Kultur 6

Ich habe die Artikel interessant gefunden. "Sex, Smut, and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany" war lustig. Ich frage mich, warum USA nicht das haben. Ich denke vielleicht "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" und "The Colbert Report" is where a lot of Americans receive this sort of humour. Die Onion is auch eine gute source of humour. Die Artikel about closed doors war auch interessant. Ich finde, dass Privatleben wichtig in Amerika ist. So, knocking and waiting for a reply is important. This highlighted a pretty interesting cultural difference between the US and Deutschland. Enlich, denke ich, dass Deutschland is what the US is becoming in terms of recycling. It seems like what has become a popular trend in the US has already been perfected in Deutschland.

AMD 6

Die Simpsons episode war lustig. Ich habe how it was connected to Lola rennt verstehen. Am Homer's Tag, at the end, the robot dies in Homer's Hande und Homer closes the robots Augen. This is just like the end of one scene in Lola rennt, wann Lola shuts Mannie's Augen after er hat gestorben. The other part of the Trilogie that was like Lola rennt was when Lisa ran around town. The same Musik from Lola rennt was playing and the viewpoint panning was just like in Lola rennt. Also, Lisa almost gets hit by a car, like Lola. In general, the whole Trilogie was like Lola rennt, in that it kept replaying ein Tag.

"No Blood, No Entschuldigung" und "German Erotica"

"Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung" und "German Erotica: the Land of Beer, Sausage and Sex Shops" habe ich sehr Interessant gefunden. Zuerest, "Rules of the Street" points out a significant cultural Unterschied between Deutschland und dem USA. Whereas in dem USA sagt Man "Excuse me" even for incidental contact, this passiert nicht in Deutschland. This shows zwei different approaches to interaction with strangers. Americans denken, dass they must tiptoe around people they aren't familiar with. Germans denken (essentially), dass scheiß passiert.

In "German Erotica" eine Idee stuck out to me. Der Autor hat American sex shops are only run down shops in the bad end of town gedacht, aber Das is falsch in Ann Arbor. Just as it is described in Germany, one can find sex shops around Ann Arbor with glass windows clearly displaying their products. Ich denke, dass dieser Vergleich sehr Interessant ist.

The Logical, Organized Germany

Ich denke that we overlooked something when stereotyping Germans a few Wochen ago. After reading through the articles, how could we have forgotten? First, there's assumption of complete literality that 'Illogical Logic' mentions. Then there are the huge sidewalks to accommodate bicyclists like this:

one http://www.gonomad.com/features/0707/germany-images/Bike-path.jpg

This would be great if the bicyclists didn't have the right of way. This was definitely counter-intuitive to me - I've always stuck by the rule that the person going faster should yield. It seems like there could be a lot of broken bones for the sake of sticking to the rules! In any case, what I found through all of these articles which was most interesting was that it seems as though everyone follows the rules - even people who in American culture I might assume would break them. The articles mentions characters like a group of punkers or a kid with an anarchist shirt on all obeying these social rules. To me, this really pointed to how ingrained order is in German culture.

Der größte Schatz

Der größte Schatz ist eine Geschafte about ein Junge und eine Schatz. Der Junge lief into a jungle, where he meets a Löwen who comes mit him, a Adler in the mountains, a Schaf in a field, a Kamel in the desert, and a Schildkröte in the ocean. Wann er komme die Schatz an, er findet that die Schatz is gone. An Eule tells den Junge that die Schatz is really the friendship he made with all of the animals on his journey. Der größte Schatzen sind Freunden!

I had the idea to watch a short children's story in German after reading some of "Wie schön ist Panama". Understanding context clues in simple stories is manageable and really helps me further my understanding of German. Another helpful part of reading or watching short stories in any foreign language is that you can understand how language is taught in the culture. What I've gathered from 'Panama' and this short story is that the way the German language is taught in Germany probably is a lot like how English is taught here.

If you'd like to watch the story, check it out here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ7Vsi4W3BE

The Romantic Road

In high school, my sister and I were considering traveling to Europe over one summer. While it never panned out, I spent a lot of time trying to find places I would have liked to have gone. One place that beat all others for me was Germany's Romantic Road. Along what used to be a trade route through southern Germany, the Romantic Road boasts some of the most beautiful towns, castles, and scenes I have ever seen. If you are interested in seeing some pictures, check out the following photo gallery: http://gogermany.about.com/od/picturesofgermany/ig/Photos-of-the-Romantic-Road/.

It wasn't until this AMD that I decided to learn more of the history of the Romantic Road, as well as its significant role today. In 1950, people began to realize the economic potential of the route. Nowadays, it is actually the most famous German route in the world, one tourist cite notes that 93 percent of the Japanese that are capable of traveling have heard of it. The road signs even have Japanese translations on them!

If you'd like to learn a little more about the road, its history, and the best ways to explore its beauty, this link is extremely informative: http://www.guide-to-bavaria.com/en/Romantic-Road-History.html

The Horrors of the German Language

Für this AMD, chose ich to ´The Horrors of the German Language´ lesen. Ich found die Artikel interesting, particularly because it illustrated some of the major differences in the structures of the Englisch and Deutsch language. One concept that was especially noticeable was the placement of a secondary verb at the end of the sentence. One example in the text was ´It has me deeply touched, my gentlemen, here so hospitably received to be.´ This writing style (what I like to call Yoda style) takes a little getting used to. Aber, it has the upshot of being a consistent. Also, what we have learned in class - placing the verb in the second position - is quite apparent throughout the essay. One sentence that illustrates this well begins, 'The German language speak I not good..." Finally, ich found Twain's suggestions für language changes amusing and insightful. When first studying a language I think it's difficult to understand what parts of the language are intuitive and what parts are not, and are rather archaic conventions. Twain specifically points out the separable verb as one of these elements in the German language.

Kapitel zwei Post

I really enjoyed the articles for this Woche. What I liked most was that it showed Deutschland in a realistic, and funny way. Oft, people romanticize other countries and as a result never have a realistic picture of the country or its people. For example, the first article, poking fun at Germans' tendency to complain, shows that there is a real divide between how outsiders view Deutschland and how Deutschland views itself. Deutschland oft seems to be in better shape than other countries - with a successful business sector, increasing use of alternative energies, plenty of public transportation, and universal health care. Personally reading the article brought me down to earth with respect to how I viewed Deutschland.

Of the vier articles, the zwei most interesting to me were on the "Germanic Stare Down" and "Have you Gained Weight?". To begin, both were hilarious. I imagine how uncomfortable I would feel if all of a sudden I constantly caught people staring at me. Similarly, if someone asked me if I had gained weight, I would be pretty put off. Both of these discoveries were surprising, I think because I had always assumed that the cultural gap between the U.S. and Deutschland was never that large. But, upon reading the articles I learned that we differ enough to cause at least several uncomfortable situations!

Facebook auf Deutsch

Tag ich changed mein Profil Deutsch. I surfed around Facebook for about an hour auf Deutsch. Some things I did was suche (search) for friends, gefaellt mir (like) their statuses, and kommentieren (comment) on their pictures. I checked my Neueste Meldungen (news feed) for interesting posts. I saw I am in einer Beziehung (In a relationship) and that I have zweihundertvierunddreissig Freunde (324 friends). I didn't post any new Notizen oder Fotos (notes or photos), but I did bearbeit (edit) my interests to include Deutsch! The experience was sehr Spass (very fun), I would definitely recommend it!

How German is American?

In the article published by the Max Kade institute I was prompted with   numerous examples of how German has influenced American culture, and vice   versa. This symbiotic relationship really began in the mid 1800's, when   Germans began emigrating to the United States in record numbers. I had   never learned (or perhaps I learned and forgot) the motivation for the mass   immigration during this period. The author identifies a primary motivator:   land. It was at this time that, what one might call 'cross-culturization',   really began. And, although I normally think of the US as being the sole   perpetrator of stereotyping groups of people, both sides were guilty.   Fictionalized descriptions of American Indians spread quickly to Germany. These sorts of characterizations were not all that spread across the   Atlantic. For example, one fact I really had never learned was that a group   of German-Americans, the Milwaukee Turners, were responsible for the   development of gymnastics as a sport in the US I also did not know that in   the early 20th century, many churches in states such as Wisconsin held   services exclusively in German. This might have been the most surprising   fact I learned - perhaps because I do not live in an area where a large   part of the population identifies themselves as German.  Finally, I had always assumed that the decline of recognition of German   heritage only a result of World War I and II. But, the declining   recognizable German heritage appears to be a more recent phenomenon. In the   article, the author points out that there has been a dramatic increase in   people who simply identify themselves as 'American'. Perhaps it is this,   the increasing recognition of the US as home rather than the place from   which one's family emigrated, that is decreasing recognition of German   heritage.

How German is American?

In the article published by the Max Kade institute I was prompted with numerous examples of how German has influenced American culture, and vice versa. This symbiotic relationship really began in the mid 1800's, when Germans began emigrating to the United States in record numbers. I had never learned (or perhaps I learned and forgot) the motivation for the mass immigration during this period. The author identifies a primary motivator: land. It was at this time that, what one might call 'cross-culturization', really began. And, although I normally think of the U.S. as being the sole perpetrator of stereotyping groups of people, both sides were guilty. Fictionalized descriptions of American Indians spread quickly to Germany.

These sorts of characterizations were not all that spread across the Atlantic. For example, one fact I really had never learned was that a group of German-Americans, the Milwaukee Turners, were responsible for the development of gymnastics as a sport in the U.S. I also did not know that in the early 20th century, many churches in states such as Wisconsin held services exclusively in German. This might have been the most surprising fact I learned - perhaps because I do not live in an area where a large part of the population identifies themselves as German.

Finally, I had always assumed that the decline of recognition of German heritage only a result of World War I and II. But, the declining recognizable German heritage appears to be a more recent phenomenon. In the article, the author points out that there has been a dramatic increase in people who simply identify themselves as 'American'. Perhaps it is this, the increasing recognition of the U.S. as home rather than the place from which one's family emigrated, that is decreasing recognition of German heritage.