The Secret to Mastering the German Language
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
You may have been told (even by me when I get frustrated) that learning German is difficult. Well, I'm here to refute such statements. German is easy. Why? Because there is only one German word you'll ever need to know, and that word, ladies and gentleman, is:
Learn it...
...Master it...
I have gleaned this information from colleagues here in Stuttgart, picture the scene: I'm sitting here trying to understand what the folks around me are discussing and there's one word that pops up in (seemingly) every sentence and used in (apparently) every context. That word, naturally, is "genau".‘Genau’
It matters little what this word actually means (it actually translates as "exactly" but that doesn't really matter), use it as often as possible. Use it even when it appears to make no sense:
Bob : Hallo Fritz! Wie geht's?
Fritz : Danke, es geht mir genau...
Also, use it when you have nothing else to say, and when you agree with, disagree with, or are indifferent to a comment someone has just made. Genau.
Learn it...
...Master it...
...Abuse it.
