I’m told that the instant they realize you speak English most Germans will switch and refuse to ever speak German to you again, so it might turn out not to be an issue.
There’s a lovely German-speaking community in Kitchener, Ontario. You’ll get some brainworms, but they’re mostly the kind of ones you’d hear from your sweet lib grandma or the like, because it’s mostly a community of little old grandparents who listen to polka and like nice mustards. There are several other German-speaking communities in the US but I can’t speak to them.
Alternatively, pivot to learning Yiddish and speaking to the 5 people online who can speak it.
I always “suspiciously” timed visiting my in-laws during oktoberfest when they still lived in the area. We stook out like a sore thumb, but it was always a great time.
i think germans can understand yiddish if they try a bit. a bunch of new words, some of the grammar’s different. basically yet another german dialect. you’d have to learn the hebrew letters to read it though.
like, two people speaking fluent yiddish next to you might stump you if you’ve never heard it before, but if you meet a yiddish speaker and you both want to communicate, it’s bound to work (and get progressively better very fast). italians and spanish speakers can do the same, more or less.
God imagine coming from the outside, thinking you’ll find like a nice leftist group to practice with and then it turns out they’re antideutsche. Horror movie material
Eh, from my own experience as someone who moved here 9 years ago with way less language skills than today - that only really applies if your German is very basic or if you start using English first.
However, I do not live in a big city like Berlin, Frankfurt, München. There it might be different from the overabundance of libs and students.
yes, germans hate being german, subconsciously (or have internalized liberal cosmopolitanism as the core of New Germanness - don’t forget to be racist against Palestinians, who are the new Nazis)
My mom’s hometown in Germany has 0 German flags (couldn’t find a single one, and I think that’s normal), meanwhile there were like 20 Ukrainian flags lmfao
Only time I ever liked Merkel is when I saw that video of her ripping the little German flag from her colleague’s hand and shook her head to scold him. That was great.
no they love it, it’s just being cosmopolitan well educated people is part of it so they really like to speak english. also most germans are turboboomers regardless of age who would never voluntarily enter english spaces because of it and therefore jump at any opportunity that presents itself to speak it
We all absolutely hate the language too. The region I’m from has the cringey official slogan “Wir können alles, außer Hochdeutsch.” (“We can do everything, except speak Standard German.”)
There’s an age split there but the true split, especially for older generations, is much more along the old GDR border and also the occupation zones. I live in the former american occupation zone and being at least fluent enough in english to entertain a conversation with a stranger in a bar in a sort of “also using your hand and feet” type way is fairly common. Same with the british sector.
It’s an oddly understudied field I believe. But like, wherever the americans were, you can really feel their influence. Like straight up “a lot of muscle cars or US trucks on the road” type shit, or certain fast food options you wouldn’t otherwise find. And in the british sector, they have left an enduring cultural memory of “getting hopelessly fucked up by midnight” despite things not closing at midnight here
Like straight up “a lot of muscle cars or US trucks on the road” type shit
It’s the military bases. The closer you get to military bases, like say the one in Ansbach, the more American vehicles you’ll see. Usually the fuckhuge pickup trucks.
I’m told that the instant they realize you speak English most Germans will switch and refuse to ever speak German to you again, so it might turn out not to be an issue.
I know a Mexican dude who constantly speaks like “it’s over got runmogged by a mongolian cardio lanklet” because he learned English online
The mexican dude is expressing despair at a mongolian twink running circles around him.
Thank you.
god help him
He just needs to find a little cache of Germans without annoying opinions
Yeah, this country is going fash soon lol, good luck.
There’s a lovely German-speaking community in Kitchener, Ontario. You’ll get some brainworms, but they’re mostly the kind of ones you’d hear from your sweet lib grandma or the like, because it’s mostly a community of little old grandparents who listen to polka and like nice mustards. There are several other German-speaking communities in the US but I can’t speak to them.
Alternatively, pivot to learning Yiddish and speaking to the 5 people online who can speak it.
Kitchener also has a great Oktoberfest, lots of fun.
It really does! I visited it most years with my grandparents as a kiddo!
I always “suspiciously” timed visiting my in-laws during oktoberfest when they still lived in the area. We stook out like a sore thumb, but it was always a great time.
How easy do you figure yiddish would be to learn if you already speak german?
i think germans can understand yiddish if they try a bit. a bunch of new words, some of the grammar’s different. basically yet another german dialect. you’d have to learn the hebrew letters to read it though.
like, two people speaking fluent yiddish next to you might stump you if you’ve never heard it before, but if you meet a yiddish speaker and you both want to communicate, it’s bound to work (and get progressively better very fast). italians and spanish speakers can do the same, more or less.
kinda wanna learn yiddish now. for like the street cred. Imagine being able to back up calling somebody a putz with knowing yiddish
God imagine coming from the outside, thinking you’ll find like a nice leftist group to practice with and then it turns out they’re antideutsche. Horror movie material
Eh, from my own experience as someone who moved here 9 years ago with way less language skills than today - that only really applies if your German is very basic or if you start using English first.
However, I do not live in a big city like Berlin, Frankfurt, München. There it might be different from the overabundance of libs and students.
yes, germans hate being german, subconsciously (or have internalized liberal cosmopolitanism as the core of New Germanness - don’t forget to be racist against Palestinians, who are the new Nazis)
My mom’s hometown in Germany has 0 German flags (couldn’t find a single one, and I think that’s normal), meanwhile there were like 20 Ukrainian flags lmfao
Only time I ever liked Merkel is when I saw that video of her ripping the little German flag from her colleague’s hand and shook her head to scold him. That was great.
don’t wanna continue talking about this. This was mostly tongue-in-cheek
no they love it, it’s just being cosmopolitan well educated people is part of it so they really like to speak english. also most germans are turboboomers regardless of age who would never voluntarily enter english spaces because of it and therefore jump at any opportunity that presents itself to speak it
They hate englishers butchering their language
The real question is if it’s to avoid hearing how bad our German is because they think it’s worth preserving or because they too hate the language.
We all absolutely hate the language too. The region I’m from has the cringey official slogan “Wir können alles, außer Hochdeutsch.” (“We can do everything, except speak Standard German.”)
I don’t think that’s hating the german language, just the snooty prussian version of it, compared to our salt of the earth mountain german
I have definitely been to parts of Germany where no English was spoken
Not even that far out of the city
There’s an age split there but the true split, especially for older generations, is much more along the old GDR border and also the occupation zones. I live in the former american occupation zone and being at least fluent enough in english to entertain a conversation with a stranger in a bar in a sort of “also using your hand and feet” type way is fairly common. Same with the british sector.
It’s an oddly understudied field I believe. But like, wherever the americans were, you can really feel their influence. Like straight up “a lot of muscle cars or US trucks on the road” type shit, or certain fast food options you wouldn’t otherwise find. And in the british sector, they have left an enduring cultural memory of “getting hopelessly fucked up by midnight” despite things not closing at midnight here
Virology is probably the appropriate field of study here.
It’s the military bases. The closer you get to military bases, like say the one in Ansbach, the more American vehicles you’ll see. Usually the fuckhuge pickup trucks.