I’d never heard of autoethnography before, @martinfeld. An interesting episode. Good to hear too of your long history with the German Language. I think my interest was sparked when I was ~7 when my older sister, on a school trip from England, sent me a postcard from Germany.
@Miraz Thank you for listening! Yes, autoethnography is an interesting area, particularly when used as a part of a broader study within something like narrative enquiry. It can lead to more personal, compassionate accounts than other forms of research; you treat people as participants rather than subjects. 😀
Nice point about your sister in Germany! Where did she go and have you ever visited?
@martinfeld Heh, that was so long ago I have no idea where she went! The postcard was the important part (I may still have it somewhere). I went on to get my degree in German (and English) and lived in Düsseldorf for a year in ummm 1976. (When I visited Berlin, briefly, the wall was still up.)
@Miraz Very cool! That would have been a wonderful experience. Out of curiosity, what made you choose Düsseldorf and do you still remember or use much German?
(I know that @macgenie did a similar thing in Freiburg as well.)
@martinfeld A friend got me a job there, so sheer chance. I follow some MBers who write German and can still comprehend fairly well, but I never actively use it now. In the 70’s and 80’s I taught German to teenagers, for 10 years. I learned the old (written) way so for 3 months, with a Bachelor’s degree, I could barely say a thing. 😀
@Miraz It’s great that you taught it! I know what you mean about school and university study of another language. As I said in the podcast, I think that Germans and other Europeans generally do a better job of learning other languages than we English speakers do. When I was there, they seemed to speak English a lot more rather than write it, with less of a fear of making mistakes.
@Miraz Anyway, if you’re ever looking to practise or use it with someone who also isn’t that perfect, then I’d be happy to do so!
@macgenie @miraz Klingt gut! In den letzten drei Jahren habe ich kaum Deutsch gesprochen, aber warum nicht? 😀
@martinfeld Thanks for the offer. I’m happy to stick with the more passive understanding now. Life moves on… Meanwhile my newer focus is to come to grips with the Māori language, though I’m still content to understand rather than use. 😀
