Kultur 6 Graham Techler

The reading on 'Bild' was definitely a disturbing one. It reminded me a lot of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, which is pretty despicable in it's own right. But the reading on 'Bild' made it seem like this tabloid isn't even trying. From the motto, "we form your opinion so you don't have to," which just admits that the paper is manipulative, to the "VICE"-like articles they publish alongside attempts at actual journalism. I'd rather have a paper with a specific political or social bias than a paper that just fires in every direction, no matter what. I guess at first this article gave me a pretty negative impression of German journalism, until I remembered that every country has tabloids like this that are just as bad, or worse.

The article on German's keeping their doors closed at all times resonated with me as someone who likes to keep his door closed, just to give myself a closed space to think in, but it also supported the stereotype of German's being fairly snappy and unfriendly during initial interactions. I have to think that once the conversation starts the person opening the door warms up to the person knocking. But I can definitely sympathize with a German wanting to keep their door closed and get some privacy.

The article on trash separation and collection really impressed me. I had no idea that Germany was so dedicated to environmental efforts. While it seems like they still have a ways to go in terms of making their garbage recepticals more clear to outsiders (or Germans), I definitely applaud their effort to draw more lines when it comes to dividing trash (rather than just trash/recycling).

AMD 6 Graham Techler

For this AMD, I spent some of my Thanksgiving dinner talking casually in German with my uncle, who spent a little time in Germany and still speaks a good bit of German.
We talked mostly about different types of Thanksgiving food, and who passed which food to which person.
This gave me a good opportunity to practice both the Conversational Past tense (as I was talking about food that had just been given) and the Dative (since I was often referring to people having food given to them).

My uncle helped me out with some of this Thanksgiving vocab:
Turkey=Türkei
Gravy=Soße
Potatoes=Kartoffeln 
Ham=Schinken
Cranberry=Preiselbeere
Pumpkin=Kürbis
Pie=Kuchen
to thank=danken


     

Kultur 5 Graham Techler

The first article I read was "Rules of the Street." Reading about Germans' propensity for shoving and muscling through crowds without apology initially surprised me. But once I began to read that this was not due to some intrinsic rudeness, but rather because they are just used to more physical contact, it made more since. After all, American's are also rather pushy in public, and can be very cutthroat when it comes to getting on a bus or the subway. They simply wipe the slate clean after elbowing someone in the stomach with an "excuse me." Good for the Germans if they're on the same page about excusing not really mattering.

The second article I read was "German Erotica." This article generally fit with the stereotype of Europe as more liberated when it comes to the sex industry. When I visited Italy, sex shops were everywhere, and not hidden like they usually are in the US. The sex shops in Germany seem to follow the same pattern. Open window displays, shops in the middle of an otherwise family friendly plaza, etc.

AMD 5 Graham Techler

For this AMD I decided to take another look at the classic German expressionistic silent film 'Metropolis.' It was made in 1927 (during the Weimar period) by Fritz Lang and was the first feature length science fiction film, and one of the most expensive films ever made at the time. It's plot (about an upper class young man named Freder who joins a class revolution led by a young woman named Maria) and special effects (especially the female robot 'Maschinenmensch') were both huge influences on George Lucas and 'Star Wars.' Since it's a silent film, there is no dialogue to translate, but there are a lot of title cards with bits of dialogue and exposition that I could try and translate.

Majordomo: "Wer, weine Damen, hat heute den Vorzug, Herrn Freder, Joh Fredersens Soh, Gesellschaft zu leisten?" = "Who today, my ladies, has the honour to be the companion of Mister Freder, son of Joh Fredersen?"

Und hier hoch oben ein paradiesicher Gerten fur die Sohne der Herren von Metropolis.= And here high above, an idyllic garden for the sons of the lords of Metropolis.

Freder: "Zum Neuen Turm Babel- zu meinem Vater!"= "To the new tower of Babel- to my father!"

Freder: "Farhen Sie mich zu meinem Vater!"= "Take me to my father!"

Joh: "Die G-Bank wird Ihren Ihr Restgehalt auszahlen."= The G-Bank will give you the balance of your wages."

Freder: "Warten auf mich- beide."= "Wait for me there- both of you."

Maria: "Hirn und Hande wollen zu fammen kommen, aber es fehlt ihnen das Herz dazu. Mittler du, zeige ihnen den Weg zueinander."= "Brain and hand want to join together, but they are missing the heart. You, as mediator, can show them the way to each other." 

Kultur 4- Graham Techler

Kultur 4
I always thought that the American view of German's as obsessively, compulsively organized was a dated stereotype. A layover from World War II propaganda that wanted to make anything German look bad. But reading this Chapter's Kultur readings it seems like modern Germany IS obsessed with order (in regards to ticket taking, specificity of orders, bike path etiquette, street crossings etc.). But, according to these readings, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Obviously, Germany is a country where you need to learn the rules ahead of time, but still, clearly the pedestrian clockwork is running smoothly. In Boston, the only people on bikes on the street or sidewalk are people who REALLY know what they're doing, since there is no space on the street or sidewalk dedicated to cyclists. Conversely, I think that even a casual cyclist who learned the basic etiquette in Germany could use the bike paths safely. It almost seems like the bike lanes in Germany are more stressful for pedestrians then they are for cyclists.
The orderly German custom that I did not find that helpful was learning about the specificity of buying a train ticket in "Illogical Logic." Imagine of TSA agents were patently unhelpful and vague, instead of just passively unhelpful. The Deutsche Bahn ticket counter worker's tendency to only SPECIFICALLY answer the SPECIFIC parts of the questions you asked seems really frustrating and counter intuitive. It speaks to the German emphasis on logical thinking, but when you take that so far conversation becomes impossible. You have to take leaps and fill in gaps. Although I guess if this makes you more self-reliant and direct in a foreign country, it can't really hurt.  
-Graham Techler

AMD3 Graham Techler

When I visited Italy as part of a school trip as a sophomore, my roommates and I spent a lot of late nights hanging out in our hotel rooms and flipping through Italian TV. To our surprise, some of the best options ended up being German children's programming that was aired late at night in Montecatini. These were entertaining especially because while some of us spoke Italian, none of us spoke German, and so the shows were both increasingly unintelligible and surreal.

In one, a Zoboomafoo-like cartoon about a monkey in a rainforest, the monkey seemed to get radiation poisoning, which was depicted graphically for a children's cartoon. In another, the host showed children the effects of alcohol by drinking heavy amounts of vodka and attempting everyday activities as he stumbled around a television production office.

But our favorite was a children's game show called "1, 2 oder 3," hosted by an Elton John lookalike (who I later learned was a German TV host called 'Elton' because of the resemblance), with someone in a giant seal costume as a mascot, and teams of children in different colored uniforms. The host would show a brief clip describing something relating to a certain theme, then the host would play a short song and the children would have to jump on three different colored panels to confuse the other team, each panel corresponding to one of the three choices. At the end of the song, whichever team had the most members on the correct panel won. This seems simple when you read it on Wikipedia but in the moment it was hilariously confusing.

For my third AMD, I decided to revisit an 2003 episode of '1, 2, oder 3,' and see if I understood it better with an elementary understanding of German. First I did a little online research to find out more about it, and found out that its based on an American show called Runaround, and, when it was adapted in 1977, was considered the first true German childrens television show.

And as it turns out, I did understand more of the show. The episode I watched started off with a sketch featuring one of the shows mascots ordering large amounts of take out food (pommes, Pizza, hamburger), and the host telling viewers at home to press the rot, blau, oder gelb buttons to vote on answers during the show. They also introduced us to todays "kamerakind" Patrick, a kid who was operating one of the cameras that day (the show is big on having kids do almost everything, with the audience completely comprised of children). Something from the show that I didnt remember was all of the sketches, musical performances, clowns, and Carson-esque guests (one woman comes on the show to show us ein Igel [a hedgehog]) that the show uses to pad out its 26 minute running time. During the game show segment, the clip was shown and the kids had to decide if the mole like animal shown was either eins: Vorrat (a hoarder), zwei: Delikatesse (a delicacy) oder drei: Shadlinge (a pest). In the end, all teams chose Drei when the correct answer was Eins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX8sxdcITOA


-Graham Techler, AMD3

Kultur 3 Graham Techler

"An Obsession Explained" definitely backed up the idea presented in "Teutonic Humor," that the Germans actually have a great sense of humor. This wry, self aware article did a great job of discrediting certain stereotypes surrounding German drinking culture (the old Bavarian bier and lederhosen image) while also humorously acknowledging that some stereotypes are based in truth (bier is used as a quenching refreshment to be had frequently and not necessarily at the end of the day). The hangover chart was funny, but also acknowledged how seriously Germans take drinking: so much thought is given to the alchemic process of drinking bier without being hungover the next morning.

The "Forget the Mett" guide to German fast food was also both informative and interesting. As an American with a tangential, largely stereotypical sense of famous German dishes, it was cool to see something as initially simple as "bratwurst" or "schnitzel" broken down into all the different types and variations available. The difference between schnitzel hawaii and schnitzel natur is probably as second nature to Germans as the difference between chili fries and curly fries to an American.

The "What About the Turks" rebuttal article was also interesting.
"And I would bet you dollars to döners that you're more likely to come across a Turkish kebab Imbiss in major German cities than a sausage stand. Döners are just as cheap as Würste and several times more palatable."
This kind of counter intuitive inside scoop on Turkish influence on German fast food felt like a real glimpse into German day to day society, rather than a overview aimed at tourists and students. An honest article on a similar American perspective would focus on how much Chinese food Americans eat. I'd certainly appreciate that as a German visiting the US for the first time.

I loved the article "The Dark Side" mostly because it reminded me of a book of essays by one of my favorite writers, David Rakoff, called "Half Empty," about the healthy, beneficial release in imagining the worst in a scenario and thinking pessimistically. This article was more about the German history of thinking of things pessimistically, but both basically acknowlege the Chekovian ideal that you'll feel better if you call the worst happening ahead of time.  

AMD 2 Graham Techler

The Awful German Language Response:

This Mark Twain article seemed geared directly towards those of us in class who are picking up German for the first time, and are sometimes overwhelmed by its complexities. It was reassuring to know that we're not crazy, and German can just be a little difficult to wrap our heads around. I guess all the best satirists do this to a certain extent, and Twain is a master here. Even elements of learning German that apply to most languages initially are still spot on. For example:
"...when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, "Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions." He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it."

I specifically love what he does while talking about the specificity and eccentricities of learning German genders. For me, genders have often seemed counter intuitive and confusing, and Twain sums this up perfectly by saying that "In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has."

But the best part of this essay is that Twain's fundamental enjoyment of and respect for German shines through. It never slides into being mean spirited or over the top, but instead remains good natured ribbing throughout. 

Kultur 2 Graham Techler

This reading was pretty funny and interesting in that it very honestly and deliberately took us out of our perspective: which is (at least for me) limited to American customs and notions of politeness. I've noticed from friends of mine who are British and Irish that blunt honesty is the norm there, and so these facts about Germany do fit with the idea that frankness is a very European custom. But many people in China would consider American conversation pretty frank and or rude, so I guess its all a matter of perspective.
The staring thing was also very interesting. Another example of how whats uncomfortable and rude on one side of the Ocean is the norm on the other.

AMD 1-Graham Techler

For my AMD, I set my facebook language to German and browsed it for about an hour. I remember attempting a similar thing in high school: I set the language to Spanish and tried to keep it like that for the rest of the year to improve my reading comprehension. Sadly, that experiment ended after about a week. But doing the same thing in German for a short burst was really informative, simply because we're all used to specific facebook lingo that translations were either cognative or fun to figure out. For example: "chronik" means "timeline" (which makes sense when you think of our facebook timelines as our "chronologies").

Other phrases began to make more and more sense the more I saw them.
"Jack Reibstein und 14 weiteren Personen gefällt dein Status" means "Jack Reibstein and 14 others liked your status."
Some phrases I would not have been able to translate whatsoever unless it had been in the context of a facebook translation. For example: I would not have been able to tell this said "Write Happy Birthday on his timeline" any other way.

 I'll try to keep the settings on German for as long as I can, and if that is not convenient, I'll definitely change the language every few days before a test, as it is pretty immersive. 

Graham Techler Kapitel 1

I thought it was very enlightening to read about the pervasive influence of Germanic culture on the development of the American midwest, especially juxtaposed with the limited exposure that culture has in America today. Growing up in Boston, where there is very little obvious Germanic influence, I was only aware of German-American goings-on because my family was originally from Minnesota. I was aware that the midwestern, German-influenced way of life was going on, but the idea seemed very alien to me.
This article really communicated the idea that America's "melting pot" reputation from the 19th and 20th centuries was not just cemented by the East coast cities like New York and Boston. That this article referred to Milwaukee as the "German Athens of America" made me think of the midwest in connection with multi-cultural progressiveness in a way I hadn't before.
I also thought the article's description of German stereotypes in American alcohol culture was fascinating: "Similar images of and per-ceptions about Germans, centering on the food and drink of cheer-fully hefty “Dutch” men and women, also flourished in such American communities as Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, where beer, sausages, and pretzels have become standard features not only of local cuisine but also in such mainstream American settings as the ballpark, where fans chomp and swallow while cheering on the Cubs, Reds, and Cardinals." It seemed telling that German-Americans clashed with other Americans over temperance, and yet German food drink and iconography became so thoroughly associated with American drinking culture. This came from an impulse both to mock and respect, each in equal measure. Perhaps the American instinct to respect that which can be a commodity, no matter how stereotypical, came into play here.