11 August 2014
Final Reflection
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| Goodbye Erfurt! It was a pleasure being able to study abroad here it was very nice to be able to return here after my excursions throughout Europe. |
Erfurt, DE -- My time in Germany has been one giant learning experience on everything from communication theory to cultural habits. When I first got to Erfurt I thought that this trip was going to be no sweat and that I would adapt to the language and culture very quickly. This is basically the honeymoon stage of Intercultural Adaptation Theory which describes the 4 stages of culture adaption dependent on how long you’ve spent time in the foreign country. I soon learned this wasn’t going to be the case because there is a lot more to foreign cultures than I could’ve imagined. I tried my best to not seem like the typical American tourist but it always seemed to show through my interactions with people. I would have conversations people and I would try my best to speak German to them so that I could practice my language skills and so they could speak in their native language. This almost always ended in them speaking English to me and sometimes they would even tell me to stop speaking German because it wasn’t working. It was interesting to see how the conversations would carry on because they were almost always a mix of German and English and some terrible accent impersonations. When people in conversation talk like this it’s called code-switching and it is part of the Communication Accommodation Theory, which played a major role in my survival over the course of this trip. The purpose behind code-switching is that because there is a language barrier the parties in the conversation will speak the foreign language and use their native language to fill in any word that they do not know in the foreign language. Therefore accommodating each other and making the conversation flow much easier. I noticed a lot of this when I would be meeting new people and they would want to know my story about how I ended up in Erfurt. The Communication Accommodation Theory helped a lot over this trip because no matter where I went there was some type of trouble that required people to accommodate to me and required me to accommodate to them.
This could also kind of explain the Face Negotiation Theory which basically states that when in a conversation where the parties do not necessarily understand each other both sides have a “face” that they must try and preserve while also trying to not “de-face” the other party in the conversation. I noticed this theory coming into play whenever there was a scenario where I had to try and explain my actions to a German. For example when Markus and I were on the tram without a ticket and the guy checking tickets was trying to figure out why we didn’t have one. He could’ve charged us a 40 Euro fine but after I communicated to him that we were study abroad students from America and we didn’t really know what we were doing he kindly let us ride the tram and asked us to pay the original tram ticket price of 1,90 Euro. I can see this theory playing a big role in life back home when I’m dealing with a scenario that is confusing to the person I’m interacting with and I.
Once I had my fair share of culture shock experiences like the one on the tram and the one with the German soldier that I met at the Domplatz. I felt like I was fairly accustomed to life in Erfurt and I would’ve considered myself in the cultural adjustment stage of the Intercultural Adaptation Theory because everything was starting to become normal to me. This always changed though because every week we would travel somewhere and the culture would be different again. Berlin is a fine example of this because even though it’s in the same country as Erfurt it is so much different. In Erfurt people are quiet and everyone tends to keep to themselves where as in Berlin there is no norm for your volume and people are more open to social interaction. I would accredit this to the fact that Berlin is a cultural epicenter for Europe because it’s a very popular city destination for much of Europe. When we were in Berlin we met people from all over the place and when there’s this many culture’s clashing in once city there is bound to blurred cultural lines because everyone’s norms are mixing to form Berlin’s special cultural norms.
Traveling around Germany got really interesting when I could tell the difference between West Germany and former East Germany. When I was travelling by train through the country I could look out the window and judging by the buildings and the towns we passed by I could tell which side I was in. East Germany is still rundown in some areas and the buildings look like they came straight out of the Soviet bloc. I could also notice a difference in the people from East and West Germans; the biggest difference to me was the way they would socialize. I learned that East Germans are the ones that are quiet and don’t socialize much outside of who they know, meanwhile West Germans tended to be a little louder and had no problem talking to people that they haven’t met before.
I learned a lot from traveling through Europe and much more than I ever expected to. Each excursion through Europe provided me with a different experience to learn from and changed my view on what European culture is actually like. My German language skills didn’t improve as much as I wished they would but I am confident that I will be able to go back to the States and learn the language much easier now that I am more accustomed to it. Overall this whole trip was a surreal experience that left a huge impression on me as a person and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to have an experience like this.
11 August 2014
Buchenwald
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This is a view into three of the crematories where
thousands of Jews were murdered after being enslaved
by the Nazi regime.
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Weimar, DE -- With our time winding down in Germany Mike and I decided that we needed to see a concentration camp before leaving. Luckily there is one that is 30 minutes away from Europe and proves to be a good quick trip. When we got there we walked through the main gate there was a huge empty field in front of us. This isn’t what I expected at all from the concentration camp because I was expecting it to be filled with buildings. As it turns out that empty field was where all the prisoners living quarters used to be. Once I discovered this it was a lot more moving because I was able to picture how many prisoners there was and how big the whole place was. To the left and right of the main gate there was barbed wire and electric fencing that lined the SS guard path and led to watch towers in the corners of the field mentioned earlier. The fence they had constructed was no joke and makes it no surprise that no one ever successfully escaped this camp.
After walking around the camp we found our way into the Crematorium which was one of the craziest thing’s I’ve ever seen. It was just a large room with 6 chambers designated for crematories. It’s crazy to think that at one point all of these crematories were being used around the clock to dispose of the bodies left over from the Nazi’s mass murder. Mike and I didn’t spend a lot of time in here because it was pretty wild just being there. After leaving we walked around the concourse a little and found a bunch of ventilation pipes sticking out of the ground near what seemed like giant vents also in ground. We were not able to figure out what this was but I am pretty sure it was the gas chambers which left me baffled because they were right next to where all the prisoners lived. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact these people lived right next to the place where they would eventually be murdered.
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| All six of the crematories. It's hard to believe that a place like this exists. |
11 August 2014
Neuschwanstein Castle
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The picture was taken from a viewing platform
near the massive castle. This picture doesn't
show the true size of the castle because the trees
in this picture are blocking about two thirds of
the castle.
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Fussen, DE -- Before I start into this blog post I must thank one of my
friends, Pat Cory, for recommending this trip me because it was truly an
awesome one. Now that I did that let me
tell you all about this castle that is nestled deep in the Alps of southern
Germany. My friend told me that this
place was a great day trip to take if I was anywhere near Munich. As it turns out the guys and I went to Munich
and had a lousy night due to the rain and a below average hostile so we made
the decision to wake up the next morning and catch the first train to Füssen,
the closest town to the castle. After
the two hour train we arrived in Füssen and caught a thirty minute shuttle to
the bottom of the mountain that the Neuschwanstein Castle was on. From here we
could see the enormous castle that inspired the design of Disneyland’s Sleeping
Beauty Castle. It was an amazing view from the bottom and it only made us
wonder what it’s like at the top. So we
eventually made our way to the top and partook in a tour through the
castle. The inside of the castle was
very nice and was just what you would expect from a castle built during the
1800s. The tour guide clearly knew a
lot about the castle and was able to answer the question of why there were swan
sculptures and paintings everywhere around the castle. As it turns out the English translation for
Neuschwanstein is New Swanstone; the reason for this is because man who had
this castle built, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, had an obsession with Lohengrin,
the Swan Knight of German folklore. This
was a really awesome sight to see and I highly recommend anyone that travels in
Germany stops by here because the castle is like none other.
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| The tour ended with this amazing, yet gloomy, view of the Alps from one of the castle's terraces. |
11 August 2014
Prague
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| Here I am, standing on the Charles Bridge with a view of the St. Vitus Cathedral and Prague Castle behind me. |
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This is one of the most amazing towers
that stands above the entrance to the
Charles Bridge. The Old Tower is known
for being one of the most elaborate
gothic-style civil buildings in the world.
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Being a major tourist attraction there was street performers next to just about every stature.
I found it quite humorous because they were so many of them, and I must say that most of them were very entertaining. Due to the bridge being somewhat long and being a good distance from our hostile we only walked all the way across once and that was to grab some dinner by the cathedral.
Since this was my first time leaving Erfurt there was a couple things that would be very new to me like navigating trains and finding hostiles. I found myself being in charge of the train navigation because I know a little bit of German. That being said, I did a pretty good job because I got us there without any problems. Since I took care of the trains I left everything else up for the group to decide. The girls in our group we’re able to find a moderately priced hostile that we were skeptical about at first but it turned out to be a lot nicer than we thought.
Overall it was a great trip to start off my summer in Europe and I could totally see myself coming back in the future.
Since this was my first time leaving Erfurt there was a couple things that would be very new to me like navigating trains and finding hostiles. I found myself being in charge of the train navigation because I know a little bit of German. That being said, I did a pretty good job because I got us there without any problems. Since I took care of the trains I left everything else up for the group to decide. The girls in our group we’re able to find a moderately priced hostile that we were skeptical about at first but it turned out to be a lot nicer than we thought.
Overall it was a great trip to start off my summer in Europe and I could totally see myself coming back in the future.
11 August 2014
Free Society of Free Artists
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One of the many realistic painting's found in
the listening tower and is one of my personal
favorites. Hard to believe someone can do that
with a can of spray paint.
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One in a million change but our tour guide was
from Erfurt and he couldn't believe it. He tagged
this for us, which he said is rare for him to do.
It says "SPICE Erfurt 2014." He also tagged WV
for us somewhere else.
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11 August 2014
Wir sind Weltmeister!
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A picture over all the heads that amassed for the World Cup 5 hours
prior to the game. You can see the statue on top of the Brandenburg Gate
which is right above the main viewing screen. The Branderburg Gate is
a symbol of unity amongst Germans and I would compare it to the
US’s Statue of Liberty for former East German citizens because the
Wall blocked them access to it.
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Berlin -- This is what headlined the front page of every German
newspaper on July 13th. If
you haven’t figured it out yourself yet this translates to “We are World
Champions!” Why did every German newspaper say this? Well unless you’ve been living
under a rock you would know that Germany won the FIFA World Cup this year and
to the entire world besides the US this is probably one of the greatest
achievements a country can earn.
With all the being said I don’t think I picked a better time
to study abroad in Germany. So, Markus,
Mike and I all took advantage of this once Germany advanced to the finals. We caught the next train to Berlin because
why not celebrate in the capital of the country that has a chance to win the
World Cup. When we were walking to our
hotel/hostile to drop off our bags we walked by the Brandenburg Gate which also
just happened to be where they were holding the public viewing of the final
game. They had the streets blocked off
as far as the eye could see and there was huge TV’s everywhere as well as beer,
food, and merchandise vendors. This city
was almost ready for what was going to take place the next day.
Fast forward to about noon the next day; we wanted to get a
view of the Brandenburg Gate so we had to walk around the back of it because
the other side was blocked by a gigantic screen for the World Cup viewing. It
was awesome that they held the public viewing at the Brandenburg Gate because
the gate has huge historical significance for Germany. My personal favorite fact
about the Brandenburg Gate is that it is where President Reagan made his famous
“Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!” speech. After admiring the gate for quite
some time we decided to walk underneath it into the middle of the festivities. There were people everywhere and there was
still 9 hours till the game started.
This place was packed and when I say packed I mean 1.3 million people. All of whom were standing in off and on rain waiting
for the soccer game to start. Everyone
was wearing red, gold, and black while waving their flag chanting German
drinking songs; I’ve never felt such unity in one atmosphere and I’ve never
felt so German before. Germany ended up winning the game 1-0 in extra time and
after that it was a non-stop party in the streets until the next day. This was
the most nationalism anyone will ever see out of Germany and it was a great
sight to see. I am still in awe to this
day of what happened and it honestly is probably the greatest experience of my
life that I will remember forever.
06 August 2014
Intercultural Adaptation Theory
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This is a typical German trash bin. Instead of throwing
all my trash into one giant waste bin I had to get accustomed
to sorting my trash into these 4 different slots.
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05 August 2014
Reflections from Berlin
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This is a picture of a section of the Berlin Wall that still stands.
I like this picture because you can't see the end of the wall, just
like East Germans that were confined by it for 30 years.
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The Holocaust Memorial was really something else because I had not heard about it before considering that it’s relatively new. This was the first place we went and I personally couldn’t think of a better way to represent the “Murdered Jews of Europe” then the way they did. It made me think of a graveyard and the way they had it setup it looked like the graveyard went on for miles. That’s not what they intended for but it left an impression on me and almost put the large number into perspective. That’s why I think it was so great because there is no way you can put 6 million deaths into perspective. The museum underneath the memorial was also very moving because they had hundreds of stories of families that were exterminated.
The DDR museum was really something else because it pointed out to me some of the ways that the East Germans got by in such rough times. One thing that always fascinated me with East and West Germany was how they were so culturally different all because of a stupid wall. The communism on the east side of the wall made them lag so far behind in advancement. When the wall came down the west was in the 90’s and the east may as well have been in the 70’s in terms of technology. The DDR museum really highlighted this fact and there were a couple times I found myself thinking how awful their lives must’ve been. I remember a clear example of when our tour guide was talking about the ways that East Germans would express themselves. She was showing us a video of an East German dance routine that she was comparing to the Western’s rock n’ roll dance routines and they were no close to the same and East German’s dance was no were close to a rock n’ roll dance. This is because they didn’t even know what rock n’ roll was because they had been suppressed for so long. In communist societies there is no room for self-expression. This leads me to another part of the museum that caught my attention. There was an exhibit that discussed the nudist movement that took over East Germany. There was a huge nudist movement that took place in the DDR because people weren’t allowed to travel anywhere outside of the DDR. It turned into such a movement because it was a form of expression in a society with so much oppression.
I think this desire for Germans to express themselves is still prevalent in today’s culture. When I took my first trip to Berlin to see the World Cup I stayed in a hotel in the section of town called Kreuzberg.
According to my friend who lived in Berlin, Kreuzberg is known as the area where all the “trashy-artsy students live”. By staying in that section of town I had a small realization that the people who live here really like to express themselves and if someone tried to stop them it wouldn’t go over well.
Even though the Berlin Wall fell down in 25 years ago there is still some tension between the two sides. They both get along because they’re all mixed together now but it’ll still come up in some certain circumstances. I’ve noticed that one thing the West Germans still have resent for is that fact that their tax dollars are being spent on the East Germans. 2 and half decades after that Wall fell the government is still trying to pick East Berlin back up to pace. That Wall separated Berlin for almost 30 years and it’s going to take a lot more than 30 years to meld the 2 cultures back into one.
What I really loved about Berlin was how westernized it was, for all I know I could’ve been in a major city of America if wasn’t for the accents over the letters. Nearly everyone spoke English and I can’t recall one time where I had whip out my German language skills to help us through the conversation. In Erfurt there’s never a time I can go through a conversation without having to speak a little bit of German. The only people who speak good clear English in Erfurt are students at the University here; the rest might know some but enough to get through a conversation without interruptions. This really speaks volumes for how far Berlin has come from being a city split in half by a wall with no means of communication to the other side. They want from being half communist and half capitalist to being a strong developing city that attracts millions.
The history and culture in this city is one of a kind that you will never find anywhere else (unless Korea becomes a single nation). The history in this city is so overwhelming that there’s no way you can fit into a single trip. The culture is another aspect of Berlin that is truly amazing and I really wish I had more time to indulge in. If I ever come back to Germany I am going to make sure I stay in Berlin if not I will most definitely visit.
15 July 2014
Communication Convergence Theory
Erfurt, DE -- The first thing that comes to mind when comparing Erfurt and Amsterdam in the terms of Cultural Convergence Theory (CCT) is the amount of English speakers in Amsterdam as supposed to Erfurt. CCT is a theory that explains how different cultures converge to become closely related and have more uniform aspects but never form an actual culture in itself. The way I relate this to Amsterdam and Erfurt is through the languages spoken in each city. Erfurt being smack in the center of Germany and not a major tourist city there isn’t much cultural diversity. In fact, I think this SPICE group might be the most culturally diverse thing to ever happen to Erfurt (kidding), but what I’m implying is that since there is not much cultural diversity there aren’t many English speakers in Erfurt besides the younger population. When compared to Amsterdam which is a major tourist city and is relatively close to several other bordering nations there is much more cultural assimilation. Almost everyone in the Amsterdam spoke English and they almost all spoke it perfectly. I clearly remember asking a store employee where an ATM was and they responded in such perfect English that I could’ve sworn they were from America, but they weren’t. It was astonishing how well they could speak a foreign language so perfectly. This explains how CCT works pretty well because without the assimilation of cultures how could one explain why the native Amsterdamians could speak such perfect English. Now to take a look back at Erfurt the city that has little cultural convergence the only people who speak English well are those of recent generations. I can only imagine that these generations speak English well only because of the increase of globalization. Globalization being the term used to describe how all nations and cultures are becoming closer due to the rapid increase in technology and communication media. So one could see how globalization plays a major role in CCT, but that’s not the point I’m trying to reach. To summarize all of the above Erfurt’s culture is in a much more closed state and has less cultural convergence because there isn’t much diversity for the residents to assimilate with. As compared to Amsterdam where there cultural boundaries are much more open and there is a constant need for the cultures to converge in order for the city’s tourism to flourish. This explains why there is a large English speaking population in Amsterdam and not in Erfurt.
06 July 2014
National Pride
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Two beer cans depicting the flags of the countries they
originate from. The difference between them is that I couldn’t find a picture of the German beer on Google, but it took me two seconds to find one of the American Flag Budweiser. |
For me, there is nothing greater than seeing the American flag being flown in the air and I’d say it’s the same for most Americans. We are all very proud and nationalistic about our flag and colors. I would even say the same for when I see the German flag, mainly because I take pride in my German heritage. I do not associate Germany with Nazism because in my mind they are 2 different Nation-State’s with very different ideals that just happened to occupy the same land and speak the same language. I wish the German’s would show more pride in their country because in my opinion it’s a great country that is probably heading in a better direction than any other country on the map today. Like I said in the paragraph before this most Germans I have met do have pride in their nation; at least the one’s close in age to me do. I think the farther in history we get from the Nazi tyranny the more their pride will grow; however I don’t see it becoming too vast due to the fear of acting like the Nazis once did.
30 June 2014
One Month in Reflection
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This is the cathedral in Erfurt, and it is located in
the Domplatz - which translates to Cathedral Square.
The Domplatz is the largest square in Erfurt, and one
of the largest historical market squares in Germany.
Every summer there is a large open-air festival where
they set up a stage for an opera.
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The Germans I have met that have welcomed me into their country have all been very nice, and they love asking questions about my trip to Germany. They are almost always asking me how I like it here and they want to make sure I like it and have the greatest time possible. I’m very grateful for this because it makes it much easier to communicate knowing they want me to be here. It makes sense that they would do this if you think about in terms of the Communication Accommodation Theory. CAT, as you can read in one of my earlier blog posts, explains how people try their best to show others that they are welcoming, nice, accommodating, etc. through their communications.
The most interesting cultural experience I had here came within my first couple weeks of being here. What happened was I decided to head into downtown Erfurt by myself for a bit and mingle with the locals without an entire group of Americans behind me. So I met a group of guys probably that were in there late 20’s and they were very nice and loved the fact that I ventured out on my own. After some conversation I discovered that one of these guys was in the German military, more specifically the NATO forces. He was a little intoxicated and started rambling on about how he fights for the Americans in Iraq and not for Germany. I figured he was implying that the Germans are fighting in Iraq only because the USA is fighting there, otherwise he wouldn’t be there. When he said this I thanked him for his service, just like I would any American soldier, and I noticed he immediately got teary eyed and emotional. I had no idea what I did wrong until he started telling me how he has never been thanked for his service before and that he was actually more or less hated for being the army. He said people would curse at him and call him obscenities because of it. It was complete culture shock for me because I’m so use to people supporting the troops. I will always remember this encounter as an eye opening experience.
As far as non-SPICE students (that is, other Germans), I’ve had some very different interactions from the residents. Mostly anyone close in age has been welcoming and helpful and treated me as if I lived here full time. The residents who aren’t very close in age to me have some mixed reactions. Some will respond cheerfully, maybe because it’s their first time meeting an American or maybe because they’ve been to America and want to talk about their experiences there. I’ve found both reactions multiple times. I’ve also had some not so positive reactions. The not so positive reactions usually come from people that I don’t have much interaction with such as people working, bystanders on a train, or people in a restaurant. Of course it all depends on the circumstances but normally it’s that these people are trying to figure what I could possibly be doing in a small city in the middle of Germany. One thing I’ve noticed a lot of is people on public transit stare at our group because we are speaking a foreign language. What’s different to me is that these people tend to stare for a long time, instead of the normal quick glance that I would give a foreigner in my country. I’m not implying that they, or I, am looking out of hatred but out of curiosity. I had an experience on a train where a lady stared at me for a solid three minutes until I asked her what she wanted to which she said something in German and looked away. I’ve also noticed a good number of servers in restaurants have a short patience for our inadequate German language skills. I completely understand why they would have a short patience for it but sometimes there body language and facial expressions are rather unfriendly. It could be that these servers are having a bad day or just want their work shift to be over but I think it’s more because we are throwing their normal processes out of whack; meaning that it isn’t their typical quick order, it normally takes a few minutes to get our orders across to them.
29 June 2014
Site Visit: Prague & Dresden
Erfurt, DE -- So the first of many travel excursions was to beautiful Prague in the Czech Republic. Prague was an amazing experience even though it was very short lived. It was a four day trip that allowed us a night in Dresden, two nights in Prague, and a long day of travel.
We decided to stop in Dresden the night before Prague
because it’s a major German city near the eastern border. The train to Dresden was interesting because
it was our first time traveling outside of Erfurt. The idea of catching connection trains in a
foreign country and language was kind of nerve racking, mainly because I felt
responsible for navigating since I was the only with any German language
background. Once we got to the Dresden
Hauptbahnhopf (main train station) we had a short walk to our hostel, called
Kangaroo-Stop, which was pretty odd for our first hostel experience. As you could guess there was kangaroo
pictures and merchandise everywhere, nonetheless it was a pretty clean place
and I was pleased staying there for one night.
We left the hostel as fast as we could because we arrived at the time of
the first World Cup game for Germany. We
went to a public watch party at a beer garden, which reminded me of football
games at WVU because there was a rowdy crowd whenever they scored. Once Germany had a solid 5-0 lead on Portugal
we decided to go further into the bar district.
We found a bar that had public viewing for the World Cup but I found
myself at the bar. I particularly liked
this bar because it played punk rock music and the bartender played my favorite
punk band, Operation Ivy, per my request.
The next day we woke up itching to go to Prague and checked
out of the Kangaroo-Stop as soon as possible.
We grabbed some food and went to the train station to buy our tickets
for the earliest train. We wanted to hit
the touristy/historic part of Dresden, but we were all way too anxious to cross
the over into the Czech border. Luckily
we were able to see some of the buildings from the train; which drove through
mountains providing us with a very scenic ride.
After 6 total hours of train rides from Erfurt we finally arrived in
Prague.
Once we got off the train we went straight to our hostel,
called the Mosaic House, this was much nicer than the Kangaroo-Stop but was
also less expensive so we were all very pleased. Once we got to our rooms and unpacked all of
our stuff we went down to the lobby for some food and drink. By the time we finished eating is was about 8
p.m. so we went back to the rooms and prepared for the rest of the night. We went to the biggest night club in all of
Europe, which has 5 different floors that all play different types of music. We
were the first one’s there because we didn’t realize that it was only 10 when
we got there, but it was nice because we got to explore the club a little
before it got packed. Around midnight
the place was packed and we were all having a great time and we all eventually
got split up. This made the night a
little more adventurous because we then all had to find our way home, which we
all eventually did.
The next day us 4 guys split from the rest of the group and
wanted to do our thing so we explored through beautiful Prague. We walked on the civilian bridge which was
covered in statues from the renaissance; local artist also filled the bridge
trying to sell their paintings and music.
The bridge provided us with a great view of the cathedral and other
parts of town. After the bridge we
wandered into a restaurant which turned out to be very nice but very
inexpensive. Eating in the restaurant
made me realize that anytime you walk into a basement in Europe it will most
likely be a dungeon because none of them have been remodeled, I thought this
was really cool. After eating we made our way back to the Mosaic House and all
decided to take naps because walking around all day was very tiring. Once we
woke back up we ventured back to the bridge but this time we crossed it because
we wanted to explore but also find a place to eat. We settled on going to a very “American”
Irish pub, where our waitress actually turned out to be from New Jersey. It was nice being able to have a regular
conversation with someone without the language barrier, and she also
recommended us some tourist-friendly spots to check out. After diner we made our way to a bar nearby
and had a few drinks before heading back to the club from the night before. We all had so much fun there the night before
that when we woke up the next we were exhausted and had to check out. After check out we stopped at a café for some
breakfast that turned out to be the worst breakfast any of us could’ve
imagined, so we use that as our cue to leave the city of Prague behind us. After 6 hours of train travel we finally
arrived back in Erfurt.
23 June 2014
Face Negotiation Theory
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I found this sign on a tram a few days after being caught
on the tram. Schwarzfahren's literal translation is "black ride"
and kostet translates to "cost". What this sign means is that
if you don't pay your tram fare, then you will be paying a 40,00
Euro fine.
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Erfurt, DE -- I have a story from my first week in Germany that perfectly explains how Face Negotiation Theory (FNT) works when in foreign countries. FNT is a theory that describes how different parties in a conversation try and present themselves. It becomes an in-depth practice when thinking about how the individual parties want to protect their identity (self-face concern) while also not ignoring the other person’s identity (other-face concern). This all eventually leads to what the theory calls mutual-face concern which means that both parties are concerned for each other’s identity to the point that there is a mutual understanding for each other.
So one day Markus and I decided to try and be a little sneaky by getting on to the tram without paying for a tram ticket. Now we had been warned about this multiple times that if we are caught there will be a 40-80 euro fine. After a week of riding the tram, we had not seen a single person ask for any proof of a tram ticket so we thought we could get away with it. Little do we know the one time we didn’t pay our fare, there were four undercover ticket-checkers on the tram. We tried to buy tickets before they got to check us but it didn’t work out in our favor. As soon as the guy asked for our tickets in a really strong and fast German accent, I tried speaking what little German I know - equivalent to that of a five-year-old. I told the guy we were from America, so he immediately asked for our passports which of course neither of us had. We gave him our driver’s licenses which were very confusing to him because they were from different states and he’s probably never seen them before. He also asked why were in Erfurt and where we lived in Erfurt. This was where the conversation got tricky because he didn’t understand what I was trying to say. Eventually he asked us for the original cost of the tram fare (1,90 euro) and gave us a standard ticket and let us go. We were very relieved we didn’t have to pay any extra fines because we didn’t have much money with us to begin with.
Anyways, without FNT this whole situation could have ended up very differently. FNT came into play as soon as I saw the undercover checking for tickets because I tried to maintain my self-face by trying to not come off as some ignorant American abusing the public transit. When the conversation started the ticket checker was saving a stern self-face because we clearly had no tram tickets. Once I tried to speak what little German I knew to him and tried explaining myself he lowered his stern self-face and brought upon a more other-face because he realized we didn’t really know anything because we were “stupid Americans” in his eyes so he tried accommodating to us. As the conversation carried on it eventually turned into both of us have a mutual-face concern for each other. I was doing my best to not come off as ignorant but to be accommodating since I was in fact in the wrong doing; meanwhile he was trying his best to get us through the process and make his job a little easier. I believe he did not make us pay the steep fine because he wanted to accommodate to us as we did to him and move on with his day. The FNT saved us big time on this one.
Erfurt, DE -- So far in Germany, the cultural experience I’ve had involves a lot of the practices included in Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). There is a main reason for this and it is because no one in the travel group speaks German. Out of our group I am the only one who speaks any German so I am basically the translator for the whole group. I have to help order everyone’s food and drink as well as finding the bathroom and other necessities like that. This relates to CAT in many ways because everything I have to ask is trying to accommodate to the Germans who speak little English. In return everything they say is trying to accommodate to me, the English-speaker who speaks little German. In fact, most conversations include me speaking German to them and them speaking English back to me. I know I always answer in German because I want to learn the language so I can make better accommodations for myself, and it seems as if the native Germans are doing it for the same reason. Some examples of the accommodation process in action would be when I try and ask (in German) what a certain ingredient on the menu is because I couldn’t translate myself. This usually follows up with the server trying to explain what the ingredient is in their best possible English. There was an instance when one of the members of our group, Markus, ordered pepperoni pizza, expecting a pizza with slices of pepperoni on it. However none of us knew that pepperoni’s literal translation, believe it or not, from German to English is banana pepper. I then had to step in and explain to the server that my friend wanted pepperoni meat and not banana pepper slices. It took a while but the server and I finally came to an understanding but he then told us that they didn’t have any pepperoni.
It’s also very interesting to see how I manage to carry lengthy conversations with the locals at bars. I’d say any German over the age of 30 probably doesn’t speak any English, but that doesn’t stop us from having full conversations. It is a lot of baby talk and there is a lot of give and take in these exchanges but we all manage to get our point across. CAT perfectly explains this possibility because when we talk we code-switch constantly; code switching is when the person speaking switches between multiple languages throughout the dialogue in order to fill in unknown words. There is pretty much no way to avoid this from happening because without code-switching these conversations would end abruptly due to not being able to translate certain words. For example, if I wanted to explain why I like Ice Hockey more than American Football, I could probably translate the name of the sports and other small words into German but wouldn’t be able to translate words like fast-pace or action packed. Therefore I would speak those certain words in English to try and fill in the blanks. I’ve also noticed that the locals I talk to are very engaged in the conversations because it’s a lot of fun for them to try and overcome the language barriers, which are some of the biggest barriers for many people to overcome. Having to overcome the language barrier is probably the hardest thing for many people, including me, so there is a sense of accomplishment that comes along with it; which is what makes it fun for all of us. Bottom line, without the practices included in CAT there would be very little to no chance of communication/translation besides in the native language.
Hi, I’m Mason Heald a 20 year old from southern New Jersey. I am sophomore at WVU; I have a major in International Studies and a minor in Public Relations. With this field of study I felt that I had to study abroad at some point in my college career so I could further my understanding of international cultures. I am very much looking forward to studying abroad in Erfurt, Germany because I know there will be lots of new people and experiences that will have a positive impact on me and my career. I’ve taken two semester of German at WVU and I really hope to improve my language and communication skills while living in Erfurt and traveling through Europe. I am also very excited to be taken a course that sums up my major and minor in one, Global and International Public Relations, it should be a great learning experience for someone like me. My German and Dutch heritages have me aching to get over there and indulge in the culture of my ancestors. I hope you all enjoy my blog and can learn from it just as I am learning during my travels. Auf Wiedersehen! (See you later!)
So one day Markus and I decided to try and be a little sneaky by getting on to the tram without paying for a tram ticket. Now we had been warned about this multiple times that if we are caught there will be a 40-80 euro fine. After a week of riding the tram, we had not seen a single person ask for any proof of a tram ticket so we thought we could get away with it. Little do we know the one time we didn’t pay our fare, there were four undercover ticket-checkers on the tram. We tried to buy tickets before they got to check us but it didn’t work out in our favor. As soon as the guy asked for our tickets in a really strong and fast German accent, I tried speaking what little German I know - equivalent to that of a five-year-old. I told the guy we were from America, so he immediately asked for our passports which of course neither of us had. We gave him our driver’s licenses which were very confusing to him because they were from different states and he’s probably never seen them before. He also asked why were in Erfurt and where we lived in Erfurt. This was where the conversation got tricky because he didn’t understand what I was trying to say. Eventually he asked us for the original cost of the tram fare (1,90 euro) and gave us a standard ticket and let us go. We were very relieved we didn’t have to pay any extra fines because we didn’t have much money with us to begin with.
Anyways, without FNT this whole situation could have ended up very differently. FNT came into play as soon as I saw the undercover checking for tickets because I tried to maintain my self-face by trying to not come off as some ignorant American abusing the public transit. When the conversation started the ticket checker was saving a stern self-face because we clearly had no tram tickets. Once I tried to speak what little German I knew to him and tried explaining myself he lowered his stern self-face and brought upon a more other-face because he realized we didn’t really know anything because we were “stupid Americans” in his eyes so he tried accommodating to us. As the conversation carried on it eventually turned into both of us have a mutual-face concern for each other. I was doing my best to not come off as ignorant but to be accommodating since I was in fact in the wrong doing; meanwhile he was trying his best to get us through the process and make his job a little easier. I believe he did not make us pay the steep fine because he wanted to accommodate to us as we did to him and move on with his day. The FNT saved us big time on this one.
16 June 2014
Communication Accommodation Theory
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My German roommate, Felix, and I finally had a
chance to
meet. He speaks more English than I do
German but he still allows me to try and
speak as much German to him as possible.
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It’s also very interesting to see how I manage to carry lengthy conversations with the locals at bars. I’d say any German over the age of 30 probably doesn’t speak any English, but that doesn’t stop us from having full conversations. It is a lot of baby talk and there is a lot of give and take in these exchanges but we all manage to get our point across. CAT perfectly explains this possibility because when we talk we code-switch constantly; code switching is when the person speaking switches between multiple languages throughout the dialogue in order to fill in unknown words. There is pretty much no way to avoid this from happening because without code-switching these conversations would end abruptly due to not being able to translate certain words. For example, if I wanted to explain why I like Ice Hockey more than American Football, I could probably translate the name of the sports and other small words into German but wouldn’t be able to translate words like fast-pace or action packed. Therefore I would speak those certain words in English to try and fill in the blanks. I’ve also noticed that the locals I talk to are very engaged in the conversations because it’s a lot of fun for them to try and overcome the language barriers, which are some of the biggest barriers for many people to overcome. Having to overcome the language barrier is probably the hardest thing for many people, including me, so there is a sense of accomplishment that comes along with it; which is what makes it fun for all of us. Bottom line, without the practices included in CAT there would be very little to no chance of communication/translation besides in the native language.
10 June 2014
Introduction
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