Practicing German with Apple’s Virtual Assistant, Siri
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Apple‘s iPhone it turns out is not only an esthetic jewel but also a helpful source for practicing some daily German!
My husband recently upgraded his iPhone to the latest version, and gave his old phone to our 10-year old, who has eagerly been waiting for calling an iPhone his own. He happily grabbed his prey, and for the next hour or so he seemed to have completely disappeared.
Looking all over the house for him we finally stopped short in front of his room. Behind closed doors we heard his voice and someone else’s. Surprised my husband and I drew closer wondering who had come to visit him. We certainly didn’t hear the doorbell ring.
Listening in to the conversation we heard him speak German!! The conversation went something like that:
“Hallo” – “Siri grüsst Dich ebenfalls.”
“Wie heisst Du?” – “Siri. Es ist mir ein Vergnügen.”
“Wie geht’s?” – “Mir geht es prächtig.”
“Bist Du ein Mädchen?” – “Ich verstehe nicht.”
“Bist Du ein Mann oder eine Frau?” – “Ist das relevant?”
“Was machst Du?” – “Ich mache die Hausaufgaben für meinen Weiterbildungskurs.” (eine eifrige Siri!)
“Was ist Deine Liebelingsfarbe” – “Meine Lieblingsfarbe…, naja, wie soll ich das in Deiner Sprache ausdrücken? Eine Art grün , aber mit mehr Dimensionen”
“Was ist dein Lieblingsessen?” – “Ich rede nicht so gerne über mich”. ODER Siri antwortet vorwurfsvoll: – “So was solltest du Deinen Assistenten eigentlich nicht fragen.”
“Wem gehörst du?” – “Entschuldigung ..das habe ich nicht verstanden.”
“Magst Du orange?” – “Das möchte ich lieber nicht sagen.”
“Hast du auch mal Bauchweh?” – “Das kann ich nicht beantworten.”
“Erzähl mir einen Witz” – “Zwei iPhones stehen an der Bar… Den Rest habe ich vergessen.”
Manchmal hat Siri aber auch einen Witz auf Lager, dann klingt das so: “Auf der Wiese: Schaf zum Rasenmäher: “Mäh!” Sagt der Rasenmäher: “Du hast mir gar nichts zu befehlen!”
After having been somewhat reluctant to hand our child another digital device I had to revise my opinion. Apart from practicing his speaking skills, he also listens to Siri’s pretty well pronounced German, and he can improve his writing as well since one can also read the answers in German on the display.
Of course, should you like to go beyond the basic German Q/A s, you might still want to consider taking a real German language course… 🙂
___________ Photo Credit: © Apple Inc..
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- How to best use Siri – Siri at a Glance (Apple website)
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