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Chapter 7: GERMAN

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Having two nationalities is something special. As a small child, one doesn’t usually

appreciate that. Having mastered German, I struggled at first to learn my second language,

French, from my mother. The other children didn’t have to learn another language. As I got

older, however, I began to recognize the positive aspects of being bilingual and bicultural. I

began to feel more at home in both France and Germany, even though, interestingly, I

continued to feel a bit like a foreigner in both. I learned through time that it was possible to

take the best of both cultures and unite them in my personality, which has been very enriching

for me. From my perspective, this made me more open‐minded and curious about new

things. In today’s multicultural environment, being bicultural is certainly an advantage in life

because curiosity is the most important ingredient for success in discovering the world around

you. Living in multiple cultures is the most unique adventure you can have in your life.

Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Austin at Austin, Texas

REFERENCES

Fox, A. (2007). German Speech Acquisition. In S. McLeod (ed.). The International Guide to
Speech Acquistion (pp. 386‐393). Clifton Park, NY: Thompson Delmar Learning.

Fox, A. V., & Dodd, B. J. (1999). Der Erwerb des phonologischen Systems in der deutschen
Sprache. Sprache – Stimme – Gehör, 23, 183‐191.

IPA for German (n.d.). In Wikipedia, (October 17, 2013). Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_German

Maddieson, I. (1984). (October 17, 2014). Native Phonetic Inventory: German. The Speech
Accent Archive, Retrieved from
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_native.php?function=detail&languageid=24

Rintelman, Lauri. (2012, April 6). A Comparison of German and English. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/LauriRintelman/a‐comparison‐of‐german‐and‐english‐ 40
12296261.

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