AMD 6

About a week ago I got news that I would be working in Germany next semester. I'm super excited about this opportunity and just last week I had to put in my preferences for housing in München. Below are the descriptions of the company Wohnheime and as you can see, there is a lot of Kapital 6 vokabular in the descriptions.

Kultur 5

These articles were awesome this chapter. Starting with "German Erotica: The Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops". I thought the tone in this article was hilarious. The article claims that, "For Americans, of course, sex shops are the "dirty" stores that are located on the bad-side of town." Back where I'm from in Iowa, that was very true. You would often find them sandwiched between a used car lot that had a nice assortment of mid 90's Pontiac's and a tattoo parlor. When I moved to Ann Arbor my parents and I drove down South University and my mother saw the Safe Sex Shop. She was not amused at all. 

Personally, being a 22 year old male, I have zero issue with walking down the street and seeing a sex shop. I think it would be a bit weird if I had observant children though. "Why is that store is selling slightly deformed light sabers, daddy?" or "Can I go in there and pick up my Tobias Fünke Leather Daddy halloween costume?" (Arrested Development reference, see below) I do think its cool that Germans don't make a big issue about the location of these shops though. 

"The Loneliness of the Kloflau" was another great article. I like the idea of someone keeping public bathrooms clean, even if it means paying 50 cents or so per bathroom visit. It is amazing how gross umich bathrooms get, especially in the dorms after a rough Saturday night. That being said, you would have to pay me a lot of money to do that job. My first job ever, was at a Panera Bread. I started out working the dinning room, which involved me cleaning the bathrooms. Wiping the edge of the urinals that were caked in hairs and urine was disgusting. I often doubled or even tripled up on the gloves. Luckily, I shortly promoted to sandwich maker.

AMD5

For this AMD I watched a German documentary titled "Silence of the Quandts". Today the Quandts are one of the richest families in Germany and together own around 45% of BMW along with shares in other prominent German companies. Over the years they have been very quiet about their past and the origin of their fortunate. Turns out that during WWII the Quandt family manufactured batteries using more than 50,000 forced civilian laborers, prisoners of war and concentration camp workers.  Günther Quandt also appropriated assets from Jewish company owners. The Quant family were never held responsible for their crimes in WWII and the fortune acquired during the 1940's was kept in the family.

The 2007 documentary sheds light on the Quandt family history during the war as well as their life today. Shortly after the documentary aired, the family made a public statement saying they would look into their family's past. In 2011, the investigation concluded and the Quandt's finally admitted their deep ties to the Nazi regime.

The documentary was entirely in German with English subtitles. I was able to pick up some of the interviews without subtitles and the use of the conversational past was abundant. Overall the documentary was very interesting and it's good to see that 4 years after it aired something decent came out of it.

AMD 4

For AMD 4 I watched episode 2 of Extr@ auf Deutsch. Like the previous one, this episode was very cheesy but entertaining. I like watching these because they seem to align well with what we are learning in class. Episode 1 was introductions, common phrases and talking about your family and where you are from. This episode was about common shopping phrases. It also had a fair amount of food and clothing vocabulary.

ABOVE: Sam (Left, the American) is depicted as out of touch with whats "cool"

BELOW: Sam then makes a rookie mistake and orders 10 kg of oranges instead of the 10 apples! To then make matters worse he orders 12 DOZEN eggs! Is this dude running an omelet bar?! Someone obviously didn't read Brennpunkt Kultur on page 97 of Vorsprung (3rd ed). Dumm Amerikanische! 

Another nice thing about this series is that even if there is a verb or noun I am not familiar with, the actors are so over animated that it is very easy to figure out what is going on/said. Extr@ auf Deutsch is slowly overtaking The Office as my favorite show. 

Kultur 4

My favorite article was "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse". I especially enjoyed the subtle humor in the article. "While drivers in Germany all think they are Michael Schumacher," made me laugh as I could imagine many German motorist imitating the Formula One star. Or the thought of someone disobeying the pedestrian crossing signal and getting a "stern talking to from a morally superior five-year-old".

I also found the final paragraph about pedestrian's right of way in Germany to be entertaining. "Step blithely into the zebra stripe confident in the belief that 999 out of 1,000 German drivers will slam on the brakes well in advance." In America, I too love knowing that if am signaled to cross a busy intersection I am fully protected by the law in case of an accident, but I also hate how pedestrians abuse this power. Especially on UofM campus. Buses are typically hung up for 1-5 minutes by the pedestrian crossing in front of CC Little because students realize they have the right of way, and there is no reason to stop. So frustrating! 

AMD 3

A couple of days ago I found the subreddit "easy German". It contains many links to videos and movies that contain beginner level German with subtitles. One of the links was to a German learning sitcom series called "Extr@ auf Deutsch". I watched the first episode and was thoroughly amused.

The first episode, titled "Sams Ankunft", introduces us to the main characters Anna and Sasha (roommates) and Nik (the neighbor). Nik ist in Sasha verliebt. Sasha recently broke up with her boyfriend Jo but she finds Nik annoying. Anna ist in Nik verliebt. To make matters more complicated, Sasha receives a brief from her old brieffreund, Sam. He is an American and is coming to visit that day. The girls instantly fantasize about American men and this causes Nik to be jealous.

The brieffreund turns out to be weird and not what the girls expected. He also is not very good at speaking German.

But when Nik comes over, he sees that Sasha gave Sam a heart shaped pillow to sleep on (This was a gift that Sasha's old boyfriend gave her). Nik feels more threatened and jealous so he offers to help Sam with his German skills. Nik then teaches Sam nonsensical German, trying to make him seem like an idiot.

Anyway, the episode only had German subtitles but the German that was used was pretty simple. I had to look up a few phrases but I felt the difficulty was perfect. I will probably watch more of these in the future as they are very cheesy and entertaining.

Kultur 3

The article I found most interesting was "Eco-Centric Germans: Organic Food Obsessions". I always had an idea that Europeans put much more emphasis on food quality than Americans, but I didn't know it was to this extent. The fact that 70% of Germans would never touch genetically modified food is unexpected as the EU has recently said that they believe GM food is just as safe as other foods (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=labels-for-gmo-foods-are-a-bad-idea). Nevertheless, I respect Germany's free thinking mentality, commitment to the environment and their personal health.

Most Americans will use price as the reason they don't eat organic food. Thinking that they would have to pay Whole Foods prices in order to eat higher quality food. And they do have a point. Organic food here has been marketed here as a premium good. Even at local farmers markets, you're still going to be paying a lot more for vegetables than if you went to Meier. Hopefully as more people see the advantages of eating organic, the prices will come down.

Reading about the German mealtimes was also enlightening. I think their meal times make much more sense than ours. For example, it seemed that no matter what I ate before work, I was always hungry at around 10 am. Breaking breakfast up into 2 smaller meals not only creates a nice mid-morning work break, but it also is healthier than fewer, bigger meals. Having the 3-course, hot meal during the day and a lighter dinner means that you aren't going to bed with a stomach full of food, which is also healthier.

Evan Cole

AMD2

For this AMD I watched an episode of an older german TV show called "D Motor". The show has some similarities to Britian's Top Gear but the presenters are much more serious. In the episode I watched the presenter Hans Stuck, a German race car driver, reviewed the BMW M3 (M drei).

It was interesting to hear the technical specs of the car spoken in German. 

"vierhundert Newtonmeter Drehmoment"

"vierhundertzwanzig Pferdestärke"

"fünfzig, fünfzig Gewichtsverteilung" 

I also noticed that the show, much like the Top Gear UK, focused a lot on the technical feel and handling of the car. They didn't focus a lot on quantitative tests like 60 mph - 0 breaking distances, 0-60 times or quarter mile times.  Car shows here in America usually focus on these numbers as it makes for an easy way to compare cars. But while these numbers may give an idea of a vehicles ability, it doesn't doesn't take into account the feel or soul of the car, something that the German manufacturers are known for.

Kultur 2

I found all of the articles very interesting, especially the one titled "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching and Moaning". This one hit close to home because it seems that American culture is headed in the same direction, if not already as bad.

"The most popular complaint is that everything in Germany is simply going downhill -- everything is getting worse and worse."

I hear this complaint everywhere, especially from older generations. Whether its complaining about the younger generation's way of life, the government, or the economy. Most of the time the complaints are usually followed by "things aren't the way they used to be". Which is true. Cultures and societies change and adapt over time. Its just a way of life. Sometimes things can get a bit worse before they get better. But in the end, we find solutions and we move on.

Of course its just not older generation doing all the complaining. People my age tend to complain just as much. MWireless cuts out for 30 seconds, complain. Athletic department makes football seating general admission, complain. Landmark hot tub is broken, complain...then go straight to Rick's. 

I also found the article "By the Numbers: An Obsession with Statistics" interesting.  Being an engineer, I too love statistics and the the concept of quantifying everything. I have always thought of Germany being a country known for its engineering ability. The fact that Germans love to quantify things is no surprise to me. This just makes me more excited to visit Germany someday.

AMD 1

For my first AMD, I changed the language of both Facebook and my phone to German. Facebook was a bit confusing initially, but I got used to it quickly.

Gefällt mir = Like 

Kommentieren = Comment

Teilen = Share

Was machst du gerade? = What are you doing? (status update)

Neuigkeiten = News Feed

Nachrichten = Messages

Startseite = Home

Chronik = Timeline

Abmelden = Log off

After awhile it started to feel natural and seeing notifications like, "_____ hat einen Link in deiner Chronik geteilt" wasn't weird. 

Getting used to German on my phone wasn't too bad either. Especially since iOS has a lot of icons and symbols. Many of the applications on my home screen were cognates and there was even one vocabulary word. Because I live on North Campus and have AT&T, "nein netz" (no service) was a phrase I quickly picked up. "Batterie fast leer, 20% batterieladezustand" was another common one as well.

Overall I enjoyed the small challenge and learning opportunity that came with changing the language setting. I will definitely keep my phone and Facebook in German for awhile.

Kultur 1 Blog

"How German is America" turned out to be a pretty interesting read that offered insight as to how the German immigrants were able to assimilate so well, yet have a significant influence on America culture. I was recently speaking with an Engineering professor who was just in Germany and he found that certain areas of the German countryside reminded him of Michigan's landscape, especially up north. I doubted him at first but after reading this it seems that most German immigrants settled in the rural midwest for the geographical familiarity. The state of Wisconsin even used this to their advantage with their log-shaped card to try and attract Germans to the state.

I also had no clue how much of modern american culture is derived from German culture. I was very surprised to read that Bambi was originally written by a German writer and was an allegory alluding to the threats to the Jews between the wars. It also surprised me, based off the modern company's factory-inspired ways to produce meat, that Oscar Mayer started off as a small German meat shop in downtown Chicago. I would be interested in seeing Oscar's reaction if he was able to see the quality of Oscar Mayer products today.

Finally, I was very surprised to learn that German is the most spoken (for a first language) language in the European Union. The fact it is spoken in so many countries outside of Germany is crazy. Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, parts of Italy and so on. It is a very versatile language and it irritates me that my high school didn't offer it as a language option!  

Mein Lieblingswort ist beschissen