(Image by Andrea Jacobs) Remember what your mom would say, actions speak louder than words, she was right. From eye contact to posture, nonverbal details reveal who we are and impact how others see you.
Is non-verbal communication important in a conversation? Absolutely, words are important, but it turns out, we communicate most of the meaning of our conversation via body language and gestures.
The way you move, the way you stand and the way you listen tells others whether or not you care about what they are saying. When your words match your body language, they increase trust, clarity and rapport.When they don’t, they trigger tension, distrust and confusion.
Unfortunately, many people send negative and confusing nonverbal signals without even knowing it when speaking with someone from another country. When this happens, both clarity and rapport may be irreversibly damaged.
To become a better communicator, it’s important to become sensitive not only to the nonverbal cues of others, but also to the nonverbal cues you may be sending.
As you can imagine, communicating with someone from your own culture can be challenging but when speaking with a foreigner it can perplexing. Nonverbal communication gestures do not translate across cultures easily and can lead to serious misunderstanding.
While translation systems are available for verbal communication, translators for nonverbal communication do not exist.
Nonverbal communication is composed of facial expressions, body movements, posture, gestures, eye contact, touch, space and voice. We must appreciate and identify that in one country a respectable gesture may mean something completely different in another country. In this article we will focus on 5 different hand gestures that are commonly exchanged:
Understanding the different meaning these signs may have in other cultures, will not only enhance your conversation but may keep you out of trouble while talking to someone from another part of the world.
OK Signs
In the US, we use it to convey agreement, it assures people things are fine or when everything is perfect.
In Brazil, Greece and Spain it conveys a different meaning! This sign is used to call someone an a**hole. While visiting Brazil in the 1950’s, Richard Nixon flashed the OK sign to the crowed and they responded with boos!
In Turkey and Venezuela the sign is used as an insult toward gay people.
In France and Australia it means zero or worthless.
Lastly, in Japan this gesture means money.
Thumbs Up
We use this gesture a lot in the US it means it is all great.
But I recommend you do not use it among Middle Easterners and people from West Africa.
People from Bangladesh, Australian and South Americans also find this gesture hideously offensive. It is assumed to mean that you want the receiver to stick it where the sun don’t shine, up yours or sit on it.
Finger Snap
Where I am from in Latin America, snapping your finger meant to hurry up.
In the US and Great Britain, it usually is used when someone remembers something or gets an idea.
some cultures it used to get someone’s attention but in many cultures it is just rude.
So, to keep it safe, snap your fingers for the same reason the Ancient Greeks did -- to keep the rhythm set by musicians and dancers
Beckoning Sign (come here)
In the Philippians the beckoning sign is impolite and can be a cause for being arrested.
In the USA it is used often to call someone over here.
Careful by using this gesture in Japan. It is very rude and only fit for a dog and or other animal.
In Singapore, beckoning is an indication of death.
The Corona
This gesture has been adopted by rockers and it is a sign of approval “rock on” for most Americans. Except in Texas, where football fans use it as a sign representing the horns of a bull.
In other cultures, this is not the horn of a bull but instead of the devil and representing evil. In Buddhist and Hindi culture, it means the Karana Mudra which is used to dispel the evil.
Watch out making this gesture in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Spain, Portugal and Italy since it is known as the 'Cuckold' and is used to tell a man that other men are enjoying his wife.
In 1985, following the news that Texas Longhorns football team won the football game, five Americans were arrested in Rome for using this gesture outside the Vatican.
We might not have translators for nonverbal communication but we have our phone or computers at our hands to learn and understand the meaning of the gestures we use. So remember before jumping to conclusions about the meaning of a gestures, consider the person’s cultural background. Embarrassing moments can happen as a result of ignorance and by misinterpreting a gesture.
It is always ok to ask people from different countries and cultures about the meaning of rituals, mannerisms and gestures. It is a great topic to discuss with a friend from another country over a cup of coffee and a yummy pastry. There are no wrong and right gestures, only cultural differences.
Bio: Kendal Knetemann is the founder of LingoHut where free language lessons, activities and articles are making language learning uncomplicated. Communication is our thing! Like us on our Facebook page.
(updated 4/22/2017) Readers of my recent travel memories post From Stralsund to Usedom, know that since Germany's Reunification in 1990, Usedom has again become “die Badewanne der Berliner” (the bathtub of Berliners). This is not surprising, as it took us less than two hours to drive from Heringsdorf to Berlin.
We rented an apartment in “Berlin-Mitte” near the Alexanderplatz and the Hackeschen Höfe (see picture left), a neighborhood we had gotten to know well during our stay there in December 2005. This time, however, instead of Christmas markets, we frequented outdoor restaurants and cafés.
A later visit - this time together with my wife Ulrike - will likely stay with us forever: When we checked in at our hotel late morning on September 11, the hotel clerk seemed preoccupied. He suggested that we turn on the TV in our room, as “something's happening in New York.”
Then, just when we turned on the TV, we saw the plane hit the second tower ... Needless to say except for our memories of witnessingthis horrific event on TV, we remember very little from that stay.
Berlin December – January 2005/2006
Our month-long stay, from early December 2005 to early January 2006, was to make up for the ill-fated visit in 2001. And, we certainly made the most of it:
We enjoyed the wonderful Christmas markets (picture right), visited museums and churches, attended opera and theater performances, watched German movies, went up on the TV Tower at the Alexanderplatz, strolled down Kurfürstendamm, Berlin's premier shopping street, explored the Nikolaiviertel, etc. On New Year's Eve, after a performance of the “Merry Widow” operetta, we experienced the wild firework celebrations around the Brandenburger Tor.
Berlin September 2015
As we walked around the neighborhood, we recognized many of the stores and cafés around the Hackesche Markt S-Bahn station. We found our favorite bakery and movie theater. Both hadn't changed much. We also went back to the “Sophieneck” restaurant, our favorite hangout from before - which now was even better because it has become smoke free.
On Saturday we strolled through the familiarAntique and Book Market at the Bode Museum. (This flea market - see left picture - plays an important role in our German 2 course, “Blüten in Berlin?”). Lunch in the “Pergamon Keller” didn't work out, though. The restaurant (also featured in our course) was closed that day.
Berlin - New Discoveries
The pleasure of visiting Berlin again allowed us to catch up on a few experiences that we had missed before and make some new travel memories. One of them was a visit to Potsdam via a boat trip on the Wannsee.
Berlin is surrounded by lakes and waterways. You can actually get by boat to the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, even the Mediterranean, from Berlin.
My father had owned a small sailboat on the Wannsee during his student years and always talked about it.
Potsdam and Sanssouci
Taking advantage of the warm late-summer weather, we set out to explore Potsdam and Sanssouci. We took the S-Bahn to the Wannsee station. (S-Bahn means “Stadtschnellbahn,” but depending on whom you ask, the “S” stands for “Stadt” (City) or “schnell” (fast)!)
Boat trip to Potsdam
At a Wannsee dock, we joined a few other passengers on a boat to Potsdam. We all sat on the sunny deck as our boat made its leisurely way onto the Havel River, into connected lakes, and past various islands.
The ship's captain entertained us with many interesting tales about the islands, buildings, monuments, and sites we passed. The Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) in the Havel River, now a Unesco World Heritage Site, was a favorite of Prussian King Friedrich II, who had a little “Lustschloss” (pleasure castle) built on it for himself and his mistress, in the mid 1790s. (see picture)
His successor, Friedrich III, turned the island into a model farm and zoo with exotic animals, in the early 1820s. He even allowed access for the people of Berlin. The people's interest led Friedrich IV to transfer all the animals to the first German zoo, the Berlin Zoo, in 1844.
To create a real “beach” for the nearly one-mile-long “Freibad” Wannsee in 1908, many loads of beach sand were brought in from the Baltic Sea.
The Cecilienhof, on the shore of the Jungfernsee was the site of the Potsdam conference in July 1945, nine weeks after Germany's unconditional surrender in May 1945.
The Glienicke Bridge, (see picture) under which we passed, connects the state capital of Potsdam with the federal capital of Berlin. It became known during the Cold War as the point where secret agents were exchanged. The bridge also appeared often in novels and movies (e.g. John le Carré's 1979 novel “Smiley's People,” and Spielberg's 2015 movie “Bridge of Spies.”)
Potsdam
Potsdam was important in German history. As the residence of Prussian kings and the German emperor until 1918, it developed into a major center of culture and science in the 19th century.
Potsdam was inside the Russian zone after 1946 and therefore, after the wall was built, separated from West Berlin.
Today it is again the capital of the state of Brandenburg. Heavily damaged during World War II, many of Postdam's historic buildings were torn down during GDR times. We could admire several of the buildings that were reconstructed after Reunification, for example the City Palace and the St Nicholas' Church.
Sanssouci
French speakers will immediately understand that the name “Sanssouci” means “without worries.” It was indeed the palace that Frederick the Great (1712-86) enjoyed the most. The palace was completed in 1747 and became his private residence, where he could relax in the company of people he liked.
With its Rococo style, Sanssouci (picture left) is often called the German Versailles. However, the palace is unusual because it is a one-story structure connecting a row of 10 rooms. These face south and overlook a terraced vineyard and a large park.
Some 20 years later, Frederick had the much bigger“Neues Palais” (New Palace) built on the west side of the park (picture right). Although he always preferred to live in Sanssouci, he apparently felt the need to show off his power and might with a more pompous palace.
His son, Frederick III, who succeeded him in 1797, preferred the “Pfaueninsel” (see above), and did not spend much time in Sancoussi.
You can easily fill a whole day exploring the extensive Sanssouci park with its various buildings and structures: the Sanssouci Picture Gallery, the Wind Mill, the Orangerie, the Chinese House etc.
(In 1990, Sanssouci with its gardens became a UNESCO world heritage site. You can find more information in this English Wiki.)
Bauhaus Museum
When we were in Berlin in 2005, we missed the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum because it was being renovated.
This time we made a point to go there. It is highly interesting to see the many examples of modern design in architecture, furniture, ceramics, metal work, painting and graphics art.
Works of Bauhaus Founder Walter Gropius (who also designed the Berlin facility, which opened in 1979) and famous teachers and artists such as Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky, Johannes Itten, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and others are exhibited.
Also, we were reminded that the Bauhaus, which operated from 1919 to 1933 in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin counted among the 20thcentury's most important schools of architecture, design and art.
Potsdamer Platz
The “Potsdamer Platz” is a major public square and intersection located less than a mile south of the Brandenburger Tor.During Word War II, it had been completely destroyed. Bisected by the Berlin Wall after 1961, it remained a desolate wasteland until Reunification. Then, it became Europe's largest building site.
In the picture, the guard is looking across the Brandenburger Tor towards the Potsdamer Platz!
By 2005, major structures of the masterplan had already been erected, e.g. the Sony Center. Now in 2015, even more buildings, hotels, office towers, and a complex of buildings by the Italian architect Renzo Piano have been completed.
In one of Piano's shopping arcades, we discovered a fascinating exhibition documenting the 25 years since the fall of the wall.
In addition to the historic pictures and mementos, there were pieces of the notorious wall, as well as an old “Trabi” (the East German 2 cycle engine Trabant”). We later saw (and smelled) more Trabis on Berlin's streets as "Trabi-Safaris" have now even become a tourist staple!
Berlin is today still one of our favorite cities. We hope to be back soon to further explore the city and again make some new discoveries.
Continuing on our tour of the Baltic cities: leaving Rostock in the direction of Stralsund, we again decided to take the slow road.
We had read that three small islands linked to the mainland and each other by bridges - Fischland, Darss, and Zingst – cover a good part of the Baltic coastline between the cities of Rostock and Stralsund.
We had hoped to see some of the 60,000 or more cranes that arrive every fall on the island of Zingst, but the weather did not cooperate: It rained.
The long beaches were deserted; the reed fields along the eastern inland coastline of Fischland - which at some parts is only about 600 feet wide - swayed sadly in the driving rain; Ahrenhoop, a favorite of artists since the end of the 19th century, showed no life.
Fortunately, by the time we reached Stralsund, the rain had become just a drizzle.
The second and third parts of this video: "Ostsee: Lübeck, Stralsund, Rügen, Hiddensee," from the Mediathek archive of “Das Erste,” the German TV channel, show some wonderful images of Stralsund and the island of Rügen.
Stralsund
Stralsund became an important Hanse city Hamburg to Wismar for more about the “Hanse”) when it joined the League in 1293. Today it has about 58,000 inhabitants.
Together with that of Wismar, Stralsund's historical core is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the many imposing brick gothic buildings still give testimony to the city's former wealth.
The old market square (“Alter Markt”) is surrounded by buildings from different periods: the Gothic Town Hall (13the century), see picture above, the imposing St. Nicholas church (“Nikolaikirche”) completed in the 14th century, and the 18th century Commandantenhus.
Our walk through the old city core made it clear why Stralsund had been of such strategic importance: It is surrounded by water on three sides.
At the harbor, we admired the Gorch Fock 1, the German Navy's former training ship, which is now a floating museum.
And from the harbor we could also see the new suspension bridge, which has connected Rügen, Germany's largest island, with the mainland since 2007. (see picture)
Rügen
As the map shows, Rügen is a large island with many lagoons (“Bodden”). I always wanted to visit Rügen,as I remember my father talking about the island.
aHe had wonderful memories of the vacations he spent there with his family in the 1920ties, at which time they lived in Berlin. I recalled him mentioning the town of Sassnitz, and so we decided to stay there for a few days.
SASSNITZ
(A linguistic tidbit: When Germany introduced a spelling revision in the early 90's, the original spelling of the town “Saßnitz” was then changed to “Sassnitz” in 1993. This was consistent with changing the “ß” to “ss” after short vowels.
So, words that used to be spelled daß, naß, muß, Kuß, etc. changed their spelling to dass, nass, muss, Kuss, etc. The “ß” after long vowels in words such as Gruß, saßen, schließen, etc., was kept.)
Sassnitz, a town with less than 10,000 inhabitants, lies on the northeast corner of the island at the edge of the Jasmund National Park.
One of the attractions of the park is the Königsstuhl (king's chair), an over 350 ft high chalk cliff designated as a World Heritage site.
To see the famous chalk cliffs, we chose a boat trip, which took us from Sassnitz north along the coast. We not only saw the Königsstuhl and the adjacent chalk cliffs in the gleaming sunlight, but also heard much about Sassnitz' history.
When a rail link to Bergen, Rügen's main city in the center of the island, was established in 1891, the little fishing village of Sassnitz started growing and the chalk industry expanded.
When the beach promenade was built in the early 1900s, tourism grew as well.
Later, during GDR times, the harbor was home to a large fishing fleet and a ferry terminal with service to Russia and Poland.
In 1984, the ferry terminal was relocated a few miles south to the subdistrict of Mukran, to operate a railway ferry to the Soviet Union. Today,the new and expanded ferry terminal in Mukran (see picture) is Germany's most easterly deep water port and has developed into a trading and transport hub for Scandinavia, Russia, the Baltics and former Soviet Union states. Because it is the only port in western Europe with track and transshipment facilities for Russian broad-gauge vehicles, it's often called “the most westerly station on the Trans-Siberian railway.”
However, the relocation of the ferry terminal and the decline of the fishing fleet after reunification, have made the large, well-protected harbor in Sassnitz look quite empty.
The town is making great efforts to attract more tourism. Some of the old hotels have been renovated and a very impressive pedestrian suspension bridge connects the harbor to the upper town (see picture).
We had rented an apartment in the upper part of town in a private residence, whose garden extended to a cliff that dropped directly down to the Baltic sea. Our landlady lived with her harbormaster husband in the downstairs apartment.
We frequently chatted with her; she was very helpful, gave us advice on restaurants and walking tours, and even brought us a plate of homemade “Pflaumenkuchen mit Schlagsahne” (plum pie with whipped cream) on Sunday afternoon.
She also told us a story that still bothers her today – 25 years after the fall of the GDR: In the mid-eighties, when travel restrictions between East and West Germany were somewhat eased for older people, she wanted to visit one of her sisters, who lived in Hamburg.
In order to get the necessary exit Visa she had to go to Stralsund to be officially interviewed.
“I will never forget this woman” she said. “I come from a large family with four brothers and three sisters, some of them I had not seen in years. She wanted to know why my sister Jutta, who lived near Berlin, had never asked to go to West Germany. How would I know?! This woman knew where all my sisters and brothers, even where my cousins lived and where they had traveled to. She knew more about my family than I did. It was really scary.”
PRORA
We had never heard of Prora until a Swedish couple we met in Lübeck suggested that we visit the site.
Only a short drive south fromSassnitz, we passed the huge new train/ferry terminal of Mukran and then stopped along a long beautiful white beach, which stretches all the way to the next, larger town, Binz.
Prora is one of these gigantic projects that Hitler had started in 1936, but never completed. As envisioned by him and his planners, this seaside resort for the Nazi organization “Kraft durch Freude” (KDF, meaning Strength through Joy) was intended to accommodate 20,000 vacationers.
The complex of buildings stretches for several miles along one of Rügen's most beautiful beaches and can be best appreciated from the aerial photo (right) and other maps and pictures on the Prora website. There you can also learn more details about the gigantic project that sprang out of the ground in only three years.
When the war began, construction was halted and after the war, the buildings were initially used by the Soviet army and later by the East German army.
Today, some of the buildings have already been renovated and are used as the Prora Documentation Center, a youth hostel, a coffee shop, and most recently apartments.
So, nearly 80 years after construction started, and after decades of inaction and shame about its Nazi past, the “New Prora” complex is gradually being turned into luxury condominiums. (see picture)
After a few days of exploring Rügen – and there are more sights, places, beaches, towns, etc. to explore than we can cover here - we headed further southeast to another island - Usedom.
Usedom
Usedom is Germany's second biggest usland, and maybe even more so than Rügen, has again become “die Badewanne der Berliner” (the bathtub of Berliners) as it had been during the 1920s and 1930s. (And I, indeed, remember my father reminisce about Usedom as well.)
But I also knew of Usedom as the site of another notorious Nazi installation: Peenemünde. After Hitler came to power in 1933, this place became the world's most advanced center of rocket science research in only a few years.
PEENEMÜNDE
Peenemünde is located at the northern, narrow tip of the island, separated from the mainland by a wide channel. This very location also explains why the research could be kept secret for so long.
Our visit to the Historical Technical Museum, located in the observation bunker and former power station, (see picture left) was both interesting and depressing:
Interesting, because the exhibition explained the many stages of rocket development between 1932 and 1945, as well as in later years.
Interesting, because I did not know, for example, how instrumental Wernher von Braun had been not only in the research, but also in the development of the immense research and rocket production center.
Interesting, because I did not realize that, until the start of the war in 1939, scientists and workers from all over Europe were hired and came to Peenemünde.
Interesting, because I wonder, how the “distribution” of the Peenemünde scientists among the four allied powers after the war was still able to give the Soviet Union a head start in the space race - when the US was drafting the top brass;
Depressing, because of the damage and terror the V2 rockets caused, especially in England.
Depressing, because the German scientists, (including Wernher v. Braun) were successful in convincing the Nazi leadership after 1933 that more funding of rocket research would have military benefits.
Depressing, because once the war started, Peenemünde became a prison for foreign scientists and workers, and KZ inmates and other prisoners were used as forced laborers.
Depressing, because Allied bomb raids seemed to have killed prisoners and forced laborers rather than destroying the launching facilities, etc. etc.
The scale of the original Peenemünde research and production center can only be understood by looking at maps and aerial photographs.
Except for the power station and observation bunker (shown on the picture above and only a small part of the facility), most other facilities were destroyed after the war.
Dreikaiserbäder
After the interesting but also sobering visit to Peenemünde, we drove south towards the “Dreikaiserbäder” (Three baths of the emperor), the towns of Bansin, Heringsdorf, and Ahlbeck. They were favorites of German emperors until 1918.
As we were looking for a hotel along the beachfront, we realized that these three towns are actually connected by an over 7-mile-long beach promenade.
The beach and “Dünenstraße” (dune road) actually extends beyond the border with Poland, into the former Swinemünde, now Swinoujscie. (After World War 2, the southeast tip of Usedom, including Swinemünde, was awarded to Poland.)
We found a hotel in Heringsdorf, located directly at the promenade and enjoyed the pleasures of beach life for a couple of days.
We took long walks along the wide beach. (To do this, we had to acquire a “Kurpass” for 3 euros each).
At one of these concerts, we shared a table with a young couple. (It's very typical in German beer gardens and restaurants to share tables.) We learned that they lived in Lübeck, a city we had just visited.
We asked them what attracted them and their two young twin daughters to the Usedom beaches, rather than to the “Timmendorfer Strand,” the well-know beach in Travemünde near their home.
“The Timmendorfer Strand is overrun by folks from Hamburg!” they answered. “And the beaches are cleaner and safer here, so our girls can play without us worrying.” (see picture of Heringsdorf Beach)
Their answer provided us with another insight and understanding why the Baltic sea beaches, with their low tides and beautiful white sand, are more attractive to beachgoers than the mudflats of the German North Sea with their 12-16 foot tides.
With our stay in Heringsdorf, we've come to the end of our trip along the German Baltic coast. The next destination, Berlin, will be the topic of our next travel post.
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
Leaving Wismar (see our previous post: From Hamburg to Wismar for more about this city), we kept close to the Baltic coast line and continued to be surprised by the number of windmills, which were everywhere.
Germany seems to be serious about its plan to generate nearly all its electricity from renewable sources and virtually eliminate its use of fossil fuels by 2050.
We then came across two fantastic finds: the historic beach resort of Heiligendamm and the magnificent old city of Rostock, with its seaside town Warnemünde.
We had read in our Marco Polo Travel Guide “Ostseeküste,” that the “Badeleben” (life at the seaside) had started in the seaside resort of Heiligendamm in the 18th century, and we were intrigued.
What we always found surprising: After driving through a pristine landscape with narrow, tree-lined roads, fields of yellow rape-seed with wind turbines, as in the picture above, and no road-sign advertising, we found ourselves suddenly in a lively beach town, this time Heiligendamm.
Heiligendamm at the Baltic Coast
Heiligendamm is actually part of Bad Doberan, the former summer residence of the Dukes of Schwerin. (The German prefix “Bad” is the official designation that a city or town is a health spa, because it has a natural resource - mineral rich water, hot springs, salt water, clean air, etc. - thought to have health benefits.)
In 1793 Duke Friedrich Franz I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin built some bathing facilities after taking his first bath in the Baltic Sea on the advice of his “Leibarzt” (personal physician). That year is generally seen as the birth of German beach culture, which thereby followed the English example.
Between 1793 and 1870, several German architects created the unique classicist resort complex of Heiligendamm.Read more about its history here.
Duke Friedrich reigned from 1785 to his death in 1837, right through the Napoleonic wars. During his reign, Heiligendamm developed into an exclusive seaside resort. The European high aristocracy, including the German emperors and the Zsar family, regularly stayed there during the summer.
Interesting trivia tidbits: In 1823 the first horse-race track on the European continent was opened between Heiligendamm and Bad Doberan. In 1862 a narrow-gauge railway (now called “Molli”) was built to connect both cities. We watched the steam-driven train pass by as we entered Heiligendamm.
The resort has been called “die weiße Stadt am Meer” (the white city by the sea) because of its white buildings. Until the 1930s Heiligendamm remained the vacation spot of choice for many prominent figures, film stars, politicians, etc. But during the communist era most of the structures fell into disrepair.
After Germany's reunification in 1990, investors bought and renovated many of the buildings. The Kempinski Grand Hotel, including the original “Kurhaus” (Spa) building, opened in 2003. (see picture above)
The 5-star Grand Hotel Heiligendamm hosted the 33rd summit of G8 leaders in 2007. (We could see how the somewhat remote location had helped to keep the reportedly over 20,000 protesters at bay!)
During our brief visit we enjoyed a walk along the wide beach promenade which runs in front of the row of white classicist-style mansions - several still undergoing renovations. (see picture left).
Clearly, the resort has not reached its prior prominence, but gated entrances and security add to the exclusive feel that the new owner of the hotel and the developer of the mansions want to foster.
Keeping close to the coast, our next stop was the seaside resort of Warnemünde, which, as we learned later, is actually a part of the city of Rostock.
Warnemünde
Students of German may have guessed that the similarity of the names of “Travemünde” has a reason: Each city lies at the mouth of a river, in German “Mündung,” a word derived from “Mund” (mouth). The “Trave” river runs through Lübeck to Travemünde and the “Warnow” river runs through Rostock for 7 miles to Warnemünde.
In Warnemünde we admired a long white beach from the top of the accessible light house, right at the mouth of the river. (see picture). The long promenade behind the beach was busy with bicyclers and and walkers, and we found Warnemünde quite a bit livelier than Travemünde had been.
The reason? Many cruise ships now stop in Warnemünde, with arranged tours by boat or train into Rostock. Villas, big hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, boutiques, etc. make this seaside town a destination for many.
Rostock
With around 200,000 inhabitants, Rostock is still the largest city in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and this in spite of the over 50,000 people who moved west after Germany's reunification in 1990.
During the prime time of the Hanseatic League in the 14th century, Rostock was an important member and a seaport city with major ship-building facilities along the Baltic Coast. And, by incorporating Warnemünde into the city limits already in 1323, Rostock also secured its access to the Baltic Sea. (Something Lübeck failed to do with Travemünde.) An S-Bahn now also connects both parts of the city.
Because of its strategic location, Danes and Swedes fought for and occupied the city during the 30-year war. The French under Napoleon held the city for nearly a decade at the beginning of the 19th century. In the 20th century, important aircraft factories opened up in Rostock and Warnemünde.
The world's first jet plane was built at the Heinkel factory towards the end of the second World War. With the allied bombing of those factories much of Rostock was also destroyed.
During the communist area of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Rostock became again a major industrial and ship-building centre. A significant portion of the city center was faithfully rebuilt, thereby restoring much of its historic character.
New buildings were constructed with vertical brick ribs and in a style that brought to mind the Hanseatic League's red brick Gothic architecture.
In 1989, the Peaceful Revolution (Friedliche Revolution) in Rostock was an incubator of East German workers' dissatisfaction and unhappiness with the political situation, travel restrictions, etc.
We got a glimpse of that when talking to the lighthouse cashier in Warnemünde. When we told him that we lived in Boston, he told us that he “nearly” visited Boston in 1984 when he was on a fishing trawler off the Boston coast. But the “political minder” who accompanied their ship on each trip would not let them dock.
Today, Rostock is a vibrant and thriving city. Similar to Wismar, its inner city bordering the harbor has been further restored. Our minibus tour took us through narrow streets and many of the city's sights:
- St. Petri Church, with its over 350 ft tower a landmark for fishermen and sailors; - Stone Gate, a magnificent city gate with inscription, seal and coat of arms of the city council; - Abbey of the Holy Cross, the former Cistercian convent, founded by the danish Queen Mary in 1270, - St Marien Church, which took 400 years to complete, with it astronomical clock; - University of Rostock, founded in 1419, and Germany's third oldest.
We also learned that the headquarters of the AIDA cruise ship line are in Rostock, in fact, occupying an imposing building right at the harbor. This may also explain why many cruise ships have switched from Travemünde/Lübeck to Warnemünde/Rostock.
We enjoyed walking along the city harbor and though the old city. We climbed up one of the remaining gate towers, lingered in several of the many outside cafes, watched a dog having fun with water fountains (see video) and did all the other things that tourists typically do.
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.
After having explored several harbors of the “Nordsee,” and especially Hamburg (see also our post: From Utrecht to Hamburg), we headed to Lübeck, the first city at the “Ostsee” (Baltic Sea), and near the border of the former East Germany, we were going to visit.
Leaving the “Stadtstaat” (city state) of Hamburg, we were back into Schleswig-Holstein (Sleswick-Holsatia), the most northern of the now 16 German states, and which borders Denmark. (If you are interested to learn more about the state of Sleswick-Holsatia, click Here.)
Lübeck
After Kiel (the capital), Lübeck is the state's second largest city with a population of over 200,000. Lübeck's 711-year-long statehood as a free city came to an end in 1937, when Adolf Hitler incorporated it into the state of Sleswick-Holsatia. (Reportedly, Hitler had a personal dislike for Lübeck, after the city's elders did not allow him to campaign there in 1932.)
I had been in Lübeck once during my teenage years, but remembered little of the city. I did recall, however, its role as the leading and most powerful member of the “Hanse,” the Hanseatic League. More about that below.
Lübeck's “old city” is surrounded by water and we drove to our hotel past one of its remaining signature gates (see pictures above, and right from top of St. Petri Tower).
Although severely damaged from bombing raids during the last days of World War II, much of the city has been rebuilt in the old style. Lübeckwas the birthplace of the brothers Heinrich and Thomas Mann.
Those familiar with German film may recall “Der blaue Engel” (The blue Angel), based on Heinrich Mann's book “Professor Unrat.” The role of “Lola” also launched Marlene Dietrich's career in film.
Thomas Mann, the more famous brother, is known for his novel “Die Buddenbrooks,” the generational story of a rich merchant family. Although Lübeck is never mentioned in the book, it clearly is the city where the story of the family's decline unfolds. The book is still a staple of German courses in Germany and many other countries.
Another famous son of Lübeck is Willy Brandt, Berlin's mayor from 1957 to 1966 and Germany's chancellor from 1969-1974. Brandt had emigrated to Norway and Sweden after 1933 and returned to Germany after the war.
The first part of this video "Ostsee: Lübeck, Stralsund, Rügen, Hiddensee" by the German "Das Erste Mediathek", the German TV channel shows some wonderful images of Lübeck.
Five things we did in Lübeck
1. A boat/harbor tour Lübeck has lost its importance as a commercial harbor, especially after Germany's reunification. A boat trip will take you in a circle around the entire old town and you'll hear many of the key sights described.
During sunny and warm weather, we'd recommend the open tour boats, (which can pass though low bridges). The waterfront evokes images of times long past.
2. Hanse Museum Visiting the newly opened Hanse Museum was a must for us. The “Hanse” or “Hansa” (Hanseatic League) was a medieval trade association that linked many European cities during its prime, including Hamburg and Bremen, Germany's only two remaining city states.
Located at the site of a former friary, the museum presents the Hanse's history from its beginnings in the 13th century to its decline in 1669, when the last formal meeting was held. After that, the only three remaining members, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck finally dissolved their pact in 1862.
At its prime, in the 14th century, the Hanse connected nearly 200 cities in Europe from Bergen and Nyborg in the north, to Bordeaux and Lisbon in the south, and Novgorod and Smolensk in the east.
(Map: The spread of the Hanseatic League in the year 1400 by Plate 28 of Professor G. Droysens Allgemeiner Historischer Handatlas, published by R. Andrée, 188)
If you want to learn more about the Hanse, this Britannica entry gives a good summary.
Interestingly, many of the old Hanse cities have now joined again in a loose association called the Die Hanse. The organization, founded in 1980, with now 185 former Hanse cities in 16 countries, is reportedly the world's largest voluntary association of towns and cities.
3. Buddenbrook House The house (see picture) in which the Mann brothers grew up has been converted to a museum, with rooms furnished as described in the novel. The biography of the two brothers is presented well with pictures and text.
Both knew early on that they did not want to follow in their father's merchant footsteps. But the family fortune also allowed them to pursue their calling without financial worries.
4. Günther Grass House Any lover of post-war German literature will want to visit this museum, which served as Grass' office and contains many of his memorabilia. Although Grass was born in Danzig (now Gdansk), he lived near Lübeck from 1995 on and kept his office in the building until his death in April 2015.
In the museum, you'll find excellent presentations on Germany's 20th century history, especially war-related events, and on the controversy around Grass, who acknowledged his membership in the SS only late in life.
5. Marzipan shop No visit to Lübeck would be complete without a visit to the Niederegger Marzipan Stammhaus (company building), which combines a shop, a café, and a museum. The history of the world-famous Lübecker Marzipan is described in an exhibition on the upper floor.
In the historic Café Niederegger, you'll find an amazing selection of delicious cakes and pastries. It's hard to choose among them, believe me. (Needless to say, we enjoyed splurging in the Niederegger shop. But happily, we found out back home that you can order most of their Marzipan products on Amazon!)
From Travemünde to (former) East Germany
Travemünde is Lübeck's door to the Baltic Sea and is located about 25 miles downriver from Lübeck. A famous seaside resort in the 60s and 70s, it began to lose its luster to the many other German seaside towns and cities after reunification.
During earlier years, smaller cruise ships even made it up the Trave to Lübeck. Now however, only few of the bigger ships dock at Travemünde and very few go to Lübeck. Instead, they choose what appears to be one of the main competitors, Warnemünde, Rostock's Baltic Sea port.
Travemünde features the Timmendorfer Strand, which – during summer weekends – attracts many beachgoers from the Hamburg region. Remember: The mudflats (“Wattenmeer”) of the German North Sea don't make for a great beach experience, while the Baltic Sea has many wide and sandy beaches.
From Travemünde, we crossed into former East Germany (“Deutsche Demokratische Republik”/DDR) on the Travemünde-Priwall ferry. Rather than taking the fast new Autobahn to Wismar, we went for the “slow road” to explore some of the seaside towns.
One of the first things we noticed was that the secondary roads became much narrower. The paved part would only accommodate one car. Both cars, when passing each other, had to use the unpaved shoulder.
One the other hand, there were also new roads, some not even shown on our recently purchased map or known by our Dutch rental car's GPS! (By the way, GPS in the Netherlands is called “Tom-Tom,” after one of the manufacturers. In Germany it's called “Navi.”)
Boltenhagen
Boltenhagen is a small seaside resort town, typical of several we encountered on our travels along the Baltic sea. A long jetty allows for ships to dock and a wide sand beach can accommodate many beach lovers in the characteristic caned beach chairs.
The promenade, a combination of walkway and bicycle path, stretches out along the dunes behind the beach. Hotels, apartments, restaurants, and shops make up the next rows inland.
We were there on a Wednesday and the long beach was not crowded. But we were surprised by the many older people on the boardwalk, sitting in restaurants and cafes, or enjoying inexpensive “Fischbrötchen” (fish sandwiches). (see picture)
Wismar
Wismar, located about 45 miles east of Lübeck, and today with about 45,000 inhabitants, was also a very important Hanse city of old. It has also had a colorful and interesting history since those days. Together with the historical core of Stralsund, (we'll report on Stralsund in a later post), Wismar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, both being typical representatives of the Hanseatic League cities with their Brick Gothic style architecture. (“Backsteingothik”)
The "Wassertor" (Water Gate) is the last one remaining of the five original city gates. The gate (see picture), erected around 1450 in the late-gothic style, opens towards the harbor.
Movie lovers may recognize the gate through which the villain carried a coffin in Murnau's 1922 classic horror movie "Nosferatu".
Wismar's natural and well-protected harbor was certainly one key to the city's importance. In 1632 Swedish troops occupied the city and in 1648, at the end of the 30-year war, the city of Wismar was awarded to Sweden.
In spite of several sieges and takeovers by Danish and Prussian troops over the years, Wismar remained Swedish property and was even the seat of the highest court for Swedish properties on that side of the Baltic sea.
However, in 1803, Sweden pledged both town and lordship to Mecklenburg for 100 years and for a fee of 1,258,000 Rijsktalers. In 1903 Sweden renounced its claim and Wismar was finally returned into the fold of Mecklenburg for good.
We very much enjoyed our stay in the city's old town, admiring the many well-restored brick buildings, observing boats and ships go in and out of the harbor, and people-watching at one of the many outside cafe's.
Our next travel posts will take you to Rostock, and on to the islands of Rügen and Usedom, which is close to the border with Poland.
We were intrigued by our conversation with a Swedish couple we had met in Lübeck. We told them that we planned to visit the island of Rügen. They suggested that we visit Prora, the “colossus of Rügen” and one of Hitler's gigantic, but never-finished vacation resorts. We had never heard of this.
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.
With our Dutch family reunion near Utrecht behind, (see photo of Utrecht Gracht, left) we headed to Westphalia to visit friends we had not seen in a while. Westphalia also has some special significance for me, as my great-grandfather was born in Werden, Westphalia, 1836.
After deciding that priesthood was not his calling, he packed his bags and became a teacher at a newly created HBS or “Hogere Burgerschool” (which intended to provide a “practically oriented education for higher functions in industry and trade”) in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
I always wondered how my great-grandfather had managed to make such a quick language switch - and that at the ripe age of thirty-one! One of my Dutch cousins explained it this way: “For Germans, Dutch is really easy to learn.”
How close are Dutch and German?
Right! The Dutch have a hard time with German articles, cases, and the many word-ending variations. By comparison, Dutch seems pretty simple to Germans. At the same time, producing authentic Dutch sentences that aren't just German-pronounced-the-Dutch-way is not an automatic skill.
As he described in an earlier blog post, my German-born husband, Peter, has been learning Dutch online – on and off since the beginning of the year. His “proficiency test” came in the form of attending our Dutch family reunion in Utrecht a couple of weeks ago.
No surprise: Peter obviously could not converse fluently in Dutch, but he understood most of the Dutch conversations around him. Also, he could function just fine with basics: greetings, pleasantries, ordering “een biertje,” asking for the check, reading information labels in museums, etc.
The Lure of the North, but the “Ruhrgebiet” First
I spent my childhood in Austria. In my early twenties, I lived and worked for two years in Freiburg, Germany, and from there traveled around southern Germany. However, I never took the opportunity to explore the north.
Peter, too, knows the south of Germany much better than the north. So, after our family reunion was over, we picked up a rental car in Utrecht and headed towards the “Ruhrgebiet,” (Ruhr) where our friends lived. (The Ruhr lies in the center of North Rhine-Westphalia.)
“Das Ruhrgebiet,” named after the river “Ruhr,” had been Germany's industrial coal and steel powerhouse until the early 70s. Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, and Dortmund are the major cities of a very densely populated area of over 8.5 million people.
Somewhat notorious in Germany for the air and water pollution caused by its coal and steel industries, the Ruhr region underwent a radical transformation after the oil crisis in 1973. With coal and steel industries no longer competitive, the Ruhr area went from heavy industry to high tech and service industries. With that, air and water pollution have become a thing of the past.
However, the old industries also caused the area to be crisscrossed by a series of navigable canals (see picture of barge on Dortmund-Ems canal above) that still today link to waterways connecting the North and Baltic Seas, to the Black Sea, and even to the Mediterranean Sea. This obviously requires numerous locks and boats lifts. One of them is our first Travel Tip:
Travel Tip #1 Schiffshebewerk Henrichenburg
One amazing link in Germany's waterway system is the Schiffhebewerk/Boat lift Henrichenburg near Waltrop. The boat lift facilitates a change in elevation of 42 feet of the Dortmund-Ems-Canal. Built in 1899 and used till 1962, when it was replaced with a new boat lift, this elevator for ships is a marvel of mechanical engineering.
Five giant floats, connected through a massive steel structure were able to lift and lower a basin carrying water and ship weighing over 1,000 tons in only two and a half minutes, much faster than with a typical lock. (Click HERE, if you are interested in more information.) While the rivers and canals are frequented for recreational boating, there is still a fair amount of barge traffic, mainly for bulk goods such sand, gravel, cement, oil, but also grain, wood, etc.
From the “Ruhrgebiet” to Münster and the North Sea
The north-west of Germany has a number of picturesque university towns. On our way north, we stopped in the city of Münster, the cultural center of the region called Münsterland. We enjoyed the old city with its medieval and baroque architecture, and lively market-place cafés.
From Nordrhein-Westfalen, we headed up to Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) and visited Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven, Stade, and finally, the city state of Hamburg.
The “Wattenmeer,” (see picture) or North Sea tidal flats, are a special experience: Now a national park, reaching from the border with the Netherlands to the banks of the outer Elbe river, they are an amazing eco-system, second only to a rain forest, with nearly 4,000 plant and animal species.
And while we, like other tourists, explored these and many other attractions, we also paid special attention to the various dialects we heard.
Dutch and Low German
Although standard High German is generally spoken by the people in these regions, and used in the media, local Low German dialects still have a presence. They have left their distinct mark on local everyday language, especially on the sound and intonation of speech.
Low German, also called “Platt,” in fact shares a number of features with Dutch. Most importantly, although they are “Germanic” languages: English, Dutch, and Low German did not experience the “High German consonant shift.” What does this shift look like?
Three examples of the high German consonant shift:
1. -k- to -ch-: make (Eng.); maken (Dutch & Low German); machen (High German) 2. d- to t-: day (Engl.); dag/Dag (Dutch & Low German); Tag (High German) 3. -t- to -ss-: eat (Engl.); eten (Dutch & Low German); essen (High German)
I had an interesting experience in Hamburg. We happened to be there during their annual “Theater Night” - an evening during which you can go from theater to theater and sample 30-minute performances.
We included the Ohnsorg-Theater, which stages plays in Platt. At first, I understood nothing. But then I said to myself “pretend that it's Dutch.” Once I had tuned my brain to expecting to hear Dutch, I in fact understood quite a bit!
I suspect that my great-grandfather still spoke the local Westphalian (Low German) dialect, and that this had made it easier for him to learn Dutch.
You can compare it to Ina Müler's “De Wind vun Hamburg” in Hamburg Platt.
Travel Tip #2 Emigration Center and Bremerhaven Harbor cruise
Germany's largest emigration harbor is Bremerhaven. This city, founded 1827,and located at the mouth of the Weser River on the North Sea, was an important link in the Hanseatic Trade routes. (see picture of Bremerhaven waterfront, left).
However, it was also known as the “Brücke nach Übersee” (Bridge to Overseas). Between 1830 and 1974, over seven million emigrants shipped out of Bremerhaven to destinations overseas, with the highest number of people emigrating at end of the 19th century.
The German Emigration Center (“Deutsches Auswandererhaus”) opened in 2005 and has been building a database of information about emigrants that shipped out via the harbor.
To get a sense of the importance of the Bremerhaven harbor, a harbor cruise is a must. We were not only amazed by the size of the car carriers, with which thousands of cars are shipped from and to Germany, but also by the way huge container ships are loaded and unloaded. Such a harbor is a huge economic factor for a city, creating thousands of jobs and business opportunities.
Travel Tip #3: The Old Elbe Tunnel and Lift
When we approached Hamburg, the GPS in our car directed us towards what seemed like a closed street. We searched around for a while (berating the voice on our GPS) until we realized that we had reached the entrance of the (poorly marked) car lift that was to take us under the Elbe River into Hamburg proper. The car lift and tunnel were built in 1907, and frankly, did not look like it had been renovated much since then.
A couple of cars fit into each of the lifts, plus a number of pedestrians and bicycles.The ride through the tunnel was somewhat nerve-racking. The car lane was narrow, with the car's tires just fitting between the narrow sidewalks on each side.
Occasionally, the tires rubbed against the, maybe, three-feet wide side-walk strip on either side, where pedestrians were walking to and fro. We also did not know how to shut off the head lights of our rental car, which we were asked to do in order not to blind the pedestrians.
In any event, the car lift and tunnel provided a memorable way of entering Hamburg, taking us right to the “Landebrücken,” the center of the maritime traffic in Hamburg. Ferries and tourist boats come and go there continuously throughout the day and evening.
The Old Elbe Tunnel has been declared a monument and houses a museum. Thousands of cars, cyclists, and pedestrians use this way to arrive at the Landebrücken part of Hamburg every year.
Hamburg has much to see and admire. The Elbe and the two Alster lakes, the Binnenalster and the Außenalster, give Hamburg its particular flair. You also notice the many green spaces and trees. (A tour guide claimed that Hamburg has so many trees that there are 36 trees for each dog.)
The next leg of our northern Germany trip will take us to Lübeck and near the border to Poland - but more about that in a later post: From Hamburg to Wismar.
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact.
How do languages, a Pyramid, Napoleon, Royalty and a Family Reunion all fit together? The secret lies in the Netherlands!
Travels in Europe always present a wonderful opportunity for us to refresh our historical knowledge as well as the chance to practice a language or two.
During a recent stay in the Netherlands, I also learned a few facts that I had either forgotten or, more likely, never knew.
My Dutch Experiment
Readers of a previous post may recall that I had started to learn Dutch around the beginning of 2015. Starting with one daily Duolingo lesson in January 2015, then increasing it to 1-2 lessons per day in May, I added the 3-month Dutch Babbel course in early June, while continuing with 1-2 daily Duolingo lessons. I had completed the Babbel Dutch course by the end of August.
In early September, our family reunion in Utrecht gave me an opportunity to listen to a lot of Dutch; I also knew (from my speaking practice with my wife) that I was not yet ready to participate in a fast-moving Dutch conversation.
However, I was quite pleased that I was not only able to follow most Dutch conversations, but also to read and understand the Dutch-only explanations in the various museums we visited.
Dutch is probably one of the easiest languages to learn for a German speaker. Nevertheless, it's good to remember that the 100 hours I invested in Duolingo and Babbel will not produce fluency. For that I'll clearly need more speaking practice.
The Pyramid of Austerlitz
When a Dutch cousin wanted to take us to the "Pyramide van Austerlitz", near Utrecht, I was somewhat baffled. A “pyramid” and “Austerlitz” in the Netherlands? Wasn't Austerlitz located in the Czech Republic, where Napoleon had won a crucial battle?
Yes, certainly, I remembered correctly, but there was also a surprising explanation:
In 1804, a General Marmont of the French army commanded about 18,000 men. They were stationed in an encampment on the heath between Woudenberg and Zeist (two small villages near Utrecht).
Six years earlier, Marmont had accompanied Napoleon on a military campaign to Egypt and was quite impressed by the pyramids.
As he needed something to do for his soldiers, he ordered them to build a pyramid of sand and turf from the heath, with the hope that the pyramid would carry his name for all eternity.
Unfortunately, two years later, Napoleon's brother, King Louis Bonaparte, renamed it “Pyramide van Austerliz” in honor of Napoleon's victory over the Austrian and Russian armies in 1805.
The transient nature of the pyramid soon became apparent, as it started to succumb to erosion and the pyramid's straight lines turned to a conical hill. In 2007 it was restored, with its stone obelisk now firmly in place.
The French Era and Napoleon's Continuing Legacy
As with many other countries in Europe, Napoleon's influence can still be felt in the Netherlands today.
I did not know, for example, that Napoleon was responsible for the Netherlands to become a unified state and a kingdom. Here is a summary from the Austerlitz Pyramid brochure by Landschap Erfgoed Utrecht (which also provided much of the information above):
“In 1806 he installed his brother Louis Bonaparte as king of Holland and turned our country into a kingdom. Louis committed himself to defending the interests of our forefathers, even if it went against the interests of France. This displeased Napoleon immensely, and he took measures that made it impossible for Louis to reign any longer. In 1810, Louis abdicated, and our country became part of France.
National service was implemented and French legislation was introduced. Napoleon's campaign to Russia, however, meant the beginning of the end of the Napoleonic era. The French army was defeated at Leipzig, and Napoleon was banished to Elba. In 1814, William I became king.
Even though the French Era lasted less than 20 years, it greatly influenced the Dutch society. Our country had become a unified state and a kingdom, and there is no doubt that the positive experience with Louis Bonaparte played a part in it. It was also a first step to becoming a parliamentary democracy.
Laws that were made in 1814 were based on the French legislation introduced in the Netherlands during the French Era. As a result, the Netherlands became a modern constitutional state, and everyone became equal in the eyes of the law: a radical change from the situation before 1795.”
Clearly in the 19th century, and well into the 20th century, a king was still seen as a unifying force and therefore a necessity. (During our visit to Norway, a few years ago, we had learned that Norway, when it separated from Sweden in 1905, decided by plebiscite that it still needed a king, and it selected a Danish price. See our post : Language Politics...)
Visiting Paleis Soestdijk and Learning about Dutch Royalty
During our family reunion, we all visited Paleis Soestdijk, which is also located near Utrecht in the municipalities of Soest and Baarn. Built originally as a hunting lodge between 1674 and 1678, the palace was significantly expanded with two wings by 1821, after the Netherlands had become a kingdom.
Used by Princess Juliana (Queen of the Netherlands from 1948-1980) and Prince Bernhard as their official residence until both their deaths in 2004, it is an interesting example of a palace with neoclassical furnishings as well as modern features, used until 10 years ago by a citizen-monarch.
In discussing the king/queen situation, we found great support for the constitutional monarchy both with young and old family members. The new king, Willem-Alexander and his Argentina-born wife Maxima seem to be well liked. They are seen as staying above the political fray on one hand while representing the Netherlands very well abroad on business and cultural matters.
Speaking English, German, (a little) Dutch, and Spanish
At my wife's Dutch family reunion, with family members attending from the US, Canada, Mexico, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands, the three main languages were clearly Dutch, English, and German. Switching between different languages during a conversation, when others join, is quite common. It also gives everybody a good language workout.
I am always amazed how well the Dutch speak English, which many indeed prefer to German, with its three genders (Dutch only has two), its cumbersome endings, and declinations. The Dutch heritage as traders and merchants, and their English school classes, starting even before high school, may explain why over 90% of Dutch people speak English as a second language. Only 70% speak German.
Also, movies are typically not dubbed in Dutch and many are shown in the original language, often English.
These family reunions in the Netherlands are always a wonderful opportunity to connect with family members we have not seen in a while and - for us language lovers - also a chance to practice our languages. I still have a way to go with Dutch, but with more Dutch speaking practice with my wife, I am now confident that next time I'll be able to hold my own..
Our Travels Continue
And after our stay near Utrecht we began a three-week trip through northern Germany, an area we did not know very well. The first stage we called From Utrecht to Hamburg.
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.
A few years ago, my wife Ulrike and I were staying in Ajaccio, Corsica. We had just arrived by ferry from Sardinia and on the drive from Bonifacio to Ajaccio noticed many road signs that did not look French. We had read up on the island by using the Lonely Planet's excellent guide Corsica and were aware of its colorful and dramatic history.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio in 1769, just a year after France had acquired the island from the Republic of Genoa. And although this eventually created a strong link to France, we had also heard from French friends that tensions with Paris still existed regarding autonomy, culture, language, economic development, etc. More about that and the Corsican language later.
During a late afternoon walk, while exploring the neighborhood around our hotel, we came by a movie theater and were intrigued by the title of the advertised movie.
Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis
The French movie playing there was “Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.” We weren't familiar with the movie and didn't know what “les Ch'tis” meant. At first blush, we thought it referred to a phrase in Corsican. I did, however, recognize the name of the actor, Dany Boon, who is also the director of the film.
On the spur of the moment, and although the movie had already started, we decided to purchase two tickets.Groping for our seats in the dark in a nearly empty theater, we just arrived at the scene in which the new director of the local post office, played by Kad Merad, arrives in town during a rainy, miserable night. He almost runs over the other main character with his car, the local letter carrier, played by Dany Boon, who is to show the new boss his apartment.
The dialog that then develops had us soon laughing ourselves to tears: Boon's character tries to explain to his boss that there was no furniture in the apartment because it had all belonged to the former occupant: “c'était le sien” - it was his (furniture). However, in the dialect of the “Ch'tis,” it sounds like “c'était le chien.” (it was the dog)
Maybe you feel intrigued and want to watch the 2008 movie, as we did again a few days ago. The movie is not available on Netflix, but I discovered that you can get it on Amazon either as an instant download or as DVDs in original French, with English subtitles.
How wrong we were...
It was a few years later that we saw the actual beginning of the movie with the set-up of the postal director's involuntary transfer. We had, of course, realized even in Ajaccio, that the movie isn't set in Corsica, but rather in the northern part of France.
When you watch the movie from the beginning, you learn right away how this region is perceived in the south, and why being sent there is seen as punishment. The region, especially the Nord-Pas-de-Calais - quite undeservedly - has a reputation of not only being cold and inhospitable, but really being “in the sticks.”
However, a little “googling” also educated us about the fact that the “chti” or “chtimi” languages are part of the “Picard” group of languages, spoken in the far north of France and parts of Belgium.
A Language or a Dialect?
Picard, is one of the “langues d'oïl,” or “Old French” and belongs to the Gallo-Roman family of languages. Interestingly, Belgium's French Community has recognized Picard as a regional language. France, insisting on the other hand on linguistic unity, only recognizes one official national language.
If you are interested to learn more about the Picard languages, the different spellings and pronunciations, consult this Wikipedia entry, which I also used for much of the “Picard” information. You will also quickly see from the few examples below why the “ch” and “s” sounds can be confusing:
English
Picard
French
Thank you
Merchi
Merci
I am sorry
Échtchusez-mi
Excusez-moi
How much does it cost?
Combin qu'cha coûte?
Combien ça coute?
The Wikipedia article further notes: “Today Picard is primarily a spoken language. This was not the case originally; indeed, from the medievalperiod there is a wealth of literary texts in Picard. However, Picard was not able to compete with the inter-regional literary language, which French became, and was slowly reduced to the status of a 'regional language.'
A more recent body of Picard literature, written during the last two centuries, also exists. Modern written Picard is generally a transcription of the spoken language. For that reason, words are often spelled in a variety of different ways (in the same way that English and French were before they were standardised).
One system of spelling for Picard words is very similar to that of French. This is undoubtedly the easiest for French speakers to understand, but can also contribute to the stereotype that Picard is only a corruption of French rather than a language in its own right.
Various spelling methods have been proposed since the 1960s to offset this disadvantage, and to give Picard a visual identity that is distinct from French.
At the present time, there is a consensus, at least between universities, in favor of the written form known as Feller-Carton (based on the Walloonspelling system – which was developed by Jules Feller– and adapted for Picard by Prof. Fernand Carton).”
In the book When Languages Collide, Brian D. Joseph et al. note on page 161: “In the French linguistic tradition Picard has been labeled a dialect.” But one of the editors then says: “Given that Picard is not a dialect of French, as it evolved side by side with French rather than out of French, I prefer to use the label language to refer to Picard.”
Linguists may argue whether Picard is a dialect or a language, but for those learning French, this distinction is irrelevant. If you're a learner, you're just trying to figure out the meaning of what you hear.
So, if you happen to be in a region where “old French” is spoken, familiarize yourself with some of the basic pronunciation differences to standard French, and you at least, will not confuse “sien” with “chien.”
The Corsican Language
During our stay in Corsica, we learned about Corsican history and culture: Its Italian heritage in medieval times, with Tuscany and then Pisa gaining control. In 1282, the island became part of Genoa until 1768, when it was sold to France.
An Italo-Dalmatian Romance language, Corsican became “gallicised” after France's acquistion. While the Corsican language appeared to be in serious decline for many years, in the 1980s the French government reversed its unsupportive stand and initiated some strong measures to save it.
Although Corsica is a small island, its geography may have encouraged the formation of different dialects: Supranacciu, spoken in Bastian and Corte and generally in the north; Suttanacciu, spoken in Sartène and Porto-Vecchio and generally in the south; the dialect spoken in Ajaccio; the dialects of Calvi and Bonifacio, which resemble the dialect of Genoa; the local dialect of the Maddalena archipelago. A Corsican dialect is also spoken in the norther part of Sardinia.
We found this corsica-isula web site especially helpful and interesting, as it not only provides an introduction to the Corsican language, but also links to other sites and Corsican dictionaries. Corsican also has a rich tradition of writers and poets. To find out more, click here.
We have to confess that in spite of speaking French quite fluently and understanding Italian well, we were never able to understand Corsican conversations in bistros or cafes, maybe also because of the various dialects.
We certainly felt that our Italian helped us more than French for picking up a word here or there. However, the bilingualism of Corsicans is impressive, and we never had any trouble conversing in French.
Corsican Impressions
One of the strong impressions of our 7-day drive through the island - from Bonifacio, to Adjacio, through the middle of the island, Corte, and on to Bastia and Calvi - was this: Corsicans are proud of their land and their language. Nearly all road signs we saw, either had the French name painted over and often, obliterated by bullet holes as in this left picture.
While Corsicans are pleasant and accommodating to tourists like us, they don't particularly like foreigners buying land or even condominiums. While we were in Ajaccio, a small bomb exploded (nobody hurt) at the front door of a condominium, which had just been purchased by a German.
We heard stories about the ill-fated French government's efforts to re-settle people who were called “pieds noirs.” They were French citizens who had lived in Algeria, but fled after the country became independent in 1960.
A good description of this period (and many other facts about Corsica) can be found on page 197 in the Lonely Planet's Corsica. The unrest of the seventies and eighties seems to have abated (but, as the bombing incident mentioned above indicates, it's not quite finished).
We found Corsica a wonderful island to visit. We had lots of great experiences: our arrival in Bonifacio, a small town, perched on a limestone pedestal (see picture); the capital of Ajaccio with its connection to Napoleon; the rugged landscape and the snow-covered mountain tops in April, while we were driving across to Corte on excellent roads (see picture above).
In a museum in Corte we discovered a hand-drawn language atlas which showed linguistic boundaries of individual words, tracing them from the island's south to the north.And we did not even take advantage of the many great beaches, and the snorkeling and diving opportunities that fill the guidebooks.
Just watching “Bienvenue Chez le Ch'tis” again the other day brought back many memories from that trip and made us think again how powerful and ultimately wrong some misconceptions about people, their languages and pronunciations can be.
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.
Going to Paris? Cool! And even better if you learn a few useful phrases ahead of time.
They will immediately set you apart from those many hardy monolinguals that swarm through Paris every year. (Entrance to the Louvre, left)
A willingness to learn the local language transforms you into a much more welcome tourist - even if you've only been able to master such pleasantries as "bonjour" (hello), "merci" (thank you), "pardon" (excuse me), "de rien" (you're welcome), "pas de problème" (no problem), "au revoir" (goodbye). Besides, you'll enjoy the experience more.
For more complicated phrases, having a phrase book handy can by helpful. The booklet will back you up when you're asking for directions, ordering in a restaurant, buying a subway ticket, inquiring about opening times, etc.
And, if you're ambitious and motivated, you can learn the phrases by heart. Plus, if you're also learning online, you can practicethem by mimicking a native speaker and/or getting pronunciation feedback.
Now, if you're an even more advanced learner, just think: Once in Paris, you'll have free immersion and unlimited chances to practice with native speakers!
But, no matter what stage of learning you're at - here are my top 5 phrases to say or use when exploring Paris. They go right to the heart of what makes Paris so hugely enjoyable.
1. Faire une petite promenade (to go for a little walk)
The best way to explore Paris is on foot. Walking through different neighborhoods lets you experience the cityand its people in a very direct way. Sounds, colors, textures, smells - all converge together to draw you into the moment.
My husband and I have always enjoyed strolling through the Jardin du Luxembourg (see picture, right), a spot where Parisians also love to hang out.
People sit and chat or read their newspaper on one
of the benches lining the paths. Children launch a toy sailboat on "le Grand Bassin" (the large pond). Students sit on the grass to talk, flirt, or do homework.
There are tennis courts, places to play basketball and volleyball, there's a corner for chess, and an area for boule players. There's also a large children's playground for kids 7-12, which charges a small entrance fee.
A wonderful neighborhood to explore is the district of le Marais (the Marsh). Historically the Jewish district, it has more recently become a trendy quartier with lively bars and restaurants, colorful markets, and funky small shops.
Le Marais spreads across the 3rd and 4th arrondissements, and a walking tour (on your own or with a group) will take you past posh aristocratic houses, small alleys, the incomparable Place de Vosges, trendy boutiques, great museums, and much more.
2. Louer un vélo (to rent a bike)
Exploring Paris by bicycle has a different charm and you can cover more terrain that way. Paris is generally a friendly city for cyclists, but you're still dealing with big city traffic. There are bike paths everywhere and plenty of opportunities to rent, either from bike rental shops, or (by credit card) at one of the Paris Vélib stations (see picture, right). Vélib is a large-scale public bike-sharing system.
We rented a bike twice at a Vélib station. But rather than riding in the city itself - we like to walk, and are also a little scared of the Paris traffic - we chose two destinations on the outskirts.
Our first ride was in the vast public park, Bois de Boulogne, located on the western side of Paris, on the border of the 16th arrondissement. To get there, we took the Métro to Port d'Auteuil and easily found a Vélib station nearby.
Formerly the hunting grounds for the Kings of France, the park has - with its woods, small lakes, picnic grounds, and nature paths - 15 km of bike trails on which we rode to our heart's content.
Another place we targeted was Château de Vincennes, situated on the eastern edge of Paris, in the 12th arrondissement. We went by Métro to the stop "Chateau de Vincennes."
On a bike from the Vélib station nearby, we crossed over to the Bois de Vincennes, a park that matches the Bois de Boulogne in size and beauty. With its four lakes, arboretum, botanical garden, and delightful Temple d'Amour, the park gave us another chance to experience the great Paris outdoors (picture, left).
To round off our adventure, we took a quick tour of the castle itself, a former residence of the Kings of France.
There we got our history fix of the day and learned that several well-known figures, such as the philosopher Denis Diderot and the notorious Marquis de Sade, had been incarcerated in the castle's dungeon.
3. Quelle vue magnifique! (what a Great view!)
With the limited building heights of the inner city, there are great views of the city from several choice locations.
Whether you're up on the Tour Eiffel, the Tour Montparnasse, Notre Dame Cathedral, on the steps of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, or just on the Esplanade du Trocadéro, you're in for a visual treat.
We've enjoyed each one of these vistas. Still, we think the Esplanade du Trocadéro holds a particular charm.
It's a large platform located on the summit of the Colline de Chaillot, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, and even just the view it affords is worth a visit. (See picture, right)
But there's more. The whole area is full of fun and energy. Leading down from the Trocadéro towards the Seine are the lovely Jardins du Trocadéro.
On the greens people sit and socialize. Children play ball or splash around at the cascading fountains. There's always something fun going on. When we were there, we watched an amazing skateboard slalom.
The skyscrapers that you can see from the Arc de Triomphe are located at the other end of the monumental "Axe Historique." They form part of La Défense, an important business district. From the top of La Défense's Grande Arche (which housed the currently closed Computer Museum) we had a different, spectacular view of the city.
4. Prendre l'apéritif (to have an aperitif)
In the early evening when life slows down, it's a perfect time for a glass of wine at a sidewalk café and for doing some people watching.
If you pick a café that's off the beaten tourist track, you'll also hear French spoken around you. You can take your time for this important activity because dinner in Paris usually doesn't start till around 8 or 8:30.
Paris has no shortage of such cafés or bistros, wherever you may be staying.
However, a visit to Paris may not be complete without an apéritif or even lunch at Les Deux Magots on the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés. (See picture, left) Popularwith tourists and locals alike because it was a favorite haunt of writers and artists such as Hemingway, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Camus, Picasso, Joyce, Brecht, Verlaine, Malraux, Rimbaud, the café-restaurant Les Deux Magots is also known for its present literary activity:
Every year the café awards the Prix des Deux Magots for a new French novel, usually one that is off-beat or unconventional, and which may not be considered for the more traditional Prix Goncourt.
5. Faire une croisière (To take a boat cruise)
A river cruise on the Seine is not to be missed. The routes of the various boat companies are similar and most offer day and evening cruises.
What makes a Paris cruise so special is that the Seine flows through the heart of the city. The river touches on 10 of the 20 arrondissements and is lined by many great buildings and monuments. We enjoyed a day cruise on a sunny day, as the boat slowly made its grand loop and we listened to amusing historic facts and anecdotes. (See picture right with a view of the Notre Dame)
At the far end of the "rive gauche" (left bank) you'll pass by the four sleek towers of La Bibliothèque François Mitterand (an expansion of the National Library). You'll probably wonder about the politics that allowed the towers (as well as the Tour Montparnasse) to exceed the inner city's building height limits by quite a bit.
During an evening (dinner) cruise with good friends, we were vowed by the beauty of the City of Light. In my mind's eye, I still see the illuminated Eiffel Tower, as it sparkled through its gold covering.
When you're exploring Paris yourself, there surely will be other French phrases that you'll love. So don't wait, start brushing up your French and make your Paris experience a memorable one.
Bio: Ulrike Rettig is the co-founder of GamesforLanguage.com. She is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, the Netherlands, and Canada. You can follow her travel memories on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
During our recent stay in Seville, Spain (see picture left), we were again reminded how challenging local dialects are for foreign language learning.
That is especially the case when they try to improve their new language in an immersion environment, as in the country where their new language is spoken.When you visit only for a few days and your interaction with locals is quite limited – as happened during our first stay to Seville in 2012 – you don't seem to notice the dialect very much.This time, however, it was different.
The Language Learning Challenge
The four European languages we are very familiar with, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, all have different dialects spoken in various regions.
All language schools and online programs, including GamesforLanguage.com, teach a "standard language" that you may hear on radio and television, but which may be spoken in only a few regions of the country.
Chances are you'll find yourself in a region where your language learning efforts over the last few months don't seem to be quite enough. It's no different in Spain, but also presents an opportunity to learn more about the local dialect.
THE MISSING “S” in the Seville Dialect
As we describe in a previous post: Learning Spanish –First Impressions of the Local Dialect in Seville, Spain, we noticed right away that some consonants are dropped at the end and in the middle of words, so "gracia" instead of "gracias," "do cerveza" instead of "dos cervezas," "E'paña," "e'pañol," etc.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg. There are other differences to standard "Castilian" Spanish and even to other regions of the Andalusian dialect.
SESEO & CECEO
Generally speaking, typical Andalusian pronunciation features as the "leveling s, z, and c sounds" (the latter before an [i] or an [e]). This means that in parts of Andalusia [s], [z] and [c] have an [s] sound (called a "seseo" dialect.)
In other parts of Andalusia [s], [z] and [c] have a [θ] sound (called a "ceceo" dialect.) Seville, in fact, is a small language island.
Surrounded by regions that speak "ceceo," the city itself is mostly a "seseo" haven. On the street, with the many tourist coming from other regions of Spain, you of course heard a mixture. In any case, neither "seseo" nor "ceceo" is really part of standard Castilian. Castilian and Andalusian have been perceived as distinct dialects since the the 15th century.
In Castilian Spanish, [s] is pronounced as [s]; and [c] and [z] are pronounced [θ]. The latter is sometimes called the "Castilian lisp," which is often attributed, incorrectly, to the lisp of a Spanish king. This and other language myths are wonderfully debunked in a recent blog post: 10 Myths And Misconceptions About World Languages, the "Castilian lisp" in Myth #4: "The Spanish Kings's Lisp."
DROPPED CONSONANTS
We noticed that [d] was weakened or dropped entirely when between two vowels. For example in the bus, we heard "próxima para" (instead of "próxima parada," next stop); and, our Sevillian acquaintances would say "a menu'o" (instead of "a menudo,") often.
Flamenco terms are famous examples: cantaor (from cantador, Castilian: cantante "singer"); tocaor (from tocador, Castilian: músico); and bailaor (from bailador, Castilian: bailarín). When spelled, the [d] is also dropped, we learned. [See Wikipedia "Andalusian Spanish"]
FORMAL OR INFORMAL
Spain in general, including Andalusia, is known for it's greater informality compared to Latin American countries. When we met our tutor for the first time, he immediately addressed us with "tú," though we were clearly older than he.
Since pronouns are dropped unless you need them for clarity or emphasis, out tutor happily used the pronoun-less "tú" form with us, but dropped the "s-endings" (tiene, habla, quiere, encuentra, etc.). When I asked him whether Sevillians could tell the difference between "tiene" (informal with the dropped "s") and "tiene" (formal), he said, actually no, and smiling, said that he had never thought about it.
So, in Sevilla, you may not always catch right away whether someone is addressing you formally or informally.
PAYING ATTENTION
In most cases, you don't chose to stay or live in a region because of a particular language dialect: Work, family, friends, cultural, or other interests, etc. generally impact your decision. So chances are that you will find yourself in a city or town with a local dialect.
When you are starting to notice what distinguishes the local dialect from the standard language, your language learning is one the way to reaching another level. And the sooner you can discover some to the typical idiosyncrasies of the local language, the faster you'll be able to understand and eventually speak it.
At the end of our month there, we could pretty well understand our tutor and our language exchange partners, but we spoke the Seville dialect only in small chunks, such as with "gracia" and "do cerveza." Thus, in Seville, we still remained at the first stage, but feel quite confident that after a few more weeks we would have graduated to stage two.
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In the US, we use it to convey agreement, it assures people things are fine or when everything is perfect. 
We use this gesture a lot in the US it means it is all great. 
Where I am from in Latin America, snapping your finger meant to hurry up. 
This gesture has been adopted by rockers and it is a sign of approval “rock on” for most Americans. Except in Texas, where football fans use it as a sign representing the horns of a bull. 
cycle engine Trabant”). 
