It's not a butterfly, it's a schmetterling!

So I am supposed to be taking a writing break in August and just posting photos, but what can I say....the words just flow out and there's no stopping the Thames as it rolls out to the sea - and so it is that way with me and the written word. So....here it goes...

I love Germans. Let me state that right now. Despite the fact that both the nations I have citizenship of (Britian and American) fought in two world wars against Germany and that the legacy of the First World War is such a part of the English collective consciousness and culture that one military anniversary or other is rolled out several times a year, I personally love the German nation and people. I love the country, I love the landscape, I love German cities, I love their literature and cinema and I adore their food. The only thing I am not massively fond of is German music. Apart from the anti-nuclear protest song 99 Luftballons by German band Nena, I can't say I really enjoy any German music. Maybe The Magic Flute opera by Mozart, although I would consider that Austrian rather German.

Anyway, I digress. The point is that through several trips to Germany and the experience of having a close German friend and flatmate (Dora, who has more recently made Mexico her home and is herself educating me on Mexican poetry), I have learned to absorb all the wonderful things that make Germany the successful European country it is today. Of course, this does not mean anything profound really since I actually like all the countries I have been to. I enjoyed Japan and the complicated and the often bewildering customs of the Japanese people, I loved Sweden and the polite hospitality of the Swedish and I even love America, land of my parents' birth, despite the critical eye I sometimes cast over the consumerist values of the USA. I guess I find it hard to dislike any nation or culture because I basically believe their is some merit in all people and the differences between countries makes life exciting and interesting.

The closest I have ever come to shying away from a particular culture (as in not choosing it as a holiday destination or perhaps respecting it as I should) is France and to a certain respect Saudi Arabia. I don't like the way women are treated culturally in Saudi Arabia and when it comes to France, well I'm British. Most British people have a strained relationship with the French. We are neighbors and there is a friendly annoyance that goes along with the close proximity. My French colleague at work has lived in London for years and even she has adopted the British cultural habit of criticising her own country. One colleague (a Swedish woman who has lived in England for 11 years) said to me the other day 'I know I shouldn't say it, but the French can be really arrogant.' And she is right. They can be. But they can also be very brave and very moral. They stand up for their rights. They don't get embarrassed as easily as the English. Their language sounds very sexy and they can often bluntly tell the truth when the English just stutter around it. And then, let's not forget the food. Oh! The Food. The beauty of French food. I could eat French onion soup for the rest of my life gladly. There is a very popular French restaurant in Balham and the locals flock to it. In fact my friend Natalie has gone there so often with her boyfriend that the staff know them by sight and name and can probably tell them what they are going to order based on the of their history of meal choices.
And if I am to be honest, I don't actually know much about Saudi Arabia - perhaps there are wonderful things about the culture that I have not experienced.

So in my appreciation of Germany and the Germans, I of course, ended up picking up and buying Keeping up with The Germans by Philip Oltermann, which is both a personal and public account of the history of Anglo-German encounters.

It is a fascinating book that shows how different the Germans and the British are from each other and yet how similar we are too. It is also wickedly funny, as the author recounts stories of how he tried to fit in to English society when he moved to London from Hamburg when he was 17. One of my favourite chapters is on the differences between the English language and the German language. The author describes how his English school mates find German harsh and the words sound ugly and long. The author on the other hand finds German a logical language that makes sense and is easy to understand the meaning of. When he newly emigrated to the UK he was stumped by the worldplay of the British press, the double meanings of casual conversation and the daily shortening of words (such as 'sandwiches' to 'sarnies'). German may have longer words, but one long word will describe 1 thing, in English, Philip Oltermann complains, you need several words to describe 1 thing.

I am not a linguist, but I do agree with Mr Oltermann on one thing. The German language does sound harsh. Yet again, I must confess I love the language as well as the food and the people etc. But it does sound aggressive. Just think of the word: butterfly for example. Butterfly is a beautiful word. In French it is papillon, which also conveys a sense of grace. In Spanish it is mariposa, which sounds sunny and happy and in Italian it is farfalla - a flamboyant and flighty sounding word. In German it is schmetterling. Which sounds like 'little smasher.' And then there is the word for hospital - in German: krankenhaus, which sounds like a 'house for kranks.' I am both amused and bewildered by how the Germans literally translate a concept into the most plain and logical word they can think of.

When I repeated this to my colleague Jess at work today she laughed and asked, 'Have you not seen that video on YouTube about how German sounds compared to different languages?' Of course I had to have a look and I googled the video while munching my lunch. It was very funny, but I was feeling a little guilty about laughing at the way a whole nation speaks, until I realised that it was made by a small German comedy company and that they were laughing at themselves and everyone else too. You can watch the video below:

I don't know if being able to laugh at yourself is something that is inherently German or is just a cultural trend that has emerged in the Germans of my generation. But I do know a little self-mockery can't do any harm and that it is something that both the Brits and the Germans may have in common. That and our love of potatoes......