How I struggled ordering food in a german restaurant !
Hi I'm Boris and this is my story. Sometimes ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Germay for a three month work. As a native french speaker who learn english on daily work basis, I wasn't good in english apart from greeting and saying good by. So once in Germany, my day work at the office where cool. Everybody was supportive, trying to speak in english so I can get involved in the business. That what all fine, but what happen after the office ?
Things started hardening. You know when you are dropped in the street, you with no collegue, you have to manage your life. So I was hungry and the need to eat came. That is how I found myself in the nearby doner kebap. Well every start with the :
me : Halo
Cooker : Halo
me (trying to order) : "Bitte ich meutche ein -" Yeah you got it. I was blocked. I didn't know the name of the food, so want to know what I did ? I pointed it with my finger. Imagine yourself saying you want something without knowing the name, and pointing it with the finger so your correspondant could figure out what it is.
Cooker (As he understood I was't profficient was trying to tell the food I ordered was finished) : "Nein Nein... No (By shaking his hand horizontally to indicate me the food was finish". And I started again and, thankfully,
And American who was around took over the conversation by helping me translate english to german and german to english. After we started laughing.
I got my food said thanks to the American, and to the Cooker to. When back home and started training on German.
Thank you for reading.
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Corrections · 3
1
Hey Boris, here are your corrections :) :
How I struggled ordering food in a german restaurant !
Hi I'm Boris and this is my story. Sometimes ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Germany for work for three months a three month work. As a native french speaker who learnt (or learned) english on a daily work basis at work, I wasn't good in english apart from greetings and saying goodbye. So once in Germany, my workday work at the office was cool. Everybody was supportive, trying to speak in english so I could get involved in the business. That was all fine, but what happened after the office?Things started to get harder hardening. You know when you are dropped off in the street and you aren't with a colleague? You have to manage your life (or by yourself) . So I was hungry and the need to eat came to me. That is how I found myself in the nearby doner kebap. Well every start with the :
me : Halo
Cooker : Halo
me (trying to order) : "Bitte ich meutche ein -" Yeah you got it. I was blocked. I didn't know the name of the food, so, want to know what I did ? I pointed to it with my finger. Imagine yourself saying you want something without knowing the name, and pointing to it with your finger so your correspondant could figure out what it is.
Cook (As he understood I wasn't proficient and was trying to tell the food I ordered was finished) : "Nein Nein... No (By shaking his hand horizontally to indicate to me that the food was finished". And I started again and, thankfully, an American who was around took over the conversation by helping me translate english to german and german to english. After we (all) started laughing.
I got my food, said thanks to the American, and to the cook too. When I got back home I started studying German.
Thank you for reading.
That was a funny story. Thanks! I have a deaf friend who made (or acted in) a video that reminded me of your story and of the struggle to communicate at times: https://www.facebook.com/thejohnmaucere/videos/1020054414684380/
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[part 2 of 2 correction]
Cook(as he understood I wasn't proficient, and was trying to tell me the food I ordered was unavailable) : "Nein Nein... No (shaking his head side to side to indicate to me that they were out of that dish).
I got my food said thanks to the American, and to the Cook too. When I was back home, I started working to learn German.
Thank you for reading.
1
[Part 1 of 2 correction]
How I struggled ordering food in a German restaurant !
Hi I'm Boris and this is my story. Sometimes ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Germany for a three months for work. As a native French speaker who was learning English at work(?), I wasn't good at English apart from greeting and saying goodbye. Once in Germany, my days at the office were great. Everybody was supportive, trying to speak in English so I could get more involved in the business. That was all fine, but what happened after work?
Things were more difficult. You know when you find yourself alone, you have to manage. I was hungry and needed to eat. That is how I found myself in the nearby döner kebap place. We start with:
me : Hallo
Cook (or Waiter): Hallo
me (trying to order) : "Bitte ich möchte einen -"Yeah I was stuck. I didn't know the name of the food, so want to know what I did ? I pointed it with my finger. Imagine yourself saying you want something without knowing the name, and pointing to it with your finger so the other person could figure out what it is.
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