Understanding Train Station

A while back we asked you all to send us voice messages of you speaking your dialect/regional accents! We were overwhelmed with the number of messages we received and were only able to feature a few of them back in Episode 21. For that reason we decided to keep the series going and continue with the messages we didn’t get to last time! These are some of our favorite episodes to record so make sure to send us your dialect if we haven’t gotten to it yet and we will keep the series going. Sit back, relax and have fun guessing along with us!

Start learning languages with Busuu here:  💻  Web: https://bit.ly/understandingtrainstation_busuu 📱 Mobile: https://bit.ly/understandingtrainstation_busuu_app

Mentioned videos:

EP21: Y’all speak funny! We react to YOUR dialects▸https://youtu.be/d9Z46vD2ezA

EP15: Do we speak the same language? Dialects & accents in the US and Germany▸https://youtu.be/cdAMyjaBGPo

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Buy our merch ▸https://felifromgermany.com/collections/understanding-train-station • Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

+++German-speaking section: From 00:43:08 to 00:47:48. Subtitles in German and English available for that part.+++

How did you learn German? Why do you sound like a native speaker? Josh gets these questions all the time and people are often surprised to hear that he did not grow up in Germany or in a German-speaking family but actually didn't take his first German class until 10th grade. The reason why he became fluent so quickly was a mix of his own motivation and ambition, his talent for languages, and his amazing German teacher that he has mentioned several times on the podcast: Christine König (aka Frau König!). She's originally from Erfurt and grew up in the former GDR (East Germany) but she and her husband came to the US shortly after the reunification and have been living there for about 27 years now. We are so happy that Christine was able to join us for this week's episode and tell us a little more about her tips and tricks as a German teacher in the US and her experiences with the GDR. We hope you enjoy this episode despite the poor sound quality during some parts.

Mentioned videos: ▸EP24: Get Schooled - Education in Germany vs. USA https://youtu.be/KeHEz5_7MoU▸WHY do German teachers in the USA do this wrong? 😅🇺🇸 https://youtu.be/D-2hPd32oG4▸EP15: Do we speak the same language? Dialects & accents in the US and Germany https://youtu.be/cdAMyjaBGPo

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Buy our merch ▸https://felifromgermany.com/collections/understanding-train-station • Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Sign up for the Lingoda Sprint here by July 26 ▸http://bit.ly/LingodaxUTS_Sprint and use the code FAST47 to save 20€/25USD on the first month's tuition! (Terms and conditions apply. Make sure to read the rules of the Sprint.)

Shop our merch! :)▸https://felifromgermany.com/

From burgers and American football to pop music and Hollywood movies - you don't have to look far to realize that there are a lot of American influences in Germany. Or should we say "American" influences...? How has Josh experienced these things since moving to Germany six months ago? How much of it is actually authentically American? In episode 19, we talked about German culture in the US, so this week, we decided to turn the tables and share with you guys how - from our viewpoints - American culture has influenced Germany.

EP19: German Culture in the US. How authentic is it really?▸https://youtu.be/mucNDa4YMZ4

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Interview goes from 15:54 to 1:14:08.

Sign up for the Lingoda Sprint here by July 16 ▸http://bit.ly/LingodaxUTS_Sprint and use the code FAST47 to save 20€/25USD on the deposit! (Terms and conditions apply. Make sure to read the rules of the Sprint.)

Shop our merch! :)▸https://felifromgermany.com/

In this week’s episode, we got the opportunity to interview Rachel Stewart from the ‘Meet the Germans’ series by the German international broadcaster DW - Deutsche Welle. In her YouTube videos and on Instagram, Rachel explains and introduces some of the quirky aspects and cultural traditions of Germany and its residents to non-Germans in a very entertaining but also educating way. Rachel is originally from the UK but has been living in Cologne, Germany for some time now. But how did she even end up in Germany? And what is it really like to 'meet the Germans' as a Brit? All of those questions are going to be answered in this episode and, of course, we also wanted to know more about what ‘Meet the Germans’ looks like behind the scenes and what they have in store for the future. We really enjoyed getting to share our experiences about moving from our home countries, adapting to new surroundings, and discovering some of the interesting differences between the US, the UK, and Germany and we hope you'll enjoy this episode as well. Make sure to check out the 'Meet the Germans' series on the DW Euromaxx YouTube channel, Instagram @dw_meetthegermans, or at https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/meet-the-germans/s-32641.

More awesome content by DW: DW News, Slowly spoken German news for German learners, DW Planet A, Learn German with DW, TikTok: @dw_deutschlernen or @DW_berlinfresh

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Shop our merch! :)▸https://felifromgermany.com/

Sign up for the Lingoda Sprint here by July 16 ▸http://bit.ly/LingodaxUTS_Sprint and use the code FAST47 to save 20€/25USD on the deposit! (Terms and conditions apply. Make sure to read the rules of the Sprint.)

Being fluent in another language opens a lot of doors in life. Josh gets to live abroad in Germany and work for a German company because of this while Feli was able to study in the US and eventually move there. However, being bilingual and especially living “between cultures”, as our podcast title says, can also bring internal challenges with it. One of those things that we’ve experienced ourselves is feeling like you have two different personalities in the two languages – like there are two different versions of yourself. In this episode, we took the time to dig deeper into what lies behind that, talked about what those two personalities look like for us personally, and what advantages and disadvantages it brings with it. We also answered a few of your questions from the YouTube comments at the end AND we included a German-speaking part too [00:54:46-01:04:20]! 😊

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro - 7:13 Different personalities in different languages? - 49:12 Q&A 54:46 German-speaking part (subtitles available!) - 01:04:20 Q&A

Articles we quoted from:

1) Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3004943/Being-bilingual-really-two-minds-Researchers-say-people-different-personalities-language.html?fbclid=IwAR1FffFn4oDMw3tW4PdA6OOtItakfslFocher6YHq8V7mNDhwcYBmQHTAlQ

2) Hug-a-group: https://hugagroup.medium.com/do-you-feel-like-a-different-person-when-you-speak-a-foreign-language-here-is-why-61046ca3d4d3

EP25: A German at a British Boarding School feat. Clemens ▸https://youtu.be/z8l1RKwYZKI

EP12: Tequila, Friendships, Safety - Life between Mexico, Germany, and the US feat. Seymer ▸https://youtu.be/akStgNGsDuQ

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Sign up for the Lingoda Sprint here by July 16 (June 24 for the early bird offer!)▸http://bit.ly/LingodaxUTS_Sprint and use the code FAST47 to save 20€/25USD on the deposit! (Terms and conditions apply. Make sure to read the rules of the Sprint.)

Imagine moving to a foreign country to go to a boarding school where you don’t speak the language fluently - and all of this at the age of thirteen! To many, that would sound like a nightmare but this week’s guest did so willingly and even stayed to complete his schooling there! Clemens is Josh’s previous flatmate in Munich and agreed to join us for this week’s episode to share his experiences of having gone to a British boarding school. From school uniforms, athletics and boarding school culture, we loved getting to pick his brain and learn about this unique subculture of British education. We hope that you all enjoy hearing his story and getting a perspective on schooling that is completely different than what we have shared in the past!

Clemens' YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMxl9_vH3a_5UM37W7D1aWw Last week's episode▸https://youtu.be/KeHEz5_7MoU Episode with Hien▸https://youtu.be/cjBPnIXK60U Episode with Jay▸https://youtu.be/S29Xel4R2wk

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Have you ever wondered how different countries handle educating the next generation? It’s easy to forget that things are done differently in different countries and cultures. In this week’s episode, we discuss the differences between the German and American school systems. Do Americans really ride a yellow school bus to school, split up into cliques (jocks, cheerleaders, band nerds, etc.) and stay after school for hours on end for various school activities? Do Germans really get told whether or not they can go to university in the 5th grade, not have school sports and drink alcohol on school premises with their teachers? Stick around to hear about our experiences in the respective school systems! Let us know which aspect of each system you like best and how education is handled in your country!

Mentioned videos: EP9: Growing up between the US and Germany feat. Jay Samuelz ▸https://youtu.be/S29Xel4R2wkAMERICAN - FLUENT IN GERMAN! Our Bilingual Friendship ▸https://youtu.be/gr313Rac0Z8 - EP8: Christmas Traditions in the US vs. Germany (Are St. Nikolaus and Santa Claus the same?!) ▸https://youtu.be/3x8JcTMFfy0

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Josh moved from Cincinnati to Munich at the beginning of the year! In episode 13, we asked you to send us questions to the "future" Josh and now it's finally time to answer them and give you an update on how Josh is doing in Germany and adjusting to life in Munich. In this episode, we talk about Josh's experiences with finding a permanent flat share, buying a car, getting his residency permit, dealing with the German Department of Motor Vehicles and a whole bunch more!  

EP13 Josh in Germany Pt. 1▸https://youtu.be/KpFrtKhfy6Q

Bilingual friendship video▸https://youtu.be/gr313Rac0Z8

EP20 feat. Hien from Vietnam▸https://youtu.be/-7-N4RDOgPQ

EP2 Adulting 2.0▸https://youtu.be/cAR6nDM2wUo

EP12 feat. Seymer from Mexico▸https://youtu.be/akStgNGsDuQ

EP10 New Year's Eve▸https://youtu.be/23I3ZntIYOw

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Young women are called Fräulein,  Austrians eat Schnitzel with noodles, and the song "Edelweiss" is their national anthem?! These and many more clichés and misconceptions about the German-speaking countries play a role in the musical film “The Sound of Music” (1965). While most people outside of the US have never even heard of it, it's a classic for many Americans. They love the songs, the real-life story of the von Trapp family during the Nazi era, and, of course, the beautiful scenery in Salzburg, Austria where the movie is set. In today’s episode, we talk about the success and the cult status of the movie in the US, what Feli thought when she saw it for the first time, and the stereotypes about Germany and Austria that stem from it.

Check out Feli's video on Oktoberfest: https://youtu.be/BHrnabGavtg

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "German Girl in America" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed

Sign up for the Lingoda Sprint here by April 23▸http://bit.ly/UTC_SprintLC and use the code CHANGE124 to save 10€/12USD on the first month's tuition! (Terms and conditions apply. Make sure to read the rules of the Sprint.)

When we talked about the different German and American dialects and accents in episode 15, we asked you guys to submit voice recordings of your regional dialect/accent, and we were overwhelmed by how many messages we received! 😊 So, we sat down together and listened to them one after another while trying to guess what you guys were saying and where the accents and dialects were from. This was a lot of fun for us, and we hope you guys have just as much fun listening to the episode and maybe can even guess along with us. If you’d like to submit a message in YOUR regional accent/dialect, you’re welcome to do so here: https://anchor.fm/understandingtrainstation - just click the “+ MESSAGE” button! 😊

You can listen to this podcast/watch it on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!

Follow us on Instagram▸instagram.com/understandingtrainstation • Support us on Patreon▸patreon.com/understandingtrainstation • Buy us a coffee▸buymeacoffee.com/utspodcast • Email us▸[email protected] • Website▸understandingtrainstation.com

Check out all the videos with Josh and Feli on the "Feli from Germany" YouTube channel▸https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvcmNAGhcEEMm1zpbbFcz41YALTd2eAed