Kultur 5

The article about women in Germany was very interesting because I couldn't help but compare it to the little I know about French culture. I'm not by any means an expert but it seems to me that when it comes to women in the workplace the French are a little more sexist. I think this is the same in German but in France there are different names for male and female professions. For example, a male postal worker is facteur but a female postal worker is factrice. Also, the French sometimes are very typical and refuse to make any distinction at all in the word spelling and simply add "femme (woman)" to the end of the profession to make the distinction. (Example: un ingénieur (male engineer), une femme ingénieur (female engineer)) This however differs in French speaking parts of Canada where they have adopted different spellings for female occupations. Obviously we don't have a distinction like that for most professions in English. I know there isn't perfect gender equality here, but I like to think that it's pretty close. I've read articles that suggest thinking differs from language to language. Like that article we read earlier said a German speaker may think of bridges as beautiful and elegant because bridge is a feminine noun but to a French speaker bridges might be powerful and sturdy because bridge is a masculine noun to them. I'm not calling these languages sexist of course, but it does make me think that gender inequality may stem from these simple nouns.
Anyways, I think this is a great achievement for German women. It really amazed me to learn how progressive women are as far as getting an education and entrepreneurship. It's comforting to hear that there isn't much of difference in earnings between men and women. There is a difference, but it's rather slim, 99% wasn't it? It reminded me of an interview I heard of a woman, Lilly Ledbetter, who held a position at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company  in Alabama. She shared the highest position in the company with two other men but was paid significantly less just because she was a woman. She calculated that she had lost out on an enormous sum of money because of pay discrimination. Eventually the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into affect because of her story.

Kapital 5- Kultur-Texte

For my Kapital 5 assignment I read about flirting in Germany, and how hard it can actually be to "hook-up" with a German if you are a foreigner.  Due to the differences in culture, it is especially hard for an American man or woman to properly attract the attention of a German woman or man.  There is however, a proper way to flirt in Germany and it is up to the foreigner to learn this way if he or she wants to succeed in having an international relationship.  For the most part, us guys show interest by way of a studied, concentrated look.  The look should be brief and fleeting -- and then the man's job is done.   It is important not to come up to the girl asking, "Hey baby, want to dance?" as this is seen as being overly forward/aggressive and will put the German female out of her comfort zone.  It is then up to the female to decide if she wants to come up to him or ignore him, because with German-on-German flirting, the power rests solidly with the Fräulein. 

It is important to recognize the differences between your own country's take of flirting when compared to Germany's.  If you are able to find the differences and adjust to them while visiting there, you may just have a shot of picking up a German man or woman, depending on whatever floats your boat.

Kultur 5

I think it's interesting that the articles said flirting in Germany is so subtle, but that the sex shops are so open.  In America, it's the opposite.  Flirting here is extremely overt, to the point of sometimes being vulgar.  However, here people are very shy about porn and sex shops.  I've never really liked how America at large treats the whole sex issue, because it seems very hypocritical--people are judgmental of sexuality, but still condone the hook-up culture.  I think I like the German view of it better.

AMD 5

For AMD 5, I chose to write about the Wikipedia article on Denglisch, and how the influx of English words has made an impact on the German language.  Much like the importation of Latin and French words in the past, the importation of English words has made the German language much more expressive, much like how Spanish and French words have impacted the English language here in America.  Germans mainly except an English word if it represents something that a proper German expression can’t because it doesn’t exist; mainly due to the fact that most newly introduced English words are expressions from the modern world and are as new to English speakers as they are to German speakers.  Words such as “computer,” “I-pod,” and “software” are all English in nature and unlike the other languages, the German language takes these words as they are, without finding a translation for them.

As I had said earlier, this is much like how the English language in America easily adapts words that come from other languages; words such as "taco" and "guitar" from the Spanish language, and words like "brunette" and "cafe" from the French language.  Perhaps it has something to do with the Germanic tribes that German and English came from that explains this eagerness to adapt other nations' words.

AMD 5

     For this AMD I decided to see what Reddit had to offer about Germany. There are many subreddits that are helpful from a linguistic and cultural standpoint. For example, some Germans will post things like, "As a German, this is how I imagine American teenagers" and then a ridiculous, satirical post will follow.
      Other posts are questions submitted by Americans or other non-Germans and  a wide variety of answers are provided. For example the question "What would be the German equivalent to 'I know, right?'" and several answers such as "Aber echt!" and "Ja, total!" were given. Now, I'm taking a leap of faith and trusting the internet here, I'm not sure it's always right, but it's nice to think that it is. Some people ask advice about where to travel to Germany and where can you get the best beer in Austria, etc.
     A subreddit that caught my eye is called Learn a New Language - German. Most of the posts on this subreddit tend to be about grammar and general questions about the German language.

     Have you ever wondered what a German safety video is like? Better yet, have you ever pondered the do's and don'ts of forklift operation? Well, if you're not squeamish today is your lucky day. (Seriously. This is not for the faint of heart. This video is extreme. NSFW (literally). Perhaps this is an example of crazy German humor. But yes, it's crazy. I can't tell if it's serious or not. I did learn a lot though.)
Forklift Driver Klaus

AMD 5

For this AMD, I decided to watch the movie, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days. I have been learning about Fascism and Authoritarian leaders in both my History and Political Science classes recently so this movie interested me greatly. The movie is based off of the true story of Sophie Scholl, her brother, and many of their accomplices who were a part of the anti-Nazi White Rose in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. This movie chronicles the last days of Sophie Scholl's life as she was captured, tried, and executed by the Nazis.
The plot of the movie is that Sophie Scholl and her brother decide to post anti-Nazi fliers around their university. Unfortunately, they are captured. At first, they both deny having posted the fliers. However, eventually Sophie cracks and admits to the crime. Instead of pleading for mercy, Sophie bravely argues the wrongs of Nazism to some of the top officials of the Party. She rooms with a captured Communist woman who helps her get through the whole ordeal. Sophie and her brother refuse to give up the names of their accomplices, but the Nazis decide to arrest a man named Christoph Probst just to weaken their spirits.
Eventually, the three of them are tried in court. Probst pleas for his life and freedom because he has a wife and three young children. Sophie and her brother, however, argue against the whole Nazi process in front of the high court and many high generals. They tell them that every Nazi in the room will eventually be sitting in a court pleading for their lives. Probst and the two Scholls are sentenced to execution that day.
I liked the movie very much. It was cool to be able to see what I am learning in my other classes in a film and to have it be in German. Watching a movie that took place in Germany in German definitely makes it feel more authentic. I would recommend this movie to anyone.

AMD 5

For this weeks AMD assignment i decided to watch one of the most famous German movies of all time. There was only one problem though the whole movie was in German which means i retained about 30-45% of everything that was said. The name of the movie is Das Boot which directly translates to the boat. The main plot of the movie was easy to follow. It is told from the viewpoint of Lt. Werner who has just been assigned war correspondent on the German Submarine U-96. To make a long story short the boat just rips around the ocean and sinks convoys. Allied forces bomb the submarine while it was stopping to rearm and refuel with a German merchant ship the SS Wesser. To be completely honest I wasnt a big fan of this movie even if it was in english I dont think I would care for it. However it was a good experience to see what normal german dialogue is truly like.

AMD5

Ich habe der Artikel "Denglisch" gelesen.

I never thought of other languages having a term for the mixing with English in the same way that Spanish does with "Spanglish."  Probably because here in the States we encounter Spanglish more than we would encounter Denglisch.  It was interesting to me to read how a lot of German speakers resisted the trend towards incorporating English much in the same way that many Americans resist the inclusion of Spanish in the vernacular.

I think this trend is an example of how the world is changing as it becomes more globalized.  This is indicated simply by the types of words that are Denglischized, which are mostly computer terminology. Computers, and more specifically the internet, have become the hub for cultural transmissions, so it makes sense that most of the mergings of language would happen around computers.

AMD 5

I found the Denglish article to be very interesting.  German is like English in that it accepts words from other languages. That is one of my favorite features of these languages, a feature I believe are weaker for not having.
When I started reading, I thought it was funny that more instances of German words appearing in English.  Then I realized that a great deal of English vocabulary comes from the same place as German.  In fact, up until 1066, the version of English spoken, Old English, was closer to German than modern English.  I cant wait to try to read Beowulf again in the original Old English once I've learned a little more German.
The advertisements made in Denglish are quite interesting, and reveal a lot about how interconnected the German economy is with those of other nations.  Advertising agencies even display employment ads in English to stress that knowing English is a job requirement.
The last sentence of the article was of particular interest to me, the code-switching book.  As borders continue to become less and less defined, the prevalence of code-switching seems poised to keep growing.  I wonder when it will hit a critical amount that the worlds languages begin to blend into one.

AMD 5

For AMD 5 I read the wikipedia article on Denglish -- English creeping in on the German language. I find it interesting that German seems to be more susceptible to adopting foreign words than other language and cultures seem to be. As the article says, and as we read about in past Kulture readings, and of course as we encounter as we learn new words, German has a lot of words borrowed from both French and English.

It's interesting to me that most of this English influence appears in technology and advertising. If they borrow an item from America -- Microsoft computers, fast food, even facial cream -- they borrow the name, too, rather than coming up with something new. And a lot of it seems to do with convenience, for example, using "gedownloadet" rather than "Aktualisierungen werden heruntergeladen". It's easier to write and easier to say.

I can understand those who are upset about these changes, though. As a native speaker of English, I've always felt some sort of strange connection with the language and I've taken the time and effort to learn how to use it correctly, and I appreciate when others do the same. It also kind of breaks my heart when people don't do the same, (u, ur, 4, 2, r, etc. all kill me) so I definitely get why some people are resisting the change. Change in language, however, has and will always be occurring, no matter how much myself and others may want to resist it.

I also found this article amusing because I find the opposite happening in my own life as I'm learning German. The best way for me to make things stick is by using those words or phrases frequently. I refer to my cat as kleine Katze always, and my boyfriend hates when I litter my sentences with new German words he doesn't understand.

The two language, although very different, have enough similarities to really lend themselves to integrating unintentionally with each other.

AMD 4

For AMD 4, I decided to follow the suggestion and check out livemocha.com. I set up an account and started clicking around and immediately fell in love.

I chose the "study" option rather than the "conversation" option to start, but I'm definitely interested in checking out their conversational resources later. The first thing I noticed and really liked are the additional tips in English that accompany each new word or phrase. These little one or two sentence bits are really helpful, especially to clarify any confusion that may arise from interpreting the phrase from the given photo. I really like the method of associating a picture with a word or phrase. I also really like that you can pick and choose vocab from each section once you've completed it to sort and save into different flashcard decks. This makes it super easy to study smart by being able to focus on only the words I'm really struggling with, which is the only complaint I've had about the ctools flash cards.

The review lessons were also really helpful. The cover the vocab in every way! There are questions where you hear the phrase in German and have to match the correct picture and questions where you hear the phrase in English associated with a photo and have to choose the correct German phrase. There are questions where you have to read the German phrase and choose the correct photo. Making all of these different associations and practicing seamless translation has really helped these words and phrases stick, which is great because I feel vocab has always been my greatest struggle. I understand how to put sentences together in theory in my head, but I sometimes have trouble finding the words to say it!

The writing section is also really helpful. Its great to get feedback from native speakers and other people learning on the website! Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to record the speaking part, but I did practice the phrases, which was nice practice, but it would be better if I could figure out how to get some feedback!

Overall, I really like livemocha.com and would recommend it to anyone trying to learn a new language.  The social aspect of it makes it a really efficient way to practice within a community, which is super helpful if you're learning a language independently and great additional practice to formal instruction.

AMD 5

For this AMD I decided to change my phone's language to Deutsch. It got very annoying since when I tried to text, the auto correct change everything to German. Needless to say, my friends didn't understand what I would text. Most of the words were easy to infer what they meant. Such as Telefon, Kontakte, and Kamera. I was surprised how many words are in English like Bluetooth, GPS, and Display. For some reason those stayed in English. I could understand most words like Mobilfunkdaten is mobile data or Flugmodus is airplane mode. It was easy to change the language back to English so that was good.

AMD 5

For my 5th AMD assignment i listened to and reserched the orgins of the German national anthem, and was pleasently supprised at how much i could understand. The anthem "das Deutschlandlied" which translates as 'song of Germany,' has been used as the national anthem in full or part since the year 1922, however since world war 2 and the fall of the Nazi's only the third stanza is commonly used my favourite line in the anthem is 'Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der welt' which means Germany Germany above all, above all in the world! I found this paticulary amusing.

AMD5

I actually found my Adventure mitt Deutsch this week to be quite challenging. I went to the German Clubs game night, and while it was really fun it was kind of daunting when we played Tabboo auf Deutsch. I am proud because I got 2 points for my team! It was just difficult because some of the words I have no clue what they were and the other ones I did know, you couldn't use the basic obvious words to describe it. The first card I got was Millionär to which I said Bill Gates (it also helped because the song Millionär was playing in the background). Next I tried to get Spider-Man, and I used my vocab from when we brought in show and tell objects -- Die Superheld! They didn't figure it out but now I suppose I could have also said Grün Goblin. The other card I got a point for was The Simpsons so I said Lisa und Marge und Flanders und Doh!! Overall I had lots of fun, though I wish we would have played Settles of Catan, Ich liebe das Spiel!

AMD 5

Well I watched the movie called the Unknown starring Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger. Well first of Diane is from Germany, but the movie also takes place in Berlin, Germany. Throughout the movie there are a couple scenes where you hear German. In one of the scenes you hear them counting and of course that was familiar to me, it was cool being able to understand. Another scene Diane Kruger asks, "Alles klar?" I quickly recognized this because in class Katy always asks that, meaning is everything clear? It was nice to see German being incorporated in the movie. Also since the movie took place in Berlin it was cool to see the scenery and the different sites.

Kultur4

I thought the article The Red Dictator was incredibly interesting. In Ann Arbor, I encounter two  electronic crossing signs on a daily basis. Most of my crossing is done either at zebra crossings, or in random places in the street (of course, if the way is clear). So it comes as, coincidentally, completely foreign to me to respect the "little red dictator" as if the sign is a living police officer. Of course, after reading the previous Kultur blog articles, it doesn't surprise me that 1) they do respect the crossing laws as much as they do, especially in the presence of others and 2) German drivers will speed up to scare the law breakers, yet also have so much respect for the rights of pedestrians at zebra crossings. However, I believe that it is reflective of German society as a whole- very orderly with social incentives to act one way or another. 

AMD 4

For this AMD, I watched a documentary in german about the late Karl Richter (I mentioned him in my Bach post). Richter was a German conductor, organist, and harpsichordist. While he is often lauded as one of the greatest interpreter of Bach (specifically for his directing/conducting of the Münchener Bach-Chor and Münchener Bach-Orchester), he was also a prodigious instrumentalist. At the age of 23 he was appointed as an organist for the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, one of the most prestigious organist positions in the world- partly because the Thomaskirche was the church where Bach was Musical Director in the 1700s. His renditions of Bach's greatest works (the Passions, the Mass, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, etc.) are known by Bach experts as intense, deep, and expressive. One thing that makes Richter so unique is that he did not conduct Bach in a Romantic manner, as many of his contemporaries did. He avoided drastic fluctuation in tempo, and kept the sound balanced throughout the orchestras that he conducted. Richter died of a heart attack in München in 1981, at the age of 55.

Listening to the documentary and reading the subtitles, I was able to pick out some of the subjects we have gone over in class. What I found really interesting was how different the construction of sentences in german is compared to English. It seemed as though what was being spoken was incredibly scrambled, when compared to the english sentences. While I notice this in class, I was surprised by the degree of which it can seem "scrambled". 

Kultur 4

I found the Kultur readings this chapter to be quite amusing. It's much different to hear about how serious they are about not Jaywalking, something that is a common occurrence here in the states. In particular I liked the article that suggested that punks (typically not the most law abiding people) obeyed the traffic signals and that a five year old child may lecture you if you cross the street at the wrong time. I also thought it was amusing how the Germans will answer you questions logically and correctly, but not necessarily give you the answer that you need. I pull that trick all the time when trolling my friends, so I thoroughly enjoy that their is a nation built around this type of logic. All the Kultur readings for this chapter really stressed and reaffirmed that German is a very orderly country, where everything must be done correctly and rules are expected to be obeyed. It's quite refreshing considering all of the B.S. that goes on here in the US.

Kulture 4

While the articles mostly described transportation in Germany, there was a very evident underlying theme of uniformity and order. I found it quite funny that there was a help group for people who were messy. I think German kids who come over here my develop heart problems after a few years from all the unease they would get from our messes. I also really enjoyed how Germans will not cross the street if they do not have the right of way. This is very different from what I was taught since in the Middle East pedestrians never have the right of way and you frequently have to run across eight lanes of highways that has no lines for lanes or speed limits (that are obeyed). I also find it quite humorous and enjoyable that people will speed up to scare pedestrians who try to cross the street without having the right of way. While I do enjoy a lot of order in my life, I do think it's a bit much that if you were caught on the train without paying or crossing the street when you're not supposed to, that everyone around you would stair at you or try to reprimand you on the spot. While I was in Europe (especially Geneva) I learned very well how to avoid getting caught without paying for transportation, and memorized how and where the police would check the trams.

For my kulture vier assignment i read the article 'Two wheeled Teutons'. This article was interesting to me because i was not aware just how much Germans enjoy their cycling and how temperamental they get when someone disregards the sacred 'bike lane' code! I personally think these bike lanes are a great idea as firstly they allow and encourage people to get on their bikes and get exercise that they wouldn't otherwise be getting had they have been driving their cars, and secondly they are a great way of reducing carbon emissions. I particularly like the idea that when in a major cities such as Munich, Berlin, or Frankfurt, you can simply dial the appropriately named 'call a bike' number, enter a few details and have almost instant access to two wheeled bliss!

AMD 4

For this weeks AMD i decided to change the text settings of my phone while i was having a conversation so that they all read in german. At first it was hard because I had multiple conversations going on. Once i got really into them I started to notice that more and more words seemed to be familiar to me and I could easily understand about 60% of the messages that were coming in. And when i would send messages they were noticeably shorter than usual but I was able to get my message across. The people I was talking to was impressed at how well i could convey what I was saying once I told them that I was doing it for my German class. I only did this for 45 min or so before it was to hard when trying to send a long text talking about someone else in the future. I wasn't sure about the conjugation of all the verbs for the prescence tense.

Kultur 4

I found all of the articles interesting. However the thing that shocked me the most and made me think about how cool it would be to visit a big city in Germany was the street pong. It is a ingenious idea to get people to not jay walk. I mean who doesn't want to sit there and play a video game basically while they are waiting for the traffic to switch directions. I also found it interesting that cars in Germany will speed up if they see someone jay walking. I also found it kind of weird that they have the "honor system" when it comes to using the buses and whatnot. In the US you have to pay because most people wouldn't even think about paying if we had an honor system. I want to go to Germany and see how what it is like to ride on the ICE trains. All the trains where I come from go like 20mph and i usually are carrying freight. Also I have never ridden on a passenger train so i think it would be a good experience.

AMD Vier

Looking to do something different for my fourth AMD I decided to go to the Duetsch Wikipedia page and look up the article on Bier. While I already knew much from both the Kultur reading earlier this semester and my own research I still learned a few interesting facts about Bier in Duetschland and how it is perceived. I was surprised at all the different categories they have for Bier; the Wiki page lists 12 categories of ales and 8 categories of Lager. Additionally it is interesting to see their beer tax system and how much stronger many of their beers are compared to ones in the US. Some Bier in Duetschland can have alcohol content as high as 16% or more with one brewery even offering a Bier with 57.5% alcohol by volume! Suprisingly I found out that Germany is actually the second leading drinker of Beer in the EU, behind Czech. I also found it intersting that the German Bier page listed all of the vitamins found in beer, something that the English beer page doesn't even mention. All in all, reading the article confirmed much of the knowledge that I had already learned but I still did find some interesting new facts about Bier in Duetschland!

Kultur 4

In the second reading, I would be really caught into an embarrasing situation if  I bought a wrong ticket for the wrong train... I would never understand why their logic is so unusual. How come people would tell you to buy a ticket for a wrong train? That's really confusing! Wish I would ask enough information before I do everything so that I won't get stuck in those awkward situations.

In the third reading :There's No Such Thing as a Free Ride", it's good to know that we soll nicht assume to be able to abuse Teutonic trust in German. Although there's a so-called honor system in Berlin and most cities in Germany, you will be caught if they found that you were out of ticket or even not a right ticket. They might take you as performing Schwarzfahren and charge you penalties (€40) or even heavier. That's not a small amount money for anyone! And the author must have tried to explain but failed since he wrote in the passage that we soll nicht think about acting like an innocent foreigner to avoid penalties, because people in Germany are not likely to accept excuses.

AMD4

I was trying to learn the German culture through the Internet. At first I was considering to watch a movie or listen to music but I really get tired of that. I came up with the idea of knowing what kind of jokes they have and they'd love to say. After I looked up from the websites, I have the following jokes which I think they are fitting my laughing point! Wish they could bring you some happiness too!

1.Hänschen sitzt bei seinen Hausaufgaben: "Du Papa. Was ist das für ein Satz: 'Es ist kein Bier im Haus?'" Stöhnt der Vater auf: "Das ist kein Satz - das ist eine Katastrophe!"

I can see how much Germans love biers!!

2.Lehrer: "Als Alexander der Große so alt war wie du, hatte er schon die halbe Welt erobert."

Schüler: "Na, kein Wunder, der hatte ja auch Aristoteles als Lehrer."

3."Wenn ich im Bus sitze, schließe ich immer meine Augen. Ich kann alte Menschen nicht stehen

sehen."

4." Meine Frau und ich waren 20 Jahre sehr glücklich." "Und was ist dann passiert?" "Dann haben wir uns kennengelernt.."

Kultur 4

I found the article "Illogical Logic" quite funny.  The example with the customer and the ticket agent made me laugh.  The writer claims that the reason for incidents like this is that Germans are "too" logical.  It was explained that Iain did not specify if the "next train" was necessarily the "next train to his destination."  If I didn't know any better, I would say that the ticket agent was being extremely sarcastic, or making a joke.  If this were to happen in the states, I would say the ticket agent was a smart aleck.  This is only one example of how a German could be "too logical" which leaves me wondering when else an incident like this could occur.  The article tells us not to assume that a person in Germany will make any logical jumps for you.  I probably take a lot of these for granted in the states, which would probably leave me in uncomfortable, if not precarious situations in Germany.