A small group of people gather on the Casa Nueva stage Mondays at 6 p.m. to speak German over a plate of Mexican food.
Allen Flint, the organizer of the group, graduated from Ohio University in 2011 with a degree in German. When he came back to the Athens area in December, he noticed the conversation group that used to meet in the Mexican-style restaurant and bar when he was a student had disbanded.
Flint decided to reorganize the group and advertise outside of OU to bring Athens residents and students together and to learn German.
“My idea was to just open it up to anybody, students and non-students, and that way we have a bigger variety and also, maybe, a bigger turnout,” he said.
The club is still in its early stages. The turnout has not been large, Flint said, but there have been attendees from German classes and from outside of the university. His goal is to have more people from the city come to the meetings.
“I think it allows a different sort of perspective on the language because the kids here that are studying the language are … doing it in a formal setting,” he said. “The reasons that they’re learning the language or know the language could be vastly different from the students who are doing it specifically for education purposes.”
Flint took German classes his freshman and sophomore years of high school and decided to continue learning the language at the first university he attended, Franciscan University of Steubenville, located 40 miles west of Pittsburgh in Ohio. He attended Franciscan University of Steubenville before coming to OU. Franciscan University had a study abroad trip to Austria, a German-speaking country, which further instilled his desire to learn the language.
“Knowing a language is kind of a really good excuse to go travel,” Flint said. “It opens up a lot more doors.”
Habibe Temizsu, a visiting Ph.D. candidate of history, is from Turkey and learned the German language as a child growing up in Rainbach, Austria. Temizsu said she was impressed by the group and wanted to join.
“We remind each other of the words we forgot,” Temizsu said. “We share our memories about Germany or Austria.”
Drew Lawrence, a senior studying chemical engineering, is obtaining a minor in German because the language is more scientific, he said. Lawrence also studied abroad in Salzburg, Austria, and applied for a master's program in Germany. He said it was rewarding to converse with people whose native language is German.
He said coming to the conversation group is one of the best ways to learn the language and expand vocabulary.
“When you speak in class, it’s like a 10-second answer, or 30 seconds if you’re really into it,” he said.
The laid-back atmosphere of the conversation group allows people to be more open and comfortable speaking, regardless of a person’s knowledge, Flint said. A perk of the group, Flint said, is there is no one grading a person’s abilities, plus the members help each other out.
“It’s a very informal setting, and I think that … makes people feel more comfortable, more open to speak,” Flint said. “That’s how you learn language: the more you speak, the more you practice, the better you get. We don’t have access to that full on immersion, but it’s kind of a pseudo-immersion.”
