Language! Lenguaje! Sprache! Before coming to Berlin, I was most anxious about how I was going to get around the city without being able to speak German. The picture that I have chosen was a street sign called "Potsdamer Platz" taken at the Potsdamer Platz subway station. It is only one out of hundreds of words that looked like gibberish to me! All of the street signs were foreign to me and it was extremely hard to get around the city. One of the students in the program spoke German fluently and I felt that I would be very reliant on her to get me through this study abroad program. As soon as I landed in Berlin, I quickly discovered that I would not need my own “personal translator” on the trip at all. I found that most of the people in Berlin spoke English fluently or at least understood enough to hold a conversation with an English speaking person.
I noticed that throughout the city of Berlin, each establishment that we visited catered to the many different people who visited the city. Berlin is visited by hundreds of people each year and they developed a system of including language assistance throughout the city to accommodate which allows for travelers to feel more comfortable while visiting. For instance, we took a bike tour around the city to visit historical sites and the tours were given in German, English, Spanish, etc. We also took a private tour through the Parliament of Berlin and each tourist had the option to choose the language they would be most comfortable for each group. Also, most of the restaurants that we visited included English menu’s or included English subtitles. Compared to American, most of the establishments are only in English and do not include any other languages. Although in Miami there are many locations where you can find Spanish menu’s but that’s because the geological area is made up mostly Hispanics.
It was also an interesting experience meeting with the IMK students who were from different parts of Germany. For most of the students, German is their first language and English was their second. I don’t believe they have the opportunity to speak in English that often but they were most gracious to try and speak with the FIU students. For the most part the IMK understood everything we said except for some phrases, words, reference points, and gestures that we may use in the United States. It was actually nice to have some of the students ask us questions about different words or phrases we use because I use them so often that I don’t even recognize that I do it or why! Some of the German students even incorporated some of the words or phrases into their own vocabulary!
You're so right! I completely overlooked the fact that mostly everything has translations. I remember going to Sachssenhausen Concentration camp and they too had English translations. I mean, I understand that's also a touristy place but then again so is the Metro Zoo and I don't remember seeing translations everywhere (then again, I haven't been there in a long time.) But yeah, mostly all the restaurants I went to offered a menu in English or had the translation underneath. It really is nice that they cater to foreigners that way. It really is nice to be able to communicate with people across the ocean with one language :).
ReplyDeleteAlso, even if the other person didn't speak English I felt I could still communicate with them via hand gestures. For example, I was looking for notebook paper at the shop across the hostel and I asked the cashier and I could tell she couldn't speak English. However, I basically illustrated what I was looking for with my hands and she totally got it! Funny stuff!