Deutsch: language shock
On the train to Zürich today, it wasn't until I was less than an hour from my destination (and hence well inside the German part of Switzerland), that I noticed that the overwhelming majority of my fellow passengers were speaking in German. And it was only then that a scary realisation dawned on me, and hit me rather unexpectedly: this is my first time in the German-speaking world! And guess what: my German absolutely sucks! The last time I studied German, it was nearly 10 years ago, and I was too busy throwing paper aeroplanes around the room to have paid attention to the teacher. So apart from counting to 100 and saying a few basic words, I basically can't speak a word of the language. This is the first time on this trip (and in my life), that I've been in a country where I can't even begin to guess what people are saying around me, in the official language of their land. And it's really quite scary. Ach shizer!
Although I did study it briefly in my first year of high school — and although I've been exposed to small droplets of it throughout my life — German is basically the most unfamiliar language that I've been confronted with on this trip. It's not like English (although apparently it's in the same "language group"), which is my native language. It's not like Spanish, which I've studied and practiced extensively over the past year, and in which I'm now semi-fluent. It's not like French, which I've studied and been exposed to a fair bit throughout my life. And it's not like Italian or Portuguese, both of which are similar enough to Spanish, for my Spanish to be of help in my understanding them when they're spoken. It's a whole new ball game.
On the other hand, the (rather small) German-speaking world is renowned for having excellent English-language skills; so I really don't have much to worry about. I'm already finding that the majority of people on the street, here in Zürich, are at least semi-fluent in English; and from what I hear, it's safe to expect that English-speakers will continue to abound throughout my travels in the Germanic world. That's a pleasant change from Italy, where almost nobody speaks even half-decent English. It's also a nice contrast with France (which I'm not visiting on this trip, since I've already been there, and since I can't stand their out-rrrageous accents :P), where they simply refuse to speak English as a matter of principle.