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diff --git a/docs/umich/f24_deutsch.md b/docs/umich/f24_deutsch.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a48e9c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/f24_deutsch.md @@ -0,0 +1,276 @@ +# 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) + + + +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, + + + + + +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 index 0898167..57ac0a3 100644 --- a/docs/umich/f24_wrapup.md +++ 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 Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b8385f --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/k7-draft.jpg diff --git a/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/k7-mosfet.png b/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/k7-mosfet.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1dd1e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/k7-mosfet.png diff --git a/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/zine-montage.jpg b/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/zine-montage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fba7368 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/umich/img/f24_deutsch/zine-montage.jpg diff --git a/docs/umich/index.md b/docs/umich/index.md index 56c58b4..c382f2d 100644 --- a/docs/umich/index.md +++ b/docs/umich/index.md @@ -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) |
