German Proficiency Test

　　German used to be an essential subject in Japan's medical school. It's the traces of the fact that Japanese medicine was introduced from Germany in the latter half of 19th century and several German technical terms are popular even now in my department, general surgery. Not a few German words are used in our daily work, though it is not in the form of sentences, but simply words only, i.e. it doesn't require German skills.
　　I used to hate German due to its complex inflections of words. Moreover every noun has its own gender. I failed grammar and had to attend the same lecture twice. It was really humiliating for me. This fact was deeply inscribed in my mind and has always been psychological trauma since then. When my second daughter started learning German several years ago, I made up my mind to master German to some extent and began to learn it again. My daughter lived in Germany for a year to experience the German way of life, and I had opportunities to visit her city or to join the reception for the guests from Germany in my hometown. It might be a good motive for
continuous learning.
　　I took the official level check on German in June and the report came to me today. It was successful and I got the certification of middle class, that indicates I graduated at beginner level! Naturally, I'll aim for advanced level, though it might take a long time.

(Vocabulary)
traces of ～の名残
inflection [C](専門) (語の) 変化形, 活用形