Kultur 11

I found these Kultur articles especially interesting due to their focus on the current politics of Germany. Seeing as it is a relatively small nation compared to the US, I was somewhat surprised by the extent of their cultural divisiveness. There are some deep seeded tensions between East and West Germany. As they were separate nations for approximately 30 years, it is not that surprising that they developed distinct cultures. I feel that this could probably be attributed to the very different political structures of the two nations during that time. Since East Berlin was strongly socialist, the people seem to have developed a more collectivist culture, much like many Eastern societies (China, etc.) The Western side was democratic and had a capitalist economy. This seems to have fostered a more individualistic culture like that of the US. There are also some cultural differences between Northern and Southern Germany. These are very similar to the differences in northern and southern states of America, which I found very interesting. The one thing that was odd to me was the nostalgia many had for the old Eastern Germany. Since so many had died attempting to escape the oppressive regime I didn't expect there to be many positive feelings towards it. Also the passion with which the Berlin Wall was torn down led me to believe that Eastern Germans would have embraced the new political structure.

AMD 6

Für dieser AMD, Ich sah ein Folge von South Park. Es heiße Reverse Cowgirl. Es war sehr lustig, und sehr  überraschend! Die Thema war die Amerikanish TSA. Ich denke, dass ein Deutsche wohner lustig findet nicht. Aber, war es viele physische Comedie. In dieser Folge, Clydes Mutter ist gestorben. Sie ist tot an der toilette. Sie haben so schnell gesprochen. Ich könnte etwas Satzen verstehen:

Was bedeudet das?
Meine Tante kommt aus Virginia?Wie bitte?Vierzig minutenGenauDas ist meine Toilette!Neeeeein! Neeeein!


Ich würde die Folge empfehlen! 

AMD 5

Für diese AMD, ich ging in ein Deutschen Restaurant. Es heißt die Heidelberg in Ann Arbor. Ich hatte in die "Alpine Room" gegessen. Es hatte traditionellen Deutsch Atmosphäre. Es war sehr schön und authentisch. Ich habe die Saurbraten bestellt. Ich habe mit mein Freund Joe gegangen. Er hat die Wiener Schnitzel bestellt. Beide die Lebensmittel shmeckten mir sehr gut. Wir hat viel spaß gemacht. Ich wollte die Heidelberg empfehlen! Alles die Deutsche Studenten sollte gehen.

Kultur 10

I found this chapter's Kultur articles especially interesting. I enjoyed learning about how the Germans emphasize certain holidays more so then Americans do. Their Father's Day is starkly different from ours. Typically my family will get a gift for my dad and we all get him cards, but that is really the extent of our celebration. It is more than likely that my dad will have a few beers on Father's Day, but Germans have turned the holiday into a celebratory drinking occasion for men on par with New Years or St. Patrick's Day.

I also really liked the article about Dinner for One, which like the Father's Day article showed some unique quirks to German holidays. The video is watched by most Germans on New Years. I ended up watching the video and found it very entertaining. It definitely got funnier as it went on, and I strongly encourage other German students to watch it if they get a chance. The ending was unexpected and very funny.

I think its a little strange that the business hours in Germany are so short. I feel like it would be a difficult adjustment to make for an American, seeing as we have a lot of 24 hour places here as well as long business hours for grocery and convenience stores.

AMD 4

For my AMD I chose to switch the language setting on my phone to Deutsche. I thought this would be a fun and interesting way to interact with the language.

After switching the language, I was a little worried that it may be difficult to eventually change it back to English. However I found that there were many cognates for the common tools and functions of my phone. These included: Senden, Kalender, Kamera, Kontakte, Musik, Telefon, Notizen (notes), Wetter (weather). Others were easy to figure out from previous vocabulary we learned, like Systemsprache for systemm language. I think my favorite was Flugmodos, which meant airplane mode.

Something unusual I noticed was when I went to send a text, the x and y on the keyboard was switched. This surprised me because I assumed since Deutsche has the same characters as English they would have the same keyboard configuration. Some of the words that I had to look up were Applikationsempfehlung, which means app recommendation. Einstellungen was another one I didn't know, which meant settings. In the messages section of my phone (Nachricht) another phrase I learned that I liked was "text hinzufügen" which just translates to add text.

Kultur 9

I found it funny that so many neighbor related issues end up becoming court cases in Germany. While Americans can be very particular about how their neighbors act as well, I think that here people tend to be less direct about mild annoyances. It seems that in German culture there are a lot more subtle behaviors to consider. I found it surprising that something as simple as barbecuing or children playing could be considered offensive to neighbors in Germany. I just consider those to be things you have to tolerate, since it is their property.
I was also impressed by how well documented even the most mundane things in Germany are. To me it almost seems a little excessive, and being a somewhat disorganized individual I'm sure that I would find it difficult to keep up with.
I was not surprised by the article on German patriotism. I had previously heard that they tend to shy away from any hint of nationalism since WWII. I think that this aversion will probably lessen after several decades.

AMD 3

Ich habe fur mein AMD die Simpsons gesehen. Ich habe eine Folge  hier gefinden.
In die Folge, Opa hat den Simpsons funfzig dollars gab. Marge hat ein teuer Handtasche gekauft. Lisa hat Nelson funfzig dollars gab. Ich habe die Folge etwas verstanden. Die vokabel war nicht so scwher. Ich habe die Folge auf English gesehen einmal. Die Folge hat viele Dativ Prapositionen

Kultur 2

The assigned Kultur articles tied in very nicely with what we are learning in Kapital 8, seeing as our two main subjects are universities and illness. In both of these subjects, Germans seem to have some unique cultural quirks. It was very interesting to learn about these qualities and how they relate to our current course material. 

Previous Kultur articles gave me some idea of German views on health. Some of the articles from German 101 mentioned that Germans have a rapidly growing organic food market. They are generally disturbed by the thought of any kind of chemicals or unnatural substances sullying their health, so when the article You Have What? mentioned that they are reluctant to use medicine I was not that surprised. I was surprised by the draftophobia phenomenon. It seems pretty dramatic to me that the Germans would fear drafts due to airborne illnesses. But they do appear to be significantly more health conscious than me in general, so maybe it is doing them some good. 

I also noticed that the German perspective on education seems to differ from that of America. I feel like most people in America  frown upon "eternal students" slightly, and  usually assume that people who take longer to graduate are lazy. But education is also a lot more expensive here, so I can see why the sense of urgency to graduate wouldn't be as pressing in Germany. 

AMD 2

For this AMD post I decided to watch a German movie to learn more about their popular culture. My older brother recommended I watch Goodbye Lenin. I must say it far surpassed my expectations. The film was incredibly interesting and taught me a lot about Germany after the fall of the Berlin wall. The film follows Alex Kerner in 1990. His mother, a fervent supporter of communism, falls into a coma before the union of West and East Germany. After the fall East Germany is completely changed. She unexpectedly wakes up from her coma and is in a fragile state. Her son worries that the shocking news would be could be fatal to his mother, and must go to great lengths to keep her from knowing the truth. The influx of new goods that were unavailable to East Germany before makes it difficult for him to recreate the past. The plot was really interesting and taught me a lot about Germany's history from the perspective of a a regular person, which I really enjoyed. I would highly recommend this film to other German students.

Kultur 1

The Kultue articles I read included Bargain Buys, How Not to Die on German Roads, and Of German Lines and Pythons. The Kultur articles revealed some interesting trends in German life. The article about German roads and traffic laws described very distinct rules associated with navigating the roads. Beyond standard traffic laws, the Germans have very specific expectations of commuter behavior. Trespassing these standards or the "ordnung" results in harsh consequences. Given that the German road culture is very different from that of America, it is important to be aware of these cultural differences.
There was some contrast between this very structured approach to driving and the behavior in lines. The supermarket article and the queue article show that some aspects of German culture is less orderly and demands assertiveness. The lines in Germany for subways, grocery stores, etc. are described as a free for all. If I ever were to go to Germany I would definitely want to be aware of these expectations. Overall the articles taught me that to survive in Germany you have to know how to keep up or get out of the way.

AMD 1

For this AMD post I chose to do a dialogue based activity so I could have some more practice speaking German. One of my roommates is in German 231, so I thought she would be a good choice to practice with. We went to lunch together today and decided to speak only in German. It was tough at first but as I got more used to it, it began to feel more natural. We talked about our class schedules, what we did over the long weekend, and other typical roommate topics. I told her that I had just learned two-way prepositions, so we tried to use those in conversation too. It was really helpful talking to someone who I feel really comfortable with in German. And since she is more familiar with the language with me she was able to point out things I could improve on. Overall, it was a really fun experience and we decided that we should try and have German speaking lunches before every test for a fun way to prepare.

Test

Mein Lieblingswort ist Katzen