An Embarrassment to myself

I am an engineer, and I knew many years ago that I would end up doing something like that as my life. I always did well in the maths, and sciences, and not so well in English. Things didn?t improve when I moved to secondary school, and started doing French. Despite the many attempts by my teachers to instil in me the ide that it would be useful in later life, I did the bear minimum work. Actually that?s not true. During the two years running up to my GCSEs I did less than the minimum, and ended up doing ?punishment exercises? of writing out the vocabulary umpteen times as a result of really poor test performances. Not that I really cared, as I got top grades in the maths and science stuff?

Amusingly I got an A in my French GCSE. I don?t know how this happened. Different people will possibly use this as proof that their either is, or is not a God.

German lessons were completely different. Though not in a good way. We started a year later, and although the teaching approach was much better, I think I gave up a few weeks after starting. Somehow I got by, others did get worse marks than me, and so I dropped it as soon as I could (having the opportunity to do so with German, but not French)

Of course now I know the error of my ways.

having a very basic grasp of French has been when I have been in France. Though now mainly France is, for me, just a place on the way to Germany. Though I travel on the Thalys trains and catch that in (partly French speaking) Belgium.

So, my problem now is I don?t know very much German at all. And seeing as my girlfriend is German this is really a problem. She can (of course) speak English, but that is not really the point is it. So now I really must learn German. It really is only polite, to stop being an Englishman with the attitude that everyone speaks English so why bother.

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