Rediscovering German with Peloton and ChatGPT apps
When Sunday morning called for a workout, I opened my Peloton app. Only one class met my very specific requirements and it was in German! As an adventurer and lifelong learner, I wondered if I could follow along, given my rusty German; but knowing my fellow Synadia n's David Gee , Brian Flannery and Michael Roeschter would be attending SUSECON in Berlin this week alongside our friends at SUSE , I saw the solidarity and I jumped right in.
The highly visual class with the Peloton Interactive mobile app made it easy to follow and engaged my body and brain while decoding the German instructions.
One standout word was "geschafft," which the instructor used at the end of each exercise. I remembered the sense and pride of accomplishment from hearing “geschafft” from my German teacher when growing up in Poland. “Geschafft” is the past tense of the fascinating verb “schaffen” that has two interrelated meanings around action and success.
Curiosity piqued. ChatGPT (with its new features) listened to my questions on the meanings of "schaffen" in German. Here’s what I learned.
The German verb "schaffen" has two primary meanings:
- To create or to make: In this sense, "schaffen" describes the act of creating, making, or producing something. For example, "Er schafft ein neues Kunstwerk" means "He is creating a new artwork."
- To manage or to succeed: Here, "schaffen" expresses our ability to achieve something or accomplish a task. It often implies overcoming difficulties. For example, "Ich schaffe es rechtzeitig" translates to "I will make it on time" or "I can manage it on time.
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It’s this latter description the German Peloton instructor leaned on. “Geschafft” after completing the exercise signaled to us: “well done” or “we got there. We’re complete.”
Only when I dug deeper did I remember the versatility of this fantastic verb, which is super helpful in business and regular conversation. Like any great technology or software, it can do many things.
For instance, the conjugation of "schaffen" in the past tense changes, depending on its meaning.
Weak conjugation (regular): When "schaffen" is used "to create" or "to make," it follows the regular conjugation pattern:
- Imperfekt (simple past): "schaffte" (e.g., "Er schaffte ein neues Bild" - "He created a new picture.")
- Perfekt (present perfect): "hat geschafft" (e.g., "Er hat ein neues Bild geschafft" - "He has created a new picture."
Strong conjugation (irregular): When "schaffen" means "to manage" or "to succeed," it is conjugated irregularly:
- Imperfekt (simple past): "schaffte" (e.g., "Ich schaffte es, rechtzeitig anzukommen" - "I managed to arrive on time.")
- Perfekt (present perfect): "hat geschafft" (e.g., "Ich habe es geschafft, rechtzeitig anzukommen" - "I have managed to arrive on time.")
Here’s a short video of diving into the nuances of the German verb "schaffen" with ChatGPT.
My Peloton workout in German taught and reminded me three things that day.
- ChatGPT’s come so far and helped me understand the nuances of the verb "schaffen" and its strong and weak forms while providing me a vital brush-up session in my third of five languages I’ve learned throughout my life. (In Poland, most kids learned German.)
- A gen AI bot would have helped me so much as a kid growing up in Poland trying to learn German. Imagine every curious kid accessing a patient German teacher (via a mobile phone app) answering with less shyness their questions on the intricacies of a foreign language vs. waiting for their weekly class.
- Technology remains an incredible tool for us to continue learning and rediscovering skills in fun, unexpected ways. I’m 15+ years into my career in technology, engineering, and now marketing—and I continue to feel in awe and amazed.
Looking forward to more German Peloton classes and keeping my curiosity alive! Thanks to my German Peloton instructor Marcel Maurer for reminding me of a language I’d never lost and continue to learn from, even today.
#LanguageLearning #German #Peloton #NeverStopLearning #TechInEducation #ChatGPT #Synadia #SUSE #SUSECON #genAI
Great job with your German practice! As a native speaker, I can tell you there's a third, typical German use of "geschafft." When someone asks "Wie geht's?" ("How are you?"), people say just one word: "Geschafft," meaning "I'm exhausted." It's funny how the negative meaning comes to mind immediately – very German! But it's perfect to use after a tough Peloton workout! Keep up the great work! 😊💪
The Codefather
3dIn South Germany theres also the noun "Schaffer" present - a person thats very diligent
Category Manager & Art Director at SebaKMT® (Megger Germany GmbH) | Graphic-Design, Adobe Creative Suite, Corel
2wThis is not a 🇩🇪 posting...
🌟 What a brilliant way to combine fitness and language learning! Using AI to rediscover German during workouts is both innovative and motivating. Justyna Bak
Principal Product Manager
3wJustyna, your posts may be the only ones I read fully in LinkedIn. I tend to skim most posts (including my own!) that tend to be more corporate rehashes. But you just seem to have a different perspective, technology for simple practical purposes including just simple everyday life. Some of my favorite uses for ChatGPT was just for my 3rd grader who was struggling some with reading comprehension, just making niche silly stories about some favorite show characters (avatar last airbender) with comprehension questions. It’s still work, but slightly less mundane. Anyhow, keep up the practical application purposes for tech posts, it’s a nice intersection of explanation and real life. Enjoyed your Synadia explanation also. We used NATS for a proof concept earlier in the year, it’s impressively lightweight and a pretty viable alternative to Kafka for our purposes.