My high school German textbook.

Ah, those dialogues! It's amazing how they stick in one's head! Thirty years on, I still remember them. Last night I checked the mailbox, and a copy of my high school German textbook (first year) was there. Anyone else remember these?

Wohin geht Peter?
An den See.

Wo ist Monika?
Im Boot.

Ute, wo ist der Hut?
In der Stube.

Was tust du?
Ich übe Geige.
Bist du müde?
Ja.

Ist die Post offen, Otto?
Nein, sie ist am Sonntag geschlossen.

Wie geht's
Danke, gut.
Wann kommt Benno?
Im Sommer.

Heisst du Annchen?
Nein, ich heisse Lenchen Wichmann.
Kennst du mich?
Nein, ich kenne dich nicht.

Was macht Jochen?
Er spielt Schach.
Mit wem?
Mit Achim.

Fritz, warum bist du so traurig?
Richard ist krank.

First semester in college:

Hallo! Ich heisse Alex. Und du?
Grüss dich. Ich heisse Gisela.
Willst du auch nach Florenz?
Ja.
Toll! Du, hier ist meine Telefonnummer: 791 20 97.
Danke - und meine Telefonnummer ist 791 24 44.
Wie bitte?
791 24 44.
O.K. Also, bis bald! Tschüs!

I try to remember my English textbook but I can't think of any specific dialogues. The first year book was mostly about agroup of kids in York: Kevin, Ronny, his baby brother Tim, Kate and some other girl.

We were introduced to the strange world of school uniforms, comprehensive schools and classes in the afternoon.

One thing that I remember is that our books included songs from time. Of course they were mostly selected for their simple lyrics and a bit eclectic otherwise. The first song we learned was "The Grand Old Duke of York."

I used a textbook called Deutsch Heute, that I think is still doing the rounds now. There was a band in it called Vox Populi. I always thought there was a German band with this name, that hadn't had hits here, but I found out many years later that they'd made up a band name for the dialogues. Meine lieblingsgruppe ist Vox Populi!
I asked several Germans about the band before I found out they were fictional.

I cannot remember any of the dialogues from my German text book (We used Einfach Klasse! rather than Deutsch Heute, which the other class did use), but I do remember some of the songs we learnt. To wit:

Mein Hut es hat drei Ecken
Drei Ecken hat mein Hut
Und wenn es nicht drei Ecken hat
ist das nicht mein Hut.

And the tongue twisters:

Wir Wiener Wäscherweiber wollen weiße Wäsche waschen, wenn wir wüssten, wo warmes Wasser wäre.

Kennst du Ingo? Ingo ist mein Freund.

In addition to "Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken" we learned "Wochenend und Sonnenschein". And I also recall:
Brauchbare Bierbrauerburschen brauen brausendes Braunbier.

Our teacher also had a mnemonic aid for learning which preposition went with each case:

"Mary had a little lamb" : durch, für, gegen, ohne, um.

The Jeopardy! "Thinking Music" : an, auf, hinter, in, neben; über, unter, vor, zwischen.

"An der schönen blauen Donau" : aus, ausser, bei, mit; nach, seit; von, zu. (one student improvised and repeated those, following with 'gegen-ü-ü-über').


But nothing matches the instructional value of the Guten Tag films. I can't believe they're almost impossible to find on the internet.

Hadn't thought about my very first German dialogue, ninth grade, September 1972. But I still know it. It's a stirring conversation between Anna and Hans:

Tag Anna, wie geht's?

Danke gut, und dir?

Danke, auch gut.

I had the same German text!

Ich ube Geige!

And we used to joke that Peter wast im Boot mit Monika....


I think it was German ALM something. I also still remember my more advanced German classes: in college we read "Aus Unsere Zeit" which as a collection of essays and short stories about immediate post WW2 Germany. Depressing as hell.

But in German 4 (senior yr in HS) we read an interesting series of early, early graphic novel /pulp fiction type books. I cannot remember their name (maybe Der Stadt?), but the ongoing serial plot involved a number of teenagers, a city, some kind of spy operation and an umbrella. They were printed on fairly thin paper and had late 1940s/50s illustrations. I really enjoyed them. We were taught by an elderly man (Herr Buchas) who hailed from what is now Lithuania or maybe it was Estonia. He was as desiccated and dry as last year's leaves. We lived for Der Spiegel movie days...

Entschuldigen Sie, mein Herr - Koennen Sie mir sagen, wo die Post ist?

Ja, die Post ist links, um die Ecke.


Good times, good times.

Kennst du mich?
Nein, Ich kenne dich nicht.

To: Johnny!
Yes, I had the same German textbook in high school! My German teacher was the coolest teacher too. All the cool kids took German and joined the DOG club, that is, Die Deutsche-Osterreichechen Gesellshaft. I can still recite the pledge auch.....thanks for the reminder! Wowsa!!

Liebe,
Myra

To: Johnny!
Yes, I had the same German textbook in high school! My German teacher was the coolest teacher too. All the cool kids took German and joined the DOG club, that is, Die Deutsche-Osterreichechen Gesellshaft. I can still recite the pledge auch.....thanks for the reminder! Wowsa!!

Liebe,
Myra

Fussball nein, Limonade Ja. Was machst du? Ich spiele Fussball, kommst du? Nein, ich glaube nicht. Warum nicht? Du verlierst so oft den spiel. Wohin gehst du jetzt, Helge? Ich gehe nach Hause. Trinkst du eine a Limo mit mir? Ja. (Admit it! Who wanted to be Helge because it was shorter?)

Does anyone remember the lines for Der Brieftraeger kommt?