The
last time I moved into a city where I didn’t understand a single word was in Nice,
France. I recall my first day as an
orthopaedic resident at the Hôpital St. Roch. The Chef du Service, Prof.
Elisabeth Lebreton requested me to assist her in performing a distal radial malunion,
which is considered a “difficult” surgery to begin with. Of course when I
applied for the position, I specifically mentioned that I did not speak, talk
or read French at all. Of course, from the first day she talked to me only in
French…”le Kocher! Donne moi le Kocher!” which, pronounced in the French
version, sound a bit like “la coscia” (i.e. the thigh). “Why should I give her
my thigh?” I remember thinking. It was a disaster. I was a disaster. I arrived
home that night in tears, frustrated and discouraged by her anger. I was ready
to give up, determined to go back the next morning and tell her that it was a
mistake. She greeted me with the most amiable smile and she told me that I did
really good and that I would be able to understand the language in a few
months. I spent hours at night learning the accents, the conjugation, the
vocabulary, the grammar. I started reading French literature in the original
language (thanks Asterix and Tin Tin). Of course it was never excellent, but in
a few months I was able to engage in a conversation and most importantly I was
able to understand the patients!!!
Here
it’s exactly the same. But, boy, this language is much harder! I thought that studying
Latin and Greek for 6 years and being able to speak and read French and English
could be an asset. Wrong. Not even a word…I anticipate arduous and irritating
moments (actually months) before I will be able to engage in a conversation.
An
example? Just get this:
Or this word: Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgeset
This
is not a joke. Literally, the word means “Cattle
marking and beef labeling supervision duties delegation law” and it is the longest known word in the German
language, surpassing
Grundstücksverkehrsgenehmigungszuständigkeitsübertragungsverordnung ("Regulation
on the delegation of authority concerning land conveyance permissions") which,
with its 67 letter, was repealed by the German Language Society in in
2007.
These are just a few examples of the virtually unlimited compounding of nouns that is possible in
this language. There is a funny video that explains how this compounding works:
Giuseppe
and I enrolled in an intensive class (1 hr ½ per day) with a tutor but we are
far away from understanding a conversation.
Then
again, I have a couple of years to learn the language...wish us good luck!
