German 140, Caitlin Feuer

Selection One:

Laws About Drug Use in Switzerland Change

My Reflection:

The fact that I posted the comment today has nothing to do with my selection. I really meant what I said about the Swiss government. I am jealous that the Swiss people have the power they do over their nation. I definitely know what it feels like to be powerless, because I could not vote in the Presidential election since I did not turn 18 until two weeks afterward. I hope they do not take their right for granted like a few of my friends who were too lazy to vote last month. It is quite evident how I commented on the political institution of Switzerland. I feel that it also relates socially to the people as well. This meets the culture blog expectation of Products and Perspectives. Again, I feel I met the other goals of culture blog comments. The ruling of the vote is a vehicle of social change and the actual opportunity for the Swiss to vote on such a matter no is a social phenomena in my eyes. I truly enjoyed learning about this decision that I otherwise would have never heard about. 

Selection Two:

European Day of Languages

My Reflection:

I again feel that I discussed the possible social and economic affects the ethnolect could have on the state of Germany. I also made comments about the social and educational institutions in Germany. It is an element of German culture that the people know multiple languages. And, as I also stated, I feel that it is something that is culturally lacking in America. Obviously, the language of ethnolect and its immersion in society is an element of change. Again, this was an area I would not have otherwise explored. I enjoy reading these culture blogs because it gives me access to information from non-conventional news sources.

My Reflection:

My Reflection:

I really enjoyed this project. It was very nice to have absolute freedom in a project. I was able to put my creativity into making a somewhat silly story while maintaining an educational value. One can hear from my voice how into the story I was. I was very dedicated to this project. After writing the story and going through to fix as many errors I could find I had to do the recording. Blabberize gave me the option to either directly record my sample or upload one. However, if I uploaded audio it had to be under 30 seconds, but if I recorded it directly onto the site it could be as long as I liked. Because, my story was quite lengthy, I had to record onto Blabberize. This meant that when I mispronounced a word I had to begin all over again. Although it was frustrating, I kept my patience and I was forced to practice speaking in German, with an accent many times. The main problem with this project was the volume, but that was the website's fault. As Dr. Cadd noted, I did have some trouble with the longer imperfect verbs. All the "te" suffixes begin to get complicated after a while. Although I have learned this is not the norm for most German-learners, I find the imperfect past easier. I also kind of enjoy the irregular forms and think they are fun to use. I was able to showcase my ability to use the simple past when telling the story. However, because I included quotations, which do not use the Präteritum, I was able to practice my perfect past too. Because of the format of the DULAP program, we do not practice presentational speaking very often, despite it being one of the goals identified. I considered this project as a form of presentational writing and speaking. This was a detailed retelling of an event. In the future, I need to work on speaking more smoothly. I believe that by continuing to practice German that with time, I will be able to speak smoother and more naturally. 

My Reflection:

Audio Sample One:

My Reflection:

I chose this audio sample as the better of the two because I feel that it is the more legitimate of the two. My second sample contained a lot of English and this one was completely German. Honestly, I'm very proud of this audio sample. I had to listen to the man's voice many times and was able to write down what he was saying accurately (with the exception of L.L. Bean/Bohne, which was slightly confusing). Afterward, I recorded myself countless times. I worked diligently to perfect my imitation of the native speaker. I truly feel that because I had to listen so closely to the man, I picked up on the little things of a German accent that I otherwise would not have noticed. Therefore, I think that this audio demonstrates my ability to listen to and speak German. I enjoyed making this audio sample.

Writing Sample One:

"Hallo! Ich heiße Caitlin Nicole Feuer. Ich komme aus Bloomington, Illinois. Bloomington liegt vielleicht zwei oder drei Stunde Südlich von Chicago. Ich wohne bei meiner Mutter Debbi und meinen zwei Hunde Weaver und Teddy. Mein Vater wohnt in Detroit, Michigan. Bei Drake Universität  studiere ich Mzzagazinwissenschaft. Eines Tages hoffe ich, dass ich bei Vogue schreiben werde. In meiner Freizeit lese ich oder verbringe zeit am Computer. Wenn ich am Computer surfe, verbringe ich oft bei Facebook. Mein Lieblingsbuch ist  „The Picture of Dorian Gray.“ Ich spiele kein Instrument aber ich hoffe, dass ich eines Tages lerne ein Instrument spielen zu können. Jetzt bin ich krank und ich habe nicht genug geschlafen. Ich habe Kopfschmerzen und Halsschmerzen. Ich glaube, dass dieser Absatz lang genug für mein erstes Schreibeispiel ist."

My Reflection:

My first writing sample was the better of the two. Because I was able to revise the writing twice and discussed the necessary changes with Dr. Cadd, I believe it was a better end product. Of course, this sample was much less challenging than the other writing sample and the projects. This is because I was talking about myself including words/phrases I have been using for years. However, I did try and challenge myself by having more complex sentence structures and alternating my verbs. I tried to stay away from using haben/sein time after time, which can often be difficult. This was a little rough, because I did not use my German at all during the summer so I had to dig deep into my brain to remember some vocabulary and grammar rules. This writing sample demonstrates the platform on which my German is built. I certainly know that I have a far way to go before I can write German perfectly, but I do believe this is an almost flawless sample. With the help of Dr. Cadd I was able to fix the mistakes that I made that aren't standardly taught in class. I remember being excited to finally be able to use the verb studieren. I distinctly remember my high school German teacher explaining the difference between lernen and studieren. It was one of the first assignments I completed in college and was very happy about it. In terms of my future writings, I will continue to attempt to use alternative words/phrases/sentence structures. Generally, I think I write German pretty well and am up to the level I should be. One critical aspect of my writing that I need to work on is definitely my self-editing. It's very easy to skim over writing and dismiss possible mistakes. I need to remember to read my writing out loud and make sure that I'm not simply translating in my head from English to German. As I begin to enter an advanced level of German, I also need to pay special attention to rules that are outside of the norm and adverbial phrases.