Runs with me … sometimes out of round

A slightly different running report

When I talk about running, I’m talking about marathons that I’ve run internationally. My favorite races are in the USA. The atmosphere there is the best, the music is professional and the people are incredibly welcoming. They give me the feeling that this race is good for everyone and when they call my name because it’s on the race number, it sounds like we’re old friends.

In truth, there are only these few seconds and one language between us. This language that I learned for six years at school and a few semesters at university almost 40 years ago to use on marathon trips.

My task: wake billions of neurons from a deep sleep for a few days. That doesn’t suit them at all. It gets exhausting.
I also wanted to prove myself worthy of the Dresden Columbus Society as an exchange runner and do my best. In running and in language.

I woke someone else up with the billions of neurons. The guy’s name is Ehrgeiz (ambition), she’s probably female in a granny’s head, so she’s the ambitious one, and she takes her job very seriously. A journalist and German teacher for migrants is used to speaking cleanly, well and correctly, ideally formulating things in an original way and is now standing there, looking for words and constructing English sentences, just like in German. OMG.

I do exactly what I train my learners to do every day. When you speak German, forget your mother tongue and get involved in a different dynamic. Listen and speak. Listen and speak, don’t translate in your head first and don’t use the digital helpers on your cell phone.

Translation tools are always there. That’s what the neurons check the quickest and they know for sure that nobody has to memorize it. When I need it, I search again and will reliably find it.

Speaking in a foreign language is exhausting. Finding words is not easy. The embarrassing feeling of making mistakes has to be ignored. That takes strength. Knowing that you won’t be able to get everything out on the street straight away also takes strength. The higher your own expectations, the more exhausted you are.

I also reflected this to my language learners on the first day of lessons after my marathon vacation. I now understand you better again and can understand how awkward you feel when you speak too quickly.

In all the conversations I had in Columbus, only one woman asked if she was speaking too fast. Three guesses what job she had … She had worked as an English teacher at the Dresden International School.

English, English, English, English and suddenly someone was speaking German. You always hear those words. And what happens? You look for this island to speak a few sentences. It seems like an island in the ocean, like an oasis in the desert. At home, you might not have spoken at all, but you do.

On the flight home, I listen to Christine Westermann’s podcast for hours and what she says sounds familiar. It’s about Italian and how she understands a lot but doesn’t speak it, after all, as a journalist she has high standards for her language … Welcome to the club.

Conclusion: keep your eyes open when choosing a career. But that would be too easy.

The fact is, if your original profession has something to do with language, the standards change when learning a new language. It seems easier for a baker or a hairdresser to gain a foothold in a new country and a new language. Both can pursue their traditional profession more quickly, thanks to the technical language. But as a journalist or lecturer, you first need a language level comparable to your mother tongue in order to get off to the same start, and the path to this is a little longer than a marathon.

Rosa Hauch


Dresden spricht …

Workshops, tours, writing and printing workshops under the motto “Dresden speaks many languages”

Period
03-12.2024

Porject coordination
Yvonn Spauschus (Projektleitung)
Yulia Vishnichenko · Moussa Mbarek · Nadine Wölk · Rosa Brockelt · Yuliya Firsova · Martin Mannig (workshop leader)
Rosa Brockelt · Rosa Hauch · Falk Goernert · Birthe Mühlhoff (moderation, documentation)
Adina Rieckmann · Lydia Hänsel (tourguides)
Inge · Mahsa · Karin (voluntary help)

Cooperation partners
JugendKunstschule Dresden – Standort Passage, Omse e.V., Nachbarschaftshilfeverein, Stadtteilverein Johannstadt e.V., Malteser Hilfsdienste e.V., Jugendhaus LILA as well as Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum e.V., Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V., GEH8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Umweltzentrum Dresden – ABC Tische and many more

Supported by

The project is funded by the State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. This measure is co-financed with tax funds on the basis of the budget passed by the Saxon state parliament within the framework of the state programme Integrative Maßnahmen.