The Subtleties of Language

WARNING: The following blog entry contains language that some readers may find offensive. Reader discretion is advised.

As native English speakers living in Germany, we have issues with language on a daily basis. I have written in the past on the difficulties of trying to communicate in a new language and how the kids are learning German, with varying degrees of success.

But there is another side to our language experiences. We often find ourselves in interesting positions dealing with the English language here. For example, take our word shit. The German equivalent is Scheiße, however the German word has a less profane connotation and is used in daily language. Many Germans don't understand that in English, you don't hear the word shit in polite conversation. For instance, I've had conversations where a German I don't know particularly well will say something like, "No, we don't watch that TV show. I don't like that shit," or "I know, the stores don't carry that year round. That shit drives me crazy." I have had to learn to relax my forehead so that my eyebrows don't shoot up too high when that happens.

During our first month here, we were watching an episode of The Simpsons in German. Sweet Lisa was losing control of the RV she was driving and said (in English), "Oh shit!" I doubt that's what she said when it was broadcast in the U.S.

And as a little side note, the only TV channel we get here where American shows are not dubbed is, of all things, MTV. We get to see all those appalling dating and reality shows undubbed and uncensored. In the U.S., there is constant bleeping, not here. We get to hear the actual words and laugh at the subtitled translations. We don't often watch the shows, but if we are flipping through the channels and alight on one of them, the same thought always pops into our mind, "What must Germans think of Americans if this is all they see of America?"

And the use of the words Scheiße and shit gets even more complicated. I was talking about these two words to my neighbor who said, "Oh, yes. But when we're upset and want to say a word that isn't quite as strong as Scheiße, we use the English word shit."

The same goes for other words. Micaela just told me the other day how her Spanish teacher says the word hell a lot. "Mom, really! She was looking at an empty seat in our classroom and said 'Who the hell sits here?' And another time, she was mad at a kid and said, 'Shut up or get the hell out of here!'" Earlier in the year, her German teacher was explaining the meaning of the expression Verflixt! Kids were guessing "Shoot!" and "Darn it!" The teacher finally said, "No! It's stronger! It means Damn!" and she pounded her fist on the table for emphasis. And then proceeded to say Damn! several more times to prove her point. Micaela said, "We were all like "Yikes!" Because if you think about it, damn isn't that vulgar, it's just a word you wouldn't expect a teacher to use and a word most parents don't want their kids saying.

And there are times where someone says something in grammatically correct English, but it just doesn't sound right. I notice this quite often on the show Dora the Explorer, German edition, where Dora teaches German kids to speak English. There was one episode where viewers needed to tell characters when to jump over something. Dora said, "Say 'Jump up!' Say 'Jump up'" And that just struck me as odd. We wouldn't yell to someone "Jump up!" Rather, we would say "Jump!"

Dora's friend Tico the squirrel only speaks English and tends to speak a very formal English. In one episode, Dora asked Tico if he could give them a ride to a party in his flying car. His reply was something like, "Oh, hello, my friends. It would be my pleasure to take you to the party because I fly there, too." Dora had us all yell "Fly up!" after they got into the flying car and then had us yell "Fly down!" when it was time to descend, which just didn't sound quite right. My German neighbord says that is a direct translation of what would be said in German. I think we would be more likely to say, "Go up!" and "Go down!" or even just "Up!" and "Down!"

And just for laughs, here's a car we followed on the way home from school today.