German Conversation
| Meeting | We normally meet every Monday afternoon from 2.30 to 4 pm with a short summer break. |
| Current Venue | Upper Hall or, when unavailable , the leader's home with more limited numbers. |
| Members | We may have room for more, so do contact the Leader |
| Contact | Leader German Conversation |
The present group has a pretty good standard of spoken German, without feeling constrained to be accurate. We also have a native speaker in the group to keep us up to the mark. We have 7 or 8 members, although not all can be present at each weekly meeting. Using material found on the internet we are able to discuss such topics as customs and festivals, history, German speaking minorities, food and drink, places to visit and peculiarities of the language itself, indeed any topics members like to contribute.
"I don't like German. It isn't at all a becoming language. I know perfectly well that I look plain after my German lesson", says Cecily Cardew in Oscar Wilde's 'The importance of being Earnest' (1895). When our group was invited to present an example of our activity at the u3a 20th Anniversary celebration in the summer, we were alarmed to find that our own attitude to the language veered too easily to ridicule. For this we were sharply rapped over the knuckles by our resident native speaker! It was a salutary experience and we hope that the playlet we devised went some way to showing the deep family relationship between English and German. Back in 1895, whatever Cecily may have thought, German was seen as an important part of a good education
Whilst our aim is to speak better German, we also enjoy comparing our personal experiences of German-speaking countries and learning more about our impressive European neighbour. If you would like to join us, please get in touch with the Group Leader as given in the Newsletter or via the Contact above.