German Speaking Evening, anyone?

I've spoken to Malcolm the Spud about this before, but after reading the recent thread about learning German it came to mind again, so I thought I'd post about it to see if there is any interest from anyone else.

At work, we have a monthly "German speaking evening", where a group of us go to a restaurant for a meal, and speak German. Because everyone also speaks English, if I get stuck I can always change language - but it does give me the chance to have some good practice. The only real problem is that it's always the same people going, and it'd be nice to have a bit more variety.

Anyway, it struck me that this would make a good variation on the Munich Dining Club - because it's going to require a fair bit of organising (and it would be nice to host it in a selection of good German/Bavarian restaurants). Ideally each "group" would consist of at least two or three native German speakers, and the rest could comprise of non-native speakers who are interested in practicing their German. Ideally everyone should be able to speak English as well, although they should only resort to English when they get stuck.

Would the Munich Dining Club be interested in runninng such a venture (note that I've emailed them as well, so hopefully they'll respond soon)? Would anyone on these forums be interested in attending this sort of event?

Well, Munich Dining Club replied and said that they'd definitely be interested in giving it a try - but I suppose it really depends on how much interest there is from other people.

Apparently MDC usually has two tables, each with 6 people, with an even split between male and female. The 6-per-table rule sounds like a good idea, although I'm not sure that the male/female ratio is really so important - I tend to think of this as a much less formal thing than I envision the regular MDC meals (of course an equal gender mixture wouldn't hurt). I do think that each table should have at least one, ideally two native German speakers, though.

I'm not quite sure what the best way would be to handle the variation in speaking ability. I suppose it doesn't really matter that much, as long as people really try to stick to German as much as possible.

I suspect the difficult part would be trying to find some native German speakers who would be willing and interested in attending.

The native speaker problem could probably be covered by German boyfriends and girlfriends. Expecting correcitons might be a bit much though. It would help stop the usual lapse into pidgin German.

Also it would be a good idea to restrict the number of native english speakers, or at least make sure they're not all seated together - despite the best intentions, they usually end up speaking english by the end of the evening.

Good point, RuggedyMan - SOs should more than cover it. And I agree that we should expect corrections (although I'm sure there will be some). The idea is more to practice your current German rather than actually learn more (that's what lessons are for, after all).

Spud, I agree about splitting the native English speakers up somewhat, although hopefully it shouldn't be too bad. I'm assuming people will be going there specifically to practice their German, after all, and this will presumably be a bit more formal than our German evening through work.

and what about the native speakers who speak fluent german? they can certainly correct on some fronts and they would know why certain mistakes are made (false cognitives, verb placement etc.). i think my not-yet-maybe-will-never-be-ex-bf would enjoy this. if it's on a weekend, i would surely make it, otherwise i could ask him if he would go if it is during a weekday. sounds like a super idea aquatic.

Hmm great idea, my only concern would be being out of my depth.

Could we have table for newbies with people who are patient and understanding about having simple conversation? Where things go nice and slowly and not at the hectic manic pace of normal german?

Pootle

If oldies (37) are accepted, I'd be interested :wink:
And after our show at the Feierwerk is over, I'll even have time.

If other slightly older people (your not old at 37) are going and those of you born after 1970 don't mind, I would also like to come. If the venue were quite central, this would be advantageous as I don't like wandering around areas I'm not familiar with in the evening. I've just had my roots dyed therefore, I don't look too bad.
Opa is obviously fluent in Hoch Deutsch but as he travels frequently on business, I couldn't say if he would be able to assist or not. Maybe when we have a firm date established, I could let you know.

Ich Spreche Deutsche Gut! (Not).

So count me in!

count me in too. Meine Deutsche ich muß übungen

You can count me in as well ... I'll help out with the beginners!

Ladies and Gents, Boys and Girls,

it seems that this is quite a popular suggestion, so the MDC is going to go ahead and try an experimental German evening. We are thinking the first dinner should be the end of January or first week of February. This gives everyone time to return from their various homelands to which they'll undoubtedly be traveling for the holidays. The general format will be the same as our usual dinner evenings, i.e.:

*) A very, very nice restaurant - we've been to some good ones in the past, we've been to some mediocre ones, and we've been to some bad restaurants too. In 2003 we aim to only go to our very favourites. The restaurant will be one of those with whom we have a deal and have been chosen according to quality of food, friendliness of service, atmosphere, suitability for civilised conversation, reasonable price, and at a central city location.

*) About 12 guests in attendance - most likely two adjacent tables of 6. Everyone encouraged to go place hopping at half-time. Roughly two native (or very fluent) German speakers per table, the other guests will have varying degrees of German competency (incompetency).

*) All inclusive pre-paid dinner (à la carte 3 course meal, drinks, and service charge). Price: €35 to €39 depending on which restaurant. (If you think this is too expensive then http://munichdiningclub.com/about.html#3)

All that remains is to decide a date. I know that many of you have German lessons on weekday evenings. And most winter weekends are booked up with skiing trips. So which day of the week would be most desirable? Vote in the poll at the start of this thread.

If you're interested in joining this dinner evening, make sure to sign up with the MDC - see here: www.MunichDiningClub.com - and maybe mention this particular evening in the notes. Those who are "young at heart" welcome too! ;-)

Those who are joined up will receive the invites by e-mail about two weeks in advance of the dinner evening.

Cheers,
James.

Well, judging from the results of the poll there seem to be a lot of fish in this forum. Does that mean that this is the plaice to be? There are certainly some fairly in-depth discussions going on. It seems that once you start using the forum you quickly become hooked. Anyway, for those of you who are tired of talking to each other on the net you now have the oppor-tuna-ty to meet up in reel life. Munich Dining Club would like to invite all buoys and gulls to our first experimental German practice evening. The date has been set for Thursday 23rd of January. Join us for some wining, dining and unabaited German conversation. If you are already a member you will receive the details by e-mail within the next few days. Thankyou.

The dinner was nearly a week ago now, so how was it then? I know at least a couple of you people were at the dinner last Thursday. Did you speak German? Or did the evening lapse into English? And is it worth doing again? Actually, I don't know why I ask because we probably won't go for a repeat. The whole point of the dining club is to let English speaking folk have a natter in English for an evening. I think the German thing was an interesting experiment though.

I got stuck on the English-speaking table, but it was still fun.

Basically we came unstuck 'cos there were too many of us and not enough of them ... one solitary German amongst twelve doesn't go very far. Our table did generally stick to German, but it didn't help that one person couldn't speak or understand a word!

You should have said, and I could have swapped places with them! I have to wonder why someone who spoke no German would sign up for a "German speaking evening"...