Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff Porschia Adler is co-winner of the Camarillo area spelling bee. She correctly spelled the German word Anschluss on Wednesday.

The winners of a spelling bee Wednesday in Camarillo triumphed on two German words likely to flummox the rest of us — Anschluss and schadenfreude.

Porschia Adler, 10, a fourth-grader at Carden Conejo School, a private school in Westlake Village, won with Anschluss. Cory Klingsporn, 13, a home-schooled student who lives in Oxnard, won with schadenfreude.

Porschia, who lives in Camarillo, explained her preparation this way: "I just sit there and memorize them basically. I'm really good at memorizing."

Cory, an avid reader, is particularly fond of British authors. So he has to check himself each time he spells a word, to make sure he's got the American version, he said.

"I tend to get used to British spellings," he said.

Porschia and Cory competed with 17 other students from public and private schools, mostly in Camarillo, in a spelling bee that went for 17 rounds at Dos Caminos School. The top two spellers now move on to the countywide bee next month.

For those who don't know what the winning words mean, perhaps some definitions are in order. Anschluss is a political or economic union, specifically Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938. Schadenfreude means taking joy in another's misfortune.

This bee also featured an unusual number of words associated with food from around the world. Students were asked to spell spaghetti, croquette, pistachio, tarragon, sukiyaki, mozzarella, sauerbraten, tomatillo, escargot, madeleine, basmati, tamarind and sarsaparilla, among other words.

Many of the parents in the audience were clearly as anxious as their kids, who actually had to spell those words. One mom beamed with relief each time her son spelled a word correctly. Others literally sat at the edge of their seats.

"I was so nervous, I was sweating," said Joel Adler, Porschia's father. "She was much cooler than I was."

This year, more than 160 local schools are participating in the bee, which is sponsored by the Ventura County Star, County Schools Federal Credit Union and county Office of Education. School winners move on to one of 10 area competitions.

Winners of the area contests will vie in the county finals March 10 at CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo. The countywide winner will go on to the 81st annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 29-30 in Washington, D.C. Scripps is the parent company of The Star.