AMD 6 Andrea Rousseau

For the Abenteur mit Deutsch 6, I decided to take Harmut's suggestion of watching the Simpsons. I could not find the "Simpsons Trilogie derselben Geschichte," but instead watched "Die Simpsons- The Fight Before Christmas." At first, I was hard for me to understand anything that they said because they always speak at such a rapid pace. After awhile I became more used to it and could pick up on certain words and phrases, such as "Football spiel," "es tut mir lied" before eating the gingerbread man, "Weihnachtman" referring to Santa, "wir fleigen," "ich habe vergessen," "Es ist ein Weihnachtswunder," and "Fruhstuck im Bett." From watching and picking out words that I could understand, I got a pretty good jist of the storyline. I now know a lot of phrases relating to Christmas (Weihnachten) which will come in handy this time of year, such as Weihnachtman (Santa), Tannembaum (Christmas tree), Weihnachtsgrüße (Christmas greetings), and Reintier (Reindeer). Though I was not expecting this to be a combination of the 'Polar Express,' 'Inglorius Bastards,' the Muppets, Katy Perry and Martha Stewart, it was still pretty entertaining for the limited amount of the German that I could understand.

Kultur 5- Andrea Rousseau

The article, "Rules of the Street: No Blood, No Entschuldigung," talks about how Germans are not intrinsically rude, but they are rather just used to running into people, and people running into them,  while walking on the streets.

"The Loneliness of the Klofrau: Toilet Training for Visitors" explains that in public restrooms there is typically a Klofrau, or 'toilet lady.' In exchange for keeping the bathroom presentable, she accepts small tips. It is encouraged to tip these cleaning ladies, seeing as many of them are poorly paid immigrants, doing unenjoyable jobs. "You won't land in jail for not paying the Klofrau, but you are likely to solicit grunts of displeasure."

"Scoring a German: Flirting with Fräuleins, Hunting for Herren" explains that in Germany, the man makes the 'first move' by simply staring at the woman. Then, it is up to her to initiate a conversation. It is viewed as overly aggressive for the man to walk up and spark the conversation. As for foreign women traveling to Germany, flirting with the natives can be problematic. Gestures are often misconstructed, misinterpreted, or just plain out missed. ""Flirting" in Germany is not nearly as fun, meaningless, or flattering as it is elsewhere."

In the Vorsprung "Brennpunkt Kultur" section on page 189, I learned that Germans make distinctions between their two types of friends, calling acquaintances 'Bekannte' and using the term 'Freund/Freundin' only with those whom with they share a special, permanent, rare, and treasured bond. Pals or buddies can also be referred to as 'Kumpel.'

AMD 5- Andrea Rousseau

For the AMD 5, I decided to take a trip to Frankenmuth, MI. Frankenmuth is known as "Michigan's Little Bavaria." I am unsure if Frankenmuth is actually comparible whatsoever to Bayern, but there were many perceivable German influences. One of the first things I had noticed while coming into Frankenmuth was the large amount of Lutheran churches and Lutheran schools in Frankenmuth and the immediate surrounding areas. I had known Lutheranism was founded by Luther in Germany, but I guess I hadn't realized its influence and spread.

Our first stop was at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, aka the 'World's Largest Christmas Store.' After a little research on Wally Bronner, the founder of Bronner's, it was brought to my attention that he was also a devout Lutheran. Wally insisted that the 'christ' in 'Christmas' always be capitalized. Along with any kind of Chritmas anything you could imagine, there were also some classic German-influenced items for sale, such as boot-shaped steins sporting the Bayern flag and German chocolates.

After Bronner's, we walked around downtown Frankenmuth for awhile. Many of the businesses, including the Cheese Haus and the Bavarian Inn, were designed with the Bavarian, half-timbered architecture. The shopping areas played German folk music, which even though it was a little cheesy, it helped to make the experience more German-like. Some other German influences in Frankenmuth included the "Wilkommen zu Frankenmuth" banners on the light posts and trash cans being labeled 'Abfall,' (instead of the familiar 'Müllkorb') which I later find out means waste. Overall, I had an enjoyable time visiting Frankenmuth, and since it is fairly close to Ann Arbor, I would recommend the experience.

AMD 4

For the fourth Abenteuer mit Deutsch, I decided to watch a few episodes of "The Lernen to Talk Show." I had noticed in class that I struggle with some of the same things as Mickey while speaking German, and figured it would be good for me to hear him progress through these mistakes. I started off with the first show, where they are having a conversation in a Flughaven. Mickey will be traveling to Germany for eine Jahr. Since Mickey is just beginning to learn German, most of the topics, such as family and food, are topics that I would also bring up in a conversation auf Deutsch.

I then skipped ahead to the third episode, seeing as we had already watched the second in class. In the third episode, Mickey is having a conversation with his friend Kate in eine schön Garten. They discuss things that are a little more complex that just Frühstuck und Familie, such as how their days are going and Hippopatami. I can tell that Mickey's German is already improving dramatically, and he is making less simple mistakes. Also, his pronounciation is better. This is very apparent when he pronounciates his "r's," especially when saying his Lehrerin's name, 'Carmen.' It gives me hope that my pronounciation will improve as well.

I jumped way ahead to episode 36, which was during Mickey's 36th week in Deutschland. A few things I had noticed right off the bat were how his dress had changed. The American boy who once wore a Nike t-shirt now sported a collared shirt beaneath a sweater. I noticed his conversations were a lot more versatile and similar to conversations I would view as common in America. I enjoyed and learned a lot from watching these videos, and they give me much hope that my German will continue to improve and that I will become more comfortable with it. I plan to progressively watch many more of these videos as I learn more and more German.

Kultur 4

"Two-Wheeled Teutons: Stay Off the Bike Path" brings up the point that there are many Germans would rather peddle than drive short distances. Cities have many bike paths (Radwege), referred to by the author as "mini autobahns for two-wheeled traffic," on which bicyclists have the right-of-way. Bikes are also much more convienient to rent, seeing as with a dial to "Call a Bike" and a Kreditkarte payment, you can have one at your service. The "Brennpunkt Kultur" explains that the rising popularity with bicycles is due to increasing environmental consciousness, the convienience of not have to find a parking place, not having to pay for gas, no insurance or taxes, and being able to fix mechanical problems on their own.

I had expected "Disorderly Germans: Playing Chicken on the Einbahnstrasse" to be about Germans playing chicken in the street. However, it is about the disorganization of Germans. There is even a support group, Anonyme Unordentliche, or 'slobs anonymous'.

The main point of "The Red Dictator: Crossing the Strasse"depicts the ways in which Germans cross the road while the little red man indicates not to. The first rule the author explains is to not cross on red if an impressionable child is present. Next, you should not only be cautious of cars, but bicycles as well when crossing the street, they won't all stop. While waiting at a crosswalk, you can be kept occupied by the "Street Pong" game on the small touch screens posted at each side of the walkway. Finally, if you come to a crosswalk that is not signaled by a little red man, you are free to cross at your will, seeing as all drivers are required by law to yield to pedestrians.

Kultur 3

"Eco-Centric German: Organic Food Obsessions"first tells us how horrified most Germans are of genetically modified foods. "Fully 70 percent of Germans say they would never touch gene-manipulated food," (dsl). This mindset is seemed to stem from the fact that Germans spend a lot of time thinking about their health and the environment. Seeing as supermarket fruits and veggies travel long distances and are bruised, battered, and old, it is quite apparent why these organic supermarkets have become so popular. German has more than 300 supermarkets that sell only pesticide, antibiotic, and hormone-free products. Many Germans would rather go without than have to go inorganic...


Neil Hunter's article, "German Fast Food: Forget the "Mett," Try a "Frikadelle"," discusses the fare of German "Imbiss"or "Schnell Imbiss," aka fast food restaurants. Popular menu items include the following:

• Bockwurst- a pork, beef, and/or turkey Frankfurter boiled in brine, aka a hotdog.
• Bratwurst- standard fried sausage served in a half-slice of white bread.
• Currywurst- a sliced up bratwurst served with a dollop of curry ketchup.
• Frikadelle- comparable to America's hamburger, also called Bouletten, and is sometimes served with Nudelsalat or Krautsalat.
• Mett- raw, minced pork seasoned with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, served on rolls topped with raw onions. Considered a specialty because its quite expensive and delicious.
• Schnitzel- fried pork coated in bread crumbs, varieties include Wiener, Jäger, and Zigeuner.
• Spätzle- noodles served with stews or goulasches...

"Yo Dude, What About the Turks? An Introduction to Germany's Real Fast Food Joints"informs us that a surprising 2.3 million Turks live in Germany. It is very common to find inexpensive Turkish Imbisse along the streets of Germany. A Döner is a kebab consisting of lamb and chicken, a Durum Döner being a wrap. Your sauce choices are scharf (hot), knoblauch (white), or kräuter (orange). You can either have your food zum mitnehen, to go, or zum hier essen, for here. A couple other vocab words in this article were the following:

• Köfta- ground seasoned meat patties, Turkish hamburgers.
• "Turkish pizza"- a meatless döner, recommended to be avoided.
• Milchreis- a dessert that can be enjoyed with cinnamon.

"The Dark Side: Optimists Are Idiots" explains that Germans are often pessimistic. Just like the articles that we have read previously, this one touches on German's brutal honesty. Lastly in this article, the author tells readers to "tell him or her to lighten up" in response to a German's negative comment, they will ultimately thank you for it.


"Teutonic Humor: Vee Have Vays of Making You Laugh" tells us that beneath Germany's reputation for having a stern demeanor, there is a sense of humor. Spiegel Online has created the four following stereotypes of humor:

• The Bavarian: heavily language-based, the more dialect you learn, the more you'll appreciate it.
• The Rhinelander: stand-up comedy at Karneval, filled with witty punchlines.
• The Berliner: snarky comments, disrespectful jokes.
• The Hamburger: more cool nd calm, often witty banter.

AMD2- Andrea Rousseau

         For this second AMD, I chose Hartmut's suggestion of reading and responding to the article, "Duden Publishes 'Words of the Decade' Volume," (German Missions in the United States). Duden is a popular German dictionary, comparable to America's Merriam Webster, and has just recently published their volume marking the 100th aniversary of its creator, Konrad Duden's, death. Duden, a teacher from Thuringia, created the first German dictionary to ever be accepted. The Urduden, or original Duden, was published in 1880, and new, updated versions of it have been released every 4 or 5 years. Up until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 there were two seperate versions of Duden published- one for the East and one for the West. 
         Many new words have been included in this version since the year 2000. While reading this article, I've learned that many of Germany's new words have been adopted from English. Many are words used in day to day life in America. "New German words such as Buzzer, Hoax, Googeln, Get-together, Electronic Book, Drop-down Menü and Gangsta-rap need no translation," thelocal.de reported. One of the new additions is the term "Hüftgold," translating as hip gold, and serves as a slangy way to say 'fat stored on the hips.' "Bushfunk," is another addition that translates literally to 'bush radio' and represents the informal stations used to distribute information, aka the jungle telegraph. It is intersting to see what new terms Germans are adopting in comparison to America.. 

Kapitel 2 Kultur Post

 German citizens show great pride for their country, whether it's having a constant neighborhood watch demeanor or critiquing everything to move their country closer to perfection. I found it ironic that even though Germans realize that they complain excessively, they see nothing wrong with it, (Joerg Colberg, "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching, and Moaning"). Their critiquing shows that they aren't shy to point out flaws in their society. Identifying flaws is the first step towards working them oout, thus creating a more efficient, clean running society for its citizens. Though complaining seems very pessimistic, it's not always a terrible thing.

I always had a vision that Germany was a very intense country, but I would've never assumed that people watch you from their windows and the subway. It seems a little excessive to be observed for much of your day, but I suppose it's just the reminants of the totalitarianism attitude. I would think that rather than giving the "Germanic Staredown," (Kimberly Bradley, "The Germanic Staredown: Whatcha Lookin' at, Granny?") it would be easier to go about your day minding your own business and worrying about your own things. I suppose Germans are just more curious than myself.

Even though German interaction can seem brutal at times, they tend to mean what they say on a more sincere level. Such as in the article, "Brutally Honest; Have You Gained Weight?," author Maria Snyder points out their sincerity of simple conversational lines. When asked to have tea sometime, they mean that they would really like to schedule a get together. In America, sometimes lines such as "we should get together sometime" really means "I don't really care if we ever see each other again or not," (Snyder). They don't like to beat around the bush and tend to mean what they say.

One thing I had never realized about Germany is their obsession with statistics. It's strange that they would be so interested in learning the population, area, political system, religions, unemployment rates, etc. of random American cities and towns, (Prachi Kadam, "By the Numbers: An Obssession with Statistics"). From another aspect though, it makes sense that they would condense this information into a better understanding of life in different parts America and the world. Knowing details about things can help to put them into a better perspective.