An unforgettable journey in Germany

I have not come to realize how important it is to practice a foreign language until I had a certain experience.Indeed,I believe that having a knowledge of a certain foreign language,helps people to communicate effectively with each other.

Three years ago,I went to Germany on an official mission.At that time,I was just a secondary school pupil and my English was rather limited.Despite all that,I was so glad to live that amazing experience because it was the first time I visit a foreign country.I was ready to do my best and to use the English outside school.I took my dictionaries and I was waiting for the moment when I arrive to Germany to test my ability to communicate with foreigners in English.I was like a little girl waiting impatiently to go to the amusement park and at the same time,I felt I was going to represent my country.What a huge responsibility that would be ! What a challenge for me ! But, when we arrived to Germany,we faced the first problem;we had hard times to communicate with the German people because many of them,who welcomed us,were not good enough in English language.They hardly use it and few of them spoke French better than English at all.I was surprised how a European country could use neither the English nor the French language.So,I tried to simplify my English to make the communication easier.Since I was the leader of the group and the speaker.I held almost all the responsibilities.However,all the previous difficulties was not big problems comparing to another one which seems more serious.In fact,it was a serious responsibility indeed,when I remember that I laugh at myself because I was so serious,however the rest of my group were not.They were relying on me and I did not disappoint them.A day before we met the head and the members of the municipality of Plön,I could not sleep.I spent almost all the night preparing a good and formal presentation to show respect and appreciation to our German hosts.But,when I stood in front of the two groups:The Tunisian and the German,I was rather self-confident.I was able to talk about my country,to express our feelings of respect,appreciation and gratitude to the Municipality Council,and to get in return a warm applause.I kept thinking that without the English language none of those would have been achieved.

I became fully aware of the importance of English as a means for international communication in spite of the rather poor English of many of the German group members.I was able to get my message through using body language and simple English words.