New Year's resolutions (and Fireworks!) seem to be universal in many countries and many of us use the beginning of a new year - whenever that may be - as a moment to both look backwards and forwards.
As the biggest New Year's Eve party in the U.S. is arguably held at Times Square in New York City, other countries also know how to party in their capitals or major cities.
Around the London Eye (the giant Ferris Wheel), huge fireworks light up the sky and the New Year's Day Parade with dancers, acrobats, and musicians is the place to be.
The Arab world does not celebrate the New Year, the notable exception being Dubai where this year another spectacle will likely eclipse last year's event at which nearly 500,000 firework rockets lit the sky during just 6 minutes.
This year the entire façade of the Burj Kalifa, at 2480 feet the highest building in the world(right), is to be covered with LED screens, which will be part of the fireworks, laser, and video show.
China celebrates its New Year according to its moon calendar, in 2015 on February 19, when the year of the sheep begins with the traditional Chinese fireworks and the country comes to a standstill for nearly a week. However, January 1 is also a holiday in China and in the larger cities the young celebrate the day by eating out and going to parties.
In countries where the four languages of our gamified Courses and Quick Games are spoken, the end-of-year traditions vary quite a bit, even by region in each country. The summary below can only list a fraction of the events and traditions and we invite our readers to comment and add others they know about.
German Speaking Countries
German is the country's only official language in Austria, Germany, and Lichtenstein. It is the "majority" language, and shares official status with the other languages, in Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Germany
New Year's Eve in German speaking countries is also called "Silvester," as December 31 is St. Silvester (or Sylvester) Day. This fourth-century Catholic pope and saint became associated with New Year's Eve, after the reform of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 when the last day of the year became December 31.
(Apart from the German-speaking countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Israel all use a variant of Silvester's name as the preferred name for New Year's Eve.)
In Germany's northern state Schleswig-Holstein, quite a few old traditions survive: "Rummelpottlaufen," quite similar to Halloween in the U.S., sees costumed children with a self-made music instrument (a can, covered with pig skin or thin leather, pierced by a willow-stick, which when turned and rubbed makes hollow and scary sounds), going from door to door on New Year's Eve, singing old tunes and being rewarded with candies and sweets.
Berlin is the site of Germany's biggest New Year's Eve party, which takes place around the Brandenburg Gate; "Berliner" (jam-filled doughnuts) are a particular favorite in Berlin, as in many other German-speaking countries during Silvester.
In the southern parts of Germany, originating from Austria and Switzerland, a cheese Fondue or Raclette is often also a typical New Year's dinner. At midnight a "Feuerzangenbowle," a punch made with red wine, orange peels, cinnamon, cloves, and poured over a burning sugar cone supplements or even replaces the German "Sekt" (sparkling wine).
Austria
In Austria, Vienna clearly holds the top spot for New Year's Eve celebrations. Before midnight, small marzipan or chocolate "fortune gifts" (figures of chimney sweeps, little fortune piggies, four-leaf clover, etc.) are exchanged.
As in many other German-speaking regions, "Bleigießen" (lead pouring) - the melting of small pieces of lead, dropped into cold water - results in a popular, fun game: the various forms of the hardened lead pieces let the participants speculate what a person may experience in the coming year.
This YouTube video of an ARTE.TV video (see also our post on how to connect to ARTE.TV) explains to a French audience (in German) how "Bleigießen" is done.
Impressive fireworks are part of the Vienna tradition as is a glass of champagne, and after the midnight countdown, the Danube waltz plays on all radio and tv stations.
I'm not familiar with any particular Silvester traditions in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, or Luxembourg that differ from those in the other German-speaking countries and regions.
French Speaking Countries
French is the second-most widespread language worldwide after English, as only these two languages are spoken on all five continents. French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form la francophonie (in French), the community of French-speaking countries.
While particular end-of-year traditions may exist in most of these countries, we'll just focus here on France.
France
In France, huge municipal firework displays are not the customary way to usher in the New Year these days. French people tend to take things more quietly and celebrate with friends at home or in a restaurant.
These New Year's Eve celebrations - le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre - traditionally are a feast that includes plenty of champagne and foie gras or oysters, symbols of prosperity and good fortune. [You say "la" Saint-Sylvestre because it's short for "la fête de Saint-Sylvestre."] At midnight, everyone kisses under the mistletoe and offers their good wishes for the new year.
In Paris, the city of lights, New Year's Eve becomes a visual feast: from many vantage points in the city you can see the iconic, illuminated Eiffel Tower.
You'll find the biggest New Year's party on the Avenue de Champs Elysées, where hundreds of thousands of people gather to celebrate and wish each other "Bonne année" (Good year).
This year, Paris is adding a first-time spectacle before the final countdown: a 15-minute video show projected on the Arc de Triomphe, highlighting the Parisian "art of living." At the stroke of midnight, the skies will fill with illuminations.
On New Year's Day, it's the tradition to have a large family dinner and to give presents to the children as a way to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
Italy
Italy, where San Silvestro died on December 31, 335, obviously has a special relation to the Saint and uses the term "Notte di San Silvestro" (as well as "Vigilia di Capodanno") as names for New Year's Eve.
There are some particular Italian Notte di San Silvestro traditions that you may not know about: The most curious one must be to wear red underwear during the last day of the year.
It is supposed to bring you luck, health and love. Importantly, it should have been given to you as a present, for example for Christmas, and worn for the first time on New Year's Eve. This centuries-old custom, originally just observed by women, is now also being adopted by men! Anything for luck, health and love!
The San Silvestro dinner, eaten with family and friends, varies quite a bit from region to region, but it often includes fish and seafood.
At midnight when the bells ring, a traditional lentil stew is often eaten, one spoonful per bell, served together with "zampone" (pig's trotter, stuffed with spicy ground-up pork, usually dried and cured) or "cotechino" (a rind-and-pork-meat sausage). The round lentils, representing coins, are supposed to bring wealth and good fortune.
At midnight, fireworks are also displayed across much of the country and the first day of the year, "Capodanno," is an official holiday in Italy as in most other parts of the world.
Italian is also an official language in Switzerland (Tessin & Graubünden), San Marino, and Vatican City, and a second language in Malta, Slovenia, and Croatia, but we know little about particular end-of-year traditions in these regions or countries.
Spanish Speaking Countries
Spanish is a national language in 20 sovereign states and one dependent entity, totaling around 442 million people. For a Wikipedia list of countries where Spanish is an official language, click here. We'll focus here on Spain and Mexico.
Spain
New Year celebration in Spain starts with a family dinner, which often take place in a restaurant that also offers live music. Towards midnight many Spaniards go into the streets and to public squares to meet with friends and clink glasses to ring in the new year. New Year's celebrations are lively with fireworks and all kinds of noisemakers. In the town hall, sparkling wine and grapes for good luck are distributed.
In Madrid, people flock to Puerta de Sol for the city's big communal street party. But no matter where they live, Spanish people share the custom of the twelve luck-bringing grapes: at each of the twelve strikes of the midnight clock at the Puerta del Sol clock, you eat one grape and make a wish. (There are even special 12-grape holders as shown in the left picture.)
At strike 12 all grapes must be gone or else you risk getting bad luck. The strikes of the town hall clock are 3 seconds apart, so the official countdown starts 36 seconds before the hour. Throughout the country, everyone can watch the countdown on television.
[It is said that the custom of the 12 grapes goes back to 1909. In that year the grape harvest was overly plentiful that someone had the idea to use up the excess grapes in this way.]
From midnight on, it's time for toasts, hugs, and well-wishing, but not before each person has tossed a golden ring into his or her glass, for good luck.
And similar to the Italians, Spaniards also believe that wearing red underwear on the last day of the old and the first day of the new year brings the wearer luck, health and love.
Mexico
In Mexico, a family dinner, either at home or at a special restaurant is at the center of new year's celebrations. Tradition has it that the meal should start with a bowl of lentils, a symbolic promise of wealth and prosperity. The preferred drink is often tequila.
Shortly before midnight grapes are handed out for the traditional luck-bringing ritual. As in Spain, you should eat a grape and make a wish at each of the twelve strikes of the clock at midnight. The grape tradition seems to have migrated to most other Spanish-speaking countries as well.
Also, in Mexico there is a slight "refinement" from Spain's tradition: Mexicans have to choose what is more important to them: Wearing red underwear lets the owner be lucky in love, wearing yellow underwear makes the owner wealthy in the New Year.
Family Traditions
And as countries and regions have developed particular traditions and celebrations, so have many families: In my father's family in Berlin, Germany, the after-midnight snack was "Heringssalat," a Scandinavian/Northern Germany specialty that has many recipe variations.
The herring, potato, apple, and pickle combination makes a welcome change after the sweet treats of the Christmas season and we are now continuing this tradition with our extended family here in the U.S.
Several recent posts and articles made me wonder whether Malcolm Gladwell's findings: in his book Outliersalso apply to language learning. Would it also be 10,000 hours for Foreign Language Mastery?
Two examples in his book may be relevant: Gladwell reported that the violinists, (links between musical and language aptitude?) who were studied by a team of psychologists in the 90s seemed to diverge in their skills mainly by the amount of time they practice.
There is also also his tale of Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and spoken in awe among Silicon Valley insiders in much the same way as Bill Gates, who also had thousands of programming hours (in some ways another language?) before founding Microsoft. (This “rule” for achieving mastery was first proposed by a Swedish psychologist and then popularized by Gladwell's book.)
But is language mastery really achieved by logging in around 10,000 hours of practice? And what constitutes “practice” when learning a language? “Practice makes perfect” is a slogan many of us hear a lot and have used as well to encourage others to practice.
On the other hand, marketing slogans such as “Learn a language in 10 days,” or “Fluency in 30 days,” or “Fluent in 3 months” also seem to pop up everywhere.
Language Practice and the Pareto Rule
If we were to apply Gladwell's 10,000 hrs to achieving mastery in a foreign language, it would translate into one of the following practice schedules: • 13.7 hours a day for 2 years or • 9.1 hours a day for 3 years or • 6.8 hours a day for 4 years or • 5.5 hours a day for 5 years
You get the idea.
Recently I saw a YouTube Video by Tim Spricht, in which he suggested that one could apply the Pareto principle to language learning, meaning you could get 80% of the reward or accomplishment with 20% of the effort.
So, if full mastery were not your ultimate goal and you could be happy with achieving +/-80% mastery - still a very high proficiency level - then you could get there with maybe spending “only” 2000 hrs, or less than 3 hours a day for 2 years.
Now, I am not quite sure that the Pareto principle can really be applied that way. Pareto originally observed that 80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of the population; some businesses find that 80% of their sales come from 20 % of their customers; or that 20% of the workers produce 80% of the results; or that 20% of the features cause 80% of the usage etc.
However, neither do those percentages always have to total exactly 100%, nor are most things in life - effort, reward, output, success - distributed evenly.
Doubts about the “10,000 hours rule”?
A study published in Psychological Science in 2014 also raises some doubts about this "rule." A meta-analysis covering all major domains in which deliberate practice has been investigated surfaced some interesting results. It found that such deliberate practice made the following differences: • in games - a 26% difference • in music - a 21% difference • in sports – a 18% difference • in education – only a 4% difference
Others have argued that practice is only effective in areas that have stable structures, where the rules don't change or vary little.
This indeed may apply to language learning quite well. And while practice in education only is shown to make a 4% difference, we suspect that the percentage is quite a bit higher for educational games and language learning.
Foreign Language Mastery vs. Targeted Practice
There are several terms we often hear and use when we assert that we SPEAK a language. Generally the four major skills: listening/comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing can be judged by rating someone's proficiency in a language.
For many casual learners, “proficiency” may be less important than “fluency.” As we also discussed in a previous post, Fluency vs. Proficiency in Foreign Language Learning, you may be able to speak a language fluently, but not be proficient in reading or writing. (Think of pre-school children who speak a language quite fluently, but can neither read nor write!)
Therefore, after reaching some basic knowledge of the language, learners may want to decide which skills they want to practice in particular.
• If reading is your goal, there are many tools, programs and apps to do this. • If listening/understanding is what you want to become good at, listening to audios and watching videos and movies will help. • If writing is what you want to practice, you can take advantage of the many online communities. • If fluency is your goal, you have to find a conversation partner and practice speaking.
And clearly, all four practices support each other in different ways and most online courses and/or classroom instructions typically address all four skills as well.
However, while you can learn listening/understanding, reading, and writing on your own, with audios, books and pen, we believe that SPEAKING requires a conversation partner.
Few, if any online language programs (Duolingo and GamesforLanguage included) will give you sufficient speaking practice to really become fluent.
Skype, FaceTime, and web-based tutors and communities allow you to find such conversation partners on the web, if a "live" conversation partner is hard to come by.
You should also remember that once you start using your foreign language in conversations with your friends and conversation partners, listening to the radio, reading, and writing. It will feel less and less like “practice,” but the hours of being exposed to and using the foreign language still do “count”!
How long does it take?
This is probably one of the most frequently-asked question by English-speaking language learners, and a general answer is impossible. For example, Language Testing International (LTI) distinguishes four (4) language groups.
• Many European languages, eg. Spanish, Italian, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, etc. are in Group I. • German, Farsi, Greek, etc. are in Group II. • Czech, Hebrew, Russian, etc. are in Group III. • Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, etc. are in Group IV.
This latter group includes the languages that take the longest for English speakers to learn. The table shows three aptitude levels and three training levels for all four Groups.
For example, for languages in Group I, LTI estimates that it takes a person with “Average Aptitude” 240 hours of training "under the supervision of an instructor and with 1-4 students per class" to reach “Intermediate Mid” proficiency and 720 hours to get to “Advanced High.”
So for all the self-teaching language learners who are using books, CDs, or online courses or those who take private instructions or classes, the conclusion is quite clear: Learning to become fluent and/or proficient in a foreign language is a long-term project and cannot be accomplished in 10 days or 30 days.
Our own experience has been that learning a foreign language as an adult is not a straight path, but leads you through various plateaus of listening/understanding, reading, speaking, and writing abilities – depending on various circumstances of practice and exposure to the language.
If you can add an extended stay in the country where the language is spoken (with efforts to limit the use of your native language) your progress will certainly accelerate.
Marco Reus, a 25-year-old German soccer player, discovered that speaking German was not enough, as his luck ran out during a routine police stop.
He could not produce a driver's license. What must have astonished the officer the most was not that Reus could not not produce a valid license: But that he never had one!
Daily Rate Multiples
This story might not have made the German newspapers, (e.g. Frankfurter Allgemeine and Der Spiegel) if not for the really surprising fine: $660,000.
I discovered something I did not know and what probably had not existed when I lived in Germany: Fines for offenses such as Reus committed, are calculated on a “daily rate”, based on his net monthly income and how often the offenses occurred.
Although Reus reportedly had been driving for 7 years without a permit, the DA only listed 6 driving events between 2011 and 2014 as offenses. And Reus apparently even found a somewhat lenient judge who “only” applied a multiple of 90 “daily rates”. His monthly net income of $220,000, divided by thirty days then resulted in the total fine amount.
Driving offenses
Driving without a valid driving license is a criminal offense in Germany and can result in a fine or imprisonment for up to one year. The car of the person can also be confiscated. According to the above cited article, there were 111,000 cases of driving without a valid license in German in 2013.
Germany has a point system for driving infractions and Reus had been caught several times in radar traps. However, in Germany, these traps are often silent and you are not stopped, so he just paid the fines per mail.
And because he never accumulated more than 4 points, the system never tried to enter them on his non-existing driving license record. You can also own a car, without having a driving license.
The Good News
In spite of the horrendous fine, Reus can look at the positive side: He did not lose his Aston Martin and will be able to drive it again after he passes his driving test.
Furthermore, by limiting the daily rate multiple to 90, his fine will not be entered as a criminal record. And, maybe he will now also be able to continue to drive legally for his sponsor, General Motor/Opel as seen on this May 2014 tweet above.
So, travelers remember: Learning German and speaking it in Germany is great. But make also sure you have a valid drivers license with you, when you are driving there!
You Want to Learn Speaking German Fast?
Our games and travel-story based courses are also a great way to practice your German. If travel to Germany is in your near future, you may also enjoy our post: 4 Fun German Language Games Before You Travel.
And don't forget: You can practice German online for FREE with our 36-Scene German 1 Story: "Michael in Deutschland" and our 72-Scene German 2 Mystery Story Sequel: "Blüten in Berlin?". (And - if you already know that "Blüten" means blossom in German - you'll learn that Blüten has still another meaning...). Just loginHERE.
Not everyone will agree with Benny Lewis', the Irish Polyglot, that learning languages is easy. But, if you are serious about learning German, you may want to hear more about Benny's approach by clicking on his explanation of "Why German is easy!" Just using a couple of his language hacks consistently will accelerate your progress!
We recently discovered a very effective app for learning German: MosaLingua. There currently are iOS and Android apps, with a MosaLingua Desktop App for PC, Mac and Linux just out. You can also try out the "Lite" version for FREE! We like the apps a lot and are currently using them ourselves. Read Ulrike's Review HERE.
Disclosure: Some of the links above is to a partner's program with revenue sharing, if you decide to buy or subscribe.
Language learning and setting priorities go together.
Last month I a saw on the Google+ page of Finverbus an unattributed graph titled Main difficulty experienced when learning a new language. I don't know whose research produced the graph, nor the sample size or the demographics of those questioned, but I did not find the results surprising.
Of the 8 reasons listed, I thought I could certainly identify with the first two of them: #1: “Not Enough Time” and #2 “To keep up Motivation.”
I've just started to learn Dutch. We are planning a trip to the Netherlands later next year and I will keep a log of how I am doing regarding these two challenges.
Motivation for Language Learning
“To keep up Motivation” is listed as excuse #2 with 16% in the above referenced chart. Ads on TV or radio of happy people communicating in foreign countries or promoting how easy it is to learn a new language may even induce you to give language learning a try.
But it's well known in the language teaching community that a real need to communicate is the strongest and probably the most effective motivator.
How does my desire to learn Dutch rank on such a need scale? Probably not very high. Do I have to know Dutch for visiting the Netherlands? Not really. The relatives and friends we are visiting all speak English, German, or French, all languages I speak fluently. So there is no real “need” for me to communicate in Dutch.
So why am I learning Dutch? Really for three main reasons:
(1) as a test of how much I can learn with Duolingo, the program I am currently using, which I'll follow up with another online program later on. (Gamesforlanguage.com does not yet have a Dutch program.)
(2) whether I can use my wife's fluency in Dutch to augment my Dutch skills by the time we travel, and
(3) to record how my motivation holds up and what conclusions I can draw.
My goal is to establish a learning routine of initially 15 minutes a day – to get into the habit – then increase it to an average of one hour a day.
Not Enough Time
“Not enough time” is listed as excuse #1 by 24% of respondents. As an answer to a survey question this appears quite plausible: Learning a foreign language as an adult takes time – in fact more time than most learners (and most marketers) want to admit.
It is always good to remember how long it takes a child to learn his or her first language. It takes them a few years to learn to speak with some sophistication and several more years to fully master reading and writing.
And spending even an hour a day, 7 hours per week, 30 hours per month, or 365 hours during a year may be more time an adult is able or willing to commit.
But who hasn't heard the saying: “If you want to get something done, find a busy person.” Are busy persons just better at organizing and scheduling their time? Is “not enough time” maybe a convenient excuse, when the real reason, and not listed on the chart, could be: “Not able to manage my time effectively” or “Not able to set priorities”?
And that's also why I don't quite believe the results of the survey regarding the "not enough time" excuse.
It is a very convenient excuse, which may serve as an umbrella for all kinds of other reasons.
Setting Priorities for Language Learning
I'm as guilty as anyone of having used the excuse of “not enough time”for language learning, often and in various circumstances. However, when I am honest with myself, this excuse typically hides other reasons.
They may include preferring other activities that are, at the moment, more urgent or important, or maybe more fun or entertaining. In fact, throughout the day, we usually reset our priorities of what is urgent and important to accomplish.
To the extent that you have a job, a family, friends, and commitments, a good part of your day is already planned for. But most of us also have some “discretionary” time, or idle time, maybe during commuting, waiting, early in the morning, or later in the evening.
And it is here, in setting daily priorities, where motivation plays a major role: If your motivation is strong, you'll plan your day and re-arrange your priorities to make time to learn. (Our post 8 Zen Habits for Language Learning looks at how we can do this.)
But motivation can also fade over time. Learning Dutch seemed such a great idea, just a few weeks ago. But I'll watch out for MY excuses when I don't put in the daily 15 minutes (or the 1 hour later on). So far, I am still on a 20-day streak with Duolingo.
Update
I followed my schedule pretty much as planned - until we got to our Dutch family reunion in the fall. Then, with the urgency gone, I now typically re-start my Dutch practice again a few months before our annual trip to the Netherlands. (Did you you read the previous post: How P.M. Tools can help your language learning ?) And due to Covid-19 we missed our dutch family reunion in 2020 - but I have continued my Duolingo Dutch course daily, and can read Dutch now quite well! From time to time, Ulrike who speaks Dutch quite fluently, will test me a bit during our walks. My priorities for learning and practicing Dutch change with the seasons...
As readers of previous blog posts e.g., 7 iPad apps we Like for Watching German and French Movies know, we like the www.arte.TV site. I recently watched the 2011 documentary "Hotel Haiti," which played for a few days on the arte channel.
This 2011 German TV movie (which includes footage taken during 2003 and never shown before) tells the story of the Hotel Oloffson, a Hotel in Port-au-Prince and, with it, also Haiti's history over the last 110 years. While the movie narration can be played in French or German (change setting top left), there are also quite a number of English dialogs.
The movie brought back memories of my stay in Haiti and also reminded me that with the fifth anniversary of the earthquake approaching, much still needs to be done. (sorry, the link to the ARTE movie does not work any longer!
Before the Earthquake
I stayed in the Oloffson in 1974 when visiting the island for a second time. (picture of Hotel garden by Daniel Morel)
We could easily communicate in French with our Haitian friends but did not make much progress with Haitian Creole, the other official national language of Haiti.
During the seventies, after “Baby Doc” had “inherited” the dictatorship from his father “Papa Doc,” Haiti experienced a short period of economic recovery with over 150 US firms operating on the island.
At that time and together with some American and Haitian friends, I had briefly considered starting a construction business there.
It was during a work session with our Haitian friends in a small office building in Port-au-Prince that we experienced a brief tremor: While we foreigners thought that a big passing truck caused the building to shake, the Haitians new better and ran out to the street.
The Oloffson, by then, already had a stormy history behind it: Built at the end of the 19th century as the residence for the Sam family (which provided two Haitian presidents), it then served as an army hospital during the US occupation between 1915 and 1935.
It became a hotel in 1935 when Gustav Oloffson, a Swedish sea captain, leased it from the Sam family and, as the movie narrates, the hotel then passed on through several hands.
Many rooms are named for famous guests, including Graham Greene, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Buffet, Lillian Hellman, et al.. This Hotel Oloffson Wikipedia entry and the Bloomberg Businessweek article Graham Greene Would Still Adore This Hotel give further details.
After the Earthquake
When the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010, the Oloffson guests were quite lucky.
The wood structure withstood the tremors much better than most other concrete and masonry buildings. This Economist article, "Haiti's hallowed hotel" (March 2011) gives another summary.
Hillary and Bill Clinton also visited the Oloffson. Interestingly, their special relationship to Haiti is traced back to their honeymoon in Haiti in 1975 in this Washington Post article of January 16, 2010.
The arte.TV movie also recalls some wild stories that are circulating in the streets of Port-au-Prince about Hillary's and Bill's “debt” to Haiti. The Clinton Foundation reports that it has raised already over $34 million for Haiti (but Clinton's policies while President and his current efforts also have critics in the black community.)
We'll soon be nearing the 5th anniversary of the January earthquake and much still remains to be done. The natural disaster has spurred many international help efforts, including one that a former colleague of mine is involved in: Creating Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti.
The non-profit organization has several projects on the drawing board, the most imminent one is opening a healthcare clinic at the Fondation Montesinos in Titanyen, an orphanage of 80 Children. (Donations are welcome and can be made directly on the site.)
The Future
According to reports from our friends who have been there, progress can be observed but is very slow.
Nearly five years after more than 100,000 people lost their lives and over 2 million became homeless, so much remains to be done. Water, sanitation, and electricity distribution remain challenges.
While many have moved back into some kind of home, more than 100,000 still live in temporary structures and tents. (picture left by AFP/Getty Images: Boys at a camp in Petionville, Haiti)
As I watched the arte TV movie about the Hotel Oloffson and Haiti, I was also reminded how easily we forget events and disaster when they don't appear regularly in the news. And especially during this Holiday season and with the fifth anniversary of the earthquake approaching, it's a good time to think about what we can do to help.
On the periphery of the historic pedestrian areas, we stumbled upon a fascinating archaeological museum housed in a building with fundaments dating from the time Dijon was a Gallic and then a Roman settlement. (Cathedral of Dijon, left above)
Next door is the large cathedral of St. Etienne where masses are well-attended. Be sure to check out the crypt where the saint himself was entombed at the beginning of the Christian era and, while you’re there, try the acoustics by chanting some early medieval plainsong. Only then do you realize that you’re actually standing in the early Romanesque church, now below ground. Underneath it are the fundaments of earlier temple structures.
After a week in the city you’ll find yourself venturing out to Lake Kir, walking the greenway along the lovely Canal, exploring the Botanical Gardens or going to a concert at the strikingly modern Auditorium. Don’t bother with the university because it’s just a bunch of rather ugly utilitarian structures twenty minutes from the center.
But how about the part of our trip that was supposed to be devoted to developing fluency in French?
No "Lover Option"
After two weeks we found ourselves bumping against reality. We’ve reached that age when younger people kindly refer to you as a ‘senior,’ and seniors have a hard time circulating in the hotspots after ten o’clock at night.
When younger people are sitting in bars discussion politics, love and pop music with passion, we are getting ready for bed. Since we’ve been married more than fifty years, neither of us can go out and find a lover! In short: The quickest avenues to fluency are now closed to us.
Finding Conversation Partners
When we appealed to our friends at Gamesforlanguage, they advised us to find conversation partners. Dutifully we went out into the streets and tried to corner people for more than the superficial exchanges necessary to buy a newspaper or order a meal.
The barrista at a coffee shop, like the proverbial bartender, was willing to talk, but his conversational parameters were fairly limited to complaining about government red tape and restrictions on small business people (apparently terrible oppressive!).
Finally while buying a pair of reading glasses at an opticians shop, my wife talked a young man into getting his brother (Alexandre) to come to our apartment occasionally for conversation (twenty euros per session). Otherwise, getting beyond utilitarian exchanges necessary to buy postage stamps, order coffee and such everyday discourse was a very daunting business. And no wonder!
First of all, we realized that nobody can simply go to a place, hang around for a couple of weeks, and find people in this busy age who have both the time and inclination to gab with somebody who is – to put it mildly – still stuck with looking up every tenth word in the dictionary. Imagine the patience AND the leisure that a conversational partner would need! I wouldn’t have it myself back home with somebody learning English. So what to do?
Expanding our Horizons
We decided to keep trying and most important of all, to keep savoring all that this complex, fascinating country has to offer. We began to go on short trips to surrounding places of interest: Besancon, Autun, Auxerre, Sens, Vezelay. (left, Auxerre and Yvonne River)
It proved easy enough eventually to venture out farther afield. Lyon is an hour and a half away on the TGV. As the second largest city in France and one of the most beautiful larger cities, it offers a lot that Paris boasts, and more. There are, for instance, the Roman theaters! The Musee des beaux Arts is excellent, and there’s even a Starbucks for good measure.
From Dijon, Avignon is three and a half hours by TGV and worth the trip, not only to see the well-known Papal Palace but two less-known art collections housed in smaller palais and tucked away in the narrow, winding, medieval alleys. Avignon is at the gateway of Provence, too, and only a quick hop from Marseilles and the Cote d’Azur, though we preferred Languedoc and Nimes as a starter.
Au revoir Dijon
Tonight Alexandre came over for a final repas chez nous. We had engaged him to do the conversational sessions with me, and he's a delightful young man, an entrepreneur (part owner at present of a night club), with a masters in finance.
This morning my wife and I wentto les Halles and bought the most remarkable cheese and aged meat from a young vendor from Savoy, then smoked salmon (can you believe it was 50 euros per kilogram?), then to two or three boulangeries where we'd found the best bread. With the South African wine that Alexandre brought, we had one of those three hour "repas" with pleasant conversation.
Another pleasure! Our cup is overflowing!
T.H.P. is a retired Professor of German, who has taught at several US Universities. He speaks German fluently, reads French and is working on improving his French speaking skills.
Since then I have tried out a few more iPad apps and also purchased and installed Google Chromcast. Here are some more “discoveries”:
German Apps
The German channel 1: das Erste or ARD
“Das Erste” (also: www.daserste.de) gives several choices with a selection bar at the bottom: “Tipps” (tips for viewing choices), “Live” (which sometimes you can't stream for “legal reasons'!), and “Program,” which lets you see the currently playing program.
With the arrow “<” icon you can scan previous programs. Those with a “Play” arrow you can often stream and play. (However, sometimes my iPad does not stream movies which work fine on the laptop and with www.daserste.deorwww.ard.de).
Recently, I have found that rather than the app, using Safari on the iPad and with www.mediathek.daserste.de or www.ardmediathek.de/tv works better. Just select the movies or programs that interest you.
Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (rbb)
“rbb mediathek” is the ipad and Android app of the Berlin-Brandenburg radio station, which can also be accessed via http://mediathek.rbb-online.de/tv. This app actually works quite well and you can see the latest TV-news, documentaries, movies, newest clips, and live streams just by scrolling down the home page.
You can even go back and find a program you may have missed with “Sendung verpasst” (broadcast missed) by selecting one in the alphabetical directory “A bis Z.” Under “F” you'll find “Film im rbb” and the rbb movies from the last seven(7) days that you can stream. Because this app work so well, it has become one of my favorites.
YouTV.de
A reader of the previous post suggested also YouTV.de to watch German TV channels. We are currently trying out the free version and like it. You can have TV programs recorded and watch them later.
There are also fee options that expand the number of programs you can record and the number of days they remain available.
French Apps
The France TV Pro app I had discussed previously stopped working for me after I upgraded my iPad to iOS 8.1.1, so I deleted it. I am currently trying “France 24.” The ads are quite entertaining in French, but the “News Bulletin” as well as the “Business” news are in English, so not helpful for French learners. (Corrrection: top left, "Accueil", you can change the language to "Français"). France 24 is a news channel and you can listen to news clips in French of events happening around the globe. I also installed the “Télé-Loisirs” app but it plays only short previews. It requires access to a “box” of various French companies (freebox, TV d'Orange, SFR neufbox, Bbox and DARTY BOX) and can't be accessed in the US.
Arte+7 Mediathek (Arte.tv) still works best for me for French language movies. (For example, if you chose the movie, currently playing: "Plus que 6 jours” which will be available for 3 more days, you'll hear “High” German (as well as Swiss German) and see French subtitles, a multilingual experience for French/German learners...)
Do readers have any other suggestions for French apps?
Italian and Spanish Sites
I haven't found any worthwhile individual apps that let you stream Italian and French movies.
Italian
The many Rai apps you can find in the iTunes Store let you download some old shows as podcasts. But I have found that the Rai website, www.rai.tv while confusing, is a better bet. “Rai Replay” will allow you to replay broadcasts of the last seven days for the listed channels. It takes some searching to find a movie or episode that you can play in the US, even if you focus only on the blue coded broadcasts, (“I programmi già disponibili in modalità Replay sono contrassegnati dal colore azzurro”) as quite a few can't be played in the US or your country.
Spanish
Finding Latin American channels in the US is typically not a problem. Many or most of the Cable companies have them as part of their basic package. If you are looking for TV stations in Spain you can chose among five: RTVE,antena3, quattro, telecinco, and Canal+ (which is a subscriber service). Those that I tried for a movie video all require the Flash Player (which will exclude the use of an iPad),
I also recently came across Bethany's post: Fun way to Reinforce Learning, in which she lists the following sites, and which she recommends especially for dubbed movies in the two languages:
Postscript: Sipeliculas also requires the Flashplayer, and while you get 5 free days with italia-film when you enter your credit card, watch out: They use Geeker.com for their membership management and you are automatically renewed, if you don't cancel in time! Both seem to have a good selection of movies.
Google Chromcast
I succumbed to the urge to buy another gadget: Google Chromcast. After setting up the Chromcast via an iPad app, I was disappointed that I could only “cast” those programs to the TV, for which the iPad app was Chromcast enabled. For example with “SnagFilms” you can cast all kind of movies, but I haven't found a foreign one yet worth watching. (and you'd have to live with the annoying ad breaks while watching!)
However, using your laptop with your Chrome Browser and after installing the “Google Cast” extension, you can cast any movie or program you can find and play on your lap top. I did so yesterday with several German rbb (see above) and French arte.TV movies. (Unfortunately, you'll also encounter quite a few movies on Arte where you'll get a message like: “Cette vidéo n'est pas disponible dans votre pays” or “Dieses Video ist in ihrem Land nicht verfügbar” (This video is not available in your country), obviously depending on the country from which you are trying to access the site.)
(One way to get around this problem is to pay for a Secure line VPN. I subscribe to a Avast Secure Line VPN and can get all my German stations and movies by selecting Frankfurt as my city.)
Bio: Peter Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. He is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
New Year's resolutions (and Fireworks!) seem to be universal in many countries and many of us use the beginning of a new year - whenever that may be - as a moment to both look backwards and forwards.
The Arab world does not celebrate the New Year, the notable exception being Dubai where this year another spectacle will likely eclipse last year's event at which nearly 500,000 firework rockets lit the sky during just 6 minutes. 
In Germany's northern state Schleswig-Holstein, quite a few old traditions survive: "Rummelpottlaufen," quite similar to Halloween in the U.S., sees costumed children with a self-made music instrument (a can, covered with pig skin or thin leather, pierced by a willow-stick, which when turned and rubbed makes hollow and scary sounds), going from door to door on New Year's Eve, singing old tunes and being rewarded with candies and sweets.
In Austria, Vienna clearly holds the top spot for New Year's Eve celebrations. Before midnight, small marzipan or chocolate "fortune gifts" (figures of chimney sweeps, little fortune piggies, four-leaf clover, etc.) are exchanged.
In Paris, the city of lights, New Year's Eve becomes a visual feast: from many vantage points in the city you can see the iconic, illuminated Eiffel Tower. 
In Madrid, people flock to Puerta de Sol for the city's big communal street party. But no matter where they live, Spanish people share the custom of the twelve luck-bringing grapes: at each of the twelve strikes of the midnight clock at the Puerta del Sol clock, you eat one grape and make a wish. (There are even special 12-grape holders as shown in the left picture.) 
(Updated 3-15-2021)
(Updated February 3, 2017)
(picture of Hotel garden by Daniel Morel) 
Hillary and Bill Clinton also visited the Oloffson. Interestingly, their special relationship to Haiti is traced back to their honeymoon in Haiti in 1975 in this 
