German -- -- Language

Believe it or not, most of the people in Germany speak German, that is they speak something that someone calls German. True, a lot of them speak "Hochdeutsch" ('High' German), especially in public places. But when they can get away with it they usually speak a dialect of German. when I was here 45 years ago there were probably 5000 dialects that were each mutually incomprehensible, but now that they have had radio and television, and schools, to spread familiarity with Hochdeutsch there are a lot more who can speak the preferred form of the language.


This shows an ALDI store and the traffic that might be seen there during rush hour. We like ALDIs for most things. They started in Europe, and branched out to the USA.

Before we came here we were told that Frankfurt was one of the places where Hochdeutsch was more common. Maybe in the city, but not here a few miles out of town. The first day we went to church I was dumbfounded to find I couldn't understand anything. During the whole three hours I think I understood just a few dozen words - far too few to even give me an idea what they were talking about. I was pretty depressed by the end.

During the next week, however, an inspiration came to me in one word: "dialect." The day this inspiration came to me we arrived at work to find Herr Schaefer outside, and as we walked to the building we began a conversation. He owns the building in which we work, and we were told he couldn't speak anything but dialect even though he is very intelligent. Well, with the clue that I should be listing with flexibility for dialectal variation suddenly I understood him very well. It sounded like someone I might have spoken with 45 years ago.

So the second week in church was a different experience. This time I understood what the topic was and a whole lot of the discussion. Hard-core dialect still went past me, but the improvement was astounding. During priesthood instruction I understood almost everything the teacher said, and followed the others' comments well enough to recognize they had missed one of the main points.


View from our window through the roof of our house showing a hotel, a narrow but busy road, and across the road a park that was once part of the grounds of a hospital built here to take advantage of the mineral springs (i.e. Baths = "Bad")

For 45 years I have heard very little German. For a few months I have been reading, and have been amazed at how my ability to understand has returned. Listening or speaking, however are skills that are just now beginning to return. I spoke to the teacher after the priesthood lesson and pointed out what they had missed, and he understood my message and thanked me for it. Some time I expect to be able to think fast enough to add comments during the lesson rather than waiting until after.

Mom is going through what I call "the incubation period." That is the time when she doesn't really comprehend anything fully when she hears it, but the language is building a few new paths through the brain, and one day it will be surprising to her and others how her new language will just start to work.

Last Tuesday I had a conversation with a man who had spent his life studying neurology. Our discussion started as we were talking about the decreased ability of people to learn languages as they get older. He wanted to explain why from a neurological point of view, so we talked for a few minutes. He said that at birth our neurological system is preprogrammed with millions of potential connections, but almost nothing has been connected up. Through the first months and years of life connections are made to put a lot of those potential processes to work. By the end of the first year language is being formed, and it continues at a tremendous rate through the first five or six years.


View of a nice German house with our car in front. Grant is in the car.

This period of rapid neural development gives us the basic functionality of language, and though language development continues with things like new concepts and new words, the basic linguistic processes and many of the specifically cultural features of our language are already firmly rooted. This is when the neural system begins to purge some of the potential systems that have not been used. "Use it or lose it!" he said. The neurological system now turns to the development of other capabilities. (I remember years ago noting that this is the time when most of the forms of Linguistic humor develop.) By the age of 8 the brain is developing the connections that allow the sense of right and wrong to control action. Through the next years the purging of unused capabilities continues, and many will be lost forever, or recoverable only through long and difficul experiences. We are literally programming ourselves to be what we will be forever.


Another nice German house typical of the multi-dwelling homes.

I mentioned to him that in Ohio there is currently a case of a Ferrel Child - the mother had locked the girl in a closet, never spoken to her or given her any attention or provided any type of interaction with anyone - herself or others. She was about 7 when a neighbor saw her at a window, and a few months later she reported it to the Childrens services who found her and took her out of the home. Now, nearly two years later, there is no evidence of the development of linguistic ability. She does learn things, but has made no progress with language.


A road on our way to work lined by small trees. It will be very pretty in twenty years. Grant is standing by our car.

The fellow I was speaking with then took a few minutes to outline the neurological development through the next few years of life, the normal development through about 21 or 22. I wish I could remember all of the details, but it was something like this: By the age of eight, the brain has cleared out a lot of the neural capabilities that have not been used, and begins to turn to processes in which the stored knowledge is evaluated. During this time the individual begins to develop a value system that has been mostly non-eistent before, and begins to extend itself beyond real life experienses into the hypothetical. Throughout this time the purging of unused capabilities continues so we are really becoming what we think. There is also a growing tendence to learn through what one does rather than from just what one sees or hears about. This is going at full speed by the age of 19, and at this time the changes in the brain are triggered more by what the individual actually does - how he or she acts - than by what is known or believed, or the value systems they have previously borrowed from others. This lasts until about 21 or 22, and as it progresses the purging of the unused connections continues. This, he said, is why people's youthful actions have such a lasting effect on their lives.


Another view from our window showing a bus negotiating the narrow street.

After this explanation, he turned to me and said "God knows this, and He uses it. This explains why His church is run as it is." He then described the life of Joseph Smith, who had gone through a period of trying to establish his values to the point that at age 14 - just as his system of evaluating right and wrong was at its peak, when he could learn it most completely - he had his first vision. But then there were three years of waiting until he was ready to move on to the next phase with the translation of the Book of Mormon and other events of the restoration. He pointed out that each step in the prophet's life came exactly at the time when he was most ready for it and when it would have the longest lasting effect.

He talked about children being baptized at age 8, moving on to priesthood responsibilities and YW at 12, going on missions at 19. His conclusion was that if a Mormon youth participated in the church as the program provides, he or she would come through each phase of neurological development with the best possible advantages of each, and end up with a foundation that would remain for the rest of life.

GSH and PLMH