The Goethe Institute is a great place to learn German in Germany. I have received several e-mails asking me which Goethe Institute German course I preferred since I blogged about attending courses in Berlin and Munich.
I think the answer depends on your personality and what you want out of a "vacation". Berlin is an extremely exciting city with lots to do. Munich is very nice, but a bit more conservative and certainly more expensive. The Goethe Institute in Berlin is excellent, especially the culture program. The school is located in a very cool part of town with lots happening in the neighborhood.
The Munich program was also excellent, but since I took a two week super-intensive course there I did not have much time to take part in the formal culture program. But, there's also lots to do in Munich. In general I would say that Munich is a much cleaner and calmer city than Berlin, but still filled with culture, parks and good living.
I really like both cities, although I find myself thinking about signing-up for a two week culture and German course in Berlin this summer. There's something special about Berlin, its history and dynamism that's missing in Munich. On the other hand, I am sure I will return to Munich for a few days in the coming years and love it. I often think that it would be a perfect place to live.
If you have time, my recommendation would be to sign-up for a two-month intensive course. That gives you time to really feel at home in the city and do most of the cultural program (they repeat after two months). If you have more time, I would take some time off before starting again, after two months of intensive courses sometimes you need a break.
Yesterday I had an interesting experience: I was interviewed in German on the Swiss national radio station DRS. They asked me questions about the future of rail service - a topic close to my heart. I offered to do the interview in English, but the interviewer said my German was fine - I felt great!
I think they hoped that I would present really different ideas like magnetic levitation trains (maglev) or other 'visions' for the future. But I didn't. My opinion is that by applying "social innovation" to railway systems we can really improve our transport systems. We don't need significantly faster rail technology, we need to make existing rail travel easier, more comfortable and slightly faster (i.e. apply high speed rail technology). High speed rail should be the transport mode of choice for trips less than 600 km, flying for trips greater than 800 km, and, for trips in between, people should choose based on the specific circumstances.
One of my favorite German words, perhaps because it's also used in English is Angst. To me it's even one of those words that sounds like what it is (onomatopoeia).
I mention it because, like some of my friends, I am starting to have sleepless nights worrying about the US Presidential election. (I have angst!) It just makes me so mad to hear the lies coming from the Republican party ... and even madder to think that there are so many people who believe them.
Paul Krugman talked today about the lies. We all know that politicians are not alter boys (and girls) but the level of lying today is wild.
Roger Cohen talked yesterday about how the Bush Administration has divided America, making it possible for the Republican lies to work.
To me the huge difficulty is that problems today are not simple, but voters want simple solutions. It's easier to simply lie (reducing taxes will improve the economy) than to explain how taxes are needed to build the infrastructure and society we need to successfully face the future.
Returning to the subject of angst, and in an effort to inject some humor into the otherwise grim discussion, the photo is of a sausage stand in Zurich. The name of the sausage company is Angst ... would you buy a sausage from a company called Angst? Let's hope the voters don't buy the McCain-Palin lies!
Today I was surprised as I walked to my job teaching English at the college of applied science by a van that had advertising on the side for a restaurant. It said specializing in poppy seeds. Maybe it's my German, but I need to go to this restaurant to find out exactly what it means.
My two-week super intensive German class (full days) at the Goethe Institute in Munich was excellent. I have previously taken three separate one-month long courses at the Berlin Goethe Institute (half-day). The courses are quite different, the half-day courses include a full culture program which to my mind is the best part of the Goethe Institute program. The super-intensive 2 week program is more focussed and, well, intense.
I am visiting Munich for the next two weeks. I will go to a German class and, I hope improve my grammar etc.
I arrived here on Sunday night, I made a big mistake on the train from Vienna to Munich ... I did not have dinner in the dining car. The train came from Budapest and had real Budweiser beer and Hungarian specialties, unfortunately the only things around the apartment where I am staying are from a gas station store (cold pizza) ... although they had about 50 different kinds of beer! To be fair, it's a Sunday night ... but still ...
Here's a funny photo from Zurich. I like it because people say that the Swiss German dialect is never written, just spoken. However, often - especially at street fairs and festivals - Swiss German is written, but usually you can figure out what they mean. Here's a good example, it's clearly a stand selling something to do with apples, in this case apple cakes: Öpfelchüechli (High German Apfelküchen).
By the way, the 'li' at the end of Öpfelchüechli is a diminutive ... it means small as in small cakes. German speaking people also use the letters 'chen' at the end of a word to mean small.
It's always fun to see how the Swiss spell their German dialects. Here's a stand selling apple cake (Apfelkuechen in German).
One of the interesting things about living abroad is that you are often asked to help translate into English. It's one of the things I do at work and I enjoy it. I will use this tag to describe some of the interesting experiences I have had translating.
My first odd translation experience was when I met my wife. We spoke English together and she kept saying "Please" after I said "Thank you". I thought it was a bit strange, but sounded kind of cool.
After my first German class I learned why ... they say "Bitte" for both "please" and "you are welcome". Unfortunately my wife learned the difference and doesn't say "Please" anymore.
One of the funny things about living in Switzerland is that people speak a very strong dialect of German, actually, several very strong dialects of German. Almost every valley seems to have its own particular version. The German we learn in school is High German, and so sometimes people here mistake me for being from Germany - which makes my German friends really laugh ... they say I speak with a Swiss accent!
