Expat Chatter

Language class is where you learn to speak a language, but just memorizing vocabulary and practicing dictations won’t do the trick. I found a surprising way to get our exchange student to talk.

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Brenda Arnold

The German language is very precise and detailed, sometimes to the extent that it goes well beyond being descriptive and descends into hilarity. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most outrageous examples.

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Brenda Arnold

On just a 10-minute walk through Munich, I passed by the places that witnessed three pivotal moments in the city’s history: the scene of the murder of the president of Bavaria’s first parliament just after the end of WWI, the site where the anti-Nazi White Rose movement came to an end, and finally, the site of Bavaria’s first parliament, which was obliterated in WWII.  

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Brenda Arnold

The U.S. is not just a large country, everything in it seems bigger, too. This includes the huge piles of garbage created from every restaurant visit that are not recycled. For someone living in Germany, a country that prides itself on recycling, it takes all your willpower not to separate your garbage and instead put the whole pile straight into the garbage can. In the end, I found I just couldn’t do it. 

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Brenda Arnold

Germany has become a land of immigrants but is still grappling with this new identity. Munich’s population consisted of 30% foreigners in 2023 and has continued to grow. The perception and treatment of different nationalities is altered by what happens back in people’s home country. Little did I suspect that this would change how people see me, too.

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Brenda Arnold

Do you speak English? This question is often answered with “Yes” all around the world. Why bother learning another language if everyone speaks yours? Apparently, this is what many U.S. universities are thinking as they eliminate their foreign language programs. But this language hegemony leads to cultural ignorance, perhaps not an ideal state of affairs for a world power such as the U.S.

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Brenda Arnold

Every language has its peculiarities, which should be respected. But when you translate into another language and aren’t careful, elements of the original one can remain. This can cause confusion or more often, simply make for a shoddy translation. To my horror, I recently spotted a peculiar strain of German called Beamtendeutsch creeping into English.   

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Brenda Arnold

We train dogs, but they have much to teach us. Babies are fluent in body language but over time it is sacrificed to verbal communication. Anyone with a pet pooch will confirm that our fluffy friends not only manage to express a myriad of emotions – but they can read ours, too. Time we learned a trick or two from them!

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Brenda Arnold

People’s identities are tied up closely with their names. But even when you are careful to pronounce it correctly you can still get into trouble. In Germany, some people with doctoral degrees have two “doctors” in front of their names—a doctor to the second power, perhaps. And then some people have “baron” in their name but aren’t royalty, while other royals are six years old and wear sweatpants. But it was the guy with the perfect Italian name that did me in—it turned out to be German. Very German, in fact.

Photo by Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash 

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Brenda Arnold

The Krapfen is the best thing since sliced bread - or in Bavaria, since the monks began brewing beer. During Carnival season or Fasching, the bakeries explode with these delicious pastries. But there's an interesting history behind them, too.

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Brenda Arnold