
Originally Posted by
ZHPizza
Dude I hear you. Your language is surprisingly tough to "dumb down" when hanging out with non-native English speakers. We get exhausted after a couple of days over there with our friends even though they speak English fine. That constant battle of trying to form a sentence with the most basic of words, pronounce everything clearly, and avoid idioms and nuance....ugh...I'm tired just thinking about it.
I also pick up a German accent on my English after a few days because I'm a gd parrot.
Oh and die/der/das cannot be learned. I understand the basic instances where it affects the meaning of the noun, but it's a total crapshoot for a lot of stuff and you would only know it if you were born and raised there. Our friends taught me to just use a short "deh" sound, like the beginning of each of them and no one will notice or care. It got me through our last trip and I have since given up on the German language because it is impossible.