Tag Archives: German

Double translation

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I knew, of course, that there would be a language barrier when I moved here.  (The fact that the only thing I knew how to say in German was “Gesundheit” before getting on the plane was a small clue.)  I’m really very fortunate:  as far as I can tell, most people here study at least some English at school.  Under the age of about 40, the vast majority of people I encounter do speak at least a little English.  But, I didn’t know that there would be an additional barrier — the fact that I speak American English and not British English, which is what they study.

Whenever I am fortunate enough to come upon someone who does speak English, I still have to remember that an elevator is a lift, a diaper is a nappy, an apartment is a flat, a binky/paci is a dummy, a boo-boo is an owie, a bathroom is a wc . . . I know there are more that I’m not thinking of.  (There are many, many, many of these . . . )  It may not seem like a lot, but it adds to the language gymnastics I have to do in my head.

Recently, at a restaurant, I was looking for a place to change Benjamin’s diaper.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to ask in German, and resorted to English.  I asked three people where I could find a bathroom, and did it have a place to change a diaper.  I got blank stares.  So, I tried asking if I needed to take the elevator down a floor to get there.  More blank stares.  They called someone over to help this poor, confused, English speaking crazy woman and I repeated my question to the new arrival.  He understood, and upon hearing his explanation (in English) all three of the original guys said, “Oh!” in unison.  It wasn’t the English that was the problem, it was the American-ish.

Perspective

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The changes I’m experiencing here happen slowly.  In a given moment, I usually feel like I’m still pretty much the clueless, overwhelmed fish-out-of-water I was when I got here in April.  But really, things have changed.

I went out this evening, just to take a break, after Dan got home from work.  I walked to the bakery on the next block and picked out a doughnut that I wanted, ordered in German, actually got what I had asked for, paid in Euros (and even understood the price when the guy behind the counter said it) and waved goodbye when I was leaving, because I go in there a lot, and this was the guy who is the most helpful to me when my German fails me.

I walked down the street to the Starbucks and got a coffee.  I didn’t bother to order in German there, because no one seems to mind, and “Grande Decaf Caramel Macchiato” is Italienglish anyway.  I picked a spot outside, read my book and walked home.  I didn’t need to consult a map or check any street signs.  I’m able to move through the crowds like someone who knows where she’s going . . . because I do.

I’m learning a little German, and I’m learning my way around.  It gets a little better all the time.

In fact, if you could have shown the me of 4 months ago a preview of my little adventure today, I think I would be impressed and pleased that things were going so well.  So, I think that’s exactly what I’ll be:  impressed and pleased.  Go me.

Buying bread

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One of my favorite things to eat is grilled cheese with tomato and tomato soup.  My mom offered to make it earlier in the week, but it has been a little too warm for that kind of meal.  Yesterday, however, was a little cooler, and rainy, so she offered again, and I accepted.  We had purchased everything we needed, except for bread — the bread here has so few preservatives that it won’t last more than a day or so.

So, after getting Benjamin down for a nap, and giving up on getting one for Liam, I left my mom to supervise the kids and I went down to the bakery to purchase some bread.  This isn’t as easy as it was at home.  I don’t know what kind of bread I want, there are a dozen or so options, and they’re all back behind the counter, so I can’t get a really good look or squeeze or smell them — and even if I could, I struggle with pronouncing the names.  I contemplated the options for a moment, and then gave up and decided to try my luck with English.  It actually worked out — the guy behind the counter spoke excellent English and was kind enough to use it, and to make a recommendation on “something dark and good for sandwiches”.  He thoughtfully chose a loaf for me, and I nodded gratefully, and then asked, with accompanying pantomime, if he would be able to slice it for me.  (I may not learn a lot of German while I’m here, but I will be great at charades by the time I go home.)

He turned around, sliced the bread and told me the amount, I paid, got the bread and went to leave.  But my bag felt a little light . . . and on second thought, shouldn’t it have been more expensive?  Upon examining the contents of my bag, I realized that he hadn’t sliced the bread — he had cut the loaf in half.  Bummer.  Now I didn’t have enough for grilled cheese sandwiches.  What to do?  Should I interrupt the customer after me (now placing their order) to correct my mistake?  Wait in the line of about 12 people (I swear, I’ve never seen so many people in this bakery, ever before) to fix it?

Nope.  I’m neither that brave or that humble.  I walked down to the next bakery and bought another whole loaf of bread.  Afraid to make the same mistake twice, I didn’t even ask them to slice it.

And that’s the story of how I ended up with a loaf and a half of bread for sandwiches yesterday.

Survival in Vienna

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I started my first formal training in German today — the class is called “Survival in Vienna”, so I think it’s right for me.  It’s put on by the UN, so it’s geared towards people from a variety of backgrounds, all of whom are assumed to understand English but not German.  However (perhaps to mimic the immersion we’re experiencing in Vienna) the class is taught completely in German.  (Yikes.)

So far, it’s great.  I’ve already learned something, and the teacher is really impressive — imagine the challenge of teaching 20+ non-German speakers for an hour entirely in German.  She did a great job and managed to get a ton of information across given how little we all knew.  I also got to talk to other adults about something that had nothing to do with children.  I think that was a first since arriving here, too.

I also can’t help but be a little relieved that Dan & I were among the more advanced German speakers in the class — probably mostly a function of the fact that the class is intended to be taken almost immediately upon arrival and we waited almost 4 months to start.  (Although there were others who have been here longer.)  Intellectually, I know it would be ok to enter a beginner level class as a complete beginner, but my ego appreciates not being the biggest novice in the class.

I learned how to introduce myself and others, and how to say where I’m from.  All of that information was new to me.  I already feel less lame — I’m no longer the person living in a country where I don’t speak the language who hasn’t even ever had any instruction in the language.  I’m just the person who doesn’t speak the language, but I’m learning.

Nein!

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Benjamin is a talker.  He has vastly surpassed what is expected for a child his age — speaking to him is a lot like speaking to an adult.  He’s even been quickly picking up words in German:  he’s just the right age, he picks up language easily in general and, frankly, we watch a fair bit of Nick, Jr. in German.  But, up until recently, he’s only spoken German when specifically prompted.  He has added his first unsolicited word in German, and it is (of course):  “Nein!”

For a lot of kids, their first word is “no” (or whatever is the appropriate variant for their native language) but for Benjamin, his first word was “down” and he didn’t really overuse “no” for his first couple of years of speaking.  But, “nein” has become one of his most common utterances these days.

It’s fun to see him picking up the language without any particular effort on either of our parts.  It’s as though he’s just absorbing it out of the air.  And, honestly, hearing your three year old run around the house chanting “nein!” is a lot cuter and less irritating than “no!”  (I think it fails to push the same emotional button.)  Maybe we’ll get lucky and we’ll pass through the “terrible threes” in German — and I might not even understand enough of what he’s saying to be driven crazy by it.

Language traffic jam spoken here

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When we first moved here, we found ourselves paralyzed when it came to language — the prospect of trying to communicate at all when we knew so little prevented us from even trying most of the time.  Shortly after arriving here, I had an experience of being so traumatized when it came to communication that I even had trouble speaking English to another native speaker.  One of Dan’s friends described the experience as “a language traffic jam in your head”.  That’s exactly what it’s like — the brain processes dealing with language become so overloaded that even simple communication becomes difficult, slow and stressful.

Luckily, that first phase was temporary — we’re doing a lot better now.  We have some German we’re pretty comfortable using (“excuse me”, “I’m sorry”, words used in restaurants and grocery stores and various other words and phrases we’ve picked up) and we’re getting less embarrassed about resorting to English when we need to.  Dan will use Spanish when both English and German fail, and I’ll throw in some of the French I know.  Usually, between all those options, something will work out, and when it doesn’t, improvised sign language will.

Tonight, we tried a new restaurant near our house — an Italian place.  We had an Italian waiter who spoke less German than we do, and no English.  That threw us, a bit, at first.  We’ve gotten to the point of being really comfortable reading menus and ordering in German (even though many places offer English menus, we won’t always request one) and I think this is the first time we’ve failed with both German and English.  After a couple of failed attempts, Dan ended up using Spanish, and although we understood very little of what the waiter said, he apparently understood enough Spanish to make things work.

041Over the course of the meal, we chatted a bit (really) and learned that he’s been here as long as we have and that he, also, has two little kids (although his kids are a little older than ours, and he’s a little younger than we are).

At one point, watching this scene where our Italian waiter, Austrian hostess, Dan, myself and the kids were all interacting, I realized how far we’ve come in terms of communication, and very little of it is because we’re getting better at German.  We’re being more confident and less self-conscious, and ever more aware of the benefit that we can get just from putting ourselves out there a little.  This is quite an adventure, and it’s changing us.

Learning German . . . kind of

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Language is so profound.  Without it, we have no way of categorizing or remembering what we experience.  The words we have in our vocabulary literally shape our perception of the experiences we have.  We can’t understand or process a concept we have no words for (part of why science, philosophy and art can be so difficult to understand — where concepts are created and discovered, words often have trouble keeping up).

And that’s not even to mention the value of being able to communicate with other people, which is another profound experience.

Because of all of that, and for the sake of my sanity in general, I’m starting to work on learning German.  I bought a phrase book back before I came here to visit in 2010, and I rely heavily on Google Translate, but other than ordering in a restaurant, I mainly rely on the English skills and kindness of the people I encounter.  I want to do better.  (Although I doubt I’ll make too many strides in 2 years, but we’ll see.  Lucky for me most people here speak English and are remarkably patient.)

I bought Rosetta Stone months before we moved here, but I haven’t even opened the box yet.  Dan & I have researched language classes (and need to do something about registering for them).  The problem with both of those options, though, is time — I have very, very little.  So, I’ve started working with a site that Dan found, Memrise, which is working remarkably well, at least for vocabulary.  I’ve only done two evenings so far, but I’m learning a little.

I still can’t really say anything useful, but I’ll get there.  Off to study . . . tschüss!

Giving directions

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I am constantly being asked for directions.  Without exaggerating, I’m probably stopped and asked for directions 30-40% of the times I walk out of my front door.  I think it’s because I live in a very touristy area, I kind of look like I could be Austrian, and I don’t look intimidating (usually).  But it really happens all the time.

It started the first night I was ever in Vienna (back when I was visiting Dan here in 2010 for the weekend).  I was asked for directions to hotel where we were staying, so I actually managed that, even though they didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak whatever they were speaking.  I’ve been asked directions in German, English, French and even what I think was Japanese.  One group of women, who only spoke German, was not put off when I explained I only spoke English, nor when I couldn’t understand what they were asking to find.  I eventually managed to figure it out with the help of the map on my phone.  I think I’ve managed to point everyone who asked in at least the general direction of what they were looking for.

It happened again today — twice in the same hour.  Benjamin, Liam & I were out for our morning walk, and we stopped to get donuts (it is, after all, National Donut Day in the US, apparently).  The customer ahead of us in line was asking (in German) how to find a particular grocery store.  The woman behind the counter of the bakery said (in German) that there wasn’t one around, but pointed him in the direction of another one.  I understood what they were saying, but couldn’t explain in German, so I added, in English, that I actually knew where that store was.  He turned to me and asked in perfect English where it was, I explained, and he thanked me and headed off.  Then, on our way home, we were stopped by two women, who asked in excellent German, about the location of a shop on the same block where we live.  I understood, but couldn’t explain in German — I tried to gesticulate it, and said (in mild frustration), “I don’t know how to say it in German, but I can show you!”  To which one of the women replied, “Oh, wonderful!  You speak English!  I’m from New York!”  (I know how to get there, too, but can’t explain that in German, either.)  Her companion was actually Parisian, and we walked the block or so together and talked about Vienna.

It’s funny — I guess I just have one of those faces:  I look friendly and helpful which equates to very approachable.  Most Austrians that I’ve encountered are really quite helpful and friendly, as well, but they often don’t look it.  Every person that has asked me for directions, and who I’ve been able to communicate with in English, has expressed surprise that I’m an American — the woman today said she picked me out particularly because I looked like a local.  I should have asked why.  (I think it might be the stroller.  I don’t think very many people would take on a European vacation with two little ones, let alone moving here, so I think the stroller gives me extra credibility.)

So, I wonder:  is it really that I’m being singled out so often as a good person to ask for directions, or are that many people wandering lost around Vienna?  Either way, it feels really good to be able to help — I spend a lot of my time here feeling awkward and out of place, so it’s nice to have something to offer.  It’s also really fascinating to watch the flow of language around me.  Even I, of relatively limited linguistic ability, participated in conversations in English, French and German today.  And I helped some people.  Pretty cool.

In Front of the TV

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We got our internet and cable installed today, which is good on so many levels.  Now, I can actually access the internet (and write) other than through my phone and we can also watch TV all day.  There have been times in the past where I’ve been hard on myself for putting Benjamin in front of the TV for major parts of the day (I started doing it when I was pregnant with Liam and just too tired to keep up with him all day).  I’ve gotten past that:  I’ve been astounded, over the past year, by how much Benjamin has actually learned from TV (most of it is even good).  (I remember the first time Benjamin pointed out a triangle to me, and I thought, “Oh, it’s great that Dan’s been working on that with him”, and then I asked, and he hadn’t been.)  But beyond that, it’s now going to be a major tool in our introduction to German.

TV intended for little kids is designed to build vocabulary through demonstration and repetition — which is exactly what we need right now.  I’ve already learned something:  the German word for red is “rot” (which I knew) but when you describe something as red, you say “rote” (or at least, “Diego” did).  Benjamin and I worked on our German counting today, as well as the names for other colors (I learned the word for yellow), how to greet people and identify yourself.  A lot of those things I had already learned, but watching kids’ TV is a great way to hear it used clearly, and practicing with your two year old is pretty low-stress.  I found some strange things, as well, like the fact that “Go, Diego, Go”, which at home is designed to teach Spanish words to native English speakers is redubbed here to teach English to native German speakers (which is weird because it’s set in South America and all the names are still Spanish, and pronounced with a Latin American Spanish accent).  (Ni Hao Kai Lan is still intended to teach Chinese, but to German speakers.)  We watched Nick, Jr., all day — which is great, except that here they cycle through the same 6 or so shows all day long . . . literally, when they go through the cycle and come back to, say, Wonder Pets, it’s the same episode of Wonder Pets that they played earlier in the day.  (Again, I guess that’s good for the repetition.)

Of course, *getting* the cable and internet installed was a bit of a challenge.  Only one of the installation guys spoke any English at all, and that was minimal.  Just explaining to them that Liam was sleeping, and asking if they could help me by being quiet, was impossible (and ineffective) and locating the cable outlet in the wall (which involved communication as well as moving furniture) was nearly impossible.  Having them explain to me how to use the cable remote with the TV remote was pretty funny (that’s pretty funny in English anyway) and when I asked the guy what was in the contract I signed at the end, he just shrugged and looked helpless.  I guess I’d better get back to Team Umizoomi or Wonder Pets.  I need practice.