For my fellow Germans :)

@Alex It is pretty rare to be able to learn German in school, here. It might even be a program they've ended, since then. It wasn't a very popular class, but it was easier to get the attention needed as a student and really retain the information. I honestly should have taken it more seriously, as our German teacher was dedicated and hosted German Club where we watched movies dubbed in German and he even played the guitar and taught us songs in the language (though he was obsessed with Die Prinzen)... He just wasn't very patient or nice if he didn't care for you and I was in that group. If I had a child and was bilingual or even had the option to teach them another language at a young age, I would do it, but definitely once they were fairly competent with their native tongue. With German being the native language, I would think it takes kids a lot longer to sound competent than with English, though I could be wrong. Really the only think I've seen my nephews struggle with, when they were young, is incorrect pluralization, saying things like "mines," but in German there's a lot more to get wrong. Grammar is definitely tough and something I'm trying to piece together, but with some difficulty. I've been reading a book on the language, 'The Everything Learning German Book' and otherwise trying to absorb as much as I can through Hörverstehen, especially the longer sentences, which is where I struggle. I know there's a specific order of sentences, but it's still hard for me to remember and retain, especially those with multiple verbs. And it's quite hard to keep straight the different words that, in English, we would usually use one word for all the time. Sometimes, it can also be hard to differentiate words that sound similarly (Geschichte, Gesicht, Geschlecht, etc). As for what I like about German, first is probably the way it sounds. A lot of native English speakers have put it into the "it sound ugly/mean" category, which I don't think is fair. They probably tell themselves they don't want to learn it because they're afraid they can't make the noises themselves. I've come to like the harder to make noises, and appreciate the language more for them. Rolling R's and "ch" (in both pronunciations), and things like "Spr" noises, actually require a lot of practice before your mouth and throat are comfortable with them. With German it seems you really have to put more effort into speaking than English requires. Otherwise, I really like that Germans seem to have words that cover more full concepts that would take something like a sentence to communicate in English. I actually tried to listen to your interview on Triluzid's channel about a year ago. I should go back and see how I've progressed with it, though yes you do seem to speak very quickly lol. I get by okay when listening to podcasts at .8 or .9 speed, as it adds a little more time for me to understand, but with YouTube it's not quite as fine-tuned. I'll give this playlist more of a listen, but the first song isn't bad. I like the chorus of it. These songs have a sorrowful tone to them so far. Gib mir Sonne ist gut. I'll have to be careful with these. For some reason, German songs that are emotional affect me more than emotional English songs. Warten auf das Meer by Feine Sahne Fischfillet wrecks me. Farin Urlaub is a mixed bag, though. Not much of a fan of Die Ärzte, but some of his solo songs like Worte Fehlen are really good. I'll definitely let you know how the German lucid adventures go. I've been considering starting a series specifically about my journey with German and dreaming/lucid dreaming. I've got a few funny German moments in dreams that might be fun to share.

Hey Lilia, hab den Post erst jetzt gesehen (die neuen Kategorien helfen da echt gut)!

Irgendwie ist es wirklich komisch, auf deutsch darüber zu schreiben, direkt Reality Check! Ich fände es auch cool sich als Deutsche ein bisschen zu vernetzen! Du bist ja gerade im Chat nicht so aktiv (verständlich, hast bestimmt viel zu tun) aber falls du das liest liebe Grüße! :)