Showing posts with label Kultur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kultur. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Das ist mir zu unbequem...ist nicht mein Problem

Oder??    von Silbermond (gecovert?  Ich denke nicht.)   
Arme Kevin, am Ende!



Songtext

Ein Auto fährt 210 
Die Polizei hat's nicht gesehn 
Schon Kinder werden kriminell 
Und fielen Bomben auf die Welt, er wär 
--Nicht mein Problem

Eon macht Millionen Profit 
Und schickt die Kündigung gleich mit 
Der Boss macht Urlaub auf Hawaii 
während die BVG hier streikt

Das ist mir viel zu unbequem 
Und auch überhaupt nicht mein Problem

Gibt's Korruption im Komitee 
Ganz Deutschland wählt die NPD 
Die Taschen voll die Börsen leer 
Selbst wenn Stoiber Bundeskanzler wär , -- wär das 
Nicht mein Problem

Der nächste Park wird weggeknickt 
Für die Filiale von McFit 
In der Sahara Skilanglauf 
Am Nordpol macht ein Freibad auf 
Ist auch nicht mein Problem

Das ist mir viel zu unbequem 
Und auch überhaupt nicht mein Problem

Kevin ist ein Einzelkind 
Vater im Knast die Mutter trinkt 
Kevin schlägt Leute ohne Grund 
Kevin wiegt 300 Pfund 
Na und nicht mein Problem

WM in eigenen Land verloren 
Brunsbüttel fliegt uns um die Ohren 
Die Welt schlägt sich die Köpfe ein 
Die letzte Zeile reimt sich nicht 
Na und nicht mein Problem

Das ist mir viel zu unbequem 
Und auch überhaupt nicht mein Problem

Thursday, October 8, 2015

German in Brazil? Pomerade, where residents are 90% German

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Photo Essay: The Most German City in Brazil

SummaryPhotographer Erik van der Weijde captured the architecture of the Brazilian town Pomerode, where 90 percent of the population speaks German and culture is entrenched with German tradition.
ThemesArchitected Stuff
ContentPhotography
Date2 October 2015
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In 1861, the town Pomerode was founded in the northeast of Santa Catarina by Pomeranian Germans (who originate from the North of Germany). Out of the roughly 25,000 inhabitants, some 90 percent still speak German (and even more curiously, with a distinct 19th century Pommersch accent).
The southernmost part of Brazil has been host to successive waves of German immigration since the 19th century, with the most significant period occurring between 1848 and 1939, and a record influx immediately after the First World War. As a result, in the state of Santa Catarina about 50 percent of all immigrants were Germans and Austrians.
This not only affected the ethnic makeup of the population but also gave rise to an eclectic culture characterised by a peculiar attachment to traditional German influences. It is a culture that has also left an indelible mark on the region’s architecture. The buildings, characterised by exposed brick within a frame of exposed wood, recall German rural settings from around 1900, but are housing people of Brazilian nationality in the 21st century. And rather than being set in an alpine landscape, they are embedded in the Brazilian subtropics.
The German government has recently acknowledged the cultural significance of this far-flung outpost of German life, resulting in a renaissance of Pomeranian cultural events and related tourism.
But over the years Brazilian Germans have emphasised the connection much more enthusiastically, adopting any and every stereotypical German custom. Ironically, the traditions promoted there, including dancing and clothing, are heavily influenced by Southern German Bavarian culture, despite the fact that the customs were not familiar to the original North German immigrants. And in contrast to European Germans’ more muted engagement with the darker elements of their history, the Brazilian Germans have been found to be much more open about the Nazi legacy. Indeed, last year, the city made the global news after a large swastika was spotted on the bottom of a private swimming pool.
Architecturally speaking, older houses are being carefully preserved and property developers are encouraged to build in supposedly authentic German styles. PhotographerErik van der Weijde set out to capture the architectural oddities of Pomerode, consisting of enxiamel structures (Brazilian for “half-timbering”, or “Fachwerk” in German).
The series is in line with other work by Van der Weijde, which is often influenced by German historyarchitecture and contemporary Brazil. His project on the German Brazilian city is covered in his recently published book Pomerode.
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SDIM4125All images are courtesy of Erik van der Weijde

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Babbel: 3 Myths About Learning Foreign Langauges

Hint:  Don't expect to understand English at first . . .



Myth #1.  Fluency is purely Linguistic and Grammatical (not cultural; not gestures...)

Myth #2.  Fluency is required before you can begin to speak

Myth #3.  Language learning is a linear process

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Move to Leipzig and Become A German

These are the things I've adjusted to on my way to becoming German.



1. Idle chit chat

During my first days of work in Germany, I made sure to be super friendly to all of my coworkers. Whenever anyone passed me in the hallway, I would grin maniacally, wave, and yelp, “Hi! How’s your day going?” The responses ranged from bemused looks to a total lack of reply. Confused but not discouraged, I continued trying to work my charms on my new friends.

One morning, I passed Roger, the department’s statistician. I laser-beamed him with my eyes and yelled out my usual “How are you?!” He paused for a moment, staring at me bewilderedly and scratching his fluffy, mad-professor hairdo.

“Do you really want to know?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh, yes,” I stammered, unsure of what to make of this.

Twenty minutes later, he was still going strong on a breathless diatribe about how the students’ inferior grasp of basic stats and unbearably messy data sets were contributing to his ever-increasing workload.

Eventually sensing my discomfort, Roger paused and gave me a blank look. “Well you asked,” he muttered, rolling his eyes before continuing down the hall to his office.

2. Fear of nudity

Especially in the former East, Freikörperkultur, or free body culture, is an important part of German identity. Decades of oppression led to a particular appreciation for the experience of freedom and nudity without a direct relationship to sexuality.

This can sometimes be difficult for Americans to buy, particularly when your coworkers casually invite you to the office’s nude sauna or suggest a naked swim in a nearby lake. Adjusting to this culture without getting weird took some grit, finesse, and more than a few awkward encounters.

3. Expectation of safety above all

The pervasive fear of litigation that infuses most public activities in the United States is virtually nonexistent in Germany. Germans take a much more casual, reasonable approach to public safety. On a hike in Sächsische Schweiz, a beautiful, mountainous region of Saxony, I once commented on the lack of guardrails and warning signs surrounding the steepest cliffs. “Only an idiot would fail to realize that a steep cliff is dangerous,” my German co-worker stated matter-of-factly.

A few months later, after a particularly brutal snowstorm, I remember seeing an older gentleman faceplant on the ice while waiting for the tram. He stood up, casually wiped the trickle of blood from his forehead, and resumed his position on the platform without so much as grimacing.
I love this attitude.

Every year, a local artist would put on a crazy party called “Bimbotown” in one of the warehouses in the Spinnereistrasse neighborhood of Leipzig. The party was crawling with machines that this artist made — giant metallic worms slithering across the ceiling, bar stools that would eject their occupants at the push of a button from across the warehouse, couches that caved in and dumped you into a secret room, beds that could be driven around the party and through the walls. It was an incredible event that would have never been allowed to happen in the US because of all the safety violations — someone could hit their head, fall off a bed, get whacked in the eye. And it was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to.

4. Assumption of others’ guilt
Unlike Americans, Germans are often more concerned with protecting others than they are with shielding themselves from the mistakes of other people.  When I was filling out rental paperwork for my first apartment in Germany, one of the secretaries in at my office asked me if I’d purchased insurance yet.

“Oh no,” I said, “I don’t really own anything worth insuring, to be honest.”

“It’s not for you,” she replied, puzzled. “It’s to protect other people, in case you damage their property in some way.”

5. Frenetic pace / work above all

Moving to Germany meant an inexorable slowing of the pace of my life. Particularly in Saxony, there are strict rules about when stores can remain open. Most businesses are closed in the evenings and all day on Sunday. Additionally, Germans benefit from frequent holidays and typically at least a month of paid vacation.
This gave me some anxiety at first, particularly when I forgot to leave work early enough to get groceries or didn’t have time to go to the bank. Over time, however, I learned to both plan my days and to enjoy the break from chores rather than obsessing over lost time. After a few months, I was occasionally leaving work at 3pm to go watch the football game with friends instead of trying to cram in a few more hours of work. I still got as much done as usual, but I felt much happier and less burned out.

6. Rule breaking

In Boston, jaywalking is a way of life. The streets are so crazy and the lights so uncoordinated that you’ll die of old age waiting for the crosswalk. When I moved to Germany, I took this attitude with me but quickly found that it was not a universally acceptable behavior. Even if it’s late in the evening and no cars are in sight, crossing the street without the right of way will get you some heat from native Germans, with “Think of the children!” being the top rebuke hurled your way.

Same deal with “forgetting” to pay your tram fare — if you get caught, the icy stares heaped upon you by an entire car full of people will be enough to freeze your blood. The German system relies on people contributing to the common good even when no one is watching, and so freeloaders and rule-breakers are heavily sanctioned in German culture.

7. Buying on credit

Credit cards are also virtually nonexistent in Germany. This presented a problem for me when my American bank account decided to shut down after my first “suspicious” attempt to withdraw money in Leipzig, but once I got that squared away, being required to plan my expenditures and live on a cash-only system helped me keep my finances under control.

8. Assumptions about Germans

A few months into my time in Leipzig, I started really feeling like I had the hang of things. I knew my way around, I was pretty well set-up at work and home, and most importantly, I felt like I had the German attitude figured out.  One morning, I was biking to a conference and felt like it was unusually difficult to keep the bike moving. “Whoa, I’m out of shape,” I thought, heaving my shaking legs around the wheels as I tottered slowly down the street. While I was waiting at a red light, a man on the sidewalk flagged me down.

 “Ich spreche kein Deutsch,” I hissed, tired and irritated.

“Your tire is flat,” he said in perfect, clipped English, gesturing at my pitiful heap of a bike.

“I know that,” I lied, aggravated by this typical German statement-of-the-obvious. I tensed my foot on the pedal, ready to hurl myself forward as soon as the light turned.

The man paused and looked at me for a moment, unsure of whether to continue. “It’s just that, I have a pump,” he finally stammered, waving his hand almost apologetically at his backpack. “I could pump your tire for you.”

Friday, April 24, 2015

Internet LESSONS for make-up / assignment days ...

Mit besten Dank an Frau Combs
Select one 
of the following 
activities.


OPTION #1 - MUSIK
Listen to and learn about some popular German music on the  
Step into German website.

  1. Watch 3 music videos on this site. 

  1. Choose your favorite video/song of the three and read the article about the band.

  1. Click on the link (at the bottom of the article) to visit the band’s page (if the link doesn’t work, google the band name to find it.) Browse around the site.

  1. Answer the following questions (either print out and complete or write on notebook paper.)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
  1. Which three videos did you watch? 
    List them and give a brief summary of what was in the video or what the song was about (write 25 words for each video)
    1. Song Name:___________________________________________
      Singer/Band Name:_____________________________________
      Summary of video/song: ______________________________________________________
      ______________________________________________________
      ______________________________________________________

    2. Song Name:___________________________________________
      Singer/Band Name:_____________________________________
      Summary of video/song: _____________________________________________________
      _____________________________________________________
      _____________________________________________________

    3. Song Name:___________________________________________
      Singer/Band Name:_____________________________________ 
      Summary of video/song:
      _____________________________________________________
      _____________________________________________________
      _____________________________________________________

  2. Give some interesting details about the band: 
    (ie- where they’re from, how they started, how they got famous, etc.)  
    (minimum 25 words)
    1. _______________________________________________________

    2. ________________________________________________________

    3. ________________________________________________________


  3. After looking at the band’s site, what additional information did you find out? 
    Did you learn any new words? 
    What did you think of the site? (minimum 25 words) ______________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________


OPTION #2 - FERNSEHEN

Watch episodes of a popular children’s television program

  1. Watch 3 videos of “Sachgeschichten” from “Die Sendung mit der Maus” on from these YouTube channels. You can choose any 3 that interest you. 
    There are hundreds to choose from! 




  1. Answer the following questions 
    (either print out and complete or write on notebook paper.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
  1. Which three videos did you watch? 
    List them and give a brief summary (including steps of the process or production), 
    and a new word or phrase you learned. (write 50 words for each video)
    1. Video title/subject matter:_______________________________________
      Summary___________________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
       
       New word/phrase: ___________________________________________

    1. Video title/subject matter:_______________________________________
      Summary ___________________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
       
       New word/phrase: ___________________________________________

    1. Video title/subject matter:________________________________________
      Summary___________________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
      ___________________________________________________________
       
       New word/phrase: ___________________________________________



OPTION #3 - KULTUR DOKU
Watch mini-documentaries produced by the Goethe-Institut 
about different cultural aspects of German culture.

  1. Watch 2 videos from the Goethe Institut’s YouTube channel. 
    You can choose any 2 that interest you (make sure you are watching the full videos, approximately 10-15 minutes each, not just the trailers)


  1. Answer the following questions (either print out and complete or write on notebook paper.) You should provide thorough answers

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
  1. Video Year __________

    1. Video Title_______________________________________________________

    2. Summary of documentary? (minimum 25 words) _______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
      ________________________________________________________________
      _______________________________________________________________

    3. What did you think of the documentary? (minimum 25 words) _______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
      ________________________________________________________________
      _______________________________________________________________


  1. Video Year __________
    1. Video Title_______________________________________________________

    2. Summary of documentary? (minimum 25 words) _______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
      ________________________________________________________________
      _______________________________________________________________

    3. What did you think of the documentary? (minimum 25 words) _______________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________
      ________________________________________________________________
      _______________________________________________________________