It's happening slowly but you do notice - a friend of mine who also just moved here has been complaining about people being very loud - and she's right. It's not a sterotype, Americans on average are a lot louder than Europeans - of course not everyone. One of my colleagues even makes a point to speak more softly than everyone else - probably in order to be considered more "European" or maybe she just can't stand the noise. In any case, this cultural issue is not really an issue to me - I have always had problems with being too loud. In High School I used to get kicked out of class because I couldn't whisper quietly enough for the teacher not to notice. Whenever I was talking to my neighbor (and yes, I admit that may have happened somewhat frequently), the teacher would hear and shut me up. And in my previous office the lady from HR who sat across from our office would every so often come in and close our door so she could have her peace. My poor office mates. I have noticed though that I speak louder in English than in German which is something my parents used to complain about after I had come back from my junior year in High School in Oklahoma. Whenever I was talking to American friends on the phone they said I was screaming (oh well, my home and Oklahoma are also pretty far away and the sound had to travel the distance)....
It is actually interesting thinking about yourself in different languages. Do you think you are a different person depending on which language you speak? I think there are quite some differences and one of course is the level to which you feel comfortable speaking a language. I had lunch with a colleague today who's from Columbia - I met her in English but did tell her that I would like to brush up on my Spanish. So the first time we had lunch a few weeks ago we only spoke Spanish (or rather she spoke it and I tried my broken, long lost Espanol as well). So today I was lazy and said we'll stick to English and I sure think I was a different person. But also independent from your vocabulary and grammar, I think it's a lot easier to meet people in English for instance - probably because the formal "Sie" in German does not exist in English and you immediately feel more at easy with a person that you are on first name basis with. I did notice that I am becoming more formal in German (at least in emails) now that I am more used to communicating in English - I guess it's almost to make sure that you're not off - overcompensating a bit. The most interesting thing though is that communication may seem less formal but the business culture here is fairly distanced too. Dont let the all the friendlyness fool you. Let me give you an example. One of the ways this is expressed by is in an elevator. I like taking the elevator - I think you can almost do sociological exercises in an elevator setting. People would always talk in an elevator but physical contact is avoided as much as possible to the extent that people would not get into an half full elevator because they are scared they might have to touch someone. Now, in this hot New York weather in the summer that may be very wise, however, I am pretty sure that this is not just a summer phenonmena. Ok, enough cultural studies for today. Another episode of Breaking Bad is waiting....
It is actually interesting thinking about yourself in different languages. Do you think you are a different person depending on which language you speak? I think there are quite some differences and one of course is the level to which you feel comfortable speaking a language. I had lunch with a colleague today who's from Columbia - I met her in English but did tell her that I would like to brush up on my Spanish. So the first time we had lunch a few weeks ago we only spoke Spanish (or rather she spoke it and I tried my broken, long lost Espanol as well). So today I was lazy and said we'll stick to English and I sure think I was a different person. But also independent from your vocabulary and grammar, I think it's a lot easier to meet people in English for instance - probably because the formal "Sie" in German does not exist in English and you immediately feel more at easy with a person that you are on first name basis with. I did notice that I am becoming more formal in German (at least in emails) now that I am more used to communicating in English - I guess it's almost to make sure that you're not off - overcompensating a bit. The most interesting thing though is that communication may seem less formal but the business culture here is fairly distanced too. Dont let the all the friendlyness fool you. Let me give you an example. One of the ways this is expressed by is in an elevator. I like taking the elevator - I think you can almost do sociological exercises in an elevator setting. People would always talk in an elevator but physical contact is avoided as much as possible to the extent that people would not get into an half full elevator because they are scared they might have to touch someone. Now, in this hot New York weather in the summer that may be very wise, however, I am pretty sure that this is not just a summer phenonmena. Ok, enough cultural studies for today. Another episode of Breaking Bad is waiting....
0 comments:
Post a Comment