Tuesday, April 29, 2008
C.J. Geibel 12.4.G
Studying German has certainly changed my views on German culture. It is easier now to see that Germans are very much like us, and not as different as I thought. Not that there aren't differences of course. I can now feel more for foreigners living in my country, as I have learned one example of how different culture can be and how hard culture shock can be. I do not think that this class changed my perspectives on my own identity, however.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Last Blog
I feel that the studying of German speaking cultures has affected my perspective on both my own culture and the German culture. The most important thing that we talked about in class was the German's acceptance of their history, not only with the aftermath of WWII, but also the the reunification of East and West Germany. Understanding how Germans perceive americans was also an interesting aspect that we studied as it would help me to not portray these stereotypes when I travel to Europe. I still think Germans love their Beer and their BMWs though.
Last Blog!
Honestly, I'm not going to be able to say what you want to hear: it really hasn't affected my much at all! I suppose that I am eager to visit Germany now that I know more about it that I was, say, a year ago. I don't see how studying a language would affect my "culture", of which I have little of anyway! My family is mostly Portuguese and with our dwindling numbers, I can't say that German is "replacing" or "affecting" how I feel about my heritage.
I am more aware of cultural differences and such, which will be helpful when I do get to spend time in Germany. I didn't enjoy the interactives in the slightest, mostly do to script errors and the monotany of the whole thing, but in general it was good to hear German being spoken by different people, both native speakers and people who have learned German, and to be able to hear the vocab pronounced for you. The reading portions about German history, TV habits, work and travel habits, differences between residents of various regions--THAT was the most interesting. (But seriously, if I have to mention the "superficial" thing or the "how are you?" thing one more time I might jump off a bridge. Trust me, I get it, theres a difference). I feel I have gained a better understanding of the diversity of German culture, but at the same time have had a few stereotypes reinforced.
On a side note, have you ever heard Adam Corolla's "Germany or Florida?" game? He reads a headline or a news story, and players have to guess if it happened in Germany or Florida--under the presumption all all the oddities in the world come from those 2 places. Thats one stereotype that I found to have a ring of truth, wink wink.
One thing I can say is, after listening to the speakers on Auf Gehts about WWII, I have less respect for Germans on that subject. Nick had noted that they may be covering up guilt, but I still say that those people I had to listen to on the CD should be punished as Nazi sympathizers. I think that there are so many excuses about "I was afraid" and "I didn't know" and not enough owning up to it. It may be my own personal beliefs and morals rearing their ugly heads, but I believe that some things, some principals, are worth putting yourself in danger for. Apparently those people didn't agree.
I don't feel any differently about foreigners living in America. People are here as exchange students, and thats fine--even admirable. Heck, I wish I had had the money to go on an exchange program when I was in high school or college! Given the chance, I'd be more willing to choose Germany at this point, now that I know more about it. As for people who AREN'T exchange students and just living here...well, as long as they've done it legally I have no complaints. I've never heard of a German fleeing to America for a better life, so it really has had no impact.
Overall I feel better about myself as a person having learned another language, limited as my knowledge is. I have enjoyed the process and would love to continue German classes when I move to Philly...I wish I could stay at UNC! Language also puts me in a good position when applying for other Masters/PhD programs, so these classes will be functional as well as enriching. I really wasn't enrolled for an experience as much as I was out of necessity, and its just lucky that I ended up enjoying it as much as I did. Thank you for a lovely semester and a very enjoyable time overall!
I am more aware of cultural differences and such, which will be helpful when I do get to spend time in Germany. I didn't enjoy the interactives in the slightest, mostly do to script errors and the monotany of the whole thing, but in general it was good to hear German being spoken by different people, both native speakers and people who have learned German, and to be able to hear the vocab pronounced for you. The reading portions about German history, TV habits, work and travel habits, differences between residents of various regions--THAT was the most interesting. (But seriously, if I have to mention the "superficial" thing or the "how are you?" thing one more time I might jump off a bridge. Trust me, I get it, theres a difference). I feel I have gained a better understanding of the diversity of German culture, but at the same time have had a few stereotypes reinforced.
On a side note, have you ever heard Adam Corolla's "Germany or Florida?" game? He reads a headline or a news story, and players have to guess if it happened in Germany or Florida--under the presumption all all the oddities in the world come from those 2 places. Thats one stereotype that I found to have a ring of truth, wink wink.
One thing I can say is, after listening to the speakers on Auf Gehts about WWII, I have less respect for Germans on that subject. Nick had noted that they may be covering up guilt, but I still say that those people I had to listen to on the CD should be punished as Nazi sympathizers. I think that there are so many excuses about "I was afraid" and "I didn't know" and not enough owning up to it. It may be my own personal beliefs and morals rearing their ugly heads, but I believe that some things, some principals, are worth putting yourself in danger for. Apparently those people didn't agree.
I don't feel any differently about foreigners living in America. People are here as exchange students, and thats fine--even admirable. Heck, I wish I had had the money to go on an exchange program when I was in high school or college! Given the chance, I'd be more willing to choose Germany at this point, now that I know more about it. As for people who AREN'T exchange students and just living here...well, as long as they've done it legally I have no complaints. I've never heard of a German fleeing to America for a better life, so it really has had no impact.
Overall I feel better about myself as a person having learned another language, limited as my knowledge is. I have enjoyed the process and would love to continue German classes when I move to Philly...I wish I could stay at UNC! Language also puts me in a good position when applying for other Masters/PhD programs, so these classes will be functional as well as enriching. I really wasn't enrolled for an experience as much as I was out of necessity, and its just lucky that I ended up enjoying it as much as I did. Thank you for a lovely semester and a very enjoyable time overall!
I have really enjoyed both German 101 and 102. I loved the way the classes were taught—the interaction in class, the focus on culture, and of course, the lack of the repetitive in-class grammar exercises that I was all too familiar with in my high school Spanish classes. It is amazing to me how much we have learned in such a short period of time. Not only do we know basic grammar and vocabulary, but we know a significant amount about the German culture as well. I’ve taken years of Spanish classes and yet, I feel like I’ve learned so much more about culture in the past two semesters of German than I ever have in the past several years of Spanish.
There are a couple of cultural differences between America and Germany that stand out in my mind. The first is the different use of the phrase “how are you?” I was surprised to learn that many Germans think we are superficial because we use the phrase as more of a greeting than a real question. I’d never really thought about the fact that we use the phrase as a greeting… it’s just something that I’ve always done unconsciously. It’s not that we don’t care about our friends and family though. I still genuinely want to know how they are, but I guess I usually ask them using a different phrase.
The difference in openness and friendliness with strangers also stood out to me. I have always heard that some other cultures don’t treat strangers with the same polite manner that Americans tend to use. However, I had not realized that Germany falls into this group of cultures. I was incredibly surprised to learn that Germans are pretty conservative about smiling at people and that it is strange for Germans to smile at someone that they don’t know. I was also surprised that Germans who visited America were often disconcerted by salespeople being friendly!
I have really enjoyed my German classes so far and I am looking forward to learning more German and one day (hopefully sooner rather than later!) being fluent in the language. In fact, I liked German 101 so much that I applied to study abroad in Berlin this summer! German 102 has only helped to strengthen my desire to learn the language and immerse myself in the German culture. I am so excited about my upcoming study abroad experience and I am looking forward to coming back to UNC in the fall and continuing to learn German.
There are a couple of cultural differences between America and Germany that stand out in my mind. The first is the different use of the phrase “how are you?” I was surprised to learn that many Germans think we are superficial because we use the phrase as more of a greeting than a real question. I’d never really thought about the fact that we use the phrase as a greeting… it’s just something that I’ve always done unconsciously. It’s not that we don’t care about our friends and family though. I still genuinely want to know how they are, but I guess I usually ask them using a different phrase.
The difference in openness and friendliness with strangers also stood out to me. I have always heard that some other cultures don’t treat strangers with the same polite manner that Americans tend to use. However, I had not realized that Germany falls into this group of cultures. I was incredibly surprised to learn that Germans are pretty conservative about smiling at people and that it is strange for Germans to smile at someone that they don’t know. I was also surprised that Germans who visited America were often disconcerted by salespeople being friendly!
I have really enjoyed my German classes so far and I am looking forward to learning more German and one day (hopefully sooner rather than later!) being fluent in the language. In fact, I liked German 101 so much that I applied to study abroad in Berlin this summer! German 102 has only helped to strengthen my desire to learn the language and immerse myself in the German culture. I am so excited about my upcoming study abroad experience and I am looking forward to coming back to UNC in the fall and continuing to learn German.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
When I decided to take this class I never thought I would learn so much about culture in addition to the actual language. It was interesting to look at the differences between cultures from both sides. We considered the German stereotype of Americans as superficial and over-friendly from both German and American perspectives. We did the same for the German views of friendship vs those of Americans, and Americans' view of Germans as unfriendly. This provided a look at the way two cultures differ but are still very similar. It also gave me an idea of how one culture easily accepts a false impression of another without doing much research to find out what the culture is actually like.
Our close look at culture made this course much more effective than it would have been if it were simply a language course. I have been taking French for 3 years, and although I am much more fluent in French than in German, I know almost nothing about French culture. The language is much more useful when combined with some knowledge of the nature of the society from which it comes.
Our close look at culture made this course much more effective than it would have been if it were simply a language course. I have been taking French for 3 years, and although I am much more fluent in French than in German, I know almost nothing about French culture. The language is much more useful when combined with some knowledge of the nature of the society from which it comes.
Deutsch
My encounter with German started with Richard, obviously. When I came back to UNC I found out that I actually needed a third language level for the major I was in (when I was at App I believe it was only two.) Rather than muddle my way through Italian 3 years and years after I took Italian 2, I thought it would be fun to take German. I would learn a little of Richard's language and be able to exchange social niceties with his parents when I went to Nurnberg over the Christmas break to be introduced.
I wasn't really ready for the impact on my life it was going to have. Despite initial struggles with the course structure that a lot of us experienced, I found myself looking forward to German class every day during German 101. It was during this class that I actually decided to make a really big leap and change my major over to German. I have to admit that a lot of people thought I was pretty insane, but I wasn't enjoying my current major at ALL. I was already suspicious that my life might lead me to live in Germany one of these days, and I thought if nothing else it would be useful. This semester I found out that it's far more than useful, it's really where I belong.
I have no special aptitude for language and I've no doubt that I'll struggle with proper syntax no matter how long I speak. I am, however, fascinated by Germany, its history, and the language. I had three classes in the German department (well, one was in JWST but counted for German.) I continued to look forward to my language class every day. I live alone and work multiple jobs in addition to school, so for me coming together to talk like that is just about all the socializing I get. German 102 had a really relaxed and opened atmosphere, and while I still struggle to get entire thoughts out it's usually because I have something bigger to say than I actually can... but I can get closer than I would've thought I could at this point. I remember one day more or less successfully saying this huge long thing about how I had just read Geiger and what I had thought of it (I think it was Geiger) and being just a little floored afterwards that I had managed to do that with vocabulary that I had total on quick recall. What, I had been studying German actively for like six months at the time? That's pretty impressive. No matter how much I gripe and moan about auf gehts something is clearly yielding results.
It's really hard for me to pin my cultural experience down to just one class, because the three from this semester have been engaging with one another a lot. I like learning about the cultural differences and thinking about how they impact my life. The amazing way Germans magically know which window has to be open and how long (regardless of temperature,) for instance. Or the fact that the nation that produced gregarious Bernd (Richard's brother-in-law) could POSSIBLY think we're overly-friendly, hahaha.
Historically, I've engaged with some topics that I had kind of feared to investigate on my own. I think in some ways, learning about Germany is the study of all Western humanity and both the incredible and the incredibly awful things we're capable of.
I'm going way overboard, but I guess in the end the biggest surprise was how much the same we are (or can be) despite how different we are... if that makes any sense at all. Also, being a foreign language major is a lot of fun. You get to go into a little bit of everything like a Humanities major (culture, history, pop culture, art, literature,) but you also are actually learning a skill in the process. :)
I wasn't really ready for the impact on my life it was going to have. Despite initial struggles with the course structure that a lot of us experienced, I found myself looking forward to German class every day during German 101. It was during this class that I actually decided to make a really big leap and change my major over to German. I have to admit that a lot of people thought I was pretty insane, but I wasn't enjoying my current major at ALL. I was already suspicious that my life might lead me to live in Germany one of these days, and I thought if nothing else it would be useful. This semester I found out that it's far more than useful, it's really where I belong.
I have no special aptitude for language and I've no doubt that I'll struggle with proper syntax no matter how long I speak. I am, however, fascinated by Germany, its history, and the language. I had three classes in the German department (well, one was in JWST but counted for German.) I continued to look forward to my language class every day. I live alone and work multiple jobs in addition to school, so for me coming together to talk like that is just about all the socializing I get. German 102 had a really relaxed and opened atmosphere, and while I still struggle to get entire thoughts out it's usually because I have something bigger to say than I actually can... but I can get closer than I would've thought I could at this point. I remember one day more or less successfully saying this huge long thing about how I had just read Geiger and what I had thought of it (I think it was Geiger) and being just a little floored afterwards that I had managed to do that with vocabulary that I had total on quick recall. What, I had been studying German actively for like six months at the time? That's pretty impressive. No matter how much I gripe and moan about auf gehts something is clearly yielding results.
It's really hard for me to pin my cultural experience down to just one class, because the three from this semester have been engaging with one another a lot. I like learning about the cultural differences and thinking about how they impact my life. The amazing way Germans magically know which window has to be open and how long (regardless of temperature,) for instance. Or the fact that the nation that produced gregarious Bernd (Richard's brother-in-law) could POSSIBLY think we're overly-friendly, hahaha.
Historically, I've engaged with some topics that I had kind of feared to investigate on my own. I think in some ways, learning about Germany is the study of all Western humanity and both the incredible and the incredibly awful things we're capable of.
I'm going way overboard, but I guess in the end the biggest surprise was how much the same we are (or can be) despite how different we are... if that makes any sense at all. Also, being a foreign language major is a lot of fun. You get to go into a little bit of everything like a Humanities major (culture, history, pop culture, art, literature,) but you also are actually learning a skill in the process. :)
German 102
German 102 has been a great experience that was a culturally enlightening class. I have really enjoyed learning about my own culture and the stereotypes associated with it. It had never really occurred to me that being friendly and smiling was not recognized worldwide. I found it very interesting the German culture holds friendship and relationships at such a high value and Americans are superficial. I understand the German’s interpretation of our friendly, outgoing nature as superficial. I often find myself wondering if our “superficial” culture has undermined the value of our closest relationships.
The course has taught me a lot about myself. I have always struggled with foreign languages but through German 102 I proved to myself that I can persevere and learn new languages. While I do struggle with speaking and pronunciation, I am fairly confident in my ability to write in German. I really want to become fluent and am considering studying abroad there in the summer of 2009. I believe this will be a wonderful experience that will let me understand the culture and the different ways of life in Germany for myself. Before taking this class I refused the thought of even venturing outside the country on my own.
I find the culture to be interestingly different. While it is considered rude by foreigners visiting Germany, I actually have a great deal of respect for their lack of friendliness to strangers. I believe that it makes the relationships they do possess much stronger. In addition, it simplifies their life by reducing the obligations to others. Instead of many acquaintances and friends as Americans have, they only have a select few which they must worry about pleasing. The culture itself seems very pessimistic to me. I enjoy talking and sharing the good things about life not the bad but I embrace this difference as a part of the culture experience.
I have a new respect for foreigners traveling to the United States. While the ones who did not bother to learn basic communication in English still get on my nerves, I do respect those who do. Foreign languages are not easy and English especially, which has numerous exceptions to every rule it sets. All in all I greatly enjoyed German 102 and am looking forward to German 203 in the fall.
The course has taught me a lot about myself. I have always struggled with foreign languages but through German 102 I proved to myself that I can persevere and learn new languages. While I do struggle with speaking and pronunciation, I am fairly confident in my ability to write in German. I really want to become fluent and am considering studying abroad there in the summer of 2009. I believe this will be a wonderful experience that will let me understand the culture and the different ways of life in Germany for myself. Before taking this class I refused the thought of even venturing outside the country on my own.
I find the culture to be interestingly different. While it is considered rude by foreigners visiting Germany, I actually have a great deal of respect for their lack of friendliness to strangers. I believe that it makes the relationships they do possess much stronger. In addition, it simplifies their life by reducing the obligations to others. Instead of many acquaintances and friends as Americans have, they only have a select few which they must worry about pleasing. The culture itself seems very pessimistic to me. I enjoy talking and sharing the good things about life not the bad but I embrace this difference as a part of the culture experience.
I have a new respect for foreigners traveling to the United States. While the ones who did not bother to learn basic communication in English still get on my nerves, I do respect those who do. Foreign languages are not easy and English especially, which has numerous exceptions to every rule it sets. All in all I greatly enjoyed German 102 and am looking forward to German 203 in the fall.
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