sprechen Sie deutsches?

It's 9.12pm and I have just returned from a 2 hour German lesson. It's a crash course that is designed to enable one to read German as soon as possible. I can't speak it, and certainly don't know any words that I might want to use in polite conversation, but I do know how to identify the verb, noun, subject, predicates, adjectives, adverbs, and objects of a German sentence. It's all about the formal structure, and how to use a dictionary to translate a sentence as quickly and efficiently as possible. We went in at the deep end, and translated 10 sentences during the first class (two weeks ago). I must say, it's one the most mentally exhausting things one can do...even more so for my Japanese friend! Though I have most pity for a girl in my class, in the first of a five-year PhD program, who has to have 6 languages..Greek, Hebrew, French, German, Aramaic, and Akkadian. She's doing the German class now, and has the last two still to come! Well, I'm going to go and sit up on the roof for 30 mins with a friend, before returning to my room to read for another 2 hours on politics and faith...oh the joy.