Would you like your study abroad to be easy or challenging?  An easy way is probably to do an exchange program in London or Australia, where everyone speaks English.  The tougher option was to study in a foreign country using a foreign language, for instance in France, Germany or even China or Japan.  I chose the latter path, a year-long exchange program to Germany under the GEARE program, and I will forever remember this enlightening experience as my transition to a life without English.

When I first talked about participating in the GEARE program for graduate students with the program manager Dr. Eckhard Groll, I boldly asked if I could also take my courses in German instead of in English.  To which a curious Dr. Groll responded, “So, Ping, wie gut eigentlich ist dein Deutsch?”  Well, how good was my German at that time really?  Honestly, not good at all.  Despite that, I somehow convinced Dr. Groll to allow me to pursue courses in German, on account that I would continue taking German classes up till when I left for Germany.

By the time I went to Karlsruhe on the GEARE program, I had already studied German for three years and I was more confident I would not falter.  Out of pure coincidence, I have an aunt who lived in Germany for 17 years in a small town half an hour away from Karlsruhe.  Therefore, upon my arrival in Germany I was greeted by my German-speaking relatives.  They were of course very excited and happy, when I replied to their English questions in German.  However, within five minutes at breakfast, I found out the new language challenges I had to cope with.  First, upon realization that my German was intelligible, my cousin Giulia (and thereafter all Germans) spoke to me mercilessly in full-German-speed.  Next, although it was still rather possible to talk with one person in German, it was impossible to have the slightest clue about what was going on when a family of (and thereafter, groups of) Germans talked amongst themselves.  Third, I realized that there was only reading material available in German – even Jamie Oliver’s cookbook in my aunt’s house listed the ingredients in German.  Without the internet I would not be able to find things to read in English.

The next challenge came when I was buying a Bratwurst on the streets the next day.  In German class, we learnt how to say a sequence of formal, polite sentences if we had to go shopping.  First, one would say, “Ich moechte…,” when one wanted something.  It was followed by “Danke schoen,” when one received what he wanted.  Since we never expected deviations from the standard phrases in German class, I immediately was at a loss for words when I realized I couldn’t say simple things like “Nope, that’d be all, thanks” in German, as the vendor asked me if I wanted anything else.  It came to mind immediately that there was an urgent need to improve my stiff and rigid vocabulary.

Over the next few days more and more challenges arose.  At my institute, my supervisor told me to fetch the “Inbusschlussel” and calculate the “Brechungsindex”, which meant the “hex-wrench” and the “refractive index” respectively.  I realized that I did not know the names of many tools and technical terms.  At the bank, after initiating a conversation in German, I asked the representative, “Sprechen Sie Englisch?” as he tried to explain to me the benefits of having a student-account.  His response in German was, “You seem to understand my German perfectly and so I would prefer to continue our discussion in German until you have absolutely no clue as to what is going on.”  I guess persistently speaking German may lead to an irreversible consequence i.e. no one would bother to try speaking to you in English thereafter. 

Things finally took a turn after some time, as I started to prefer listening to responses in German.  While shopping for adaptor plugs, I asked the shop-assistant if she could speak English since I didn’t know how to say adaptor plugs in German.  “I will try” was the answer, but when I realized that it took her 10 more seconds to formulate her response in English, I spoke German instead.  I described the adaptor plug as a device that will allow my foreign electrical appliances to be used in Germany upon proper connection.  She immediately looked less confused, lit up, and showed me what I wanted.  An important lesson learnt is that, when I speak the local language, albeit badly, I can get what I want more easily than if I demanded someone else to speak a foreign language.

Following that, I was exposed to a myriad of day-to-day activities.  For instance, I completed a registration at the local city hall, purchased health insurance, bought medicine at a pharmacy, set up a cell phone, set up an internet connection, provided directions to people, bought train tickets and went shopping for clothes.  These may seem simple and trivial, but the amount of German required to perform these activities comfortably was tremendous, and I always needed to resist the urge to speak English once I got stuck for words.

Happily, the effort I put into the German language was finally rewarded at Oktoberfest in Munich.  After some beers, a beautiful young lady sitting next to me asked me, “So, woher kommst du eigentlich?”  To which I responded comfortably in German, “I’m from Singapore but I’m a student in USA.  What about you?”  It led to a pleasant one-hour long conversation.  Meanwhile, an interesting phenomenon concerning the other Americans occurred.  Before my conversation with this lady, only one of them could speak German.  Suddenly, everyone became fluent as they tried to talk to this lady and her sister.

Today, I am taking my engineering classes in German, as I planned out initially.  Professors speak without pauses about complex topics like numerical methods and two phase flows, but I continue attempting to take notes in German nonetheless.  Although I have difficulties following the lectures, it is now more so because of the content and not the language.  Quirkily, I have also enrolled in a Spanish class that employs German as the language of instruction.  Indeed, this attempt to learn a foreign language using another foreign language is a really a further step to extend my comfort zone with German.  I would say now that although my German is still far from perfect, it no longer feels foreign.

Although many students wish to experience a cultural immersion during a study abroad program, from my experience this is not an easy task.  Being from Singapore, I am already doing my first ‘study abroad’ as a student in Purdue.  It took more than a year to understand Neon Cactus, pizza, Mac and cheese, tipping, Jimmy John’s, frat parties, homecoming, legal drinking age of 21, Thanksgiving, paying for McChickens with credit cards, and cars as a necessity just because the concepts were completely different in Singapore.  This is even more challenging with a language barrier, when one embarks on a study abroad program to a country such as Germany.  Here, in order to experience German culture fully, I had to understand Schweinhaxn, Schnitzel, Stammtisch, German dialects, 50 cents Euro for toilet visits, Absinth, Oktoberfest, Christmas markets and sorting of trash (i.e. plastic, paper, metal and food have to be thrown into separate containers). 

In conclusion, I would say that there is a lot to gain from a study abroad, but one must do quite a bit of homework before coming, and put in even greater effort during the program, especially so if a foreign language is involved.  Otherwise, a study abroad can easily become a rather superficial sampling of a different culture, rather than a cultural immersion.

**As a footnote, it should be noted that English is the official language in Singapore and all Singaporeans are fully educated in English since kindergarten.  Therefore, English is not a foreign language for Singaporeans. - PBL

Ping Bu Loke is a Masters of Science candidate in the School of Mechanical Engineering and took part in the GEARE Program at Karlsruhe University in Germany.

For more information please contact: Ping Bu Loke

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