Must be an ideal conversation starter.

    Hope you, Dunc and young Rube are going swell Joh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is awesome that you are trying to speak German (and Swiss-German)! Not easy...so Bravo! :)

    Now say "Chuchichäschtli" three times fast! ;-P

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am impressed by your striving to learn German!

    ReplyDelete