La Tribune de Geneve

Here’s the link to the article in La Tribune de Geneve. A friend is doing a translation into English for me, and I’ll put that up when it’s done.

The article is really well done, although he misquoted me on the last sentence by leaving out my negative. I actually don’t see myself staying in the US in the future… if only just for a while.  

The web page also doesn’t list the name of the reporter. For the record, his name is Henri Della Casa.

Enjoy!

A rose by any other name just as sweet? Leider, in Koeln riecht sie suesser.

Since arriving in Deutschland I have struggled to come up with Bayrische Ohren (ears). The southern accent and dialect–swallowed vowels, dental consonants, relaxed lips and tongue, and short, throaty (I know, right!??!) ich-lauts–prove overwhelming to my education in strict Hochdeutsch. More often than not the words fly by indistinguishably, and I can’t even decipher the separation between words I already know, let alone identify new ones. It gets to the point where I don’t even know what to look up in my dictionary because I just can’t weed through the thick pronunciation. By the same token, it often takes me saying something two or three times for them to understand me. This can often be an embarrassing situation and has really hindered my desire to speak out.

On my way to Brussels, however, I switched trains in Koeln and found myself (ploetzlich!) in a wonderland of perfekt Hochdeutsch. Bright vowels, loose jaws, crisp consonants, excessive tongue movement, hissy ich-lauts… and not a trace of dialect. Individual words! Whole sentences that made sense! It was so yummy to hang on the sound of every glorious little word. Even the idiomatic expressions were much easier to decode and assimilate, because I could actually hear their components loud and clear. Who cared if I didn’t know a word here and there! I could repeat that whole sentence back and had something concrete to look up in my dictionary. Bitte, sagen Sie diesen Satz noch einmal? Mir war soooo schoen. Ach, sweet relief.

So, in turn, I raise my glass to the stalwart exchange students who prevail against the linguistic terrors of the American south. You have my deepest respect and admiration.

On delays and the limitations of language

Just to clarify, I write little every day in order to capture what I experience, and sometimes I write twice or three times a day. It may take up to three or four days after writing till I post though, because I don’t have immediate access to the internet. I’m trying my hardest to get them up as soon as possible!

I also like to write a post, and then let it sink in for a few days to see if any forthcoming experiences temper what I wrote. In many cases they have, and I like seeing that change.

Finally, I haven’t been writing in German, because it’s exhausting to speak in German all day. When I write about this summer, I want my reactions to be as honest as possible, and I find that difficult to do when I’m struggling for words that don’t _exactly_ describe what I mean. Perhaps I’ll begin posting in German as the summer progresses, but for now, it’s English with Deutsche Woerter for some local flavah.

 

The first three days…

Eaten Wienerschnitzel? Check.

Gotten lost amidst roccoco splendor? Check.

Drank a liter of beer, correction… TWO liters of beer at the Hofbrauhaus? Check.

Spoken German till I bleed black, yellow and red out the corners of my mouth? Check.

Experienced my first “real” case of jet-lag? Check.

Cared deeply for the state of European soccer, even if only for a second? Check.

Thought about buying a drindle? Check.

Become profoundly overwhelmed by train schedules? Check.

Been told I speak “sehr gutes Deutsch”? Check.

Been told I speak “sehr gutes Deutsch” with an English accent”? Umm…. check.