I’ve long been fascinated by the German language—both for its precision and ridiculously long words—but I’ve never sat down to analyse how I came to enjoy it. Based on recent research into the qualitative approach of autoethnography, I decided to offer my own oral account of learning German and how it has become a part of my identity.
If you listen hard, you may hear some persistent bird noises in the background—my apologies! Although I can gently encourage our pets to be quiet, I am powerless against the enthusiastic, wild ones that frequent the trees outside our window.
Links and Show Notes
- Ellis, C., and Bochner, A.P., 2000, ‘Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity: researcher as subject’, in N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edn, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage, pp. 733–769.
- Wiesbaden-Frauenstein in Hesse (Hessen), Germany (Deutschland)
- Our German ancestors Ludwig Heinrich Feld and Elisabeth Rheinberger, who were married eight days before sailing to Australia on the Reiherstieg, which left Hamburg on 3 April 1852 and arrived on 5 August 1852. The Reiherstieg was the 26th emigration ship from Hamburg in 1852. (I misstated the arrival date in the podcast—whoops!)
- Figtree High School
- Scholarships for Australian-German Student Exchange (SAGSE)
- Freiburg im Breisgau in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Gundelfingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Albert-Schweizer Gymnasium in Gundelfingen
- Hamelin (Hameln) in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany
- Pied Piper of Hamelin
- Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
- Munich (München) in Bavaria (Bayern), Germany
- Berlin, the capital of Germany
- University of Wollongong, Australia
- University of New England, Australia
- Goethe-Institut
- German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Australien)
- Duolingo
- Deutsche Welle
- Dieter Rams – Design Museum
- Jonathan Ive – Design Museum
- I could go on about this topic forever but decided to stop myself. In addition to my own experiences with the German language, my sister Jodie followed my footsteps into a cultural exchange with SAGSE. Coincidentally, she ended up spending her time in the very same city of Freiburg—only seven minutes by car from where I stayed. Truly, this is a weird Feld thing.
Lounge Ruminator 