Discussing expat life in German-speaking Europe


Posts in category German language

An Adjusted Adventszeit

Jan10
2011 Written by jjpark

In the past week, I had to adjust to the fact that Christmas is OVER, a week earlier than I had become accustomed to. I was used to our southern German world being shut down not just from the week of Christmas to New Year’s but also through the first week of January thanks to Three Kings. (Note: During my time writing for the German Way blog, the most Wiki-ed or Google-ed things I’ve had to look up are Catholic holidays and food.) I missed my older daughter’s first gymnastics class last Wednesday. Back in Aalen, there wouldn’t have been Turnen or any Musik Schule or anything like that scheduled.

This year, I missed the Adventszeit and the tradition of celebrating Christmas time for the whole month of December. And although Christmas decorations start being sold at Target the minute Halloween goes on clearance, that is not the same. I feel that Christmas is largely for consumerism here. Adventszeit is more oriented towards baking Weihnachtsplätzchen together (though I’ll concede that an American Christmas cookie exchange is an efficient and smart thing. I admire my friend Moni and my husband’s Tante Liane for baking at least 10 different kinds of cookies for their cookie bags/tins each year.) The point of a Christkindelmarkt in every town is not just to sell as many tschotchke to as many suckers as possible, but rather to provide a cozy space for people to drink their Glühwein together, for children to pet some farm animals and ride some rides and of course for us to find some sweet, handmade, wooden ornaments to share with our poor, plastic-invaded relatives back home. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, German vocabulary, History and culture - Tagged , , ,

Losing my German

Nov23
2010 Written by sarahfancy

We have been in Ireland for about three months now, and every time I speak to my closest German friend, I notice words slipping away. I was “home” this weekend, so I am feeling better about that again, but it is amazing how quickly it happens.

When we arrived in Ireland in August, our youngest, who was almost two, spoke mostly German. He had started in German Krippe in February of that year and was speaking it all day. His dad speaks German with him as well, so his only English tended to come from me, and sometimes from his older sisters, who mixed languages with the best of them, but were more likely to come out with English than German after seven years in Heidelberg. He did have some English, and understood everything I said, but his first tendency was almost always German.

READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, learning German - Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

The Voices in the TV

Nov15
2010 Written by HF

One of the things that I absolutely was not prepared for when I moved here was the television. I knew that Germany had a lot of American shows on the television; I knew that they were definitely not in English, but I didn’t realize what that meant. I’m going to chalk that up to that blissful pre-move state we all get into: we know we’re doing something awesome and huge, but aren’t thinking about the little things, like how to get a job in a land that speaks another language, where we’ll go grocery shopping, etc.

You know, the small but actually really important things. The ones that help you survive and/or feel comfortable.

About 11 months ago, I thought I’d never get used to the voices. The Americans in Germany know what I mean: the voice actors. I didn’t realize what a huge deal voice acting was over here… I also didn’t realize what a hold American TV has on the international market. I imagined before moving that I’d get addicted to some random German TV shows that would be obscure to my American friends.

Wrong. I get to watch the same shows over here that I did over there (although sometimes a season later, because of the voice-acting). I have tried, really hard to enjoy actual German television and I haven’t found anything that I like yet, although I have to say I really enjoy the German non-biased reporting style for the news and documentaries. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues - Tagged , , ,

U vs Ü

Nov08
2010 Written by HF

Driving in the car with my family the other day, I overheard my four-year old son say to his younger brother: “I am so frustrating! No! I am so frustrating! Stop doing that!”

I had difficulty suppressing my laughter, tickled at the irony of his statement. Yes, I thought, I sometimes find you frustrating too. Of course, he wanted to tell his brother that he was frustrated. I’m sure the tone of his voice communicated exactly what he meant, and his brother doesn’t really talk yet so the message most likely came across as intended.

Living in Germany and learning to speak the language as an adult has often left me feeling a bit like a four-year old at times, or even younger. My ability to articulate is painfully stunted, and my vocabulary limited, even after 10 years in the country. My frustrating (frustrated) son reminded me of one of my own blunders in learning German. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, learning German - Tagged , , ,

More German than the Germans

Oct11
2010 Written by jjpark

Slowly, we’ve found ourselves integrating into our non-German lives here in America. Instead of hearing the phantom ring of our default Siemens ring tone melody, I’ve gotten attuned to hearing our Uniden telephone gently playing the Star Spangled Banner. Something I cheekily programmed, lest the palm trees outside of our doors didn’t remind us enough of where we were.

Although we are getting more settled, there’s room for reflection at every turn still. What always struck me when I was living in Germany was how picking your career path, often at such an early age, was a real commitment. It wasn’t something that you waited till you were 21 or so to kind of start thinking about. On one hand, I found it a shame that a concept that could be so enriching as a liberal arts education wasn’t mainstream, and I also found it stifling and foolish that it would take years of retraining to switch careers. On the other hand, with every visit to America while I was still an expat, I appreciated the in depth knowledge of his goods which a German shopkeeper might have and understood why the bread tasted so good in Germany instead. On the other hand, it was exciting and motivating to think that there were all of these possibilities in America. If you wanted to become a preschool teacher, why not! You could! If you wanted to work in a bakery, come on in! READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, History and culture, learning German, Miscellaneous - Tagged , , ,

Levels of Language Proficiency: My Life in Germany

Aug30
2010 Written by HF

Recently I enjoyed reading Julia Child’s My Life in France (with Alex Prud’homme). It’s a great book (and the first one I ever read as a Kindle edition on my iPhone). Anyone who has lived abroad or spent only a brief time in the French capital will appreciate it even more. Julia’s husband Paul worked for the United States Information Service (USIS) in Paris from 1948 to 1954. A remark he made about language learning somehow struck me as profound:

“It’s easy to get the feeling that you know the language just because when you order a beer they don’t bring you oysters.”
- Paul Child, quoted in My Life in France*

Julia goes on to say: “At least he could communicate. The longer I was in Paris, the worse my French seemed to get. I had gotten over my initial astonishment that anyone could understand what I said at all. But I loathed my gauche accent, my impoverished phraseology, my inability to communicate in any but the most rudimentary way. READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, learning German - Tagged , , , ,

Living the German Way in San Diego Part 1

Aug16
2010 Written by jjpark

I admit that I was probably a bit whingey in my last message. I’ve had some time to get over my homesickness for Germany and Europe and embrace San Diego. It’s nothing like Deutschland, but the living is so easy and the weather is as perfect (always in the 20s C/70s F and no humidity) as they say. The people are also extremely friendly and positive. So positive, that it rose my quasi Teutonic suspicions at first.

Instead of sulking back and looking for things to complain about since the weather wasn’t going to hold anymore, I decided to smile back and enjoy the sun! Meanwhile, our relocation agent asked me what was the one thing I missed most since being in San Diego. My answer was my friends and being able to speak German.

I knew that we would encounter more German speaking families once our kids started at Die Rasselbande, the German preschool we found in San Diego. But it would be another six weeks before our older daughter would start there.
READ MORE »

Posted in Daily life, Expat issues, German vocabulary, History and culture - Tagged , , , , , ,

Living in Germany FAQ

Jun15
2010 Written by galitz

For quite a while now I’ve been thinking that putting together a frequently asked questions (FAQ) list about living in Germany and other German speaking lands would be a good idea.  Many questions come up time and again on the German Way forums and e-mail list.  They are mostly addressed by our website, but having everything in one, concise list makes life easier.  So here is the start of the Living in German FAQ.

I’ll start with one item and I then extend an invitation to anyone to submit questions and answers to me for inclusion on the list.

Question 1:  Can I get by in German speaking countries without speaking German. READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, Tips, advice, suggestions - Tagged , , , ,

The Death of the German Language

Jun07
2010 Written by HF

The reports of its death are premature

Lately, the Germans have had more important things to worry about than the death of their language. But once they have dealt with the collapse of the euro and the resignation of their flaky President Köhler, they’ll get back to worrying about the demise of German, one of their favorite things to worry about.

As I wrote in my book, The German Way, it is no accident that the term “angst” comes to us from German. Worrying is a national pastime in Germany. Next to soccer (Fußball), worrying is the number one German pastime. To be sure, there are sometimes truly serious things to worry about. I think the endangered euro falls into that category, since it also has to do with European unity, the EU and all that. (By the way, Angela, you really could be more of a cheerleader for European unity.)

When it comes to their native tongue, Germans are terribly conflicted. On the one hand, they take immense pride in what a difficult language Deutsch is, almost daring foreigners to learn it. READ MORE »

Posted in History and culture - Tagged , , ,

Getting Intimate with The Swedish Chef

Apr19
2010 Written by galitz

I was warned about certain things, a lot of things actually, prior to my move to Germany.  None of them prepared me for what I call Swedish Chef Syndrome.

I am a native English speaker from the New England region of the US.  My own way of speaking is also heavily influenced, you know, by 20 years in California (we all say “you know” all the time).  I can communicate with just about any other English speaker from anywhere.  Some regions have more distinctive dialects than others, Caribbean and African nations, in particular.  I’ve always managed to make do, though.  I also had five years of Spanish while in school… so I’m mostly set in terms of getting around the Western Hemisphere, the former British Colonies and even Southern Europe where Spanish is close enough to Italian and Romanian that I can still function.

READ MORE »

Posted in Expat issues, History and culture, learning German - Tagged , , , , ,
← Older Entries Newer Entries →

The German Way and More

International Electronics

International Video & Electronics
Voltage Converter
MultiSystem TV - Region-Free DVD Player
PAL to NTSC Video Converter
www.220-electronics.com

Expat Women

Expat Women - Inspiring Your Success Abroad

Kalender

May 2012
M T W T F S S
« Apr    
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

Archives

Blog and website Copyright © 2012 Hyde Flippo