This is my first-ever time creating a blog on here. I have never before felt the need to create a blog about something specific I am doing. After all, I have my livejournal (which most everyone I know can't read anyway).
So what made me want to do this? Well, I am a German major with high hopes of moving to Germany for good someday soon. I have spent a wonderful year in Konstanz, Germany, and have to sadly go back to the states in less than 2 months. This will cause a lot of shock, and I may go crazy. But there is one thing I do have control over: whether or not I just go back to speaking English like normal, or whether I continue to speak German as much as I have been since September.
On to the point of this blog: Starting as soon as I arrive in the states, I am boycotting English for as long as it takes to come back to Germany. This is going to take at least as long as it takes me to finish my bachelors degree.
My reasons for boycotting English include:
-A way to measure time
-A way to keep learning and not forget anything in German
-I would probably accidentally speak German a lot of the time anyway
-If my daily interactions with people that have been in German for the past year (buying stuff, asking people for directions, etc) were suddenly in English, it would be unbearable.
-A way to keep learning and not forget anything in German
-I would probably accidentally speak German a lot of the time anyway
-If my daily interactions with people that have been in German for the past year (buying stuff, asking people for directions, etc) were suddenly in English, it would be unbearable.
-It's an experiment to see how many hoops I would have to jump through to talk to have all of the same interactions with my friends, random people, and anyone else I need to talk to, without saying a single word in English.
-English is the world's language. A ridiculous amount of movies are in English (The US seems to make up most of the world's movie industry), and a lot of music is, as well (Japanese singers, after all, like to put random English words into their songs). If 2 leaders from non-English-speaking countries who also don't speak the same language as each other have a meeting, they speak English. And in China, people working for big companies are usually required to email their coworkers in English.
-English is the world's language. A ridiculous amount of movies are in English (The US seems to make up most of the world's movie industry), and a lot of music is, as well (Japanese singers, after all, like to put random English words into their songs). If 2 leaders from non-English-speaking countries who also don't speak the same language as each other have a meeting, they speak English. And in China, people working for big companies are usually required to email their coworkers in English.
Why is English the language that so many people choose to learn, and just how true is it that people in the states typically don't speak other languages? The only way I can find these things out is through this experiment.
The rules:
-Anyone can speak English to me. I can't willingly not understand English, and it would be really stupid of me to pretend i didn't.
-I can still write in English. this isn't about not communicating in English, it's about not speaking it. Besides, writing stuff down to talk to people is also a way of keeping track of when I would have to use English.
-I can only speak English in class, at work, and in a life-threatening emergency (life-threatening only). Other than those times, I can't speak a single word of English unless I am quoting something that someone else said.
-I'm not limited to German. I can use other languages. I speak Farsi, and so does my mother (and my sister understands it just fine). They and my German-speaking dad are basically safe from not being able to talk to me.
-I can still write in English. this isn't about not communicating in English, it's about not speaking it. Besides, writing stuff down to talk to people is also a way of keeping track of when I would have to use English.
-I can only speak English in class, at work, and in a life-threatening emergency (life-threatening only). Other than those times, I can't speak a single word of English unless I am quoting something that someone else said.
-I'm not limited to German. I can use other languages. I speak Farsi, and so does my mother (and my sister understands it just fine). They and my German-speaking dad are basically safe from not being able to talk to me.
I am making only one exception to the above rules: My first week in the states will be spent in the middle of the woods with my aunt. She can actually speak German, but since she probably hasn't used it in awhile, I am going to speak English but only after I say everything in German, and then word it the exact same way when I say it in English. I will thus be making this exception for everyone else who happens to visit us while i'm there.
In the unlikely event that I do leave the forest and go into the city (which is unlikely because I will not be ready to go into a city that soon after arriving in the states, and I would not choose that particular city to be the first one i venture into, either) I will have to still not speak English at all.
After my time there, however, the real work begins, and I will not speak English out loud at all unless I am in class, at work, or if someone could die if I didn't speak English. I don't necessarily expect my friends to understand my reasons. In fact, I fully expect some of them to get annoyed, and while I will hate it, I am prepared for it. At times, I will be very tempted to speak English, especially in conversations with people. This will not in any way be easy. I am, however, fully prepared to do this. I have given it several months of thought, and I am not backing down.
The purpose of this blog is to record anything that happens as a result of my not speaking English. I will encounter problems that I have not yet thought of, nevermind the ones I have already considered.
My next post will likely not be for a month and a half, when I have to go back to the states.
