Reader from Germany on Glenn's blog

Image by crackdog via FlickrThere is a reader from Germany on my blog.  My ancestry is mostly German and my father's first language was German.  He didn't learn to speak English until he went to school.  During his first day at school his teacher would strike him every time he spoke German which made his life difficult because he could not speak a word of English.  Eventually he learned to speak English but he never learned to like school.  He left at 8th grade when given the choice.  I would like to some day learn to read a little German just so I could read the letters we have from our relatives.