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+# Fall 2024 Course Review: GERMAN 231
+
+2025-01-03
+
+Course Title: Second-Year German
+
+Rating: 3.5/5
+
+## Instructor (Meghan Looney)
+
+She is a graduate student and she is responsible. She spends a lot of time
+correcting our assignments, catching every single grammatical mistake,
+even if I proofread it three times.
+
+## Course topics
+
+- Grammar (Basically going over the same grammar I learned in GERMAN 103
+  all over again. It's boring :blobcat_eyeroll:)
+- Vocabulary (Kernwortschatz. Truth be told I never spent much time
+  reviewing them. I just rely on my gut sense when I do Quizlet Live and
+  Canvas quizzes)
+- Culture (That's one of the things I wanted to learn. What's on an
+  average German's mind?)
+
+### Books used
+
+- Franz Kafka, _Die Verwandlung_ (Metamorphosis), abridged easy reader
+  version. It was fucking expensive, like $40 something, and nobody sells
+  second hand either. I mailed the book back for a partial refund but
+  still. Can't have shit in America
+- Nora Krug, _Belonging_ / _Heimat_. Bought the English version to read at
+  home, then we read the German version together. It's about a German who
+  moved to the US and did research on her family history, only to find
+  that her grandfather was in the Nazi party, but didn't directly kill
+  anyone.
+
+### Other media
+
+- _Nika, Lotte, Mangold!_: Comic book about three kids with a lot of
+  colloquials.
+- _Felix_: Movie about boy who learns sign language just to date deaf
+  girlfriend. Kinda emotional.
+- _Neuland_: Movie about refugees who start a new life in Switzerland with
+  the help of an integration school. Too busy, didn't watch it whole.
+- _Masel Tov Cocktail_: Movie about Jewish German student who punched
+  a racist, informed the viewers of the rise of antisemitism in Germany
+  (fuck the AfD), then kicked the racist again.
+- "Erlkönig": Lyrics by Goethe, music by Schubert. About a boy who was
+  tempted, touched, and killed by the elf king.
+- _Phoenix_: Movie, set some time after WWII, mentions concentration
+  camps. Too busy, didn't watch it. Probably should have.
+
+### Notable assignments
+
+- 3 Deep Dives, each one is a movie or some German media that takes ~2
+  hours. Mine are:
+    - _Sissi_ (1955): My mother likes the movie but I don't approve the
+      lack of agency Sissi and Nene had over their marriage or lack
+      thereof.
+    - _Der Untergang_ (2004): Probably the most famous German movie of the
+      21st century. I looked up the script, and now I finally understand
+      what is actually “我到河北省来” (und doch habe ich allein).
+    - [_Be-troit_ (2018)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOSwjlJO-xg):
+      Documentary of a group of Berlin musicians who travel to Detroit to
+      collab with local hip hop artists.
+- Geo-Referat: A presentation about a German-speaking city. Our group
+  chose Bremen, and I talked about the Bremen town musicians.
+- Letter to Nora Krug: What do we think of her book.
+
+## The "töt dich" incident
+
+One day we were talking about the du-imperativ. Basically, to tell someone
+to go, you say "geh", because the du-inflection of "gehen" is "gehst" and
+you take away the "st". This is all good.
+
+If a verb gains an Umlaut in the du-inflection, the imperative loses it.
+For example, "schlafen" — "schläfst" — "schlaf".
+
+However, if the verb infinitive already has an Umlaut, do you get rid of
+it? Meghan says yes, I say no.
+
+So, to make a point, I interrupted her to ask:
+
+> In the hypothetical case where I tell someone to kill themselves, do
+> I say "tot dich" or "töt dich"?
+
+:floofload: :floofnervous: :floofscared:
+
+OK, so judging from Meghan and everyone's response, that was
+inappropriate. Right before the class ended, I raised my hand and
+apologized:
+
+> I would like to apologize. I just wanted to make a point, and it wasn't
+> a good one.
+
+My apology was accepted.
+
+### Aftermath
+
+The next day I visited Laura Okkema in her office, and told her how
+I messed up. She said an apology is the best I could do, and I did the
+right thing. She knew I would never say that in real life, but it was
+early September and my classmates didn't know me that well.
+
+Also, I'm right, it's "töt dich".
+
+I said,
+
+> If you wanna be an incel, at least be correct.
+
+The next morning I come to the classroom, and at one random point
+I corrected Meghan again. She said,
+
+> Fred, your 103 professor came to me yesterday and told me that if you
+> correct me, you're probably right and I'm probably wrong.
+
+I was flabbergasted. I felt like a little kid being wronged at school but
+the principal was my mom. The more I talk with Laura, the more of
+a motherly figure she seems to be. Help am I being Oedipus'd??
+
+### Reflection
+
+Yes, this is a mistake. But I will only make it once. I'm proud of myself
+for apologizing.
+
+In EECS 496, there was a lecture about allyship and how to be a nice
+person in general. A classmate asked (paraphrased):
+
+> If a word that I find innocent offends someone, am I a jerk?
+
+The lecturer didn't come up with an answer the classmate was satisfied
+with, so I replied,
+
+> I think I have an answer to your question. A litmus test to tell if
+> you're the jerk is, do you apologize?
+
+It's true that people sometimes find random words in day-to-day language
+offensive, and I can't claim I agree with all of them. However, if I utter
+something to someone and they find it offensive, I have two choices:
+
+- Be defensive about it and laugh at them for being so sensitive.
+- Acknowledge that you care about them, and apologize.
+
+One makes you a jerk, one doesn't. Which is which is left as an exercise
+for the reader.
+
+## Letter to Nora Krug
+
+_Heimat_ is a book about some messed up history. Basically, Nora Krug digs
+through some archives and finds that her family tree was, like, half
+Nazis, despites attempts at whitewashing. Like, the story goes in her
+family that some guy (forgot who) would refuse to say "Heil Hitler", but
+instead say "Drei Liter" and nobody found out.
+
+Her uncle — who died fighting in the SS — wrote some racist shit as a kid,
+like "Jews are like poisonous mushrooms", clearly a rhetoric adapted from
+some propaganda piece. Is he to blame? Or is it the propaganda? Who gets
+to decide when someone is supposed to learn morals to be held accountable
+for their actions? And in a fascist regime, is it possible to have morals
+at all?
+
+My letter goes:
+
+> Sehr geehrte Frau Professor Krug,
+
+> ich bin ein Student an der University of Michigan. Dieses Semester habe
+> ich für einen Deutschkurs Ihr Buch »Heimat« gelesen. Manchmal fand ich
+> etwas lustiges und lachte darüber (z.B. Struwwelpeter), aber öfter taten
+> mir der Text und die Bilder leid. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, was für
+> ein schreckliches Leben Ihre Familie erfuhr.
+
+> Im Klassenzimmer diskutierten wir darüber, was uns aufgefallen ist. Ein
+> Thema konnten wir niemals umgehen — die Nazis. Sie haben es entdeckt,
+> und es zugegeben, dass viele Verwandte von Ihnen leider die Nazis
+> unterstützt hatten.
+
+> Ihr Onkel Franz-Karls Hausarbeit hat uns besonders überrascht. Nicht nur
+> die Nazisymbole, sondern auch der Aufsatz, den die Juden mit Giftpilzen
+> verglichen. Eine Person in der Klasse sagte etwas wie: „unglaublich, er
+> war nur ein Kind, warum konnte er so rassistisch sein!“ [1]
+
+> Sie hatte Recht. Heute kennen wir das Hakenkreuz als ein verbotenes
+> Symbol, weil der Zweite Weltkrieg schon vorbei ist und die Nazis
+> verloren. Im Rückblick ist alles klar: die Nazis waren rassistisch und
+> verdienten die Niederlage. Aber wenn man damals geboren wurde, konnte
+> man das nie  wissen.
+
+> Ich frage mich oft: „Was wissen wir heute nicht? Wer würde Hitler II
+> werden und uns alle umbringen? Und was könnten wir tun, wenn wir das
+> finden, dass wir ihnen geholfen haben?“ Ich habe Angst davor, dass die
+> Geschichte sich wiederholen würde.
+
+> Ihr Buch ist eine prima Vorlesung davon. Manchmal muss man den Bösen
+> helfen. Das Geld, das ich für die Uni bezahle, hilft bei den Bomben, die
+> auf Gaza abstürzen. Darüber kann ich nichts tun. Aber ich suche immer
+> einen kleinen Protest dagegen. Einen „Drei Liter“.
+
+> Mit freundlichen Grüßen,  
+> Ihr  
+> Frederick Yin
+
+> [1] This can be attributed to Lauren (paraphrased).
+
+I didn't actually end up sending this to Krug because I didn't even finish
+the book (we only read the first half), but personally, I believe my
+letter deserves a place on the bulletin board next to »Das
+Beamermännchen«.
+
+## Zine
+
+Finally, it's time to talk about the Z I N E!
+
+So we took a lecture to write a rough draft, and incrementally revised it
+throughout the semester, and finally we would submit a final version.
+
+Did I overcompensate for the lack of creativity over the semester? Yes.
+
+Here's mine: [Zine PDF](https://fkfd.me/static/deutsch-231-zine.pdf)
+
+![Montage of Zine, pages in different
+colors](img/f24_deutsch/zine-montage.jpg)
+
+There's seven chapters and the last one got me gobsmacked.
+
+> Pick an animal you would like to be for a day. […] Start with drawing
+> a picture of the animal you want to be for a day. Then, describe a day
+> you are would have as the animal you picked.
+
+_help now everyone will know im a furry can't beat those allegations_
+
+So anyway,
+
+![An anthro cat with googly eyes drawn on paper. An arrow points at him
+labeled "0 IQ"](img/f24_deutsch/k7-draft.jpg)
+
+![Basically same thing but digital. Three things are prohibited:
+integration, Python, and MOSFET (the schematic
+symbol)](img/f24_deutsch/k7-mosfet.png)
+
+There is an easter egg in the chapter. Can you find it?
+
+Anyway, I closed the Zine with this remark:
+
+> mit meinen eigenen zwei Pfoten gezeichnet
+
+(drawn with my own two paws)
+
+Meghan nominated my Zine for the Kothe-Hildner Prize for a chance to win
+$150 (thanks!) I also showed it to Laura and gifted her a copy (I had to
+bolt to my therapy session but she wasn't done reading it so I just let
+her keep it). It didn't win the prize (I read the three winning entries
+and boy the bar sure is high), but I still love what I made.
+
+### Typesetting and exporting
+
+Initially I made everything in Krita, exported the pages to PNGs, then
+merged them in a PDF. It turns out the PDF was astronomically large (like
+40 MiB), so I tried JPGs. But then the text was all blocky.
+
+I said "fuck it" and basically exported layer-by-layer, imported all of
+the images (like the Mosfet you saw above) into LibreOffice Writer, and
+re-typeset everything with textboxes. It was so painful.
+
+## Verdict
+
+Overall, I learned a lot about German culture and history, and I have
+a more informed opinion on German politics (fuck AfD in case it wasn't
+clear).
+
+The Deep Dives were incredibly helpful. They forced me to sit down and
+immerse myself in German. The Zine was also fun.
+
+I did not enjoy spending a significant portion of my time going over
+grammar for the second or third time. This time could be better spent
+discussing topics of value, like why the hell Germans like sour bread.
+Like, Plusquamperfekt isn't that useful anyway.
diff --git a/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md b/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md
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+++ b/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ horror stories, and poetry. If this semester had a tagline, it would be
 - [TC 496 (full course code TCHNCLCM 496): Advanced Technical
   Communications](./f24_tc496.md)
 - [EECS 496: Major Design Experience Professionalism](./f24_eecs496.md)
-- GERMAN 231: Second-Year German
+- [GERMAN 231: Second-Year German](./f24_deutsch.md)
 
 ## Notable gains
 
diff --git a/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/k7-draft.jpg b/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/k7-draft.jpg
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diff --git a/docs/umich/index.md b/docs/umich/index.md
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@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ so basically i live in ann arbor now
     - [EECS 473, Advanced Embedded Systems](f24_473.md)
     - [TC 496: Advanced Technical Communications](f24_tc496.md)
     - [EECS 496: Major Design Experience Professionalism](f24_eecs496.md)
-    - GERMAN 231: Second-Year German
+    - [GERMAN 231: Second-Year German](f24_deutsch.md)