'Burgweh - Knock Knock!

Today was the first day of classes at Vanderbilt. After each class, I keep wanting to knock on my desk, and sometimes I (very) briefly wonder why nobody is doing the same. And I'll admit... I still do it very quietly anyway, knowing that I'm the only who hears it or understands it.

In Germany, that's what you do when class ends. I had always wanted to get a brief video of it, but never did, for some reason. It's kind of interesting... And don't ask me why they do it, I don't know the actual reason.

But it feels SO NATURAL to do it now!! Everyone should knock on their desks upon the end of class!!

Okay... so I realize this is yet one more little thing I miss now. If this seems rather strange to you, then imagine going to normal live performances where the audience doesn't clap at the end of the show, but simply gets up and starts to leave when it's done.

Cut-ography

I really wish I had taken more pictures specifically regarding this topic while I was in Regensburg (*brief sobbing moment regarding past tense of the sentence*), but we'll just make do.

In Europe, aside from flavor, there are two other distinguished differences between the pizza there and the pizza in America - 1) It is much thinner, and 2) It is typically served uncut.

When going out with friends to one of the 203502395 Italian restaurants in Regensburg, I would always notice how differently everyone cuts his or her pizza.

• There's me, hacking in long, broad slices and then into bite-sized pieces, maintaining a fairly evenly distributed offensive front from my side of the pizza.
  
• There's the Hack Straight Into The Middle And Work Your Way Out.
  
• There's Radial Triangle Slicing, more frequently seen in some of my American friends, for obvious reasons (or for those of you who don't live in America, American pizza is always served sliced radially in typically 6-10 slices, depending on pizza size).
  
• There's the Alien Parasite Breaking Into The Barrier At One Point And Eating Out The Innards From There, Leaving The Crust.
  
• There's Chaotic Random Hack-At-Will, Which Bothers The Author Of This Blog A Lot.
  
• And I've even seen, Holy Heavens, This Pizza Is Huge, I Must Fold In Half And Hack From The Back If I Am To Conquer.
  
• etc. etc. etc.

Ah, so many different varieties. How I only wish I had taken pictures!

I just have this feeling that the way you eat your pizza reflects your personality, which is why I am so personally fascinated by this. If you don't believe me, just humor me.

Tag! You're It!

Just now, I learned all the German terminology used in the game of Tag from watching some kids playing it in the street below my window.

Coffee... from Togo?

As you all likely well know, countless English terms have been integrated into languages in both Europe and all over the world, and German is no exception.

Although Europe is filled with the traditional cafés where one always goes purposefully to sit and enjoy a cup with company, the characteristically American concept of grabbing coffee on the run in the mornings or around lunch has likewise infiltrated the modern food industry here, and nowadays, it's not uncommon to come across the distinctly English term "Coffee - or "Kaffee" - To Go" in coffee shops and restaurants everywhere.


It's hip! It's modern! And sometimes, it just feels cooler to advertise than "Kaffe zum Mitnehmen"!

Unfortunately for many of the older generations of Germans, it can be often be quite difficult to keep up with the dynamic changes that almost seem to flood in with every passing week.

But it's to my personal great amusement when you overhear an elderly German going up to a counter and ordering "ein Kaffee Togo, bitte". Togo, pronounced with German vowels. Togo, which rhymes with "pogo" of pogo-stick. Togo, like the small west African country. Togo, like only a cute old German would say.

The Misconception

When foreigners, or at least Americans from my personal experience, think of Germany, the first images that pop up in their minds are NAZIS, war, the military and a harsh, guttural and supposedly very unpleasant language.

In one of my classes where we recently discussed cultural symbols or stereotypes, one classmate said:

When I was young, my family lived in England for a few years and I went to primary school there. Even at that young age, one of the first questions all of the other kids asked me when they knew I was from Germany was, "Are you a Nazi?" We never were and never will be Nazis, and we have absolutely nothing to do with the Nazis. But I will never forget that memory.

One of the problems that is the root of stereotypes likes this is that the large majority of media, primarily films, released or made in other parts of the world outside of Germany portray and only portray scenes and events from World War II. Consequently, the majority of the public only gets to see the strict military codes, the cold, barked commands from officers (but what military doesn't bark and yell its commands?) and the cruel, merciless reality of war. And so, Germany gets less and less opportunities to elbow past the onslaught of black-and-white war films and show its true beauty to those who misconceive its image.

The taboo subject misconception. To clear this for many of you, once and for all, it is not taboo or forbidden to talk about Nazis, Hitler, the events surrounding World War II, etc. in Germany. To put this in a different perspective, it isn't taboo for Americans to talk about historical slavery or the extreme segregation in earlier centuries of the US. Nor do we want to be singly labeled as a country for those great, terrible years in which another major group of people was also treated poorly, to the point of deep shame. Talking and teaching about it helps those today understand the past mistakes and learn from them, and Germany does not censor the subject from its populations. You wouldn't want to be labeled for the mistakes of your parents, and you wouldn't want to be labeled for the mistakes of your precursors.

Germany is not all a hard, industrialized country of concrete jungles, but also miles and miles of beautiful natural land, and still and silent woods, and perfect balances of mountain and water, and breezy fields as far as the eye can see under endless blue skies. The German people may be naturally more guarded and distant on the outside, but are usually genuinely friendly and warm-spirited souls on the inside. The German language is not an ugly, churned out mash of discordant syllables, but a language with its own music, flow and timbre, as any other language, and beautiful and incredible in itself, as any other language.

You only need an open mind and open heart to see these things, and not only in the German culture, but in each and every culture in the world.

Po-ta-to, Po-tah-to

I say, "Ouch!" and you say, "Aua!"

Ouch! Aua!
Ouch! Aua!

I say, "Whoo-hoo!", you say, "Juhuu!"

Whoo-hoo! Juhuu!
Whoo-hoo! Juhuu!

(Let's call the whole thing off.)

Notes on Jane's Math Comment

In continuing the answers to Jane's comment on the aforementioned post's aforementioned post,

How's chinese math different? I'm very curious...

There are many ways in the past in which I've tried math in both the methods taught to me by teachers in school, and the way they were taught to me by my family at home. The latter, I must say, was almost always faster or more efficient.

Let's take the multiplication table as one example. Children in America are taught to memorize:

Mult. Fact	Spoken Translation
4 x 7 = 28	"Four times seven is twenty-eight"
4 x 8 = 32	"Four times eight is thirty-two"
4 x 9 = 36	"Four times nine is thirty-six"

Anyone who is an English native-speaker can speak up if you learned your multiplication tables differently.

Children in China are taught to memorize:
(Note: It also literally takes less time to speak any Chinese number than its English counterpart. At least in my opinion.)

Mult. Fact	Spoken Translation
4 x 7 = 28	"Four seven twenty-eight" si-qi-ershiba
4 x 8 = 32	"Four eight twenty-four" si-ba-sanshisi
4 x 9 = 36	"Four nine thirty-six" si-jiu-sanshiliu

Fun fact: Shanghainese syllables are usually even shorter than Mandarin Chinese ones ;) .

Funner fact: All of the multiplication facts that have single-digit answers in Chinese are so short that the syllable "de" is added after the first two numbers as a placement "equals to" syllable, so as to remain consistent with the rhythm of the rest of the chart.

As for that, this form of memorization is designed to be very rhythmic and can almost be chanted. Considering the correlation between music and memory, I'd say that turns out to be a useful factor.


Let's take item counting now.

From personal observation alone, I generally see more people in Western countries who, when faced with a large number of the same item (basket of apples, dinner table of people, etc.), typically tend to point to every object individually and count by ones.

From personal observation alone, when I watched members of my family counting heads at a family reunion or whether there were enough leaf-wrapped rice cakes in the giant steamer to go around, everything was always counted by either 2's, 3's or even 4's. Often that involves pointing not with one finger, but with 2, 3 or the whole hand at once. That sounds confusing if you've never done that, but it comes remarkably naturally when you've done it since you were a child. When it comes to a mass of objects, it's illogical and completely inefficient to count by ones.

Even when it comes to small things in masses, where it becomes hard to eyeball groups, I instinctively separate them out by groups of 3's, and 4's if I can manage.


(Is this a really beautiful picture of M&M's or what?)
In addition, there are countless (haha) other methods regarding both basic and advanced math where the Chinese form is simply more... efficient. I always got some feeling like Western math was more based on rules in which one could come to a type of answer, whereas Asian math seems to assume more often that each kind of solution will naturally require its own fastest method, and therefore, it's stupid to try and waste time applying one thing's method to another, regardless of how fast it works in its natural element.

Anyone who speaks English at all can speak up if all that made no sense.

The Polyglot's Division - Further Notes

My friend Jane posted this comment on -this post- a few days ago:

I'm actually surprised you think in english more than chinese. I would've thought it was the other way around, but I guess after hearing your little brothers talk (when they were little :p) I should've realized it would at least be split evenly between the two.

I have thought a little about this. Here's what I think may be the case, at least partially.

I have an immensely good grasp of Shanghainese (the Chinese dialect that we speak at home, and the one Jane is referring to). But as often as we speak it, and as much as I love it, it is essentially the home-language. It's my family-language. I mean that not just in the sense of heritage, but specifically within my household of six people.

Everyone has their own family-language, used with close family and virtually no one else. The only big difference here is that your family-language and the language that you speak with others in your day to day life might be the same worldly language (say, English for most Americans, for example), whereas mine happen to be different.

I predict the reason I don't formulate many of my thoughts in Shanghainese is because the majority of my personal thoughts are things that I wouldn't share with my family. It's not that they are bad, taboo or secretive. It's that there are certain themes and topics that would fall on deaf ears if I ever brought them up at the dinner table. My parents have always adapted well but never related well to overall current American culture, or at least the modern culture that my brothers and I are growing up in. My brothers are too young to understand most of the theories and principles I would discuss (the oldest isn't even out of middle school). And if both my parents and brothers fall into this category of not being able to understand philisophical or creative ideas that run through my mind, you can imagine how much hope my grandmother has. (You're fabulous, Grandma, but the answer is none.)

In part, I might simply lack the vocabulary for these thoughts, because they are never brought up at home. In a greater part, my mind matches up every language to its corresponding culture without (and indeed, often ignoring) conscious effort, and when one culture has the wrong influence or none at all on another one, the languages consequently don't overlap or mix.

But don't worry, Shanghainese. English ain't got nothin' on a hella lot of what you can express.

Ripe Old Age

Although I'm in my third year of college in the States, I'm the same age as the majority of the first-year students here at the Uni Regensburg. Two or three times, I've been asked how old I was and gotten the response, "Wow! So young! And already even out of the country and abroad??" .

But not only do we start earlier for university in the States, we typically go for a shorter amount of time as well. It's 4 years in college, in and out, and your path diverges afterward to either an immediate career start or further study for a Master's or PhD degree. If it's the latter, then you've still got a few more years, but typically, most people are definitely done by, say, age 27 or 28 at the latest. (Not counting certain exceptions like med school, etc., where you could still be going to class, say, by the time you're already walking with a cane.)

This is almost never the case here in Germany. Although there are plenty of people who are about 23-25 who are writing their master's theses, I know almost just as many people who are about age 28-30 who are most definitely still in school. Still students. But this is nothing out of the ordinary here.

Overlap

While those of you in America, and very likely other countries as well, are cramming and stressing for final exams/term papers, we in Germany just started classes yesterday at the universities.

If that's too weird for you, you can just remember that our second semester goes until the end of July.

Wait, maybe that doesn't actually reassure you.

Sound Effects

Naturally, every language has its own intonations. They add to the unique flavor of the language. Foreign speakers often reveal themselves through lack or misplacement of the intonations. They are subtle yet so significant.

Alex, who is German, and I are both good friends with Ilona, who is Czech. We can all speak German and English in common, but of course, we bring our native language intonations into each. And of course, there are also expressions that we use which do not involve words. Sometimes, these are a language of their own.

In American English, and in German as well, to some degree, we use the sound, "Mmm?" to express something along the lines of, "I didn't hear what you said," or "What was that? Say it again."

It took us all ages to figure out that for Czech speakers, this nearly-identical sound is actually a wordless affirmation -- the equivalent of American, "Uh-huh," or "Right." The result of this is that Alex and I (even to this day!) will hear Ilona say this during conversation, and we frequently then reiterate what we had just said, as if in clarification. Meanwhile, Ilona has already understood what we said.

We can't even help it. It's an automatic, vicious cycle.

Subtle, yet so significant.

The Draaaawwwwl

Over the course of the year so far, I've introduced myself to other American students, of course. Typically, both parties always ask where the other is from at some point.

I must admit that I groan inwardly to myself every time I tell an American the state that I'm from in the southern US, and they immediately react with shock that I don't have any trace of a southern accent. Really, now. And I always thought I was the one who lived under a rock. I suppose I never realized before that it was a phenomenon to be born and raised in "redneck country" and come out speaking newscaster English despite the fact.

To the rest of America's population: YES, it happens. NO, I'm not the only one.

Swiss Freutsch

Switzerland, as you might know, is bordered by several countries - France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy. The linguistic result of this is that the languages from all these countries come together and swirl around in a party mix of grammar and lexicons.

As we headed westward on our trip and finally hit Zürich, there was significantly more French influence (much to the delight of Kristen, who was more or less beat over the head with Deutsch all week from all around after coming in to German country). On the map above, Zürich is still right in the middle of German-speaking area, but by no means does this say that there is no influence from the other languages there. (The map is also a few years old now).

Not only is the Swiss accent in German hugely different here (oh my god... now I was brutally beat over the head by a language I know but can't fully understand), but there are sometimes seamless infiltrations of French words into otherwise German conversations.

For example, a lady passing us on the street who was ending her phone conversation:

"Danke, merci, tschau!

(And even the last word could just as easily been "ciao!": The Germans did pick that one up from the Italians already.)

And on the train ride back from Zürich into Germany, the concessions man:

"Danke, Monsieur."

Mmm, linguistic soup. Now everything could be delightful again if the Swiss accent would stop twisting my brain into contorted and uncomfortable positions.

Vienna, Street Artists

Kristen and I mapped out the trip shortly before departure, and we agreed to meet in Vienna on Saturday. We would then gradually work our way eastward and hopefully closer to Aix by the end of the trip. I would get to Vienna in the early afternoon and Kristen in the evening.

Unfortunately, the poor girl missed one of the trains on her first major experience with the European train systems. But she made it there early the next morning.

So I took Saturday to explore Vienna on my own. Along with all the areas I visited, I came across many a street artist, mostly all located throughout points in the Altstadt ("Old City"). This included several musicians, a diabolo (what's a diabolo?) artist, stunning break dancers, and ethereal spray paint landscape artists.

Oh, but pictures say 1000 words. And a video is like a really, really big sequence of pictures!

Language Globalization

Chinese and Spanish get high rankings out of sheer numbers, but otherwise, English is arguably the most influential language used in the modern world.

You've undoubtedly heard of English-speakers going overseas and finding that a remarkable number of those that they encounter abroad can already speak a respectable amount of English.

I grew up in the States, or in other words, a country where a dominant world language like English is the primary/dominant language. Lately, I've been thinking about what it's like to grow up in a country where there is a very big influence in your own country's language from a a language like English. For example, Germans here use "PC" (Personal Computer) and "SMS" (Short Message Service, or in other words, an SMS is a text message) in their everyday language.

But wait, scratch this entire post. I guess English has plenty of external influences that are now used completely subconsciously. I mean, virtually anything in English ending with "-ble" probably has more or less an exact counterpart in at least Spanish, or French, or both, just as an example. Don't even start me on "Schadenfreude" and "kaputt". Every pasta you eat that doesn't specifically come from Asia has some form of Italian ending on it. And kudzu is a transliterated derivative from the corresponding Japanese word.

Okay, so my argument turns out to be moot. Or maybe I'm really wondering more about growing up in a country where you actually start learning a second language early on (*ahem*, America, the late onset of your language learning system is bizarre), and you also grow up actually using it to some degree. (Note how many students in America have supposedly studied a language for ump-teen number of years, yet can barely speak it in conversation. This is not necessarily their fault, but the point here is about growing up with a much more functioning second language that you've learned in school that isn't just a letter on a report card).

Anyway, this is probably because English is a bastard language, who mugs other languages in dark alleyways and steals their vocabulary.

"I Love You"

In which countries is it, exactly, where saying "I love you" between families members casually is common? I don't know about other countries as much where English is the primary language (UK, Australia, etc.), but I do know that comparatively it's virtually rampant in the "typical" American family. For the longest time as I was younger, it was always a completely foreign idea to me of saying "I love you" to your parents, siblings, relatives, and so forth when you're just hanging up the phone or leaving for work and school. I would hear my friends say it, and this brief but uncomfortable feeling would wash over me. Sure, in concept, you could dramatically state that you never know when it'll be the last time you'll ever see that family member yadda yadda, but that still didn't change how bizarre it felt to me. (Plus, who ever really keeps up with that feeling on a moment-to-moment basis anyway?)

This partially comes from the fact that although I was born and raised in America, the household in which I grew up was entirely Chinese. My siblings were also born in America, but my parents were born and raised in China. Also, I have a grandmother who lives with us who understands some but does not speak any English, so even if we do converse half-and-half Chinese/English with my parents, there was still always the necessity to speak in Chinese (Shanghainese) for much of the time.

At any rate, back to "I love you". It took me years to elbow past the awkward feeling and say it to my mother on the phone the way I had heard it, but thinking about it now, I must admit that it still feels strange. I suspect sometimes that I only say it because we've been living in the culture so long that it's hard not to notice it. And then you eventually try it out. However, as much as I do care for my family, and as important as they are to me, saying, "I love you" to them makes some lobe in my brain twitch funny. I think I have only ever said it to my mother much. It is even more awkward with my father, and if I've ever tried it on my brothers, it was the most short-lasted out of all of the above. As for my Chinese-only grandparents, there is really no equivalent in Chinese. This is not to say that the phrase, "I love you" does not exist in the language. It does. But in no way is it usable in this context.

A friend of mine once put this very well. In America, or at least the English language, this is how we use the word love:

• I love my mother.
• I love my brother.
• I love my spouse.
• I love my dog.
• I love my cheeseburger.

--whereas in tons of other languages around the world, there are very clear distinctions for the term of "love" for each one of these, if not at least a few of them. (Which totally makes sense to me. You equate the affection for your own mother with fast food?)

In Germany, this phrase is also not tossed out like this. Actually, I've probably never even heard it in passing here, ever. Why? Probably because I haven't been in any sort of serious or romantic relationship here. There are endearments of course, as in any language. But you say, "Ich liebe Dich" to anyone but your lover in a private situation, and the other person is likely to give you a very odd look, even if it's a close friend or relative. Simply completely awkward. Germany is by far not the only country where it's like this, as "Te amo", for example, is rare in Spain and such, as far as I know.

Totally awkward.

Privilege Landmarks

I love it when the topic comes up here, and all of the Europeans always react incredulously,

"You let your people drive when they're only 16, yet they can't have alcohol until they're 21 ???"

It's okay, Europeans. It doesn't really make sense to me, either.

Brand New Perspective

I have a good friend who hails from the Czech Republic. She has lived in Germany for a few years and has very good German, though she still has a very noticeable accent as well.

Once, my friend was washing her hands in the bathroom of a restaurant. A very young German child, maybe four or five years of age at most, was also there next to her. After they happened to exchange a few words, the child looks at her and says with genuine confusion, "Why are you talking that way?"

Meaning, of course, her accent.

I find this cute and intriguing, and it makes me smile a little to think about it.

Seniors on Buses

It's customary here to offer your seat to an elderly person on the bus. (There are even ads above the bus windows that sport an amiable-looking girl with a speech bubble that translates, "I think it's a great thing to offer your seat to the elderly. You should do it, too!"). The problem I have found is when an older but not necessarily elderly person steps on. Normally, a very old person who has trouble walking and really does need it will give you the wrinkled but adorable smile of appreciation and a faintly lisping thank you as they wobblingly take the seat you offer, and then both parties carry on with good feeling.

But when an old German man or woman walks on who is vaguely between middle-aged and clearly-defined old, I find myself in a slight dilemma as I ponder the next step. If you stay because they don't look that old and seem alright, would that be the wrong choice? Would you actually be neglecting someone who actually needs it but is too timid to ask for a seat?

But then what if you ask, and the old lady is insulted and depressed by the fact that people are offering her seats on the bus now and her youth is so obviously dissipating? Is it better to offer the seat or just be willing to give it when it's requested?

You read this and don't think it's a big deal, but trust me, this occurs a lot when you take public transport every day. And you will think about it.

Eisvögel

("Ice birds") **

There's a gelateria around every other corner here in the Altstadt ("Old City", just generally the physical and social center of Regensburg - and many other German cities). But of course, we also have quite a long winter here (around November to late April, yes, I'm glad you sympathize), and while the gelato is immensely popular during the summer, nobody is in the mood for a big scoop of tirimisu or pistachio by the time we're deep into my-nose-is-freezing-off season.

From Beautiful Regensburg!

A great number of the gelaterias are run by Italians (huge surprise). So get this. When winter comes around, all of them close shop, hang a sign on their door thanking the patrons and telling them when they'll be back, and go home to Italy for a few months.

You know what that really is? The Italians partake of seasonal migration! Like birds! Oh my heavens! They literally fly south for the winter!

Alright, so you might or might not be as amused as I am by this, but I think it's just a riot, and you know it won't hurt you to humor me.

** Note to the title: The German word Eis is used for both the English terms "ice" and "ice cream". You literally ask for one scoop of Eis when you order ice cream, and so on. So... my unbearably witty title is even funnier after you know that linguistic tidbit. Gosh, I'm just full of myself today.