Test

Mein Lieblingswort ist "Weihnachtengurke"

Kapitel 6-Kahlin Naidoo

The article on the German tabloids was reflective of Germany's liberal culture. However, it is clearly a social ill as many Germans may view this garbage as actual news. I find this surprising since Germany is a very well educated country. The political conservatism of the paper struck me as interesting as it clearly wasn't socially conservative. This is different to America where social and political conservatism often go hand in hand. I'm not sure why Germans keep their doors closed, it seems this merely a cultural perculiarity with no real reason behind. I think it would be much easier to have the door open. The complex recycling system would leave me feeling kaputt! Mein Tante wohnt in Osterreich und sie findet diese System irritierend.

AMD 6-Kahlin Naidoo

For AMD 6, I watched the Tin Drum. The story is about Oskar, the young son of a Kashubian family in a rural area Danzig. He humorously explains his lineage, which is illustrated by the camera, explaining how his grandfather being pursued by police, hid under his grandmother's skirts in a potato field. The film also shows Oskars personal view of his own birth, from the womb out, as he explains his displeasure at being born. On his third birthday, Oskar receives a tin drum. At this point, rather than growing up, he vows never to get any bigger. He throws himself down the basement stairs and stops growing. Whenever the world around him becomes too much to bear, the boy begins to hammer on his drum; should anyone try to take the toy away from him, he emits an ear-piercing scream that shatters glass. Oskar wears a sailor suit and a cap from the SMS Seydlitz. As Germany evolves towards Nazism and war in the 1930s the unaging Oskar continues savagely beating his drum. Only after the Soviet invasion at the end of the war, when only his grandmother and his half brother survive, does he decide to grow up. Oskar's progression from a child to a drum beating brat, to an adult mirrors Germany's progression from its creation in the 19th century, to tyrrany, to modern and dependable state.

Kapitel 5-Kahlin Naidoo

The article about walking the streets got my attention because of the darwinian way of the street which was being discussed. I'm suppose it's true that we bumb into people often and we're never really sorry about it, so maybe this simply indicates how honest Germans are in their everyday interactions. The ubiquity of sex shops further enhance this view of Germans as people with nothing to hide. I have no problem with the arrangement put forth in the article, Americans are very conservative in public about sex, I don't know why it's like that in the States. The Kolfrau represents a unique piece of German culture but it is quite bizarre. The article on flirting contradicts the honest and open view of Germans promoted in the other articles. It portrays Germans' as almost shy and very uncommunicative. This is no doubt a stereotype being utilised to create homour in the article. The final article details the improved status women have enjoyed in recent years.

AMD 5-Kahlin Naidoo

For AMD 5 I read the Wikipedia page on Denglish. It is concerning that German words are being twisted or even replaced with English words, especially since the language is capable of expressing the same things without foreign words. I believe all langauges have been influenced by English because of the popularity of Americans films and TV shows. International business has surely played a similar role in spreading English due to the language's universality. The only instance where English words should be present are very modern words which describe objects and actions which are relatively new such as Computer or the act of Googling which wasn't even a word in any language until a few years ago. Hopefully the language won't continue to blend with English because it will take away from German culture and identity.

Kapitel 4-Kahlin Naidoo

The texts for Kapitel 4 reveal an amusing aspect to German culture. The text on crossing the road I found especially amusing because mein Tante wohnt in Osterreich and she complains about this all the time. I think the freedom cyclists have is good even though it must be very annoying. This policy takes cars off the road and is good for the environment. I didn't know Germans had such a different concept of logic. I suppose if you grew up with it, it's just normal but I would find it very difficult to get used to such a system. I would be very tempted to use the public transport for free, but I would probably get caught, hopefully a meekly spoken 'es tut mir leid' would engender some form of sympathy from the officer. The texts humourously communicates the level of order and efficiency in Germany by highlighting the unusual social phenomena which stem from this national strength.

AMD 4-Kahlin Naidoo

For AMD 4 I decided to try Livemocha.com. The site was very easy to use and it enabled me to read, write and speak German. The concepts were mostly revision but the method of learning was what interested me, especially the feature which allows the user to record yourself speaking German and have a native speaker review your speaking abilities. The community aspect of the site enables one to learn phrases and aspects of everyday language which can be elusive in the classroom where certain material needs to be taught. I used the website for about an hour, it was an interesting experience but I think a classroom will always be more effective when it comes to language learning.

AMD 3-Kahlin Naidoo

For my AMD 3 I watched Das Boot, an epic war film directed by Wolfgang Petersen. The film had a mixture of German, French and English dialogue. The film was very exciting and it had a lot of action sequences. The dialogue was more difficult to hear during these scences. The film was well constructed and dealt with the themes of war, survival and brotherhood. I've heard it is one of the greatest German films and is ranked number 25 on Empire's list of the greatest films in world cinema. I found it curious that there was only one fanatical Nazi in the ship's crew. I later read that the navy was arguably the least political branch of Germany's military during WWII.

Kapitel 3-Kahlin Naidoo

An Obsession with Beer highlighted the importance of drink in German culture in a fun and interesting way. I was fascinated at the many different types of Beer especially because I'm used the major European brands of Heineken, Amstel, Carlsberg and the dreadful Budweisser. It seems their stance on drinking is much more relaxed and reasonable than in the US. What a great country!

The second article I read was German Fast Food. This article explains why German cuisine isn't found anywhere outside of Germany. I'm sure a good Bratwurst or Frikadelle is great now and then but I wouldn't want to eat it too often. However, I would like to try a Mett. Es ist lecker! The only thing in German cuisine which is very adaptable is the Schnitzel. I eat a lot of those and they're easy to make.

The third article I read was An Introduction to Germany's real Fast Food Joints. I've had Turkish food before in South Africa and I do like a good doner. The popularity of Turkish food indicates the extend to which mainstream Germany has embraced globalisation which is good to see. I wonder why you pay later if you eat at the restaurant, I've never heard of that at a takeaway place..

AMD 6 - William Burton

For my AMD 6, I watched the suggested "Homer Tag" video. I enjoyed watching this video, especially since I could understand a fair amount of what was being said. That is possibly because the Homer character has the intelligence of a child and is working off a very simple vocabulary, but It was still nice to hear the language spoken and to be able to understand it. possibly my favorite part of the video was the small scene with the Robot who said "Ich liebe bier."

Kultur 6 - William Burton

I found this Kultur text to be much more believable than those we read previously. Though the "one loud knock then rush in" strategy seems more like something people should practice when joining a SWAT team rather than when taking a visit to Germany, but who am I to argue. It actually makes me wonder what the responses would be to this in both Germany and America and I feel tempted to try this on a prof. or two, just for fun. All kidding aside, it would definitely cut down on those awkward moments waiting about outside an office door.

AMD 6 -Ashley Britt

For the last AMD, I watched the Simpsons videos. Actually, I was only able to watch Bart's Tag as the other links were unavailable. I am definitely finding it much easier to catch words and phrases in Deutsche now. With videos such as this, I can listen for the words and phrases I know and then use the video to help fill in where I don't understand. Words and phrases I understood included Frühstück, Frühling, tot and Ich liebe Bier. Poor Bart had a rough day, but I would argue that the Robots was equally as bad. Overall, I enjoyed this AMD.

Recycling Kultur 6 -Ashley Britt

I actually quite enjoyed the article on recycling in Deutscheland. I think recycling is very important from an environmental standpoint, so the topic struck a chord with me. Their system is interesting. Here at UofM we have separate recycling binns for bottles, paper, and trash, but we don't have sub-categorized binns to separate green glass from brown glass (atleast not usually). While Americans do recycle, they don't usually aren't picky about which binn they put their used items in. Most of the time, even products that are obviously paper get thrown away if they have food remnents or some other substance on them. We wouldn't have as difficult a time deciding where to place our remnents as the Curry Wurst guy did.

AMD 6

For this last assignment I watched an episode of Family Guy in German... I realised that i'm no where good enough to understand such quick dialogue.  The episode I watched I've seen in English (I vaguely recognise bits) but auf Deutsch it becomes apparent that, like in any language, when spoken words blend together and if you don't pay close attention it sounds like gibberish. Also, I found that what I did recognise had a few seconds delay on it.  Like I would hear the words, and three ticks later I would realise that I knew what they had said. I hope this delay goes away when I become practiced in German, but for now I'll stick with watching Family Guy in English.

Kultur 6

The Kulture Texts were, if nothing else, informative.  I very much enjoy the German enthusiasm when it comes to recycling, they clearly aren't wasting time or money with that venture.  What I didn't quite understand was the no Sundays thing... is that because it is a 'holy day' to some people? Or perhaps just a lazy day? Either way that's got to get really inconvenient sometimes.
As for the tabloids I hate them in America and I can imagine I would hate them in Germany.  They only reason they're (probably) not as bad there is because America has more celebrities than most any other country and our sick obsession with them is the worst.. I can't imagine coming FROM Germany and having to witness an American obsess about something that doesn't concern them or have any relevance to... well anything at all.

AMD 6 - Terrence Tigney

Guten Abend,

Heute, habe ich "Sonnen Allee" gesehen. Es war gut.

The movie was somewhat unique in the fact that it was a comedy about a time, and a place, you wouldn't expect. The movie takes place while the Berlin wall is still up, and it follows the lives of several kids (and their families) during this time. The people that the story follows all live near one of the few places people could cross over from east Berlin to west Berlin, so naturally, there was plenty going on. In addition to that, these people actually lived on the east side of the wall, giving us a general idea (that may not be 100% accurate, as this is a comedy) about what life was like living in the east side of Berlin during the time that the city was split. Overall, I would give this movie about 4/5 stars (mostly because I found it really funny)

Kapital 6 - Kultur - Isaac "why do you Bild me up, Buttercup"

As far as I am concerned, all tabloids can go; they are just one more part of society that keep human beings from being better than they are and encourages abuse and the wasting of time. Even if this German Tabloid prints more News Content than those of other countries, it still thrives on Anarchy. More generally, who writes these articles. Das ist Quatsch. Of course, there is some element of Truth, but, our dearest German teacher from BERLIN, doesn't see things quite the same way as the authors do. I find a lot of this stereotyping unbelievable. In America no one likes it when you just barge in, why would it be any different in Germany. I hardly believe you will foster much respect or a good reputation if you constantly barge into peoples offices knocking once for posterity. If you don't wait for a reply then the knock means nothing, nothing I tell you!. As for garbage, good for the Germans, if their intention is to help facilitate recycling. If not - what the heck? I couldn't really tell from this article. Do these people also write about Americans?

Kultur 6 Kyle O'Meara

Reading the Kultur 6 articles I was pleased to read on a variety of subjects. The first article on the taboloid Bild Zeitung I was surprised to find such a harsh tabloid in Germany. I am not an expert on taboloids, but I know of the Sun and others in England that are pretty famous. I thought German's culturally were a little more proper and honest to have something with semi-true facts. Besides that, I found that the magazines motto that translates loose to "We form your opinion so you don't have to", was sort of shockingly different than America's new agencies such as FOX NEWs who always says "We Report, You Decide". I also found knocking once on someones door and then just entering pretty weird from the second article. Here I'd want to wait for them to let me in. And finally the article on trash is pretty funny. I always picture German's as sort of really organized and the trash bins that are split up into many categories fit that. If that system was implemented in the United States, I would imagine it never being utilized and ending up losing a ton of money.

AMD 6- Kyle O'Meara

For my AMD I decided to go back and take a look at Mark Twain's "That Awful German Language". I believe this was a suggestion for an earlier AMD, but at the time I chose not to do it. After reading a majority of the essay I found Mark Twain had questions about how a noun was masculine,neuter, or feminine. He specifically used the word "Regen" or rain. This was pretty funny to me considering is one of the best literary artists of American history, yet he is struggling to comprehend things that I am right now, an 18 year old college student. I also found his analysis on very long German words to be interesting. Even though we did not learn many long words yet in the vocabulary I took some Twain wrote down and found their definitions online. Some of my favorites are.

Unabhaengigkeitserklaerungen. (Declaration of Independence) and Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen. (Cease-fire Negotiations).

I think it is pretty cool how Germans have one word for some English "phrases". I really enjoyed this essay and Twain's writing on the process of the German language and how it was formed was intriguing.

Kultur-Texte Kapitel 6 - Jeremy Kohtz

Per usual, these were quite the interesting read. Although we all know how different other cultures are, its still a surprise when you actually hear specific variances. They're just things you wouldn't think of on your own. For example, I wouldn't have thought to ever ask about the specifics of German garbage collection, but maybe that's just me. [Good for them, by the way, for encouraging recycling! (But not on Sunday)].
The article about German's made me chuckle a bit. I always laugh at the American tabloids at the grocery store, but these German ones seem to take the ridiculousness to a whole new level! (Though to them, obviously, nudity doesn't seem as big of a deal and such). The desire, it seems, for controversial new, transcends all cultures. Understandably, as well. Who doesn't want to read something they probably shouldn't be? It's human nature.
In regards to the other articles, I completely agree with their assessment of the door-discrepancy. A closed door here definitely isn't particularaly inviting. Especially in the dorms for the freshman. They always tell you to keep your door open if you want to be social! And that's the truth.
The one about the students living quarters was pretty interesting. I felt like I could relate; I spend a good month earlier this year searching for a house to live in next year. It was QUITE the task, though we ended up finding one. I can only imagine the trouble they have in Germany where things tend to seem more crammed.

AMD 6 - Jeremy Kohtz

Oops! Looks like I forgot to to this over the weekend. So I guess I'll still do it now.
Anyhow, for this here last AMD, I decided to have some fun, so I watched some Family Guy in German. The easiest thing for me to find was part of episodes on YouTube and such. I'm a big Family Guy fan, so most of the clips I watched I had seen previous, so it helped me comprehend what was going on. Going back to the stuff we read awhile ago about German humor, it made me happy to think that Germans enjoy Family Guy like many of us in America do. Although they've got a different sense of humor, we can all universally laugh at Peter's stupidity or Stewie's malicious feelings towards Lois.
I'll admit, though, it was tough to watch without the familiar voices, especially Peter's. I feel like his voice is a part of the character, and the voice they dubbed over with didn't give off the same personality. I guess that's just something that gets lost in translation. Anyhow, it was still fun to do; I got some enjoyment out of my homework today.

Tschüss!

Kultur 6 Jake DeBolt

These Kultur texts were mighty interesting. I'll start with the Sex, Smut, and shock article. It's interesting how far German tabloids are willing to go in the pornography department. The article described it as a dose of "softcore porn." It makes some sense, considering how many sex shops there are in Germany, and the very different light that Germans hold sex in. It's a much more liberal topic, and people are much more prepared to discuss it. It seems incredibly publicized. At the same time, however, it also intrigues me that the tabloid got offended at naked shots of Angela Merkel. I guess it makes sense, considering that she is the head of state and all, but it still strikes me as... ironic.

The second article paints a picture of Germans as an odd and neurotic folk. This kind of rubs me the wrong way, as most of the German people I know do not fit this mold of being uninviting, and hostile. The author paints a picture of German people who do not want to be disturbed. It just seems too obnoxious for me. Of course, this could be my own personal ignorance making itself known, but I still feel that the article is painting the German People in a Light that is not necessarily accurate.

The third article adds to the image of the neurotic German by both making it seem as if all things in Germany are needlessly complex. It then goes to focus on separate trash bins. This illustrates both the focus of the German peoples on efficency and organization. It seems to be a historic trait of the German people, and it is the one that the articles tend to return to.

Kapitel 6 - Kultur Texte - Emily Seidel

After reading these articles, I once again get the impression that the author over generalizes every topic he writes about. This time, specifically, with the articles "German Privacy: Come On In, My Door Is Always Closed" and "Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage Gods". I find it very hard to believe that every person in Germany keeps their door closed at all times and that they will get very offended to the point of affecting "intercultural relations".

Also, I find it odd that the author in "Division Hell: Worshipping the Garbage Gods" is complaining about recycling. While we did not have specific bins for each different type of recycling, but growing up we had to sort all of the recycling at our house as well. Now, many cities have implemented machines that will sort the various types of materials for recycling for them. But even so, I don't find it too difficult to sort through a few different kinds of materials to help out the environment.

The article "Sex, Smut, and Shock: Bild Zeitung Rules Germany" seemed pretty typical to me. Most countries (where the government allows them to) have tabloids. I rather doubt that Bild Zeitung is all that much worse. It may base its stories on facts more often, but it seems like most Germans know that it is false. Also, I again feel like the author exaggerates when they say that EVERYONE reads it. He/She may live their life by tabloids, but I feel like this is not how the majority of Germans feel.

AMD 6 - Emily Seidel

Unfortunately, I could only find Homers Tag and Lisas Tag on Youtube. While I was not able to understand exactly what was being said, from watching the videos and listening for key words, I was able to get the gist of what was happening.

I watched Homers Tag first and was surprised as to how little it resembled Lola Rennt! Based on the description in the AMD 6 assignment, I anticipated it being based on Lola Rennt! just adapted to the Simpsons.

Once I started Lisas Tag, I still anticipated it being similar to Lola Rennt! where they give different ways the day could have happened. However, I thought it was actually better to show the same day, just from different perspectives. And now I'm stuck on the cliffhanger because I couldn't find Barts Tag!

Kultur 6- Nitai

Hallo,

I was quite surprised by the first article when it mentioned the tabloid that posts ridiculous stories. I would never have thought that Germany of all places would have such vicious tabloids that are so preposterous.

The second was very funny, just with the explantations and all that. It also reminded me how in Germany, my mom told me how big a deal it was to my grandmother that the bathroom door was to be shut when you were finished. I argued a lot, saying that it makes so much more sense how Americans do it, to leave the door open when you are done so someone knows that it is vacant, but it did not matter, and I lost that argument.

The last article to me showed one of the differences foreigners of Germany face when they go to Germany, as foreigners of any place face challenges when they go to a new place. Germans are used to their customs like separating all their different types of trash I assume, so when someone who is not used to such things comes to a place where that is heavily stressed, it is no surprise that they would be troubled by having to adapt to their new environment. I for one actually faced this on my trips to Germany, and would not be surprised if I actually put trash in the incorrect receptacle.

Tchuss

Nitai Leve