Learning German: the classmates

As I said in previous posts: the classmates of the German courses are a very important issue on your leaning process, but also on sharing experiences as a foreigner in Germany, and to get to know other cultures and countries.

When I started the German course last month, as soon as I arrived I instantly made myself an idea of the people in the class. I was wrong, we always do this, but we are normally always wrong. I consider myself an open minded tolerant person, but after some weeks, when I got to know my classmates, I realise how wrong I was. And that I still have my cliches and prejudges, no matter how much I try to avoid them.

Let me explain myself. The first day I came into the class I saw 6 or 7 people and I instantly thought, they are all of Turkish origin. Two weeks later, yes, two weeks later, I got to know that just one of them is indeed Turkish. Two are Iranians, one is Syrian and another one is French.

And just recently I have been talking to them. You can't believe how interesting the conversations are. I am not saying that Turkish people are not interesting people to talk to. Not at all. But I created an automatic barrier, and I totally regretted it.

One told me how much he prefers to live in Germany and that he does not misses his country at all. On the other hand, the Turkish, she is a woman, she told me that back in Turkey she cannot go the university because she cannot wear the headscarf while attending classes. And that that's a problem for her. What could I say??? Should I be impolite enough to say, why don't you remove it altogether??

No matter how different the cultures and traditions are, it is very likely you end up sharing with them much more than you think. And even better, you communicate in German, not in English. Which is great for practising and correcting mistakes.

Today's class was about what we missed from our countries. The Turkish woman answered just some words and she did not want to be asked more, as she said that she was sure she was going to start crying.