Kultur 11 - Ben Harmsen

I've always wondered what the effect of separating east and west Germany had on the country, reading the article "Breaking Down the Wall in the Head" was very illuminating. After being divided for about half a century, naturally the cultural divides are going to remain long after the country is politically unified. I was surprised at the large percentage of Germans who would prefer Germany be separated again. The term Ostalgie seems to correspond more to younger Germans who grew up, or were young during the time period, so they tend to look back on it and see it as the "good old days." This attitude reminds me of the small amount of southerners who would have wanted the south to win the American civil war. The Spiegel article presents a different image of German cultural divide, stating that most regional animosity exists between the Northern and Southern Germans.
The article on Berlin was interesting to me, I'm sure many foreigners travel to Germany for the party scene and easily get caught up in it. Those who actually work in Berlin undoubtedly harbor some ill feelings toward those who travel there and cause trouble. I can see how it would be easy for someone self-employed as a musician to lose their motivation in favor of the party scene.

AMD 6

Für meine AMD, ich hat mit ein andere Deutsch Student sprechen. Wir haben über Basketball gesprochen. Wir haben mit das Präteritum und das Perfeckt sprechen. Ich verstehe viele neue Worten, wenn ich Deutsch hören, es ist leichter für mir verstanden. Sprechen auf Deutsch ist auch leichter, weil ich mehr Vokabeln lernen hat. Es war leichter als das Beginn des Semester. Es gibt viele mehr Deutsche Worten Ich kann sagen.

AMD 5 - Ben Harmsen

Ich hat über Deutsch fußball gelesen. Die Deutsch gern Fußball viel, alle großen Städte in Deutschland haben Fußballmannschaften.Deutschland hat dreimal die Weltmeisterschaft gewinnen, in 1954, 1974, und 1990. Deutschland hat auch dreimal die Europameisterschaft” gewonnen. Deutsch Fußballspieleren kommen aus veile Ländern. Deutschland hat 18 Mannschaften in der Bundesliga. In Deutschland mannschaften von klein Städte können gegen mannschaften von große Städte spielen, wenn die kleiner Stadt mannschaft viele Fans haben. Die Mannschaft von München ist einer der besten Fußballmannschaften.

Neue Deutsch Worten:
Abwehr - defense
Treffer - Goal
Mannschaftskapitän - Team Captain
Kopfball - Header

Kultur 10

Last semester our class watched an excerpt from "Dinner for One," the short film seems to be the German equivalent of "It's a Wonderful Life," in that it has become an annual holiday tradition. However, "It's a Wonderful Life" is more serious, but also more uplifting than the German film portraying an old lady who's friends have all died. I prefer the American film, but I suppose the German sketch is received well with the inebriated audience on New Years' Eve, anyway. The Germans also have extensive markets set up during the Christmas season. Here Germans can celebrate the spirit of the Holidays by waiting in line and buying food and gifts, not at all dissimilar to what we do here.

 In the travel blogs about Switzerland, Swiss chocolate seemed to be a common theme, not too surprising. Seeing the picture of stacks of chocolate in the shop made me want to visit Switzerland. It also seems as though the border between Germany and Switzerland is more open than the U.S. borders. An airport in Basel even has three different exits, one each for Germany, Switzerland, and France. Naturally, a smooth and relatively easy transition between countries is probably important when so many people travel across borders through mainland Europe.

AMD 4 - Ben Harmsen

Ich habe Deutsch expressionist paintings gesehen. Das Museum of Modern Art, das in New York sein, hat Kunst von Deutschland angezeigt. Die Gemälden sind etwa 100 Jahre alt, und sind nicht realistisch. Die Künstlern waren kreativ mit eine neuen Stil. Ihre Gemälden sind sehr schön und interessant. Die Kunst zeigt Natürlichen Dinge oder die Stadt. Emil Nolde und Erich Henkel, haben nicht nur Farbe benutzt. Meine lieblingskunst war "Curving Canal" eine Holzschnitt von Erich Henkel.

Neue Deutsche Worten:
Gemälde: Painting
Austellung: Exhibit
Holzschnitt: Woodcut

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2002/brucke/

Kultur 9

The articles on the large German bureaucracy were interesting, the two articles had differing views on the bureaucracy. One author stated that the large regulatory role of the government allowed for a much easier lifestyle overall, even with a large bureaucracy surrounding it, using the strong infrastructure in Germany as an example. The second article portrayed the paperwork surrounding college and everyday life as excessive.
The neighbor relationships portrayed in another article didn't seem too different from my experience with neighbors. Most of the ordinances seemed to be quite close to what people follow here, except for possibly the rules regarding car washing and barbeques. I'm sure this is heavily dependent on the type of neighborhood one chooses to live in.

AMD 3

Ich habe "Die Zauberflöte" (The magic flute) gesehen, mit subtitles auf Englisch. Ich gern die Oper von Mozart, und ich gern nicht viele Opern. Ich verstehe viele Deutsch Wörter und Sätze in die Oper. Es gibt viele Reflixivverben und Reflixivpronomen. Ich habe eine Übersetzung gelesen. Der Übersetzung hat mir verstehen geholfen. Hier sind ein paar neue Deutsch Wörter ich habe gelernt:

Erheitere dich - Cheer up
Lügner - Liars
Prinz - Prince
Handeln - Behave
Mächtig - Powerful


Die Oper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b11ElH3qm2M
Translation of the lyrics: http://www.aria-database.com/translations/magic_flute.txt

Kultur 2 - Ben Harmsen

I find it interesting that the Germans dislike taking medicine and antibiotics so much. However, the Germans also seem obsessed with cleanliness and overly paranoid about potential sources of infection, shown by their fear of drafts. Evidently, this way of thinking works for them, and sick days have been decreasing since the 70s. The Germans also seem to experience some afflictions that other countries have never heard of, this could be due to their intellect getting the best of them, perhaps convincing themselves that they are sick.
I never knew that the Germans had taken such a liking to saunas. This, when combined with their fear of opening windows on hot days, leads me to believe that the Germans simply like to sweat.
The concept of the eternal German student really shows a difference in the American and German college-going culture. In America, the age of the average college student is much lower than in Germany, and very few students in the US ever take semesters off or take an extra year to graduate, mostly due to cultural pressure to get out into the world. In America staying in college seven semesters would get very expensive very quickly. In Germany they seem to have little problem with beginning college later and continuing through it at a leisurely pace.

AMD 2 - Ben Harmsen

Für meine AMD, ich habe der blog "My Foreign Adventure" gelesen. Am 1, Februar, sie schreibt über ein Reise nach Berlin. Berlin ist historisch und hat interessant architecture, und sie schreibt über das Jewish Museum. Sie hat die Achse des Exils und die Achses des Holocausts gesehen. Sie shreibt über Deutsch sprechen, and a couple cases of misunderstanding, such as mispronouncing "kuchen" as "küchen." Animal owners fare well in Deutschland. In Deutschland, die Hunde are well-trained und man kann die Hunde in die Supermarkt oder der Zug mitbringt. It seems that free WiFi in Deutschland ist hard to find, and the primary form of transportation is mit der Bahn. Deutschland ist gute zu besuchen.

Kultur 1 Ben Harmsen

Ich lese der Arikel "How not to Die on German Roads" und ich finde er interessant. Die Deutsch haben more strict rules of the road than im USA, and not following them will lead to either a ticket or death at the hands of a speeding Porsche. Auf dem Autobahn, it is even more important given the high speed. However, most of die Deutsch rules für autofahren are similar to those here, just more rigorously enforced by die Polizei. Taking the U-bahn or Autobus ist die beste Idee.
Ich finde the USA kulinarisch website lustig, auf der erst Seite there was a reference to cowboys, and twinkies.A common request by die Deutsch was how to find Amerikanerisch Essen in Deutschland. In zwei Artikel, lines (Schlange) in Deutschland are described as chaotic and unruly. This would make for a very different shopping experience in dem Supermarkt. In Deutschland, man kaufen cheap Essen, for quality food one would likely go to der Bakerei.

AMD 1

Für meine AMD ich habe gesprochen mit meine freund auf Deutsch. Throughout the conversation I worked on the Wechselpräpositionen and reminded myself of some of the vocabulary from the earlier chapters. One of the biggest limits to conversing auf Deutsch was not the grammar, but the vocabulary; it wasn't as hard to remember how to construct sentences as it was to remember the words I wanted to use. This made me think about talking auf Deutsch in a different way.

Test

Mein Lieblingswort ist Flugzeug.