I was sad and moaning about my German.
The other side of the circle is that I heard some positive comments about my German speaking. I try to avoid being too extrinsically motivated but the positivity is welcome after feeling that I'm screwing up everything. I met up with a group of friends and one noted that I've really come along since he last spoke with me.
I also started a new VHS class and spoke with some of the other students. They asked how long I've lived here and said that they were impressed at my level for being here two years. I speak about the same level that they do and they've been here 8-15 years but are not fluent.
I plan to take another class that starts in May. That class will overlap with my current class for a month and it will probably whoop my tush; I've done it in November and December and I was quite frazzled with three nights of classes per week plus one meeting with my tandem partner (in other words, I had an activity every work night). Oh well; I hope to be done with B1 and then go on to B2 this fall.
It's my goal to be complete C2 (which is the highest level for foreign speakers) within two years. I would be able to get it done faster if the classes were offered more often. Each level has two parts, so for example, there is B1.1 and B1.2. The levels run from A1 (absolute beginners) to C2 (fluent speakers; native speakers are D level). The cool thing about these levels is that they are recognized throughout the European Union; B1 level in Germany would be recognized the same that it would be in Spain, for example. I need to do some research and see how it is recognized in the US.
Even after I've completed C2, I can imagine that cashiers will still try to switch to English on me. I'll just have to make peace with that.
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